Bernard Burg

An approach to data fusion for context awareness

We propose and develop an approach modeled with multi-attribute utility theory for sensor fusion in context-aware environments. Our approach is distinguished from existing general purpose fusion techniques by a number of factors including a general underlying context model it is built upon and a set of heuristics it covers. The technique is developed for context-aware applications and we argue that it provides various advantages for data fusion in context-aware scenarios. We experimentally evaluate our approach with actual use cases using real sensors.

Agents in the World of Active Web-Services

Agents, as well as many other technologies around the semantic web, have shown an increased maturity through standards and open-source. These improvements have been very self-centered and led to the creation of silos. Time has come to integrate these improvements into an ecosystem, bringing a larger picture towards active web-services, that is capable of serving each individual user personally. This article presents these evolutions, positions agents, and introduces the open testbed of this ecosystem currently in construction under the auspices of Agentcities.

Maintaining Continuous Dependability in Sensor-Based Context-Aware Pervasive Computing Systems

Sensors are often indicative of events of interest, or events which a system should be aware of and should react to. In particular, such indications may reflect unsteadiness or instability with respect to the current contextual situation. This paper discusses the concepts of stability and instability in context-aware systems, and suggests a model, methodology and an algorithm for real-time analysis of sensor readings in order to estimate future changes in context as well as in assisting to maintain the proper functioning of context-aware pervasive systems. We provide a conceptual analysis of our approach, implementation details and experimental evaluation of simulated scenarios that are part of a motivating use case.

Verification of uncertain context based on a theory of context spaces

– A challenging task for context‐aware pervasive systems is reasoning about context in uncertain environments where sensors can be inaccurate or unreliable and inferred situations ambiguous and uncertain. This paper aims to address this grand challenge, with research in context awareness to provide feasible solutions by means of theoretical models, algorithms and reasoning approaches., – This paper proposes a theoretical model about context and a set of context verification procedures, built over the model and implemented in a context reasoning engine prototype. The verification procedures utilize beneficial characteristics of spatial representation of context and also provide guidelines based on heuristics that lead to resolution of conflicts arising due to context uncertainty. The engines reasoning process is presented and it is shown how the proposed modeling and verification approach contributes in tackling the uncertainty associated with the reasoning task. The paper experimentally evaluates this approach with a distributed simulation of a sensor‐based office environment with unreliable and inaccurate sensors., – Important features of the model are dynamic aspects of context, such as context trajectory and stability of a pervasive system in given context. These can also be used for context verification as well as for context prediction. The model strength is also in its generality and its ability to model a variety of context‐aware scenarios comprising different types of information., – The paper describes a theoretical model for context and shows it is useful not only for context representation but also for developing reasoning and verification techniques for uncertain context.

Governing the contract lifecycle: a framework for sequential configuration of loosely-coupled systems

Sequential configuration is a fundamental pattern that occurs when integrating systems that span domains and levels of abstraction. This task requires the integration of heterogeneous autonomous information systems, processes, and applications. We propose an extensible system for correlating sequential configurations across loosely-coupled systems. Our framework defines fundamental abstractions and interfaces that enable the implementation of domain-specific models. We build upon our framework to provide a suite of tools to support applications that manage the configuration lifecycle. Our implemented prototype application integrates the processes, tools, and data involved in the first two stages of the IT outsourced services contract lifecycle.

The Agentcities Initiative: Connecting Agents Across the World

This paper describes the aims, goals and current status of Agentcities, a worldwide initiative to create a test bed for the large-scale deployment of agents and services.