Ubiquitous Computing

Introduction & Definition

Ubiquitous computing names the third wave in computing, just now beginning. First were mainframes, each shared by lots of people. Now we are in the personal computing era, person and machine staring uneasily at each other across the desktop. Next comes ubiquitous computing, or the age of calm technology, when technology recedes into the background of our lives.

Ubiquitous computing is roughly the opposite of virtual reality. Where virtual reality puts people inside a computer-generated world, ubiquitous computing forces the computer to live out here in the world with people. Virtual reality is primarily a horse power problem; ubiquitous computing is a very difficult integration of human factors, computer science, engineering, and social sciences. 

In Ubiquitous computing human-computer interaction in which information processing has been thoroughly integrated into everyday objects and activities. In the course of ordinary activities, someone "using" ubiquitous computing engages many computational devices and systems simultaneously, and may not necessarily even be aware that they are doing so.

History of research

            Mark Weiser introduced the phrase ‘ubiquitous computing’ in 1988 during his tenure as chief technologist of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). He wrote some early papers on the subject to define and give more information on the subject with the inportant concerns regarding the subject.

            Some more contribution to the field was also given by MIT at media labs in form of consortium by Hiroshi Ishii. Also Georgia Tech's College of Computing, NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program, UC Irvine's Department of Informatics, Microsoft Research, Intel Research and Equator, Ajou University UCRi & CUS were some of the contributions.

Concept of ubiquitous computing

Ubiquitous computing presents challenges across computer science: in systems design and engineering, in systems modeling, and in user interface design. Contemporary human-computer interaction models, whether command-line, menu-driven, or GUI-based, are inappropriate for the ubiquitous case, natural interaction paradigm will be needed for interaction.

Three forms of ubiquitous system devices are

1.      Dust

2.      Skin

3.      Clay

1. Dust – Dust are tiny devices without visual display. They are autonomous sensing and communication devices in cubic millimetre.

E.g.- Sensors for temperature, humidity, light, motion, in product monitoring, car monitoring, etc.

2. Skin – Skin are the fabrics made of light emitting and conductive polymers. They can be grouped to form flexible display surfaces like on cloths.

E.g.- OLED displays.

3. Clay – Ensembles of “Dust” systems formed into arbitrary 3D shapes resembling many physical objects. 

Advantages

• Facilitating human-computer interaction
• Advancement from the desktop paradigm
• Small, inexpensive, robust networked processing devices
• Integrated into everyday objects and activities
• Context awareness.

Applications

1. Natalie Jeremijenko's "Live Wire" - For indication of traffic.
2. Ambient Devices' orb - For receiving data from a wireless network and report current events, such as stock prices and the weather 

Location based services

Location based services definition

Today in the age of telecommunication the mobile network operators innovate ways to create differentiation. One such innovation is delivering services which are highly personalized. The services are mostly location based. These are also called as Location based services.

So the Location based services are the services which are of entertainment and information nature which can be accessible with the mobile devices through the mobile network using the geographical position of mobile device.

Location is a strategic asset of wireless carriers. Leveraging this information enables the user to experience value-added services and the mobile network operator to offer differentiation and incremental profitability

Technology used

Location based services use the following technologies

•           Global positioning systems. (GPS) – this is used for positioning the user globally with the help of satellites.

•          Network based positioning systems – for triangulation of the signal from cell sites serving a mobile phone.

•          Geographic Information Systems (GIS) – It  provide the tools to provision and administer base map data such as manmade structures (streets, buildings) and terrain (mountains, rivers). GIS is also used to manage point-of-interest data such as location of gas stations, restaurants etc. Finally, GIS information also includes information about the radio frequency characteristics of the mobile network. This allows the system to determine the serving cell site of the user.

•          Location Management Function - The location management function acts as a gateway and mediator between positioning equipment and LBS infrastructure. location management function processes positioning and GIS data on behalf of LBS applications.

Mobile locating methods

There are following locating methods

•          Control plane locating – here the control plane service provider gets location based on radio signal delay of the closest cell phone tower. But this method is time consuming as it uses voice controlled channel.

