Ubiquitous Computing

A Short Introduction

Computer

Technology Trends

Computers: Size + Number

Yesterday’s Computers filled Rooms

So will Tomorrow’s!

What makes this possible ?

Scaling down

IBM WatchPad 1.5

Moore’s Law

• Most semiconductor industry forecasters, including Gordon

Moore, expect Moore's law will end by around 2025.

• In April 2005, Gordon Moore stated in an interview that the

projection cannot be sustained indefinitely: "It can't continue

forever. The nature of exponentials is that you push them out

and eventually disaster happens." He also noted

that transistors eventually would reach the limits of

miniaturization at atomic levels:

Not everything obeys Moore’s Law!

The Ubiquitous

Computing Vision

Weiser’s Vision

Ubiquitous Computing

Ubiquitous Computing

A New Era of Computing

From Mainframe to PC:

“Human Integration”

From PC to Ubicomp:

“Physical Integration”

Physical Integration

Physical Integration

Location-aware Computing

Location-aware Computing

Context-aware Computing

Context-aware Computing

Situated computing

Digital presence

Tangible Interaction

Bishop’s Marble Answering Machine

Wellner’s Digital Desk

Synonyms for Ubiquitous Computing

• Post-PC era

• Pervasive Computing

• Ubiquitous Computing

• Ambient Intelligence

• Disappearing / invisible / calm computing

Some relevant Terms

• Smart Dust

• Things that think

• Smart paper

• Smart wall paper

• Internet of things

Taxonomy of Ubicomp devices

EPCglobal Standard

• It is meant to succeed the barcodes that encode the European Article Number or Universal Product Code on current consumer products.

• The 96 bit Electronic Product Code EPC is usually stored on RFIDs

• It can be read

• from a greater distance (e.g., 10m);

• with better reading accuracy;

• with much less effort (e.g., en-passant by a RFID reader gate as opposed to carefully with line-of-sight connection by a barcode scanner);

• in bulk (RFID readers can read, for example, a hundred tags at once)

OSGi Standard

• Open Services Gateway Initiative (OSGi) is an industry driven

non-profit consortium

• OSGi standardized a Java virtual machine (JVM) which is

capable of executing programs that are transmitted to it, so-

called bundles

• OSGi standardizes not only the format for bundles, but also

the necessary protocols and procedures for authenticating and

authorizing senders of bundles, for replacing i.e. updating

bundles (remote maintenance), for discovering other bundles,

etc.

• OSGi bundles are particularly useful for controlling the

functionality of networked appliances.

OSGi Standard

• Possible use cases include SetTopBoxes, Vehicles (note that car

electronics today requires much shorter maintenance cycles

than the mechanical parts, especially for software updates!),

consumer electronics, etc.

• As to smart homes, the favored concept is that of a residential

gateway that is connected to the global Internet and receives

updates for smart home appliances via OSGi. The residential

gateway may then forward bundle updates etc. to the relevant

appliances if needed.

Summary

• Technology trend vs. human attention to computing concerns

• Ubicomp: a new paradigm for interaction withcomputers

• Physical Integration: connecting computers to the physical reality in which they are used

• Can we integrate computers in their environment, so they become almost indistinguishable from it ?– “Examples of the Disappearing Computer”

☺