Mobile Computing Architecture for a Battlefield Environment

Improvements in cellular and satellite technology have permitted portable computers to communicate with existing distributed computing networks. Users with palm-top computers, known as mobile hosts (MHs), utilize wireless connections to communicate with wired network from a number of locations at diierent times. In this paper, we introduce a mobile computing architecture for a battleeeld environment. When data is stored on mobile hosts, the mobility issue becomes increasingly more complicated. To deal with this issue, we introduce a mobile transaction manager (MTM) that is responsible for all the global transactions created by mobile hosts, which contain a portion of the distributed database. A battleeeld is a very unique environment due to the fact that the medical units are susceptible to damage and disconnection from an attack by an enemy force. Prime Time III, which is being supported by the Medical Advanced Technology Management OOce, is the operational name for the telemedicine support for the U.S. troop deployment in Bosnia. A distributed patient-soldier database provides patient-soldier medical information in real-time. An application of the patient-soldier database is discussed with respect to transaction management in the battleeeld environment .