Ubiquitous computing aims to establish an environment where people can access information and computing power anywhere and anytime without being constrained by specific devices. It envisions computing technologies being embedded in everyday objects and the environment. Key aspects include devices that can sense their surroundings and adapt accordingly, as well as making computing virtually invisible to users. The document discusses several scenarios that could benefit from ubiquitous computing technologies and outlines some of the core properties and system designs needed to realize this vision, such as distributed, context-aware and autonomous systems.

1. Introduction to
Ubiquitous Computing

2. Ubiquitous Computing
• Ubiquitous, means being present everywhere
simultaneously or existing everywhere at the same
time.
• concept behind this kind of computing is technology
being everywhere and still being virtually inexistent or
invisible.

3. Aim of Ubiquitous Computing
• Developers and promoters of this technology want
to establish an environment where people can
always be on-the-go, and still carry information and
power to compute at their inconvenience, without
being bound by the location of any particular
computing device.

4. Aim of Ubiquitous Computing
Contd..
• another aim of this technology is to make the devices so
advanced that they can sense the changes in the surrounding
and environments and change themselves accordingly. This
way, they become adaptive enough to function as per the
necessary changes and preferences.

5. The Principle of Ubiquitous Computing
• The main underlying principle or rather thought behind
Ubiquitous computing is to turn the virtual reality inside out.
Virtual reality always attracts a common user into a computer
and makes him/her a part of a world, which is beyond
mediation. On the other hand, this technology makes
computers live and work in a world with people.

6. Historic Perspective
• Mark Weiser, who is often credited as the father of Ubiquitous
computing, who wrote some of the most important chapters
of this technology at the beginning of 1988. He is said to be
influenced by a novel Ubik, which talked about a futuristic
time, in which everyday objects like doorknobs, cup holders
etc were smart and interconnected. Of course things have not
improved to that extent today, but definitely a lot of things
have changed.

7. Ubicomp - Physical World Computing
Ubicomp: a field on a physical world richly and invisibly interwoven with
sensors, actuators, displays, and computational elements, embedded seamlessly in
everyday objects of lives and connected through a continuous network.
- Mark Weiser in his last article in IBM Sys. Journal, 1999

8. Ubiquitous Computing:
Basics and Vision

9. Ubiquitous Computing (UbiCom)
• A vision for computing to:
• Enable computer-based services to be made available
everywhere (Ubiquitous)
• Support intuitive human usage
• But yet, appear to be invisible to the user.

10. Living in a Digital World
• Digital world populated by digital devices
• Assigned to automate human tasks & activities
• Enrich human social interaction
• Enrich physical world interaction
– Physical world having:
• Digital instruments
• Embedded sensors
• Control devices

11. Living in a Digital World Contd..
• What are the current technology trends in UbiCom?
 Sensors sensing our locations & adapts it
 Positioning systems
 epaper & ebooks
 Wired & wireless network
 Electronic devices & circuits
 Smart phones

12. Display
Ear/microphone
Communicator
AV-
recorder
Trend: smaller, higher resource devices

13. Living in a Digital World Contd..
What will the future be like?

14. Scenarios
4 scenarios illustrate a range of benefits and
challenges of ubiquitous computing:
 Personal memories
 21st Century Scheduled Transport Service
 Foodstuff management
 Utility regulation

15. Personal Memories Scenario
How we were & we are recording personal memory of physical
world ?
About 1980s:
 photography: light reading,
 setting aperture & camera shutter speed
 Manually focusing lenses system
 Camera film was sequential
 Specialist film processing company

16. Personal Memories Scenario

17. Personal Memories Scenario
How can we enhance the personal memories service using
UbiCom?

18. Personal Memories Scenario contd..
How we were & we are recording personal memory of physical
world ?
Digital Camera:
 automatic capturing on inbuilt display,
 Context of recording
 Modifications
 Simple UI
 Immediate viewing
 AV databases, IP & MEMS can be used.
 Has capability to discover specific type of ICT devices

19. Personal Memories Scenario contd..
How we were & we are recording personal memory of physical
world ?
Digital Camera:
 automatic capturing on inbuilt display,
 Context of recording
 Modifications
 Simple UI
 Immediate viewing
 AV databases, IP & MEMS can be used.
 Has capability to discover specific type of ICT devices

20. Personal Memories Scenario

21. Personal Memories Scenario contd..
 Ubiquitous computing encompasses:
 wide spectrum of computers,
 Multifunction ICT devices like:
 Phones, cameras
 Game consoles, ATM
 Vehicle control system
 Mobile phones
 Electronic calculators, household appliances

22. Scheduled Transport Service
Scenario
Why is
the Bus
late?

23. Scheduled Transport Service Scenario contd..
 20th
centuary:
 timetables were fixed
 Passengers waiting
 Vehicle drivers radio in to controller
 Controller notify

24. 21st Century Scheduled Transport Service
contd..
How can we enhance the transport service
using UbiCom?

