Context aware environments

Introduction & Definition

Context awareness is a term from ubiquitous computing or as so-called pervasive computing which sought to deal with linking changes in the environment with computer systems, which are otherwise static. 

This term is usually applied to the business theory in relation with the business process management.

Basically context is the rules of inter-relationship of features in processing any entities. Context is supposed to be the combination of the four entities which are

• Location
• Identity
• Activity
• Time

Context aware devices are the devices which can both sense, and react based on their environment. Devices may have information about the circumstances under which they are able to operate and based on rules, or an intelligent stimulus, react accordingly. These devices try to make assumptions about the user's current situation. 

Context aware systems can

•          Perceive a situation i.e. acquisition of context.
•          Understand the context. i.e. matching sensory stimulus to a context.
•          Trigger actions i.e. behaviour based on the recognized context.

User’s activity and location are very crucial factors in context awareness. 

Applications of context aware devices 

•   Adapt interfaces
•   Tailor application-relevant data
•   Discover services
•   Make the user interaction implicit
•   Build smart environments.

Categories of context aware environments

• 1.      Human factors related context –
•       User information – user’s habits, emotional state etc.
•       User’s social environment - co-location of others, social interaction
•       User’s tasks - Spontaneous activity, engaged tasks.
• 2.      Physical environment context –
•       Location (absolute position, relative position, co-location,...),
•       Infrastructure (surrounding resources for computation, communication, task performance...),
•       Physical conditions (noise, light, pressure,...).