Annales Univ. Sci. Budapest., Sect. Comp. 30 (2009) 191-200 NODE-BASED ARCHITECTURE FOR LIGHTWEIGHT MIDDLEWARE V.-M. Hartikainen, M. Vulli and H.-M. J¨ arvinen (Tampere, Finland) Abstract. We propose a simple middleware architecture for mobile de- vices. The architecture is based on nodes and streams. In a REST-like way, the nodes only provide standard operations for control. Several mid- dleware solutions have been created for developing distributed software. However, the existing solutions do not suit well for use in embedded or mobile devices. By specifically targeting the design of the middleware to mobile domain we can focus on the most relevant issues and still keep the design of the infrastructure simple, thus allowing the components to be im- plemented in software or hardware. The architecture proposed changes the programming paradigm, making it more suitable for component-oriented development. 1. Introduction Service-based architecture promises a lot of things. One of the biggest promises is that building of big systems can be made simpler by dividing them into indepen- dent components. This is already happening in the world of enterprise computing with Service-Oriented Architecture and Component technologies. In our opinion, the world of mobile computing could benefit from a service-based architecture, where the infrastructure is targeted to mobile devices. The infrastructure should be loosely coupled, reflective, flexible, dynamic, lightweight, simple for developers to understand and offer possibility to implement the components in hardware or software.