Middleware for Pervasive and Ad Hoc Computing

Update: Sorry about that -- didn't realize this got posted initially with no content. As Steve pointed out in comments, the votes were close. After tallying the online voting with in-attendance votes (from those who didn't make the online poll before it closed), Todor made a strong comeback but Ian Wakeman et. al. finally triumphed with a 9-7 edge. Congratulations to them, and we look forward to seeing you all again next year.

Probably contravening copyright, the best paper candidates are online as wakeman and dimitrov .

The workshop is finally kicking off with Steve Neely providing the introductory remarks. We've added a new poll to the side of the blog -- please participate and vote for the best paper!! The candidates (pre-selected by program committee) are from Wakeman et. al ., and Dimitrov et. al. Both these papers received identical ratings during the review process -- the "winner" will be announced at the end of the workshop..

As you may have noticed in the workshop program , we have a final 30-minute plenary discussion to close out the workshop. In order to make this as interactive and useful as possible, we decided to preface this with a 20-minute session called "1-minute madness". Some of you may have seen this forum before at other workshops. Basically, this is a soapbox of sorts -- anyone (presenters, organizers, attendees) is welcome to participate and provide fodder for the follow-up discussion. The idea is to make a 1-minute pitch about a topic of interest. You may elect to use slides or not - if the former, a single slide is ideal but you can use your discretion here. For convenience, here are some possible 'themes' for the pitch. These are suggestions only: Research in a nutshell . What problem are you trying to solve? Why is it important? What makes your solution novel? Hot Topics . What should the MPAC community's next big research challenge be? Why? Experience Lessons . S...

Ian Wakeman , University of Sussex Dan Chalmers , University of Sussex Michael Fry , University of Sydney Abstract: In this paper, we outline an approach to the identification of entities for access control that is based on the membership of groups, rather than individuals. By using group membership as a level of indirection between the individual and the system, we can increase privacy and provide incentives for better behaviour. Privacy comes from the use of pseudonyms generated within the group and which can be authenticated as belonging to the group. The incentives for better behaviour come from the continuous nature of groups - members may come and go, but the group lives on, and groups are organised so as to ensure group-longevity, and prevent actions which may harm the group’s reputation. We present a novel pseudonym generation mechanism suitable for use in groups without a centralised administration. Finally, we argue that the use of group membership as the basis for formulatin...

Fernando Trinta , University of Fortaleza Davi Pedrosa , Federal University of Pernambuco Carlos Ferraz , Federal University of Pernambuco Geber Ramalho , Federal University of Pernambuco Abstract: Crossmedia games are a genre of pervasive gaming where a single game instance can be played with a variety of heterogeneous devices that support dierent forms of players' participation and deliver dierent game experiences. In this paper, we present the PM2G initiative, a Service-Oriented Architecture aiming at supporting crossmedia games' development and execution. Due to their relevance in this document, Content Adaptation and Interaction Adaptation Services are detailed. We also present a case study, a game called Pervasive Wizards, which is used to validate our architecture. Finally, we also present some performance results obtained in our experiments. ACM Copyright Notice Copyright © by the Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. Permission to make digital or hard copies of p...

Salman Taherian , University of Cambridge Jean Bacon , University of Cambridge Abstract: With the increased realisation of the benefits of studying environmental data, sensor networks are rapidly scaling in size, heterogeneity of data, and applications. In this paper, we present a State-based Publish/Subscribe (SPS) framework for sensor systems with many distributed and independent application clients. SPS provides a state-based information deduction model that is suited to many classes of sensor network applications. State Maintenance Components (SMCs) are introduced that are simple in operation, flexible in placement, and decomposable for distributed processing. Publish/Subscribe communication forms the core messaging component of the framework. SPS uses the decoupling feature of Pub/Sub and extends this across the SMCs to support a more flexible and dynamic system structure. Our evaluation, using real sensor data, shows that SPS is expressive in capturing conditions, and scalable in...

George Edwards, University of Southern California Chiyoung Seo, University of Southern California Daniel Popescu, University of Southern California Sam Malek , George Mason University Nenad Medvidovic, University of Southern California Abstract Software systems that execute in embedded and pervasive environments are frequently required to be self-monitoring, self-adapting, and self-healing. However, supporting these self-* capabilities in pervasive environments creates a number of unique engineering challenges. This paper first describes the challenges that we believe to be the most significant based on our experience developing real-world pervasive software applications with self-* capabilities. We then discuss each challenge in the context of four strategies commonly employed in self-* systems: dynamic software update, service discovery, transparent replication, and logical mobility. Finally, we explain how each strategy is implemented in our architectural middleware platform, Pri...

