The document summarizes a session on context aware services from an IBBT Brokerage Event. The session chair was Piet Demeester and objectives included identifying research topics and interested parties. Topics discussed included the concept of context aware services, market potential, challenges, and requirements. Major challenges identified were accurate indoor positioning, different sensor types, communication between devices, and representing context information standardized. The session identified several interested parties and concluded that context detection infrastructure, context aware devices, service architectures, and addressing security, user requirements, and business models were important areas.

1. 2de IBBT Brokerage Event
Break-out Sessie
Context Aware Services
Sessieleider: Piet Demeester
IBBT Program Manager: Nico Verplancke

2. 2de IBBT Brokerage Event – Context Aware Services
Session chair & objectives
Session chair:
Piet Demeester IBCN-INTEC / UGent
Objectives:
IBBT = demand driven research
Interaction with industry and other organisations
Identification of research topics
Identification of interested parties
2

3. 2de IBBT Brokerage Event – Context Aware Services
Topics
Concept of context aware services
Market Potential
Challenges and requirements
Discussion
3

4. 2de IBBT Brokerage Event – Context Aware Services
Concept
Context is any information that can be used to
characterize the situation of an entity. An entity is
a person, place, or object that is considered relevant
to the interaction between a user and an
application, including the user and application
themselves. [A. Day and G. Abowd, 1999]
Context aware services automatically adapt to the
environment of a user, for instance to the location,
time, or physical condition (e.g. hart rhythm and
blood pressure) of a person. The social context of
users is an important determinant for the
information needs and well being of people. People
are truly social beings.
4

5. 2de IBBT Brokerage Event – Context Aware Services
Concept
Context information encompasses:
Location information
Proximity to devices, places and persons
Environment factors as weather, temperature,
time, traffic
Status information of devices
Behavior of the user (e.g. talking, sleeping,
walking, …)
Personal fitness / health / …
…
5

6. 2de IBBT Brokerage Event – Context Aware Services
Market Potential
- 3 days business trip to Vienna
- needs regular medication
Gent Vienna
- From agenda it is detected that Bob is leaving for 3 days
- It is checked that he didn’t take his (RFID tagged) medication
with him warning on his cell phone
- It is raining in Vienna also warning to take umbrella
- Bob gets ill in Vienna (detected by sensor)
- Doctor at home is automatically consulted
- Bob should go to a specialized hospital in Vienna
- Taxi is automatically ordered and location of Bob / hospital
6
loaded in GPS

7. 2de IBBT Brokerage Event – Context Aware Services
Market Potential
Consumer
Context enhanced information services
Emergency services
Billing
Tracking services
Advertising
Community applications
Telematics services
Entertainment Corporate
… Fleet management
Workforce management
Asset management
Security
7
…

8. 2de IBBT Brokerage Event – Context Aware Services
Market Potential
Location/context technology vendors
Equipment vendors, Terminal manufacturers
Mobile network operators
LBS/context middleware providers
Content providers
Application developers
Portals and location/context data brokers
…
8

9. 2de IBBT Brokerage Event – Context Aware Services
Market Potential
Services
GPS navigation systems
Proximus GeoServices
Map me: Where am I?
Nearby: What’s around me?
Itinary: How do I get there?
Friend-finder applications
Localisation of (the mobile
phones) of friends or family
Monitoring traffic streams
9

10. 2de IBBT Brokerage Event – Context Aware Services
Market Potential
Location Determination
GPS
GSM
WiFi
RFID
Bluetooth
ZigBee
…
Commercial platforms
Location servers (Alcatel/Siemens/etc.) intended for GSM
networks
Software platforms for deploying location-based services
(e.g. Milestone)
10

11. 2de IBBT Brokerage Event – Context Aware Services
Market Potential
Context Toolkit
Software toolkit for rapid prototyping of context-
aware applications
Features: Separation of context sensing/acquisition
from context use, context aggregation and context
interpretation.
SOCAM (Service-Oriented Context-Aware
Middleware)
Context model based on ontologies
Different components implemented as separate
services in OSGi
…
11

12. 2de IBBT Brokerage Event – Context Aware Services
Major Challenge
Now:
Existing solutions are mainly outdoor
applications based on location information
provided by GPS or GSM networks.
Future:
Also indoor applications (home/office) where
location information is provided by WiFi, RFID,
…
Also services where device, user and
environment information is taken into account
using advanced sensors and sensor networks.
12

13. 2de IBBT Brokerage Event – Context Aware Services
Challenges & Requirements
Accurate position determination in buildings
Difficult due to reflections, absorptions, movement, …
Different types of sensors (health monitoring,
weather conditions, …)
Terminals : context aware, (ultra) low power
Wired and wireless communication between all kinds
of devices in different environments (home, office,
vehicle, public place, outdoor,…)
It should be possible to automatically discover
devices. As there exist several protocols (UPnP, Jini,
etc.) bridging is needed.
13