25. 21st Century Scheduled Transport Service
contd..
 21st centuary:
 position of vehicle is determined using GPS
 Time taken to reach can be estimated
 Vehicles on route can tag locations

26. Foodstuff Management Scenario
Select & Buy
food at physical
or virtual market
Put in home
store
Select food from
store, get &
transform food
into a meal
Consume
food
Transport
food to
home store

27. Foodstuff Management Scenario contd..
How can UbiCom enhance the foodstuff
management scenario?

28. Foodstuff Management Scenario contd..
 Ubiquitous home environment is designed to support healthy eating &
weight regulation for food consumption.
 networked physical devices
 Sensors are integrated in system
 Scanners are used to scan
 Packaging of food & drinks
 Barcodes
 Expiry dates
 Food ingredients
 Percentage by weight

29. Utility Regulation
Scenario

30. Utility Regulation Scenario contd..
 Utility regulation concerns energy, water, waste regulation
by end-users.
 How can UbiCom enhance the Utility Regulation scenario?

31. UbiCom System Design
For these scenarios
 Which system designs should be used for:
 comms., data storage, processing, sensing, control etc
 How to model system - physical world interaction?
 How to model human computer system interaction?
 These are covered later in this course.

32. Weiser’s Three Relationships

33. Future of Ubiquitous Computing
• The enthusiasts and researchers of the technology foresee a world where
lives and objects are seamlessly connected to computers.
• Today, we see big technology firms like Intel, take up the concept and
initiate researches and experiments to establish a strong, practical and
meaningful bond between humans and computers.
• Some fans and firm believers also see a world where people wear computers
in their shoes, watches, belts, pens and hats. Some even suggest implanting
of microchips all around the environment, even in human bodies for medical
reasons...

34. Key requirements for ubiquitous
computing
 All the devices are network capable, though not necessarily
connected all the time. The devices can communicate with
each other.
 Thus a computer in your washer, microwave, car emission
controller, laptop projector, etc are not ubiquitous devices
unless you can connect and modify their behavior.
 Devices communicate to seamlessly simplify our lives

35. Why Is Ubiquitous Computing Important?
• Ubiquitous computing is changing our daily activities in a variety of ways.
When it comes to using today's digital tools users tend to
– communicate in different ways
– be more active
– conceive and use geographical and temporal spaces differently
– have more control
• In addition, ubiquitous computing is
– global and local
– social and personal
– public and private
– invisible and visible
– an aspect of both knowledge creation and information dissemination

36. UbiCom: Different Combinations of Core Properties versus a
Single Definition
• No single, absolute definition for ubiquitous computing.
• Instead propose many different kinds of UbiCom based upon
combining different sets of core properties
• What core system properties would you propose to define
ubiquitous computing?

37. UbiCom: Weiser’s 3 Internal System Properties
3 main properties for UbiCom Systems were proposed by
Weiser (1991)
1. Computers need to be networked, distributed and transparently accessible
– In1991, little wireless computing, Internet far less pervasive
1. Computer Interaction with Humans needs to be more hidden
– Because much HCI is overly intrusive
1. Computers need to be aware of environment context
– In order to optimise their operation in their physical & human
environment.

38. Devices: Extended set of Internal System
Properties
To which two additional properties are added:
4. Computers can operate autonomously, without human intervention, be self-
governed
5. Computers can handle a multiplicity of dynamic actions and interactions,
governed by intelligent decision-making and intelligent organisational
interaction. This entails some form of artificial intelligence.

39. UbiCom: Different Combinations of Core Properties versus a Single
Definition
• No single, absolute definition for ubiquitous computing.
• Instead propose many different kinds of UbiCom based upon combining different sets
of core properties
• Here are some examples proposed by others
• Weiser (1991): distributed, iHCI, physical environment context aware
• Ambient Intelligence (AmI), similar to UbiCom - intelligence everywhere?
• Arts and Marzano (2003) define 5 key features for AmI to be embedded, context-
aware, personalised, adaptive and anticipatory.
• Buxton (1995): ubiquity and transparency
• Etc.
Exercise: Do your own survey of UbiCom definitions and highlight the properties they define.
.