Daniel Cheung-Foo-Wo , I3S (UNSA - CNRS) Jean-Yves Tigli , I3S (UNSA - CNRS) Stéphane Lavirotte, I3S (UNSA - CNRS) Michel Riveill , I3S (UNSA - CNRS) Abstract: Pervasive devices are becoming popular and smaller. Those mobile systems should be able to adapt to changing requirements and execution environments. But it requires the ability to reconfigure deployed codes, which is considerably simplified if applications are component-oriented rather than monolithic blocks of codes. So, we propose a middleware called WComp which federates an event-driven component oriented approach to compose distributed services for devices. This approach is coupled with adaptation mechanisms dealing with separation of concerns. In such mechanisms, aspects (called Aspects of Assembly) are selected either by the user or by a self-adaptive process and composed by a weaver with logical merging of high-level specifications. The result of the weaver is then projected in terms of pure elementary modifications of ...

Mohammad Reza Selim , Saitama University Yuichi Goto, Saitama University Jingde Cheng , Saitama University Abstract: Due to efficient event dissemination and mobility support, event based middlewares are gaining popularity in pervasive computing environments. However, loss of events caused by broker/client failures or unreliable network connections is a common problem in existing event based middlewares. Middlewares providing support to critical distributed systems must be reliable enough not to lose published events. In this paper, we present the design of REM, a large scale Replication based type and attribute oriented Event Middleware over structured peer to peer (p2p) network. REM safeguards event losses by replicating the states of a broker in the neighboring overlay nodes. REM provides lossless mobility support to the clients even in a highly dynamic environment. ACM Copyright Notice Copyright © by the Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. Permission to make digital or hard ...

Todor Dimitrov, Fraunhofer IMS Josef Pauli, Universität Duisburg-Essen Edwin Naroska , Fraunhofer IMS Abstract: Inference and reasoning in modern AmI (Ambient Intelligence) middlewares is still a complex task. Currently no common patterns for building smart applications can be identified. This paper presents an ongoing effort to build a generic probabilistic reasoning framework for the networked homes. The framework can be utilized for designing smart agents in a systematic and unified way. The developed modeling and reasoning algorithms make an extensive use of the information about the user and the way he/she interacts with the system. To achieve this, several levels of knowledge representation are combined. Each level enriches the domain knowledge in a way that a consistent, user-adaptable probabilistic knowledge base is constructed. The facts in the knowledge base can be used to encode the logic for a specific application scenario. ACM Copyright Notice Copyright © by the Associat...

Clemens Holzmann, Johannes Kepler University Linz Abstract: This paper is about a novel rule-based approach for reasoning about qualitative spatiotemporal relations among technology- rich autonomous objects, to which we refer to as artifacts. The objective of our work is to provide means for defining spatiotemporal constraints – i.e. logical combinations of spatial relations to artifacts at certain time intervals – at a high level of abstraction, and to recognize relative situations therewith. Such constraints are defined with rules that infer high-level relationships for newly recognized situations, which in turn can be used in other constraints. At any time, the history of known relationships can be queried in order to trigger predefined actions. We decided for qualitative abstractions of both spatial and temporal relationships, as they reflect the semantics of natural language terms and thus facilitate dealing with relationships at the application programming level. The core concept...

Luiz Olavo Bonino da Silva Santos, University of Twente Remco Poortinga – van Wijnen, Telematica Instituut Peter Vink, Philips Research Abstract: Context awareness has emerged as an important element in distributed computing. It offers mechanisms that allow applications to be aware of their environment and enable these applications to adjust their behavior to the current context. Considering the dynamic nature of context, the data flow of relevant contextual information can be significant. In order to keep track of this information flow, a flexible service mechanism should be available for the client applications. In this document we present a service-oriented middleware for context-aware applications. This middleware provides support to leverage the development of context-aware applications by providing a scripting-like approach for context-aware application development; allowing the subscription of rules containing context-based events and conditions and a notification to be sent whe...

