LaCoMoCo

Laboratory for Context-dependent Mobile Communication

Lars BirkedalThe IT University of Copenhagen

http://lacomoco.itu.dk/ 2

LaCoMoCo Context: any information that characterizes a

situation related to the interaction between users, applications, and the surrounding environment

Key concept in ubiquitous / pervasive computing

Weiser 1991: two most crucial issues for realizing potential of ubiquitous computing: location and scale

http://lacomoco.itu.dk/ 3

LaCoMoCo: Aim Create a large-scale laboratory in which we can

study how to best provide and make use of location and other context information, as a crucial step toward realizing the potential of ubiquitous computing

http://lacomoco.itu.dk/ 4

LaCoMoCo

Mobility Lab

Research activities

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Teaching activities

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Partners

TDC

GEOvision

Nokia

Crossroads Copenhagen

Blip Systems

Alexandra

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Crossroads Copenhagen Network of private and public institutions and

companies for culture, media, and communication technology

Partners: Nokia, DR, TDC, CSC, ITU, CBS, KUA, HP, Royal Library, Consumer Information, …

Common theme: context-dependent mobile communication

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Area: app. 500 m x 500 m (the grey area)

People: app. 20.000 people will be visiting daily

Buildings:

1. The Consumer Information2. The University of Copenhagen3. The Royal Library4. Student Dormitories5. Apartments6. The IT University & Crossroads7. The DR City (Danmarks Radio)8. Project offices for the DR City

Ørestad Nord

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Ørestad Nord: visionTo equip the Ørestad Nord area with WLAN and make it a large scale Living Lab – a testbed for students, researchers and partners involved.

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Outline Mobility Lab Teaching Activities Demonstrations Research Projects

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Mobility Lab 70m2, room 3A54 at ITU Technological infrastructure for research and

teaching Integration activities More info: mobilitylab.itu.dk

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WLAN positioning installed Ekahau WLAN positioning system and

implemented LaCoMoCo Web API positioning via triangulations, based on received signal

strengths (RSS): calibration device sends RSS to server, which calculates position

using RSS + calibration info precision: 1-2 meter

LaCoMoCo Web API: makes it possible to interact with the positioning server in a simple way (enabling students of all study lines to use it for projects)

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Bluetooth 15 BlipNet bluetooth access points services for pushing applications to the

telephone via bluetooth BlipNet course in December

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GSM positioning eksperimental access to positioning

information from the TDC GSM net UTM coordinats for transmitter + RSS (received

signal strength) makes it possible for students to implement

algorithms for outdoor positioning based on GSM

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Teaching activities Courses

Java on Mobile Devices Location-based Mobile Applications Peer-2-peer storage systems Model-based design of distributed and mobile

systems Mobile Systems Software Mobile Business: Strategy, Technology and Marketing

Student Projects More than 130 students worked on related projects

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Selected Demonstrations

Position Dependent Communication System Disembodied Locationspecific Conversational Agents ∙ s ∙ u ∙ c ∙ k ∙ e ∙ r ∙ - a locationbased multiplayer game The Astrix Tag and Scan application Rift World

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Some Research Projects in Value Chain Technological Infrastructure

Bigraphical Programming Languages LaCoMoCo Programming Platform High-precision Positioning and Intrusion Detection

Services Disembodied Loc.-specific Conversational Agents Location-based Services in Industrial Settings Location and Context Models Location-based Gaming

Social and Cultural Implications Use Patterns and Social Networks in CoMoCo IT-surveillance and Management strategies

Location and Context Models

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Location and context: two paradigms

Making location transparent: discounting for embodied action (‘anytime, anywhere’)

Making location visible: accounting for embodied action and interaction

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Location and context: why

Counteracting the obtrusiveness of handheld devices: Making devices elegantly adaptive to physical context, i.e., context-dependent

In many human practices, the physical location of people and things has significance: Where is actor A right now? Is he where he’s

supposed to be? Is he on time, or is he running late?

