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An Infrared Network for Mobile Computers


 
Norman Adams			Rich Gold
Palo Alto Research Center	Palo Alto Research Center 
Xerox Corporation		Xerox Corporation 
 
Bill N. Schilit  Currently visiting Xerox Palo Alto Research Center,
Computer Science Department 
Columbia University 
 
Michael M. Tso			Roy Want 
EECS Department			Palo Alto Research Center 
MIT				Xerox Corporation 

Abstract

The infrared network provides a flexible infrastructure for research into wireless mobile computing. The network consists of a collection of room-sized cells each wired with a base station transceiver. Mobile computers communicate with transceivers through a carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) protocol and act as terminals for applications executing on remote hosts. Each mobile computer is represented by a proxy, or agent , accessible to applications at a fixed network address. In the system it is the agent that is responsible for delivering requests to its corresponding mobile computer, and tracking the mobile as it moves from cell to cell.


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