Intelligent Association Exploration and Exploitation of Fuzzy Agents in Ambient Intelligent Environments

This paper presents a novel fuzzy-based intelligent architecture that aims to find relevant and important associations between embedded-agent based services that form Ambient Intelligent Environments (AIEs). The embedded agents are used in two ways; first they monitor the inhabitants of the AIE, learning their behaviours in an online, non-intrusive and life-long fashion with the aim of pre-emptively setting the environment to the users preferred state. Secondly, they evaluate the relevance and significance of the associations to various services with the aim of eliminating redundant associations in order to minimize the agent computational latency within the AIE. The embedded agents employ fuzzy-logic due to its robustness to the uncertainties, noise and imprecision encountered in AIEs. We describe unique real world experiments that were conducted in the Essex intelligent Dormitory (iDorm) to evaluate and validate the significance of the proposed architecture and methods

Occupancy monitoring and prediction in ambient intelligent environment

Occupancy monitoring and prediction as an influential factor in the extraction of occupants' behavioural patterns for the realisation of ambient intelligent environments is addressed in this research. The proposed occupancy monitoring technique uses occupancy detection sensors with unobtrusive features to monitor occupancy in the environment. Initially the occupancy detection is conducted for a purely single-occupant environment. Then, it is extended to the multipleoccupant environment and associated problems are investigated. Along with the occupancy monitoring, it is aimed to supply prediction techniques with a suitable occupancy signal as the input which can enhance efforts in developing ambient intelligent environments. By predicting the occupancy pattern of monitored occupants, safety, security, the convenience of occupants, and energy saving can be improved. Elderly care and supporting people with health problems like dementia and Alzheimer disease are amongst the applications of such an environment. In the research, environments are considered in different scenarios based on the complexity of the problem including single-occupant and multiple-occupant scenarios. Using simple sensory devices instead of visual equipment without any impact on privacy and her/his normal daily activity, an occupant is monitored in a living or working environment in the single-occupant scenario. ZigBee wireless communication technology is used to collect signals from sensory devices such as motion detection sensors and door contact sensors. All these technologies together including sensors, wireless communication, and tagging are integrated as a wireless sensory agent

Developing serious games for cultural heritage: a state-of-the-art review

Although the widespread use of gaming for leisure purposes has been well documented, the use of games to support cultural heritage purposes, such as historical teaching and learning, or for enhancing museum visits, has been less well considered. The state-of-the-art in serious game technology is identical to that of the state-of-the-art in entertainment games technology. As a result, the field of serious heritage games concerns itself with recent advances in computer games, real-time computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence. On the other hand, the main strengths of serious gaming applications may be generalised as being in the areas of communication, visual expression of information, collaboration mechanisms, interactivity and entertainment. In this report, we will focus on the state-of-the-art with respect to the theories, methods and technologies used in serious heritage games. We provide an overview of existing literature of relevance to the domain, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the described methods and point out unsolved problems and challenges. In addition, several case studies illustrating the application of methods and technologies used in cultural heritage are presented

Serious Games in Cultural Heritage

Although the widespread use of gaming for leisure purposes has been well documented, the use of games to support cultural heritage purposes, such as historical teaching and learning, or for enhancing museum visits, has been less well considered. The state-of-the-art in serious game technology is identical to that of the state-of-the-art in entertainment games technology. As a result the field of serious heritage games concerns itself with recent advances in computer games, real-time computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence. On the other hand, the main strengths of serious gaming applications may be generalised as being in the areas of communication, visual expression of information, collaboration mechanisms, interactivity and entertainment. In this report, we will focus on the state-of-the-art with respect to the theories, methods and technologies used in serious heritage games. We provide an overview of existing literature of relevance to the domain, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the described methods and point out unsolved problems and challenges. In addition, several case studies illustrating the application of methods and technologies used in cultural heritage are presented

Exploring the potential of using radio frequency identification technology in retail supply chains - A Packaging Logistics perspective

In recent years RFID technology has attracted interest from the retail industry where it is being presented as a possible key to creating more efficient and effective retail supply chains. If RFID technology is to be implemented in packaging throughout retail supply chains, there is a need to develop an understanding of how and why the technology affects activities and processes within retail supply chains. Accordingly, the overall purpose of this licentiate thesis is to explore how the application of RFID technology to packaging could affect packaging logistics activities in retail supply chains. The packaging logistics activities discussed in this licentiate thesis are those related to ambient fast-moving consumer goods, from the product-filling point at the manufacturer’s, where the product is merged with the primary packaging, to the point of sale at retail outlets, where the products are sold to the end consumer. This thesis is based on multiple research strategies; a case study and a modelling and simulation study. The case study was conducted to describe and gain an in-depth understanding of and insight into existing packaging logistics activities in retail supply chains. A Dutch retail supply chain was chosen as a single-case study. The single-case study was both data-triangulated and investigator-triangulated with three Swedish case studies to further broaden the understanding of packaging logistics activities in retail supply chains. The case study resulted in a framework of packaging logistics activities in retail supply chains. The modelling and simulation study was conducted to describe what, how and why packaging logistics activities are affected when RFID technology is applied to packaging. A conceptual model and a simulation model were developed in the modelling and simulation study. The conceptual model describes and analyses “could-be” processes and activities in retail supply chains, whereas the simulation model primarily describes and anal