•          GSM localization – here the mobile is located in relation with the cell site. This method rely on various means of multilateration of the signal from cell sites serving the mobile phone.

Location based services applications

·     Requesting the business service like ATM

·         Navigation of drivers

·         Advertising

·         Receiving alerts

·         Tracking.

Privacy issues – 

With the network so wide spread and the messaging ability combined with the locating power the privacy issues are of high concern. IT acts is enforced in many countries like US and Europe which prohibits the spammers also other people using the network for their own benefit.

 

Ubiquitous Healthcare Systems

Healthcare activities based on Information and Communication Technologies - is one the most prominent of these e-business services that can have a major visible impact on the development of the society, as endorsed in the World Health Assembly in May 2005. 

Ubiquitous Healthcare (u-Health) focuses on e-Health applications that can provide health care to people anywhere at any time using broadband and wireless mobile technologies.
 

Components of ubiquitous healthcare system

A ubiquitous healthcare system consists of

• Physiological signal devices
• A mobile system
• A device provider system
• A healthcare service provider system
• A physician system 
• A healthcare personal system.

In this system, wireless body area network (WBAN) such as ZigBee is used to communicate between physiological signal devices and the mobile system. 

WBAN device needs a specific function for ubiquitous healthcare application. A scanning algorithm, dynamic discovery and installation, reliable data transmission, device access control, and a healthcare profile is needed for ubiquitous healthcare system.

There are a lot of small devices in ubiquitous healthcare system. There is much difficulty in using a new small device if it is not discovered automatically. The small devices should be discovered and installed automatically to implement ubiquitous healthcare system.

Types of Wearable Physiological Devices -

• Wrist watch type.
• Chest belt type.
• Shoulder type.
• Necklace type.

Benefits of ubiquitous healthcare system

• More efficient utilization of physicians,
• Shortened hospital stays,
• Reducing the skill level and frequency of visits of home-care professionals
• Reducing hospital readmission rates, and
• Promoting health education can all contribute to reduced healthcare costs.
• The ubiquitous healthcare system enables medical professionals to remotely perform real-time monitoring, early diagnosis, and treatment for potential risky disease. 
• Furthermore, the medical diagnosis and patient consultations can be delivered via wire/wireless communication channels.
• The ubiquitous healthcare system can provide a cheaper and smarter way to manage and care for patients suffering from age-related chronic diseases, such as heart disease , because chronic diseases require continuous, long-term monitoring rather than episodic assessments.
• A continuous health monitoring system should be

§  Wearable and easy to use.

§  Plug-and-play system using Bluetooth as the wireless communication protocol.

§  Integrate current personal digital assistant (PDA) technology and wireless local area network (WLAN) technology. 

 

Opportunistic systems

One of the basic foundations of ubiquitous computing is self awareness. If we consider the huge amount and the fast growing number of embedded or mobile devices the traditional design-time-defined sensing approaches are incompatible. Ubiquitous computing system designs have to shift their approach from time defined sensing to the one that opportunistically collects the data from various sources like physical sensors, internet etc. prominent examples being positioning systems implemented in the current generations of smart phones opportunistically making the use of GPS, GSM.

Opportunistic sensing is the foundation for self aware ubiquitous computer systems including very large numbers of entities in open ended environments. Opportunistic sensing system is not limited to specific application domain.

Until today the sensing networks consisted of homogeneous cluster of small sensing nodes communicating wirelessly. They executed a fixed set of applications. The data is streamed over and there exist a simultaneous end to end path from source to destination. In the mobile networks there is no fix infrastructure. Nodes move around and change environment constantly. The mobile phones carry the data from cluster to cluster and there is no simultaneous end to end communication path. Sensor data is collected and distributed opportunistically. 

Many times the case is that mobile phones use human centric approach not the device centric approach. Mobile phone user not only becomes collector of data but he also filters and disseminates the data.

