A localization service for mobile users in peer-to-peer environments

The recent emergence of handheld devices and wireless networks has implied an exponential increase of terminals users. So, today, service providers have to propose new applications adapted to mobile environments. In this article, we describe a new class of distributed M-services called proximity applications. In such applications, two or more handheld devices, physically close to each other, can communicate and exchange data in a same communication area. These applications need a high degree of flexibility, for an easy and rapid application development. Based on the Hybrid Peer-To-Peer (P2P) software architecture, different problems such as scalability, deployment, security, reliability and information retrieval in M-services, can be more easily resolved. In this article, we focus on the information localization problematic in proximity applications. Existing localization solutions (naming services, trading services, etc.) are not well adapted to the dynamicity and the heterogeneity imposed in this environment. So, we propose a decentralized localization service relying on the directory service model and adapted to the management of numerous distributed resources. This service allows users to locate and discover information, particularly location based services retrieved in function of users location.