Structuring distributed algorithms for mobile hosts

Distributed algorithms have hitherto been designed for networks with static hosts. A mobile host (MH) can connect to the network from different locations at different times. This paper presents an operational system model for explicitly incorporating the effects of host mobility and proposes a general principle for structuring efficient distributed algorithms in this model. This principle is used to redesign two classical algorithms for distributed mutual exclusion for the mobile environment. We then consider a problem introduced solely by host mobility viz, location management for groups of MHs, and propose the concept of group location as an efficient approach to tackle the problem. Lastly, we present a framework which enables host mobility to be decoupled from the design of a distributed algorithm per se, to varying degrees