Adenauer C. Yamin

Toward a General Software Infrastructure for Ubiquitous Computing

This general software architecture is designed to support ubiquitous computings fundamental challenges, helping the community develop and assess middleware and frameworks for this area.

MUCS: A model for ubiquitous commerce support

The evolution of computing technology and the emergence of wireless networks have contributed to the miniaturization of mobile devices and their increase in power, providing services anywhere and anytime. In this context, new opportunities for technology support have arisen in different areas, for example, education, games and entertainment, automobile, and commerce. We propose a model for ubiquitous commerce support (MUCS). This model uses ubiquitous computing concepts to look for deal opportunities for users who act either as buyers or sellers. This paper also describes two everyday scenarios, in which the MUCS model could be applied, and explains the implemented prototype to be used in them. Finally, we present the results obtained from a practical experiment, which was performed with the participation of users who filled out an evaluation questionnaire.

Resource scheduling on grid: handling uncertainty

The heterogeneity and the highly dynamic behavior of the grid computing demands a new class of scheduling strategies. These strategies must not only consider the instantaneous information provided by sensors, but also probabilities of the information received to keep its values in a near future.

Holoparadigm: a multiparadigm model oriented to development of distributed systems

The multiparadigm approach integrates programming language paradigms. We have proposed the Holoparadigm (Holo) as a multiparadigm model oriented to the development of distributed systems. Holo uses a logic blackboard (called history) to implement a coordination mechanism. The programs are organized in levels using abstract entities called beings. First, we describe the principal concepts of the Holoparadigm. After, we propose the Distributed Holo (DHolo), a model to support the distributed execution of programs developed in Holo. DHolo is based on object mobility and blackboards. This distributed model can be fully implemented on the Java platform. Experiments were done using Voyager and Horb to implement mobility. Blackboards were implemented using Java and JavaSpaces.

Towards a distributed architecture for context-aware mobile applications in UbiComp

The applications in Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp) environments must be aware of their contexts of interest and adapt to changes in them. Thus, a major research challenge in the area of UbiComp is related to context awareness. Considering the high distribution, heterogeneity, dynamism, and mobility of ubiquitous environments, this paper presents an architectural model for context awareness, called EXEHDA-UC (Execution Environment for Highly Distributed Applications - Ubiquitous Context awareness). The proposal includes elements to support contextual data acquisition, actuation on the environment, and processing of contextual information. We consider that the main contribution of this work is an architecture that supports the managing of the acquisition, storage, and processing of context data, in a distributed way, independently of the application, in an autonomic and rule-based perspective. To assess the functionalities of the EXEHDA-UC, we present a case study, highlighting the prototypes developed, technologies employed, and tests realized.

Hefestos: a model for ubiquitous accessibility support

This paper presents the Hefestos Model, designed to provide ubiquitous accessibility. The project aims at supporting accessibility for People With Disability (PWD) and elderly in various situations of their everyday life. Offering context awareness, user profiles and trails management, the model is a base for applying assistive technologies that fulfills accessibility needs. Moreover, in the proposed model, we devised an ontology. Besides the benefits of intrinsic semantic representation, the use of an ontology fosters future integration with others solutions. We also present a case study based on a prototype, which was developed to evaluate the model. This assessment used a smart wheelchair, operated by a paraplegic person, which is under development at University of the Sinos Valley (Unisinos).

A model for context awareness in Ubicomp

In this paper we present a view of EXEHDA middleware and a novel service created for dynamic adaptation. EXEHDA is service-oriented, adaptive and was conceived to support the execution of ubiquitous applications. The main concept in the proposed design for the middleware and for the application is context awareness expressed in an adaptive behavior. The middleware manages and implements the follow-me semantics for ubiquitous applications. This is also a key to provide functionality adapted to the constraints and unpredictability of the large-scale environment. EXEHDA provides services for distributed adaptive execution, context recognition, ubiquitous storage and access, and anonymous and asynchronous communications. To evaluate the proposed service we developed a case study, implementing an application in medical area. Analyzing the results we can see that the users found the application easy to use and usefulness for health workers at a hospital.

Managing the follow-me semantics to build large-scale pervasive applications

In this paper, we present the concept of follow-me semantics of the large-scale pervasive application and discuss the features and services to its implementation based on the integration of three computing fields: mobile, context-aware and grid computing. We also discuss the adopted context-aware adaptation model, main feature embedded in both applications and middleware design, to allow the wide physical and logical mobility.

PerDiS: a scalable resource discovery service for the ISAM pervasive environment

This paper presents the PerDiS model for resource discovery in the scope of the ISAM architecture, ISAM aims to provide an integrated solution, from the development to the execution, for general-purpose pervasive applications. PerDiS considers a set of new requirements imposed by pervasive computing for resource discovery. In this paper, we emphasize the scalability issues and we propose a discovery service based on super-peer networks, which is suitable for the ISAM pervasive environment.

A Distributed Architecture for Supporting Context-Aware Applications in UbiComp

The applications in Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp) environments must be aware of their contexts of interest and adapt to changes in them. Thus, a major research challenge in the area of UbiComp is related to context awareness. Considering the high distribution, heterogeneity, dynamism, and mobility of ubiquitous environments, this paper presents an architecture for context awareness, named UbiC (Ubiquitous Context awareness), which is integrated to EXEHDA middleware (Execution Environment for Highly Distributed Applications). We consider that the main contribution of this work is an architecture that enables the acquisition, storage, and processing of context data, in a distributed way, independently of the application, in a rule-based autonomic perspective, and with support to mobility. To assess the functionalities of the UbiC architecture, we present a case study, highlighting prototypes developed, technologies employed, and tests realized.