Josef Hallberg

Positioning with Bluetooth

An evaluation of Bluetooth positioning in a general positioning platform is presented. The evaluation a Bluetooth based positioning system was implemented in order to complement the theoretical evaluation with empirical tests. Three different ways of positioning with Bluetooth have been developed. With a registered positioning service, a Bluetooth device has an active role in the positioning task, where a connected device to look up respective position in a database uses the unique address of the device. It is also possible to forward a position gained from the positioning platforms using the peer-to-peer characteristics in Bluetooth. The theoretical time requirements for a positioning system based on Bluetooth are discussed. Empirical tests show that these requirements hold.

Optimal Placement of Accelerometers for the Detection of Everyday Activities

This article describes an investigation to determine the optimal placement of accelerometers for the purpose of detecting a range of everyday activities. The paper investigates the effect of combining data from accelerometers placed at various bodily locations on the accuracy of activity detection. Eight healthy males participated within the study. Data were collected from six wireless tri-axial accelerometers placed at the chest, wrist, lower back, hip, thigh and foot. Activities included walking, running on a motorized treadmill, sitting, lying, standing and walking up and down stairs. The Support Vector Machine provided the most accurate detection of activities of all the machine learning algorithms investigated. Although data from all locations provided similar levels of accuracy, the hip was the best single location to record data for activity detection using a Support Vector Machine, providing small but significantly better accuracy than the other investigated locations. Increasing the number of sensing locations from one to two or more statistically increased the accuracy of classification. There was no significant difference in accuracy when using two or more sensors. It was noted, however, that the difference in activity detection using single or multiple accelerometers may be more pronounced when trying to detect finer grain activities. Future work shall therefore investigate the effects of accelerometer placement on a larger range of these activities.

homeML: an open standard for the exchange of data within smart environments

This work describes a potential solution to the problems caused by the heterogeneous nature of the data which may be collected within smart home environments. Such information may be generated at an intra- or inter-institutional level following laboratory testing or based on in-situ evaluations. We offer a solution to this problem in the form of a system/application/format independent means of storing such data. This approach will inevitably support the exchange of data within the research community and form the basis of the establishment of an openly accessible data repository. Within this abstract we present the outline design of homeML, an XML based schema for representation of information within smart homes and through exemplars demonstrate the potential of such an approach. An example of the typical type of software browser required for the data representation is also presented.

An Architecture for Mobile Social Networking Applications

Mobile Semantic Web provides a new way of developing context-aware social networking applications. Social networking applications are changing the way of communication by using user’s context-information. For example, micro-blogging has become a smart way of conveying the current situation and activity by using user context. There is currently a significant difference between using social networking applications on a static computer compared to a mobile device, even if current mobile devices are powerful and have good connectivity. The difference is primarily related to the mobility aspect since the user contexts may change more frequently and the user may not be able to interact with the mobile device. In this paper we identify common characteristics of current social networking applications and how they attract users. Finally, we propose an agent-based system architecture that is based on a distributed platform for developing semantic and semi-automated mobile social networking applications.

Wearable systems in nursing home care: prototyping experience

Productivity in nursing care is a major concern in all residential facilities, as is improving the quality of care. Pervasive computing offers great promise in this area. In this paper we discuss requirements analysis, multiphase prototyping, and effective use of commercial off-the-shelf technologies to improve communication and situation awareness in nursing teams. We developed a wearable prototype with only a person-month of development time, using existing electronic meeting technologies for its multimodal communication platform.

Enriched media-experience of sport events

This paper describes a system where Internet-enabled sensor technology was integrated into a context-aware platform to give viewers of sport events an enriched media experience. The system was developed as a proof of concept and was evaluated during real-life use at the Vasaloppet crosscountry ski event. Using Bluetooth wireless ad-hoc networking and GPRS technology, sensor data was transmitted from contestants to the context-aware platform Alipes, which in turn presented the sport event viewer with a personalized, context-aware view. In this paper, we discuss the system architecture and integration of components. The system was evaluated both from technical and user perspectives, where the evaluation results confirm our approach to be technically feasible and that the system provide an enriched media-experience for the majority of viewers.

Building digital life stories for memory support

The number of persons suffering from dementia is increasing, and there is significant human and economic value to gain by enabling them to keep living independently in their homes. The top priority unmet need is for memory support. This paper introduces context-awareness and life-logging in a system using reminiscence therapy methods, embodied as an ICT memory aid for recording past, current and future activities, which can later be recalled. The tool may help build or maintain episodic memories and self-image, although evidence in this area is lacking. It is designed to also give direct and instrumental support in other priority needs areas. A prototype design is described for a system that is by necessity extremely easy to use, with a touch screen computer in the home and mobile devices for data capture and cognitive support. The main life-log entities associated with the logged activities are places, persons, personal items, and recorded media. Privacy, trust and dignity are key ethical issues.

Creating dynamic groups using context-awareness

This article presents the conceptual communication model of dynamic groups, that dynamically utilizes three traditional communication metaphors through the use of context-based information. Dynamic groups makes creation, management and usage of groups easy. It enables social network structures to be maintained in both virtual and face-to-face settings as well as in the combination thereof. This article defines the dynamic management of advanced contact lists which can include presence and status information, a/synchronous multimedia communication tools, and methods for structuring social networks. It also contains an initial evaluation and a proposed architecture for technical realisation.

HomeCI - A visual editor for healthcare professionals in the design of home based care

The demands of introducing a more practical means of managing and monitoring technology within the home environment to support independent living are increasing. Within this paper we present a prototype solution, referred to as HomeCI, which allows healthcare professionals to establish the conditions/rules within which technology in the home should operate. The HomeCI concept is based on the use of visual notation and has been designed for use by healthcare professionals with a non technical background. Within the paper we present the design of the first version of the HomeCI visual editor and present the results of a usability study conducted on 4 healthcare professionals.

Assessing the impact of individual sensor reliability within smart living environments

The potential of smart living environments to provide a form of independent living for the ageing population is becoming more recognised. These environments are comprised of sensors which are used to assess the state of the environment, some form of information management to process the sensor data and finally a suite of actuators which can be used to change the state of the environment. When providing a form of support which may impinge upon the well being of the end user it is essential that a high degree of reliability can be maintained. Within this paper we present an information management framework to process sensor based data within smart environments. Based on this framework we assess the impact of sensor reliability on the classification of activities of daily living. From this assessment we show how it is possible to identify which sensors within a given set of experiments can be considered to be the most critical and as such consider how this information may be used for managing sensor reliability from a practical point of view.