Service Discovery Approaches to Mobile Peer-to-Peer Computing

Abstract

This chapter surveys the approaches to service discovery that are relevant to mobile peer-to-peer systems in a variety of scenarios. More specifically, the authors consider approaches that may be employed in infrastructure wireless networks, single-hop and multi-hop ad hoc wireless networks. They analyze each approach based on design and functional aspects that have implications for its flexibility, scalability, and discovery efficiency. The authors also point out some promising research and development directions in the area of service discovery, with a special focus on ad hoc wireless networks. They comment on specific variants of such networks that are emerging in practice, and their reflections on the design of effective service discovery solutions.