Lecture Notes on Pervasive Computing

Pervasive computing

• Everywhere, anywhere, always on, anytime Pervasive computing is the third wave of computing
technologies to emerge since computers first appeared.
• Pervasive – all around us, Human Centered, Computers should adapt to the humans
• Computations enter our world, Better ways of Computer-Human interaction

Ubiquitous Computing (Ubicomp) is a post-desktop model of human-computer interaction in which

information processing has been thoroughly integrated into everyday objects and activities. Ubiquitous
Computing engages many computational devices and systems simultaneously, and may not necessarily
even be aware that they are doing so.

Other terms for pervasive computing

• Ubiquitous computing. Calm technology. Things that think. Everyware.
• Pervasive internet. Ambient intelligence. Proactive computing.
• Augmented reality. Sentient Computing. Urban Computing.
Ubiquitous computing
Ubiquitous computing (ubicomp) integrates computation into the environment, rather than having
computers which are distinct objects. Promoters of this idea hope that embedding computation into
the environment and everyday objects would enable people to interact with information-processing
devices more naturally and casually than they currently do, and in ways that suit whatever location or
context they find themselves in.
Ubiquitous computing encompasses wide range of research topics, including distributed computing,
mobile computing, sensor networks, human-computer interaction, and artificial intelligence.
Sentient computing
Sentient computing is a form of ubiquitous computing which uses sensors to perceive its
environment and react accordingly. A common use of the sensors is to construct a world model which
allows location-aware or context-aware applications to be constructed.
Context adaptative computing
A context adaptive system typically enables the user to maintain a certain application (in different
forms) while roaming between different wireless access technologies, locations, devices and even
simultaneously executing everyday tasks like meetings, driving a car etc.
For example a context adaptive and hence ubiquitous navigation system would offer navigation
support in the situations at home, indoor, outdoor, and in car.
This involves making the navigation functionality available for different availability of output
devices, input devices and location sensors as well as adapting the user interaction operability to the
current speed, noise or operator handicaps while keeping in mind the overall applicability depending
on the user preferences, his knowledge, current task etc.
Wearable computers
Wearable computers are computers that are worn on the body. They have been applied to areas such
as behavioral modeling, health monitoring systems, information technologies and media
development. Government organizations, military, and health professionals have all incorporated
wearable computers into their daily operations. Wearable computers are especially useful for
 applications that require computational support while the user’s hands, voice, eyes or attention are
actively engaged with the physical environment.
One of the main features of a wearable computer is consistency. There is a constant interaction
between the computer and user, ie. There is no need to turn the device on or off. Another feature is
the ability to multi-task. It is not necessary to stop what you are doing to use the device; it is
augmented into all other actions. These devices can be incorporated by the user to act like a
prosthetic. It can therefore be an extension of the user’s mind and/or body.
Examples for wearable computers: calculator watch , EyeTap, Head-mounted display , Head-up
display, Laptop, Personal digital assistant, Tablet PC, Virtual retinal display
Urban computing
The integration of computing, sensing, and actuation technologies into our everyday urban settings
and lifestyles. Successful integration requires taking several facets of the urban environment into
account at once.
Urban settings frame social behaviors; they encompass architectural forms and features that may or
may not be harmonious with given technologies; and they are increasingly but variably permeated by
wireless networks and fixed and mobile devices.
A key challenge is the great diversity and density of people, devices, and built artifacts found in urban
places.
Urban computing ranges from city-wide transportation-sensing infrastructure, to services embedded
in a cafe, to the bluetooth “aura” of an individual’s mobile phone as he or she walks down a street.
Ambient Intelligence

• The concept of ambient intelligence or Am I is a vision where humans are surrounded

by computing and networking technology unobtrusively embedded in their surroundings.
• In order for Am I to become a reality a number of key technologies are required:
• A seamless mobile/fixed web-based communication infrastructure (interoperability, wired and
wireless networks etc.)
• Dynamic and massively distributed device networks.
• Natural feeling human interfaces (intelligent agents, multi-modal interfaces, models of context
awareness etc.)
• Dependability and security (self-testing and self repairing software, privacy ensuring technology
et)

Context-aware pervasive systems

Context-aware pervasive systems (or aware systems, for short) refer to systems that can be aware of their
physical (and virtual) environment or situation, and respond intelligently based on such awareness. It is
among the most exciting trends in computing today, fueled by developments in pervasive computing,
including new computers worn by users, embedded devices, sensors, and wireless networking technology.
Context has its origin in the Latin verb contexere, meaning "to weave together."
Two Categories:
• Enumeration-based - context is defined in terms of its various categorizations,
• Role-based - context is defined in terms of its role in context-aware computing.

