Towards Sustainability in Portable Computing through Cloud Computing and Cognitive Radios

It is imperative to consider the concept of sustainable portable computing as the role of such devices increases our lives. With the emergence of the cloud computing paradigm, there will be an increased reliance on wireless communication from portable computing devices to more powerful centralized servers. This paradigm shift to `thin-clients´ presents an opportunity to make portable computing more sustainable by shifting more functionality to centralized servers. Reduced functionality needed on these devices could mean a slower rate of hardware replacement. This could significantly cut the electronic waste that is currently attributed to the frequent replacements of these devices. One of the challenges in such a paradigm shift to thin portable clients through reduced local computation would be the additional burden imposed on the wireless communication technologies used. Wireless communication technologies must be improved to handle the additional burden that will be imposed. Any proposed wireless technology must also be energy-efficient to maximize the operating life time of these battery operated, energy-constrained devices. Software approaches to achieve energy-efficient operation are preferable as they reduce the dumping of existing hardware due to upgrades or replacements, and help reduce electronic waste. This paper discusses these challenges and describes one way to move forward towards sustainable portable computing by considering application scenarios based on cloud computing and communication through software-defined cognitive radios.