Pervasive Computing is characterized by the interaction of a multitude of heterogeneous devices, ranging from powerful general-purpose servers located in an infrastructure to tiny mobile sensors integrated in everyday objects. Devices are connected to each other on-the-fly using wireless communication technologies like Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11 or IrDA. The devices that are present in a certain environment share their functionality with other devices in the vicinity to gain mutual benefits. A sensor can for instance use a display to present its data to a person nearby. 

 

The figure on the right sketches a scenario where devices and functionality are available only for distinct and prior undetermined periods of time. They cooperate in order to share their functionality. Essentially, these devices are peers in a spontaneously networked environment.

The development of applications for dynamic environments is a non-trivial task. Induced by mobility, 

fluctuating network connectivity or changing physical context, the hardware and software resources available to an application at runtime are continously fluctuating. As a result, applications need to adapt themselves continously to their ever-changing execution environment.