Characteristics of pervasive environments

 Heterogeneity: Computing will be carried out on a wide spectrum of client devices, each with
different configurations and functionalities.
Prevalence of "Small" Devices: Many devices will be small, not only in size but also in computing
power, memory size, etc.
Limited Network Capabilities: Most of the devices would have some form of connection. However,
even with the new networking standards such as GPRS, Bluetooth, 802.11x, etc., the bandwidth is still
relatively limited compared to wired network technologies. Besides, the connections are usually
unstable.
High Mobility: Users can carry devices from one place to another without stopping the services.
User-Oriented: Services would be related to the user rather than a specific device, or specific
location.
Highly Dynamic Environment: An environment in which users and devices keep moving in and out
of a volatile network.
Aim of pervasive computing:
• The aim of ubiquitous computing is to design computing infrastructures in such a manner
that they integrate seamlessly with the environment and become almost invisible.
• Present Everywhere Bringing mobile, wireless and sensor Ubiquitous computing (ubicomp)
integrates computation into the environment, rather than having computers which are distinct
objects

Principles of pervasive computing

• Creation of environments saturated with computing and communication capability, yet gracefully
integrated with human users.
• The purpose of a computer is to help you do something else.
• The best computer is a quiet, invisible servant. Technology should create calm.
• Calm technology: A technology that which informs but doesn't demand our focus/ attention
• Pervasive computing integrates computation into the environment, rather than having computers
which are distinct objects.

The Basic Elements of pervasive computing

The challenges of pervasive computing are dominated by the ubiquity of a vast manifold of
heterogeneous, small, embedded and mobile devices, the autonomy of their programmed behaviour, the
dynamicity and context-awareness of services they offer, the ad-hoc interoperability of services and the
different modes of user interaction upon those services. This is mostly due to technological progress like
the maturing of wireless networking, exciting new information processing possibilities induced by
submicron IC designs, carbon nano tube transistor technology, low power storage systems, smart
material, and motor-, controller-, sensor- and actuator technologies.
A future computing service scenario appears possible, in which almost every object in our everyday
environment will be equipped with embedded processors, wireless communication facilities and
embedded software to percept, perform and control a multitude of tasks and functions. Many of these
objects will be able to communicate and interact with the background infrastructure (e.g. the Internet), but
also with each other. Terms like “context-aware” smart appliances and smart spaces have appeared in
the literature to refer to such technology-rich environments. Context aware environments intelligently
monitor the objects of a real world (like persons, things, places), and interact with them in a pro-active,
autonomous, sovereign, responsible and user-authorized way. From an applied research prospect,
pervasive computing is motivated to empower users through an environment that is aware of their
presence, sensitive, adaptive and responsive to their needs, habits and emotions, as well as ubiquitously
accessible via natural interaction . Pervasive computing applications are characterised by the following
basic elements:
(i) ubiquitous access,
(ii) context awareness,
(iii) intelligence, and
(iv) natural interaction.
Ubiquitous access here refers to a situation in which users are surrounded by a multitude of
interconnected embedded systems, which are mostly invisible and weaved into the background of the
surrounding, like furniture, clothing, rooms, etc., and all of them able to sense the setting and state of
physical world objects via a multitude of sensors. Sensors, as the key enablers for implicit input from a
“physical world” into a “virtual world”, will be operated in a time-driven or event-driven way, and
actuators, as the generic means for implicit output from the “virtual” to the “physical world”, will respond
to the surrounding in either a reactive or proactive fashion.
Context awareness refers to the ability of the system to recognise and localize objects as well as people
and their intentions. The context of an application is understood as “any information that can be used to
characterize the situation of an entity”, an entity being “a person, place or object that is considered
relevant to the interaction between a user and an application, including the user and applications
themselves”. A key architecture design principle for context-aware applications will be to decouple
mechanism for collecting or sensing context information and its interpretation, from the provision and
exploitation of this information to build and run context-aware applications.
To support building context-aware applications, software developers should not be concerned with how,
when and where context information is sensed. Sensing context must happen in an application
independent way, and context representation must be generic for all possible applications.
Intelligence refers to the fact that a technology-rich environment is able to adapt itself to the people that
live (or artifacts that reside) in it, learn from their behavior, and possibly recognize as well as show
emotion. Natural interaction finally refers to advanced modalities like natural speech- and gesture
recognition, as well as speech synthesis which will allow a much more human-like communication with
the digital environment than is possible today.
Requirements of computational infrastructure
Scalable architecture
Fault tolerance
Parallelism
Ability to support heterogeneous device, in terms of software and hardware both.
Secure access pervasive architecture
Ability to filter unnecessary information and display only the required.
Availability of the web server handling the requests
Central authentication, authorization, and enforcement of access policies
Failure management
• Users have many different devices that look and behave in very different ways. (Examples of
several kinds of pervasive computing devices includes WAP phones, PDAs, and voice-
recognition devices) These devices proving different user interfaces, use different markup
languages, use different communication protocols, and have different ways of authenticating
themselves to servers.
 Applications must provide content in a form that is appropriate for the user's particular
device - WML for WAP phones, VoiceXML for voice interaction via a voice browser, HTML for
PCs, and so on.
• If device capabilities differ significantly, the entire interaction between the user and the Web
application has to be tailored: the device's capabilities to provide a good user experience.
• When the user accesses the same application from a WAP phone, only a small amount of
information can be displayed on a single screen, and only a handful of entry fields may be
contained in a form; both input and output have to be reduced to an absolute minimum. Wherever
possible, applications should employ personalization to avoid unnecessary data input or at least
provide good suggestions,
• Architectures for pervasive computing applications must not only allow for filtering of
unnecessary information, and for output targeted to different devices, but must also be flexible
enough to accommodate different flows of interaction depending on the user's device.
• Given the ever-growing number of pervasive computing devices, scalability of pervasive
computing applications is a very important issue.
• Large telecommunication companies expect millions of users to subscribe for some applications.