Jos´e Viterbo F., Markus Endler, Department of Informatics, PUC-Rio Vagner Sacramento, Institute of Informatics UFG Abstract In ubiquitous computing systems, the mobility of users and their devices results in recurring disconnections and reconnections with different networks, and the corresponding dynamic change of the network and domain-specific resources and services accessible from the user’s device. On the other hand, some services are available to be used only by users that are located in a well defined region. In this highly dynamic and heterogeneous scenario, applications must be capable of discovering the appropriate instances of the required services in each visited network or region. In order to support such spontaneous interaction, we propose a discovery service based on the notion of a (geographic) location scope. This discovery service is one of the core services of the MoCA architecture, a middleware that supports the development and deployment of location-aware ubiquitou...

Sudong Chen, Eindhoven University of Technology Johan Lukkien , Eindhoven University of Technology Abstract: The Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is used extensively in ubiquitous computing environments. Using external service orchestration, services can be composed into applications. Since cooperation takes place between services that are scattered over the Internet and belong to different parties, there is a growing need to protect the ownership of service providers and keep the security of communication messages in service composition. This paper shows the details of a service-oriented virtual community overlay network designed for secure external service orchestration. It can also provide contracted QoS guarantees that will definitely affect the overall performance of ubiquitous applications. Further, it highlights the working principle of access control policies as well as a service behavior monitoring mechanism using an example scenario. ACM Copyright Notice Copyright © by the...

The workshop is just over ten days away. In preparation for the discussions, and also to get the attendees more conversant with the researchers and papers to be presented, we will be posting the abstracts for accepted papers (one per blog item) over the next few days. If you are the author of a paper, and want to add links in to related research or a personal website for more information, please feel free to do so. For convenience, the blog posting will be prefixed with a number of the form S.P, where S is the session number (1, 2 or 3) and P is the paper number within that session. Each session will conclude with a panel focussed on discussion around the papers presented. In that context, if you have specific questions for authors, or have comments on the topic -- feel free to post them against the relevant blog items.. Update: I'm just waiting on some clarifications from ACM before I release the abstracts... do check back. Update: ACM granted us permissions -- the abstracts will...

For those of you unfamiliar with the Newport Beach, CA area -- the Middleware 2007 page has links to useful information for getting to the hotel, nearby attractions and things to do. Since we are responsible for getting our own lunch on the day of the workshop, we thought it would be a good idea for all of us to go out together to a restaurant close by. From that perspective, here is a link to a list of restaurants close to the hotel (within walking distance). I'll add a second poll to the side of the page to collect dietary preferences -- hopefully, we can find something that suits us all...

The preliminary program for the MPAC workshop this year has been posted on our website so do check it out. As you can see, we've changed the format a little. Authors now have 15 minutes to present papers, and will then participate in a session-ending panel. The idea is to have time for the audience to ask questions of specific presenters, but also engage in a broader discussion around that session topic. Have a comment? Let us know.

We are trying out something new this year at MPAC -- a blog! We see this as an opportunity to start a conversation with workshop participants (and the general research community) in advance, and then continue to stay connected with those researchers and their progress after the event. We plan to use this forum to post questions (surveys) to get your feedback -- and also to help you (as researchers) publicize your work or start discussions around topics of interest to the wider community. If you are interested in being a contributor, email us (mpac dot pc at gmail dot com) and we'll add you to our authors list. Anyone can post comments though -- so do share your opinions and comments freely. This forum is meant for the research and user communities, so please do use appropriate language.

I just tried to book the Marriott hotel but the conference rate of $169 is not available for Wednesday 28th November. The website booking just says that the rate is not available. If you call your local Marriott line and talk to someone there they'll find you the best rate. I've been booked in at the conference rate for Sat 24th - Wed 28th, then the usual rate ($289) for Wednesday night and back to the conference rate for Thursday night. I was told it was all in the same room so I don't have to move. See you in CA.

5 th International Workshop on Middleware for Pervasive and Ad-Hoc Computing Newport Beach , Orange County , California , USA November 26 th - 30 th , 2007 A Workshop of Middleware 2007 This workshop is premised on our belief that underpinning middleware mechanisms are central in weaving together the multitude of sensing, computing, communication and information technologies. In this respect, middleware for pervasive computing and ad-hoc networking provides two core research areas. Building on the success of the 2003 , 2004 , 2005 and 2006 workshops, this workshop seeks to develop a roadmap for research on essential middleware abstractions and infrastructures for ad-hoc and pervasive computing in general, and sensor-based services in particular. For more details, please visit our official website .