UK-UbiNet: The UK Ubiquitous Computing Networks

• Page Contents

  • Description

  • Objectives and Research Issues

Description

Ubiquitous or pervasive computing assumes there will be large numbers of 'invisible' small computers embedded into the environment and interacting with mobile users. Users will experience this world through a wide variety of devices, some they will wear (e.g medical monitoring systems), some they will carry (e.g. personal communicators that integrate mobile phones and PDAs), and some that are implanted in the vehicles they use (e.g car information systems). This heterogeneous collection of devices will interact with intelligent sensors and actuators embedded in our homes, offices, transportation systems to form a mobile ubiquitous computing environment which aids normal activities related to work, education, entertainment or healthcare. There is a need for wireless communication to support mobile interaction but the environment will also provide access to wired backbone networks connected to the internet.

Although these intelligent communicators will be far more sophisticated than current mobile phones, they will always have limited storage, processing, display capabilities and battery power compared to fixed PCs. There is thus a need to adapt information and applications so that they are compatible with the limited capabilities of the devices but also to provide information or adapt services that are relevant to the current context of the user. Sensors in the environment, possibly in collaboration with personal devices, would determine user's current activity - driving a car, walking down a street, in the cinema, in a meeting, running for a bus, about to watch television. The ubiquitous computing environment would thus support users in common day-to-day activities by adjusting lights, switching on the television for favourite programmes, record the programme when unable to watch it, monitor health and alert emergency services in case of problems, warn drivers about potential component failures in their car etc [1].

There is considerable interest in ubiquitous computing with many research projects in Europe [2] [3], as well as the rest of the world. Two journals have recently started which cover the area of Pervasive Computing [4][5], although there are many which cover mobility. There are also a number of conferences addressing issues of mobility, wearable computers, mobility and wireless communications. There are a few isolated UK projects in universities and 2 relevant large collaborative projects Mobile VCE [6] and Equator IRC [7]. The DTI has recently started a new funding initiative - Next Wave Technologies which is meant to foster academic/industrial collaborative projects [8]. There have also been past projects related to Virtual Society funded by ESRC [9]. Many of the research issues relating to ubiquitous computing and the socio-economic impact are discussed in the report from the EPSRC working group on Computer Challenges to emerge from eScience [10]. There is a growing need to coordinate a large and inclusive academic community across the UK to raise awareness, coordinate research initiatives and to ensure that a healthy community of researchers emerges.

Essentially there are 3 separate academic communities: Mobile Computing in Computing Departments, Wireless Mobile Communications in Electronic Engineering Departments and a Human Factors and Social Science in various Departments. These communities have comparatively little interaction and we need to foster a common understanding across these currently rather disparate groupings. There is also increasing interest within Computing Departments on investigating the theoretical and software engineering issues relating to ubiquitous computing. Despite the larger number of adventurous challenges a real danger exists that the inherently multidisciplinary nature of Ubiquitous Computing makes it a difficult place for academics to base a research career as they run the risk of falling between more traditional disciplinary boundaries and failing to receive support from the communities associated with these disciplines.

This network will bring together academic researchers within the UK to build a new multi-disciplinary community covering the broad aspects of ubiquitous computing, including the technology, human factors and socio-economic issues. Although the emphasis will be on a network of academic researchers, we will welcome involvement from industry and will work closely with the DTI Next Wave Technologies initiative to involve industry and to have joint workshops. This proposal requests part-time funding for a coordinator and a secretary over a period of 36 months and funding to enable UK research students to attend training workshops and conferences.

References

• 1. ISTAG Report on Scenarios for Ambient Intelligence in 2010

• 2. ERCIM News on Ambient Computing

• 3. EU funded Disappearing Computer Initiative

• 4. IEEE Pervasive Computing

• 5. Springer Verlag Personal and Ubiquitous Computing

• 6. Mobile VCE

• 7. Equator IRC

• 8. DTI Nextwave technologies and markets

• 9. ESRC Virtual Society Program

• 10. Computer Science Challenges to emerge from eScience

• 11. XEROX / Mark Weiser "Ubiquitous Computing" site

Objectives and Research Issues

UK-Ubinet seeks to address the following key objectives and research issues.

• To establish and support an inclusive multi-disciplinary community which will collaborate on ubiquitous computing research and foster interaction with similar communities in Europe and the USA.
• To provide a forum for the exchange of ideas, best practice techniques and software related to Ubiquitous Computing.
• To hold workshops, seminars and summer schools which UK research students and RAs can easily attend as a means of training young researchers and future leaders of the research community.
• To publish a research manifesto specifying the research challenges which the community should address over the next 15 years.
• To provide a focus for cooperation with EU initiatives such as the Disappearing Computing Program and other EU Networks.
• To formulate and submit collaborative proposals to UK and EU funding sources.

Although there has been considerable progress in some areas such as the wireless technology to support mobile communications, there are many research issues which need to be addressed in order to realise a ubiquitous intelligent environment which is able to support people in the normal activities. This network will initiate discussion and collaborations to address ubiquitous computing research issues such as:

• Use of mobile and public networks requires integration and management of disparate communication technology to support seamless and ubiquitous connectivity with quality of service guarantees.
• Issues of trust, security and privacy become even more problematic in ubiquitous computing environments which are able to track your movement and activities at all times. Portable devices will combine the functions of mobile phone, keys, credit cards, passport and medical record so mechanisms to cater for loss or theft are needed.
• The provision of context aware applications and services is key to successful ubiquitous computing. For example, the system should be able to distinguish between a possible heart problem or exertion due to running for a bus and to provide the information or services relevant to your current activity.
• New approaches are needed to provide flexible and adaptable software both for mobile devices and the intelligent environment. The scale of these ubiquitous systems necessitates 'autonomic' (self-organising and self-managing) systems which can dynamically update software to cater for new services and applications.
• Human factors arise to cater for new modes of interaction and 'invisible' ambient technology which must be useable by non-technical people. There is a need to support transient organisations and dynamic, potentially mobile work arrangements including virtual teams, ad-hoc collaborations and virtual organisations.
• Human, social and organisational issues that arise in creating new forms of interaction based on ambient technologies and deploying those systems within everyday environments be they the home, the workplace, or more public arenas such as museums and galleries. There is a need to support a diverse range of activities, within and across different settings and organisational environments, performed by users with very different interests, skills and competencies. In turn these issues raise questions concerning new approaches to requirements analysis, design, development and deployment of ubiquitous computing.

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