Where is subassembly F in the process? Is it ready for final assembly?

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Location and context Projecting positional coordinates onto a map?

Easy!

The ‘location model’ already exists — in the form of a standard ‘projection’, a metric, various notations, and the data set.

Determining the significance of position information for other purposes is an entirely different problem.

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Location and context Fact: Actor A is approaching location L… But what does it mean? What is the

significance? For example:

If A is maintenance worker, and L is the location of machine M, and M has been reported defective, and A is carrying his toolbox,

then remove M from current production plan …

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Some Research Challenges Can we build a universal model? Hardly…

Do we have to build a particular context model for each application? That’s very cumbersome in the first place, and how do we make applications interoperate anyway?

Can we identify a (practically) finite set of contextual ‘primitives’ and rules of combination by means of which context models can be defined? A computational context notation?

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Possible primitives location:: {coordinates (x, y, z); location; granularity; boundary criteria;

time…} vicinity:: {location; velocity; direction; topology…} setting:: {infrastructure (location); artifact…} artifact:: {location (nominal, actual); ownership; possession;

function…} environment:: {e.g., temperature; lighting; …} activity:: {location; artifact; setting; schedule; state; status; history…} actor:: {location; orientation; activity; role; responsibility…} time:: {point in time; sequence; cycle; granularity…} accountability:: {access rights; visibility of access…} …

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Location and Context For more information, contact

Peter Carstensen (carstensen@itu.dk) Kjeld Schmidt (schmidt@itu.dk)

High-precision positioning and Intrusion detection

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Multimodal wireless networks Multiple functionalities but realized on the

same infrastructure E.g.: wireless network with two modes of

operation communication mode surveillance mode (sensor network)

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Surveillance mode Realized by analyzing the properties of the

propagation environment (TOA, RSS, …) Compute a “signature” of the environment

and store it Recompute signature – if significantly

different from the stored signature, it is assumed that the disturbance is caused by an intruder, so cause alarm

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Experimental results Using standard off the shelf components,

802.11b wireless cards Two laptops in opposite rooms, wooden door in

between: open / closed / half-open Opening the door could always be observed,

even with 10-5 probability of false alarm Half-opening, 0.9975 probability of detection at

10-5 probability of false alarm

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High-precision positioning Recall: calibration needed for Ekahau

positioning system Goal: develop almost-self-calibrating

positioning system with, e.g., one basic calibration and then automatic recalibrations

For more information, contact John Aasted Sørensen (jaas@itu.dk)

BPL

Bigraphical Programming Languages

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What is a bigraph? A place graph (a tree, a location hierarchy) A link graph (hypergraph)

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What is a bigraph? By representing both components of the bigraph, we

get an impression of object locations and connections simultaneously

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Modeling systems with bigraphs Example, inspired by the DELCA project

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Modeling systems with bigraphs Dynamics – bigraphical reactive systems

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Modeling systems with bigraphs The ghost moves from one room to the next

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Some Research Challenges Develop interpreter for bigraphical reactive

systems to allow experimentation Involves development of matching

algorithms Related to rewriting of XML

Type systems Bigraphs can be seen as a simple form of

location model – how to extend it to a context model ?

Locations with uncertainty

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Location and Context Models using current technologies CMC platform, combining speech with

positioning technology Paper submitted to Ubicomp 2005, prototype

implemented at ITU (CACM: context is key!)

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Distributed Reactive XML XML can be seen as a kind of bigraphs Use ideas from bigraphs to extend XML with

reaction rules to allow general rewriting of XML documents

Make a distributed implementation using XML store

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For more information

http://www.itu.dk/research/theory/bpl Contact

Lars Birkedal (birkedal@itu.dk)

http://lacomoco.itu.dk/ 39

Thank you! We look forward to collaborating more with

researchers and companies at the AlexandraInstitute through the Højtteknologisk Netværk