14. 2de IBBT Brokerage Event – Context Aware Services
Challenges & Requirements
14

15. 2de IBBT Brokerage Event – Context Aware Services
Challenges & Requirements
15

16. 2de IBBT Brokerage Event – Context Aware Services
Challenges & Requirements
Several kinds of context information have to be
aggregated and represented in a standardized way
This representation should be formal so that extra information
can be added by reasoning.
Standard representations of e.g. a house topology allow easy
development of new context-aware services.
Software platforms needed for the servers and access
gateways.
Data aggregation
Allowing rapid development of context-aware services by 3rd
party developers
Easy deployment of new services (e.g. by using OSGi for the
home gateway).
Centralized or distributed
16

17. 2de IBBT Brokerage Event – Context Aware Services
Challenges & Requirements
Example software architecture
17

18. 2de IBBT Brokerage Event – Context Aware Services
Challenges & Requirements
Security en privacy
Location information is interesting for marketing
purposes or insurance companies. It can also lead to
embarrassing situations or even harassment.
This information should be protected and users should be
able to choose which information can be disclosed and
which information is private.
Usability
Services should be invisible to the user
Adoption
What do users expect from context aware services and
what is acceptable ?
What context does the user want
How does the user impact on its context
Legal issues
18

19. 2de IBBT Brokerage Event – Context Aware Services
Conclusions
Context detection infrastructure
(sensors, …, discovery, …, identification, …)
Context aware terminals and actuators
Interconnection networks
Service architectures
Service creation platforms
Context representation and handling
Security architectures
User requirements
Legal constraints
Business models
>8 interested parties 19

20. 2de IBBT Brokerage Event – Context Aware Services
Conclusions
Input from attendees during session (1):
Existing technologies can indeed be used to process
ontologies and implement context reasoners.
Context creation and aggregation of information from
heterogeneous sources is important
Standards are needed for representing context
information.
Interesting application: addition of context data in
content (e.g. videos) through meta-data level data.
Identification of persons is required for correct and
secure service execution.
Usability aspect is important: easy user and configuration
interfaces are necessary.
20

21. 2de IBBT Brokerage Event – Context Aware Services
Conclusions
Input from attendees during session (2):
Discovery of devices is required.
Remote installation of new services on terminals is
required as well.
User requirements:
Adjustable profile (presence status).
Personal configuration.
Which new services and features are possible? New
business models?
Sensors to detect the intention of a user (e.g.
telephone call with a friend vs. call with boss)
Use past context information to automatically learn
habits, intentions, …
Using context information for billing!
Context aware advertisements!
21

22. 2de IBBT Brokerage Event – Context Aware Services
Goal of Break-Out session
De doelstelling van de break-out sessies is de
thema’s die zouden kunnen leiden tot
projectvoorstellen verder uit te diepen, en
potentiële trekkers voor een mogelijke indiening
te detecteren. Idealiter zal de break-out leiden tot
een potentiële cluster van partners en uitwisseling
van contactgegevens. Op basis hiervan zal de
coördinator denodige initiatieven nemen om de
partners samen te brengen en de proposal verder
uit te werken rond een gezamenlijk
interessedomein.
22

23. 2de IBBT Brokerage Event – Context Aware Services
Background
Break-out reeks 2 (16u00-16u45)
Context Aware Services
Mobiele, geconnecteerde toestellen en gebruiker bieden
mogelijkheden voor nieuwe diensten die context-gebaseerd
zijn. Locatie in het algemeen, proximity tot andere
toestellen, omgevingsfactoren, ... kunnen triggers of
enablers zijn van specifieke diensten. Mogelijk onderzoek
binnen dit thema: nieuwe diensten, enabling technologie
(software/devices/netwerk), adoptie, usability, likability,
business modellen. Interessant aan dit thema is ook dat hier
de volledige waardeketen van dienstenleverancier, tot
telecom-operator en software/hardware vendor een bijdrage
in kan leveren.
23

24. 2de IBBT Brokerage Event – Context Aware Services
Participants (registration)
Banama-Telecom
Alcatel
Siemens
Marketshare Belgium
PRO Telecom Consulting
Newtec Cy
Ministerie Vlaamse Gemeenschap
Dimension Data
iForum Consult
Gatespace Europe
VDAB
Inno.com
Medianet Vlaanderen
Cultuurnet Vlaanderen
Octalis
Concentra
VRT
i-merge
PMTC
Artillium
... 24