Context awareness is one of the foundations of ubiquitous computing. It can be achieved through various techniques like signal processing, pattern recognition & reasoning. Opportunistic sensing revisits these techniques to deal with opportunistic nature of the substrate.
 

There can be many new areas for the opportunistic sensing

• Mobile crowd sensing
• Urban sensing
• Smart appliances
• Traffic & transportation

1. Mobile crowd sensing – The widespread use of mobile phones calls for the decentralized use of sensor data to infer the crowd behavior. Information spread and processing are some of the main domains for the technology.
2. Urban sensing – mobile, vehicle mounted sensors combined with publicly available information enable user to sense, share, record their personal environment.
3. Smart appliances – devices which are able to adapt the changing service requirements are one of the service domains of opportunistic sensing.
4. Traffic & transportation – Collective vehicular settings, acting and requesting services while transit is also one of the domains of opportunistic sensing. 

Pervasive wireless networks

Introduction

Wireless networks have been used for communication for decades now. Wireless networks  not only provide us with location independence but also ease of access. Wireless communication has evolved to a very large extent in past few decades. In today’s world we see many forms of wireless communication networks viz. Cellular networks, WiFi networks, and personal area networks. Today the need for high speed, low cost data connectivity is growing day by day.

Wireless networks generations 

Wireless communication devices have been evolved in many generations

• First generation (1G) – Transmission of only voice
• Second generation (2G) – Voice as well as data transmission. The 2.5G as well as 2.5G+ are enhancements which could support higher data transmission rates.
• Third generation (3G) – More transmission rates including transmission of voice, data and multimedia streams.

Communication standards

Long range communication –

Wireless communication devices such as mobile phones use the following standards for communication

• GSM
• CDMA

GSM – GSM (Global system for mobile communication) was developed in 1982 in Europe. GSM support the data rate of about 14.4 kbps. Many standards have been derived based on GSM which are explained below.

GSM 900	Found in 1982. Uses FDMA and TDMA for user access of channel. Operate at 890-915 MHz for uplink and 935-960 MHz for downlink. Data rates are 14.4 kbps.
EGSM (Enhanced GSM)	Operate at 880-915MHz for uplink and 925-960 MHz for downlink
GPRS (General packet radio service)	Is a packet oriented service. Uses unused channels in TDMA mode in a GSM network
EDGE (Enhanced data rates for GSM evolution)	Higher data rates upto 48 kbps. The rates can be enhanced upto 384 kbps by coding techniques.

CDMA – CDMA (Code division multiplexing access) is one more mobile standard which started in  1991. CDMA support high speed data rates and is considered 3G. CDMA can transfer voice, data as well as multimedia.

CDMA based standards are explained as follows.

CDMA one	Founded in 1991. Operates at 824-849 MHz. Can transmit along signals from multiple sources and users.
3GPP (Wide CDMA)	Support asynchronous operations. Support 3.84 Mbps chipping rate.
3GPP2	Founded in 2001 Used for voice, multimedia, real time multimedia, circuit and packet switching communication.
UMTS (Universal mobile communication system)	Support both 3GPP, 3GPP2 Data rate of 100 kbps to 2 Mbps. Chipping rate of 3.84 Mbps.

Short range communication –

Although wireless devices use mobile network standards for long range communication the short range communication is facilitated by WPAN & WLAN.

WPAN (Wireless personal area network) – WPAN assist the communication of mobile devices with home computers at short distances.

WPAN use following standards for communication.

1. Bluetooth – Bluetooth IEEE 802.15.1 is one of the standard used by WPAN which operate at the frequency of 2.4 GHz. It is identical to IEEE 802.11b WLAN standard. It provides short distance mobile communication with a data rate of 1 Mbps. Examples of such transmission are mobile phone headset, hands free etc. 
2. ZigBee – IEEE 802.15.4 standard used by WPAN is called as ZigBee. ZigBee is used in lower transmitting power systems. It has lower network joining latency as compared to Bluetooth. It provides automation and remote controls up to range of 70 m. The data rates supported by ZigBee are 250kbps, 40kbps & 20kbps with a spectra 2.4 GHz, 902 to 928 MHz & 868 to 870 MHz.

WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) & Internet access – WLAN facilitates the communication between mobile and internet. WLAN is WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) based service. WLAN uses the following set of standards for communication.

IEEE 802.11a	It support infrastructure based architecture as well as mobile ad hoc network. It uses OFDM modulation. The data rates supports are from 54 kbps to few Mbps.
IEEE 802.11b	It operates at 54 Mbps and 2.4 GHz. Modulation is DSSS/FHSS. It also support distance wireless networking using Bluetooth It provides protected WiFi access Data rates are 1 Mbps (Bluetooth), 2 Mbps, 5.5 Mbps, 11 Mbps and 54 Mbps(HIPERLAN 2).
IEEE 802.11g	Operates at 54 Mbps and 2.4 GHz. Support many new Bluetooth applications and compatible with 802.11b. Uses DSSS modulation in place of OFDMA.
IEEE 802.11i	Provides AES (Advance encryption standard) & DES (Data encryption standard) security standards.

Security – Security is one of the main areas of concern in the wireless network communication. Some of the main security issues are

• Security of the data transmitted from one point to other.
• Non repudiation of the data
• Authentication

Authentication – Authentication has been an important issue in security. For authentication in wireless networks use secrecy code which is calculated using the 128 bit random number given by the base station. Then authentication code is calculated. This is sent back to base station which is compared with number in the database if the number matches the device is authenticated.

Security of data – For security of data the wireless devices uses the cryptography algorithms which encrypt the data in some other unreadable format. There are two categories of algorithms Symmetric and Asymmetric.

Inter vehicular communication

Inter vehicular communication is a part of intelligent transport system.  Inter vehicular studies have been conducted since 1980’s and many useful inventions like PATH, chauffeur, CarTALK 2000 etc have rolled out of the labs.

Vehicular Networks (also known as VANETs) are a cornerstone of the envisioned Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS).

Three main applications of Inter vehicular communication are

•        Information function – distribution of road information like incidents etc to the vehicles.
•        Longitudinal control – using IVC’s capabilities for improving the road capacity.
•        Assistance systems – Assisting vehicles at the critical points like blind turns etc.

Communication structure

Inter vehicular communication systems use two types frequencies for communication between the vehicles namely 

1. Infrared frequency.
2. Radio frequency.

 Radio frequencies include VHF, micro, and millimetre waves. It is worth to note that infrared, in spite of its various drawbacks, has been adopted by most projects. The communication with infrared and millimetre waves are within the range of LOS and usually directional, whereas those with VHF and microwaves are of broadcast type. 

3G technology – The technology which is used in cellular phone is proposed for the communication between vehicles but there are some problems which have to be solved before using the 3G technologies like

•          Time synchronization
•          Radio resource management
•          Lack of centralized structure.

Inter Vehicular communication uses two type of routing protocols 

1.          Unicast routing protocol
2.          Broadcast routing protocol

Unicast routing protocols are usually position based. For application like group communication the unicast protocols are not very effective as it uses packet forwarding for information transfer.  

Broadcast routing protocol uses the flooding method for sending the information on the network. The broadcast network can be optimized according to the needs of the application. 

Group communication has been a topic of discussion for many years. Both cooperative driving and platooning which are the main applications of Inter vehicular communication need group communication. The research done on the topic elaborate the following 

1. Group communication can be achieved through reducing the group membership service to local environment.
2. Another research suggests event based middleware for the group communication.
3. One more approach suggests building the system directly on MAC layer.
4. Tracking the membership in a more easy way rather than global tracking.

Security concerns

                The Security issues with respect to Inter vehicular communication are gaining more importance day by day. Security systems like “Driver Ad Hoc Networking Infrastructure” are some of the systems used by cars. It includes both processing and wireless communication facilities, allowing each car to constitute a local communication area around itself. In this way, each car can exchange vital signs with the neighboring vehicles.

