Guest Editors' Introduction: Wireless Grids--Distributed Resource Sharing by Mobile, Nomadic, and Fixed Devices

Mobile, nomadic, and fixed wireless devices form new types of resourcesharing networks called wireless grids.1 This issue of IEEE Internet Computing, beginning with our extended editorial introduction, presents an overview of current research in the area. We hope this issue of IC will serve to map the wireless grid landscape, to help others explore it in greater detail in the future. Grid computing lets devices connected to the Internet, overlay peer-to-peer networks, and the nascent wired computational grid dynamically share networkconnected resources. The wireless grid extends this sharing potential to mobile, nomadic, or fixed-location devices temporarily connected via ad hoc wireless networks.2 As Figure 1 shows, users and devices can come and go in a dynamic wireless grid, interacting with a changing landscape of information resources. The dynamic case of unknown devices creates special challenges, which explains why the articles in this special issue focus on the topic. Following Metcalfe’s law, grid-based resources become more valuable as the number of devices and users increases. The wireless grid makes it easier to extend grid computing to large