Introduction to Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing

Introduction to Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing Dr. Tarek Sheltami COE 482

Outline • A technology trying to embed the PCs into everyday objects to make the PCs invisible. • Ubiquitous: Being or seeming to be everywhere at the same time (omnipresent). • Later this was renamed as pervasive computing. • Pervasive: Capability to spread through ought. • Meaning Spreading the computation power into everything around us. • The name ubiquitous computing was coined by Mark Weiser (Father of Ubiquitous Computing). A summary of PPTs in the web

The Major Trends in Computing Mainframe (Past) 1:None computer shared by many people  Personal Computer (Present) 1:1 one computer, one person   Ubiquitous Nk:1 Computing N:1 *Internet - Widespread Distributed Computing* many computers shared by each one of us A summary of PPTs in the web

Phase I - The Mainframe Era Computers were a scarce resource run by experts behind closed doors. A summary of PPTs in the web

Phase II - The PC Era • In 1984 the number of people using PCs surpassed that of people using mainframe computers. • PC Era:You have yourcomputer, it contains your stuff, and you interact directly and deeply with it. • The PC is most analogous to the automobile. A summary of PPTs in the web

Transition Phase - The Internet The Internet brings together elements of the mainframe era and the PC era.  Client = PC Server = Mainframe A summary of PPTs in the web

Phase III - The UC Era • The UC era will have lots of computers shared by each one of us. • UC is fundamentally characterized by the connection of things in the world with computation. • Frequently used related terms: Pervasive computing, Wearable computers, Intelligent environment, Things That Think (T³), Wearware, Personal Area Networking (PAN).[3] A summary of PPTs in the web

UC - Definition Elements that define ubiquitous computing:[4] • Ubiquity/Pervasiveness– lots of devices • Connectedness– the devices are networked • Context-awareness– the system is aware of the context of users • Invisibility– device effectively becomes invisible A summary of PPTs in the web

UC – How To Understand It • UC goal: enhancing computer use by making many computers available throughout the physical environment, but making them effectively invisible to the user. • Ubiquity – Everywhere – Adaptation to environment – Intuitive, transparent, natural interfaces A summary of PPTs in the web

A summary of PPTs in the web

Pervasive/Ubiquitous Computing • Pervasive (or ubiquitous) computing which is a concept based on a vision described by Mark Weiser in 1991. • Move beyond desktop machine • Ubiquitous computing environments involve the interaction, coordination, and cooperation of numerous, casually accessible, and often invisible computing devices. • Computing is embedded everywhere in the environment A summary of PPTs in the web

Ubicomp Notions • The "authorized access to anytime-anywhere-any device-any network-any data" • “Invisible” resources • it is computation that's freely available everywhere • Machines sense users’ presence and act accordingly A summary of PPTs in the web

BEGINNINGS OF UBIQUITOUS COMPUTING • While working atXEROX Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) as Chief Technologist, Weiser envisioned the third era of computing in 1985. Weiser produced three types of wirelesscomputing devices • Tabs • pads • boards. A summary of PPTs in the web

Pervasive computing technologies Pervasive computing involves three converging areas of ICT • computing (‘devices’) - PCS devices are likely to assume many different forms and sizes, from handheld units (similar to mobile phones)to near-invisible devices set into ‘everyday’ objects (like furniture and clothing). • Communications (‘connectivity’)- This can be achieved via both wired (such as Broadband (ADSL) or Ethernet) and wireless networking technologies (such as WiFi or Bluetooth) • ‘user interfaces’- new user interfaces are being developed that will be capable of sensing and supplying more information about users, and the broader environment, to the computer for processing A summary of PPTs in the web

Embedded Technology • is the process of introducing computing power to various appliances. • Computers are hidden in numerous information appliances which we use in our day-to-day life. • common scenario posits refrigerators "aware" of their suitably-tagged contents, able to both plan a variety of menus from the food actually on hand, and warn users of stale or spoiled food. A summary of PPTs in the web

Applications of Ubicomp • Health care • home care • transport • environmental monitoring A summary of PPTs in the web

1. Health care • Pervasive computing offers opportunities for future healthcare provision both for treating and managing disease, and for patient administration • remote sensors and monitoring technology might allow the continuous capture and analysis of patients’ physiological data • Medical staff could be immediately alerted to any detected irregularities A summary of PPTs in the web

2. Environmental monitoring • Pervasive computing provides improved methods to monitor the environment • It will allow for continuous realtime data collection and analysis via remote, wireless devices • this poses significant challenges for PCS developers. Devices may be required to withstand harsh environmental conditions (such as heat, cold and humidity A summary of PPTs in the web

3. Intelligent transport systems • Such systems seek to bring together information and telecommunications technologies in a collaborative scheme to improve the safety, efficiency and productivity of transport networks • Electronic devices could be directly integrated into the transport infrastructure, and into vehicles themselves, with the aim of better monitoring and managing the movement of vehicles within road, rail, air and sea transport systems. A summary of PPTs in the web

Challenges • The “Accidentally” Smart Environment • Impromptu Interoperability • No Systems Administrator • Social Implications of Aware Technologies • Reliability • Inference in the Presence of Ambiguity A summary of PPTs in the web

1. The “Accidentally” Smart Environment • If you walk into an environment anywhere in the world, you would probably not find an infrastructure suitable for ubiquitous computing • Instead, you would find an infrastructure suited towards established and well-grounded technologies • the environments of users must be “upgraded,” to support this new technology A summary of PPTs in the web

2. Impromptu Interoperability • Ubiquitous computing must not just have interoperable devices, they must have impromptu interoperability – the ability to interconnect and communicate with little or no advance planning. • This presents a problem because every device must be written to understand the software of every other device A summary of PPTs in the web

3. Social Implications of Aware Technologies • Pervasive computing systems may have implications for privacy, security and safety, as a result of their ability to: gather sensitive data, for example on users' everyday interactions, movements, preferences and attitudes, without user intervention or consent • The advent of pervasive computing may mean that data can be collected without a person’s knowledge or consent. Some argue that this could violate existing data protection law A summary of PPTs in the web

4. Reliability • Since ubiquitous computing devices will be everywhere, it makes sense for them to be reliable. • Owners and developers will not want to be constantly bombarded by failing devices or insecure software. A summary of PPTs in the web

CONCEPTS AND TECHNOLOGY FOR THE FUTURE • Ubiquitous computing is the next generation computing environments with information & communication technology everywhere, for everyone, at all times. • Information and communication technology will be an integrated part of our environments A summary of PPTs in the web

Introduction to Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing