Fuego: Middleware for Mobile Data Communication and Synchronization

In designing middleware for wireless mobile devices, the environment is notably different from its wired counterpart. Compared to fixed networks and hot-spots, wide-area wireless networks tend to offer lower bandwidth, and higher latency and pricing. The computing capabilities of devices are weaker, and every CPU cycle counts, as energy consumption is a key issue for making a device successful in the marketplace. Our research project Fuego Core has built a prototype middleware platform for this mobile environment1. We have chosen to direct our work based on existing standards as much as possible, so that our middleware will be compatible with existing deployed infrastructure on the fixed network side. In particular, we build everything on top of Internet Protocol (IP). A distinguishing characteristic of our project is the strong interaction between theory and implementation. As a group with expertise in software engineering, we have put great effort into the implementation, striving for an approach not only theoretically sound but also well thought out from a practical point of view. The contributed set of middleware primitives in our approach are thus more than a set of pieces that work together on the paper: the implemented parts fit together in a manner characteristic of wellengineered software.