Privacy in Mobile Agent Systems: Untraceability

Agent based Internet environments are an interesting alternative to existing approaches of building software systems. The enabling feature of agents is that they allow software development based on the abstraction (a "metaphor") of elements of the real world. In other words, they allow building software systems, which work as human societies, in which members share products and services, cooperate or compete with each other. Organisational, behavioural and functional models etc applied into the systems can be copied from the real world. The growing interest in agent technologies in the European Union was expressed through the foundation of the Coordination Action for Agent-Based Computing, funded under the European Commission's Sixth Framework Programme (FP6). The action, called AgentLink III is run by the Information Society Technologies (IST) programme. The long-term goal of AgentLink is to put Europe at the leading edge of international competitiveness in this increasingly important area. According to AgentLink "Roadmap for Agent Based Computing"; agent-based systems are perceived as "one of the most vibrant and important areas of research and development to have emerged in information technology in recent years, underpinning many aspects of broader information society technologies"; However, with the emergence of the new paradigm, came also new challenges. One of them is that agent environments, especially those which allow for mobility of agents, are much more difficult to protect from intruders than conventional systems. Agent environments still lack sufficient and effective solutions to assure their security. The problem which till now has not been addressed sufficiently in agent-based systems is privacy, and particularly the anonymity of agent users. Although anonymity was studied extensively for traditional message-based communication for which during the past twenty five years various techniques have been proposed, for agent systems this problem has never been directly addressed. The research presented in this report aimed at filling this gap. This report summarises results of studies aiming at the identification of threats to privacy in agent-based systems and the methods of their protection.JRC.G.6-Sensors, radar technologies and cybersecurit

Improving the well-being of older people by reducing their energy consumption through energy-aware systems

Abstract-Fuel poverty is becoming a problem amongst the older community in the UK. We propose an assistive technology for reduced energy consumption in aid of active aging. We introduce how the well-being of older people within the community can be improved by reducing anxiety associated with fuel poverty. A recommender and behavioural change system will be introduced, which enables older people to improve their energy footprint through energy-aware systems. Using systems to help reduce fuel poverty will invariably improve their general well-being. Results show how this technology can be accepted and act as an enabler in improving the overall well-being of older people

IoT driven ambient intelligence architecture for indoor intelligent mobility

Personal robots are set to assist humans in their daily tasks. Assisted living is one of the major applications of personal assistive robots, where the robots will support health and wellbeing of the humans in need, especially elderly and disabled. Indoor environments are extremely challenging from a robot perception and navigation point of view, because of the ever-changing decorations, internal organizations and clutter. Furthermore, human-robot-interaction in personal assistive robots demands intuitive and human-like intelligence and interactions. Above challenges are aggravated by stringent and often tacit requirements surrounding personal privacy that may be invaded by continuous monitoring through sensors. Towards addressing the above problems, in this paper we present an architecture for "Ambient Intelligence" for indoor intelligent mobility by leveraging IoTs within a framework of Scalable Multi-layered Context Mapping Framework. Our objective is to utilize sensors in home settings in the least invasive manner for the robot to learn about its dynamic surroundings and interact in a human-like manner. The paper takes a semi-survey approach to presenting and illustrating preliminary results from our in-house built fully autonomous electric quadbike

Intergenerational interpretation of the Internet of Things

This report investigates how different generations within a household interpret individual members’ data generated by the Internet of Things (IoT). Adopting a mixed methods approach, we are interested in interpretations of the IoT by teenagers, their parents and grandparents, and how they understand and interact with the kinds of data that might be generated by IoT devices. The first part of this document is a technical review that outlines the key existing and envisaged technologies that make up the IoT. It explores the definition and scope of the Internet of Things. Hardware, networking, intelligent objects and Human-Computer Interaction implications are all discussed in detail. The second section focuses on the human perspective, looking at psychological and sociological issues relating to the interpretation of information generated by the IoT. Areas such as privacy, data ambiguity, ageism, and confirmation bias are explored. The third section brings both aspects together, examining how technical and social aspects of the IoT interact in four specific application domains: energy monitoring, groceries and shopping, physical gaming, and sharing experiences. This section also presents three household scenarios developed to communicate and explore the complexities of integrating IoT technologies into family life. The final section draws together all the findings and suggests future research