Diego Bernini

Space integration services: a platform for space-aware communication

The paper presents a platform aimed at supporting space-aware communications in emergency situations. The key idea is to rely on multiple spaces, be they physical or logical, and on mappings among spaces. Thematic information is published in one or more spatial publication contexts, whereas subscribers specify one or more spatial subscription contexts. Information is delivered whenever a non-empty intersection among publication and subscription contexts is recognized according to the space mappings. The platform defines basic space models that can be specialized to model domain-specific spaces. The paper overviews the basic platform mechanisms, sketches their exploitation in a concrete scenario and briefly discusses related works.

Architectural abstractions for spaces-based communication in Smart Environments

People often behave in Smart Environments by relying on spatial metaphors that deserve to turn into architectural abstractions. The paper presents a set of space-aware communication primitives that support the seamless integration of application components in an open-ended Smart Environment. Environment spaces provide subjective views of the environment according to specific spatial models, be they physical or logical. Software components communicate in a publish/subscribe style by contextualizing information in the spaces they are aware of. Space mappings allow components to interact even if they rely on different spatial models. The paper introduces a formal definition of basic spatial models and describes the spaces-based architectural abstractions through a reference example. Then it presents SIS (Space Integration Services), a concrete framework that reifies the abstractions, together with some performance measurements. Finally, it shows a concrete implementation of the reference scenario and compares the proposed approach with related work.

A platform for interoperability via multiple spatial views in open smart spaces

The paper presents an integration platform for space-based interoperability among heterogeneous components in open smart spaces. The key idea is to rely on multiple spaces, be they physical or logical, and on mappings among spaces. Components publish their information on one or more spatial publication contexts, whereas they make subscriptions to one or more spatial subscription contexts. Information is delivered whenever a non-empty intersection among publication and subscription contexts is recognized according to the space mappings. The platform defines basic space models that can be specialized to model domain-specific spaces. The paper presents the basic platform mechanisms and their application in a sample scenario, discusses the benefits of the approach and compares it to significant related works.

Grounding ecologies on multiple spaces

The paper introduces an architectural model, which pairs virtual and physical ecologies into augmented ecologies. The notion of space as a first class concept fosters a neat separation of the two main parts of an ecology: the environment and the organisms it contains. Virtual organisms view the common environment through multiple ecology spaces, described in terms of core space models and related by mappings between locations. This leads to a flexible space-aware paradigm supporting the indirect communication between organisms, including both message passing and data sharing. Finally, the paper presents a concrete framework reifying the model and an example application.

A software architecture for the deployment of executable transformation models

Emergency management involves collaboration among different operators (e.g. policemen, firemen, medics) on critical and dangerous situations (e.g. fires, floods). Real-time elaborations of a large amount of information and knowledge are needed to automate control and decision making processes. In this scenario raw data are captured and processed through a chain of activities (filtering, fusion, classification) generating abstract information that is selected, diffused and presented to interested users. These activities can be turned into the interpretation of executable transformation models, abstract representations of input-output transformations which can be coded on a calculator. Executable transformation models might not be static; but they may be dynamically generated by observing and processing incoming data. From the architectural point of view the dynamic model generation implies the existence of mechanisms for the dynamic deployment of the executable transformation models. In this paper we present a software architecture aimed at providing these mechanisms.

Dynamic update of data analysis models in emergency systems

The analysis of sensor data is a major activity in an emergency system; it is aimed at extracting useful information and at executing monitoring and anomaly detection. We focus on automatic data analysis through machine learning techniques, which require creating a model of the data that has to be kept up to date to match the evolving status of the environment. The update of a model improves its quality but introduces computation and communication overhead. In this paper we address the problem of identifying the optimal trade off between a low update rate and high quality of the model, we describe two update strategies and we draw considerations from their application on two sets of sensor data.

A Space-Based Interoperability Model

Software components may need to reason on thematic information that are usually contextualized in several and different dimensions. A person, for instance, may be physically located in a room; may play a specific role in an organization chart; and may be associated with an RFID tag in a set of identifiers. Moreover, software components may require thematic information which are produced by other software components and, in turn, they may be sources of information. This paper presents an interoperability model based on spatial concepts. The spatial model supports the contextualization of thematic information in different spaces - be they conceptual or physical. Main concepts are spaces, locations and mapping between locations belonging to different spaces. The model constitutes the basis to enable information sharing between software components. From this point of view, software components declare their interest in information from specific spatial locations (subscription contexts) and diffuse information in possibly other specific spatial locations (publication contexts). In a framework reifying the model we propose, software components may retrieve information without knowing who are the other components in the system. Indeed, the model enforces the indirect communication between software components which may rely on different views of the information domain.

Anastatica Sensibile - Grounding Interactivity on a Natural Process

Interactive artistic installations represent avant-garde forms of Contemporary Art. They are artistic works able to change their behavior in response to the behavior of the viewers, turning them into (more or less) active participants. This paper discusses an interactive installation the authors developed during the beginning of 2012 for the St. Elmo Castle in Naples, Italy. In this installation the audience determines the evolution of the life cycle of specific plants, in terms of an opening/closing process. The paper proposes some reflections on this case study, especially about the engagement dimension promoted by the work.

From Internet of Things to Spaces of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm focuses on a network of objects, where devices communicate with human beings as well as other devices. This paper focuses on the identification of suitable metaphors and concepts for building IoT applications. It proposes an approach grounded on the contextualization of objects and their information in one or more spaces of things, defined according to different physical and logical spatial models. The approach promotes the seamless integration and interaction of heterogeneous components. The paper presents the conceptual model, the related software architecture and an experimental application in the logistics domain.

The Choreographer in Action: Hints for Augmented Choreography

Choreographers may exploit digital technologies to create augmented choreographies where the behavior of dancers determines the behavior of projections, lighting and other scenographic effects. This paper presents the preliminary results of ethnographic studies about how choreographers work from an interaction design perspective. Finally the paper describes the first elements of a choreographers-oriented design process for an Augmented Choreography.