                Wireless identification of vehicles is likely to rely more and more on electronic license plates. But there have been attacks against such schemes including those against privacy of the vehicle owners.

Conclusion

In many situations, especially those related to co-operative driving, local but distributed coordination functions sitting directly upon MAC would be more efficient solutions. In addition, since vehicles will get more “smart”, partially due to the installation of IVC systems, security and privacy are becoming new concerns that both academia and industry should pay attention to. Finally, mathematical models for road traffic are important tools in developing IVC systems, because simulations are still necessary in testing large scale communication systems.

Wearable Computers

Wearable computers are based on wearable computing technology which is used in behavioral modeling, media development. 
Wearable computers comprise of constant interaction between users and computers by the means of hands, voice etc. 
Wearable Technology is a portable computer that is included into the space of a user, this can be worn anywhere around the body and can be hands free use. 

 
Wearable computing is widely used in areas like   

• Pattern recognition
• Fashion designing
• Application for disabilities etc. 
• One of the biggest uses of wearable computing is done by US Army in the land warrior systems.

 

History Of Wearable computers

The history of wearable computers starts from 1960’s

• The First developed wearable computer developed was a pocket watch. In the same year the mathematician Edward O. Thorp developed theory of card counting which was integrated with the analog computer 

• In 70’s some of the major advancements were HP-01 algebraic calculator developed by Hawlett- Packard. 

• In 1980’s the focus was more on development of more general purpose wearable computers like cameras computer controlled flash bulbs etc. In 1989 the head mounted display was developed. 

• Since then there have been many advancements in the wearable computer field. Many new technologies were introduced which replaced the old technologies and till date the wearable computing field has given many useful things.

• Some of the major achievements by the inventors are PDA( Personal digital Assistant), Pocket computers, tablet pcs, Palmtop computers, IPod, Ipad. 

Advantages of Wearable computers:

• Mobility—Imagine being able to carry all the capabilities of your desktop as you work, wherever you go, whatever you do.
• Connectivity—All the information resources of the organization are at your fingertips, instantly. You're always in touch.
• Efficiency—No more going back to the office to access or input needed data. No more duplication of effort.
• Productivity—Add it all up, and you're looking at increased organizational productivity and a bigger bottom line!

 

Disadvantages of Wearable computers:

•  Equipment can be heavy
•  Expensive
•  Some Wearable Computers can consist of alot of wiring
•  Can cause iritation in heat
•  Side-Effects such as Headaches
•  Wearable Computers can invade privacy
•  Can be used to gain an unfair advantage over others such as Casinos
•  Being tracked wherever you go

 

Examples of Wearable Computing:-

• Glasses that use image to sound renderings (help blind people)
• Computers that can be used as a wrist watch
• Gloves that enable users to make music by waving/clapping hands (the hand band)
• Wrist watch television
• Computer built into shoes that automatically adjusts to support you

 

Smart Appliances

Smart Appliances are the devices which are user configurable as well as they can operate autonomously to some extent. Smart devices are digital and computer networked. Smart devices are equipped with special structured wiring which can be controlled via program by entering a single command.

Smart devices are similar to ubiquitous computing devices in which the human computer interaction is integrated in everyday objects.

Smart devices are designed to facilitate interaction in any of the following environments like Physical world, human world, & distributed computing world.

Characteristics of Smart Appliances are as follows

•        A set of static system hardware and softwares resource
•        Plug and play of some hardware resources 
•        Some properties like artificial intelligence
•        Remote service execution.

Smart Appliances can be of various types such as

•        Multifunctional devices like mobile, game console etc.
•        Personalized devices which are configured for specific users. 
•        Wearable/ Mobile devices which are loosely bound to users.
•        Smart devices which provide unlimited resource access.

Smart Appliances operate in a range of environments like

1.    Virtual environment which access remote services anywhere & anytime.
2.    Physical environment which are inbuilt in the devices in form of sensors etc.
3.    Human environment which accompany human for their functioning.

Examples of Smart Appliances

• Smart Clock
• Heat ventilation and air conditioning system
• Smart home