A service discovery framework for a peer-to-peer network

Abstract

As mobile networks become ubiquitous, and devices like PDAs and cell phones become commonplace, today's traditional computing paradigms are no longer relevant. Instead, we now live in a world where computing power is pervasive, and the means to access that power is as simple as the click of a button or a voice command. However, in order to make use of that power users need a means to locate it. Specifically, users need a means to easily query for services within a network without having to necessarily know where those services are located or even how to query for those services beforehand. The purpose of this thesis is to present a service discovery framework for an ad-hoc network of peers that allows users to discover in realtime how to query for a particular service and particular instances of a service using the query mechanisms presented to them.