• It is of particular importance in the pervasive computing environment.

• Unlike PC users, most users of pervasive computing devices and applications will neither
understand nor accept comments like 'server currently down for maintenance.

• Scalability and availability can be achieved by running multiple instances of every component
that might become a bottleneck. Typically the gateways perform tasks that require significant
computing power. WAP gateways, for example, may have to execute the WTLS protocol in the
direction of the clients, and the SSL protocol in the direction of the servers.

• for many parallel sessions, requiring computation-intensive decryption and encryption of data.
Voice gateways use voice recognition engines and thus require even more computing power. A
scalable system will use a cluster of gateways for each device type, to which additions, machines
can be added as required.

• From the various gateways, a potentially large number of requests flow to the servers that host
pervasive computing Web application.
• Typically the network dispatcher is used to route incoming requests to the appropriate servers,
balancing the load between them.
• To support efficient handling of HTTPS, the dispatchers support a mode in which requests
originate from a particular client are always sent to the same server to avoid repeating SSL
handshakes.
• Failure management is necessary to ensure the availability of the system and this can be done by
increasing the redundancy.
• To assure high availability, pairs of network dispatchers can be used, in which one is active and a
back-up monitors heartbeat of the active dispatcher to take over if a failure occurs.
• To allow for central authentication, authorization, and enforcement of access policies,
authentication proxies are used, located in the demilitarized zone between two firewalls, so that
 all incoming requests can flow to application servers only via the authentication proxies. They
check each incoming request to see whether the client from which it originates is already known,
and whether it is allowed to access the desired target function of the Web application according to
a centrally defined policy. To do so, it needs access to the credentials required for authentication
and to the policies for authorization. If a request from a new client arrives, the authentication
proxy performs client authentication before letting any request pass through to the application
servers.
• An authentication proxy may consume significant computing power, e.g. when SSL server
authentication has to be performed for a large number of sessions. Thus, a cluster of
authentication proxies is required for larger systems.
• Requests initiated by authenticated clients flow from the authentication proxies to the application
servers behind the inner firewall.
• The application code and the presentation functions that make up the Web application front end is
running on these servers. Here, the requests coming from the clients are received and processed.
To implement a scalable Web application, a cluster of application servers is usually used to
which additional machines can be added when the load increases.
• All incoming requests originate from the device connectivity infrastructure. This infrastructure
may include different kinds of gateways that convert device specific requests to a canonical form,
i.e. HTTP request that may carry information about the device type, the desired language and the
desired reply content type, e.g. HTML, WML or VoiceXML.

Refrences:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubiquitous_computing
2. Poslad Stefan ‘ubiquitous computing, smart devices, smart environments and smart
interaction’, wiley, ISBN 978-0-470-03560-3, 2009.
3. http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/definition/pervasive-computing
4. http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/pervasive_computing.html
5. http://www.cise.ufl.edu/class/cen5531fa06/notes/IntroPervasiveComputingI.pdf