Exploiting Semantic Technologies in Smart Environments and Grids: Emerging Roles and Case Studies

Semantic technologies are currently spreading across several application domains as a reliable and consistent mean to address challenges related to organization, manipulation, visualization and exchange of data and knowledge. Different roles are actually played by these techniques depending on the application domain, on the timing constraints, on the distributed nature of applications, and so on. This paper provides an overview of the roles played by semantic technologies in the domain of smart grids and smart environments, with a particular focus on changes brought by such technologies in the adopted architectures, programming techniques and tools. Motivations driving the adoption of semantics in these different, but strictly intertwined, fields are introduced using a strong application-driven perspective. Two real-world case studies in smart grids and smart environments are presented to exemplify the roles covered by such technologies and the changes they fostered in software engineering processes. Learned lessons are then distilled and future adoption scenarios discussed

Enabling Context-Aware Web Services: A Middleware Approach for Ubiquitous Environments

In ubiquitous environments, mobile applications should sense and react to environmental changes to provide a better user experience. In order to deal with these concerns, Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA) provide a solution allowing applications to interact with the services available in their surroundings. In particular, context-aware Web Services can adapt their behavior considering the user context. However, the limited resources of mobile devices restrict the adaptation degree. Furthermore, the diverse nature of context information makes difficult its retrieval, processing and distribution. To tackle these challenges, we present the CAPPUCINO platform for executing context-aware Web Services in ubiquitous environments. In particular, in this chapter we focus on the middleware part that is built as an autonomic control loop that deals with dynamic adaptation. In this autonomic loop we use FraSCAti, an implementation of the Service Component Architecture (SCA) specification, as the execution kernel for Web Services. The context distribution is achieved with SPACES, a flexible solution based on REST (REpresentational State Transfer ) principles and benefiting from the COSMOS (COntext entitieS coMpositiOn and Sharing ) context manage- ment framework. The application of our platform is illustrated with a mobile commerce application scenario that combines context-aware Web Services and social networks

CERN Storage Systems for Large-Scale Wireless

The project aims at evaluating the use of CERN computing infrastructure for next generation sensor networks data analysis. The proposed system allows the simulation of a large-scale sensor array for traffic analysis, streaming data to CERN storage systems in an efficient way. The data are made available for offline and quasi-online analysis, enabling both long term planning and fast reaction on the environment

A set of languages for context-aware adaptation

The creation of service front ends able to adapt to the context of use involves a wide spectrum of aspects to be considered by developers and designers. A context-aware adaptation enabled application needs a simultaneous management of very different application functionalities, such as the context sensing, identifying different given situations, determining the appropriate reactions and the execution of the adaptation effects. In this paper we describe an adaptation architecture for tackling this complexity and we present a set of languages that address the definition of the various aspects of an adaptive application