Ubiquitous computing
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Ubiquitous computing (ubicomp, or sometimes ubiqcomp) integrates computation into the environment, rather than having computers which are distinct objects. Other terms for ubiquitous computing include pervasive computing, calm technology, and things that think. Promoters of this idea hope that embedding computation into the environment and everyday objects would enable people to move around and interact with information and computing more naturally and casually than they currently do. One of the goals of ubiquitous computing is to enable devices to sense changes in their environment and to automatically adapt and act based on these changes based on user needs and preferences.
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History
The late Mark Weiser wrote what are considered some of the seminal papers in Ubiquitous Computing beginning in 1988. Weiser was influenced in a small way by the dystopian Philip K. Dick novel Ubik, which envisioned a future in which everything -- from doorknobs to toilet-paper holders, were intelligent and connected. Currently, the art is not as mature as Weiser hoped, but a considerable amount of development is taking place.
The MIT Media Lab has also carried on significant research in this field, which they call Things That Think[1].
Examples
The most direct descendants of the concept include products from the company Ambient Devices, which has produced an "orb", a "dashboard", and a "weather beacon", devices that receive data from a wireless network and unobtrusively provide it to a person's peripheral attention, with a lighted globe (the orb) quietly signalling (e.g.) stock market movement, a similar lighted cube (the beacon) signalling weather, and a set of analog meters signalling a variety of user-configurable data. The heritage of these devices lies in experimental devices created at Xerox PARC, notably a simply piece of string attached to a stepper motor, itself attached to a simple integrator attached to the office LAN. When the LAN was busy, the motor would step, and the string would twitch, yielding a peripherally noticeable indication of network traffic. Weiser called this calm technology[2].
Some would consider GPS-equipped automobiles that give interactive driving directions or RFID store checkout systems to be examples of this kind of system, but these are far from the type of application that were imagined at either PARC or MIT.
Current Research
Ubiquitous computing encompasses a wide range of research topics, including distributed computing, mobile computing, sensor networks, human-computer interaction, and artificial intelligence. Several research labs are taking interest in developing this field:
- AMBIENTE Lab in Human-Computer Interaction, Fraunhofer IPSI Institute, AMBIENTE division, Germany
- CHICO Laboratory in Computer Human Interaction, University of Castilla - la Mancha, Spain
- Cogent Computing Group Cogent Computing Group at Coventry University, UK
- Computing Department, Lancaster University
- Design & User-centered Brainstorming Center (DUB), University of Washington
- e-World Lab, University of South Australia
- Embedded Interaction Research Group, University of Munich, Germany
- Future Applications Lab, Viktoria Institute
- Global Information Systems Group, ETH Zurich
- Grid and Pervasive Computing Group, University of Southampton
- Group for User Interface Research, University of California, Berkeley
- Human Media Lab, Queen's University
- Institute for Pervasive Computing, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
- Intel Research Seattle
- Intelligent Inhabited Environments Group, University of Essex
- Interaction Design Centre, University of Limerick, Ireland
- Laboratory for Communication Engineering, University of Cambridge
- LIRIS (CNRS), University of Lyon, France
- MAYA Design, a company that "tames complexity"
- MDA, Department of Computer Science, Linköpings Universitet, Sweden
- MIT Media Lab
- Mixed Reality Lab, Nanyang Technological University
- Mobile & Pervasive Computing Lab, University of Florida, Gainesville
- Mobile Ubiquitous Services & Technologies Group, University of Technology, Sydney
- MoreLab (Mobility Research Lab), University of Deusto, Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain
- Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)
- Pervasive Computing, Kepler University Linz Austria
- Pervasive Computing Group, University of Birmingham, UK
- PointServers.org is defining an infrastruture for real-world ubicomp
- Programming Technology Laboratory in Ambient-Oriented Programming, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
- Stanford University Interactive Workspaces
- SURG, Indiana University
- Telecooperation Group, Department of Computer Science, TU Darmstadt, Germany
- Telecooperation Office (TecO), University of Karlsruhe, Germany
- Ubiquitous Computing Research Group, Georgia Institute of Technology
- UCSD, explorations in community-oriented ubiquitous computing
- ubicomp@uminho Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing Group at University of Minho, Portugal
- Ubicomp Lab, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
Indus - a new Programming language for implementing Ubiquitous applications is available at
Some news sites are recording commercial and academic developments:
- eBiquity
- Ubiquitous Computing News - not being updated anymore
Notable conferences in the field include:
- International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing (Ubicomp)
- International Conference on Pervasive Computing (Pervasive)
- IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications (Percom)
- International Symposium on Pervasive Computing and Applications (SPCA)
Magazines committed to pervasive computing:
See also
- Sentient computing
- Mobile computing
- Evernet
- International School Of New Media
- Wearable computer
- Everyware
External links
- Ubiquitous ID Center What is ubiquitous computing?de:Ubiquitous Computing