747 research outputs found
Multimodal, Embodied and Location-Aware Interaction
This work demonstrates the development of mobile, location-aware, eyes-free applications which utilise multiple sensors to provide a continuous, rich and embodied interaction. We bring together ideas from the fields of
gesture recognition, continuous multimodal interaction, probability theory and audio interfaces to design and develop location-aware applications and embodied interaction in both a small-scale, egocentric body-based case and a large-scale, exocentric `world-based' case.
BodySpace is a gesture-based application, which utilises multiple sensors and pattern recognition enabling the human body to be used as the interface for an application. As an example, we describe the development of a gesture controlled music player, which functions by placing the device at different parts of the body. We describe a new approach to the segmentation and recognition of gestures for this kind of application and show how simulated physical model-based interaction techniques and the use of real world constraints can shape the gestural interaction.
GpsTunes is a mobile, multimodal navigation system equipped with inertial control that enables users to actively explore and navigate through an area in an augmented physical space, incorporating and displaying uncertainty resulting from inaccurate sensing and unknown user intention. The system propagates uncertainty appropriately via Monte Carlo sampling and output is displayed both visually and in audio, with audio rendered via granular synthesis. We demonstrate the use of uncertain prediction in the real world and show that appropriate display of the full distribution of potential future user positions with respect to sites-of-interest can improve the quality
of interaction over a simplistic interpretation of the sensed data. We show that this system enables eyes-free navigation around set trajectories or paths unfamiliar to the user for varying trajectory width and context. We demon-
strate the possibility to create a simulated model of user behaviour, which may be used to gain an insight into the user behaviour observed in our field trials. The extension of this application to provide a general mechanism for
highly interactive context aware applications via density exploration is also presented. AirMessages is an example application enabling users to take an embodied approach to scanning a local area to find messages left in their
virtual environment
Multimodal, Embodied and Location-Aware Interaction
This work demonstrates the development of mobile, location-aware, eyes-free applications which utilise multiple sensors to provide a continuous, rich and embodied interaction. We bring together ideas from the fields of
gesture recognition, continuous multimodal interaction, probability theory and audio interfaces to design and develop location-aware applications and embodied interaction in both a small-scale, egocentric body-based case and a large-scale, exocentric `world-based' case.
BodySpace is a gesture-based application, which utilises multiple sensors and pattern recognition enabling the human body to be used as the interface for an application. As an example, we describe the development of a gesture controlled music player, which functions by placing the device at different parts of the body. We describe a new approach to the segmentation and recognition of gestures for this kind of application and show how simulated physical model-based interaction techniques and the use of real world constraints can shape the gestural interaction.
GpsTunes is a mobile, multimodal navigation system equipped with inertial control that enables users to actively explore and navigate through an area in an augmented physical space, incorporating and displaying uncertainty resulting from inaccurate sensing and unknown user intention. The system propagates uncertainty appropriately via Monte Carlo sampling and output is displayed both visually and in audio, with audio rendered via granular synthesis. We demonstrate the use of uncertain prediction in the real world and show that appropriate display of the full distribution of potential future user positions with respect to sites-of-interest can improve the quality
of interaction over a simplistic interpretation of the sensed data. We show that this system enables eyes-free navigation around set trajectories or paths unfamiliar to the user for varying trajectory width and context. We demon-
strate the possibility to create a simulated model of user behaviour, which may be used to gain an insight into the user behaviour observed in our field trials. The extension of this application to provide a general mechanism for
highly interactive context aware applications via density exploration is also presented. AirMessages is an example application enabling users to take an embodied approach to scanning a local area to find messages left in their
virtual environment
Innovative Wireless Localization Techniques and Applications
Innovative methodologies for the wireless localization of users and related applications
are addressed in this thesis.
In last years, the widespread diffusion of pervasive wireless communication
(e.g., Wi-Fi) and global localization services (e.g., GPS) has boosted the interest
and the research on location information and services. Location-aware
applications are becoming fundamental to a growing number of consumers (e.g.,
navigation, advertising, seamless user interaction with smart places), private and
public institutions in the fields of energy efficiency, security, safety,
fleet management, emergency response. In this context, the position of the user - where
is often more valuable for deploying services of interest than the identity of the
user itself - who.
In detail, opportunistic approaches based on the analysis of electromagnetic
field indicators (i.e., received signal strength and channel state information) for
the presence detection, the localization, the tracking and the posture recognition
of cooperative and non-cooperative (device-free) users in indoor environments are
proposed and validated in real world test sites. The methodologies are designed
to exploit existing wireless infrastructures and commodity devices without any
hardware modification.
In outdoor environments, global positioning technologies are already available
in commodity devices and vehicles, the research and knowledge transfer
activities are actually focused on the design and validation of algorithms and
systems devoted to support decision makers and operators for increasing efficiency,
operations security, and management of large fleets as well as localized
sensed information in order to gain situation awareness. In this field, a decision
support system for emergency response and Civil Defense assets management
(i.e., personnel and vehicles equipped with TETRA mobile radio) is described in
terms of architecture and results of two-years of experimental validation
Improving Indoor Security Surveillance by Fusing Data from BIM, UWB and Video
Indoor physical security, as a perpetual and multi-layered phenomenon, is a time-intensive and labor-consuming task. Various technologies have been leveraged to develop automatic access control, intrusion detection, or video monitoring systems. Video surveillance has been significantly enhanced by the advent of Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) cameras and advanced video processing, which together enable effective monitoring and recording. The development of ubiquitous object identification and tracking technologies provides the opportunity to accomplish automatic access control and tracking. Intrusion detection has also become possible through deploying networks of motion sensors for alerting about abnormal behaviors. However, each of the above-mentioned technologies has its own limitations. This thesis presents a fully automated indoor security solution that leverages an Ultra-wideband (UWB) Real-Time Locating System (RTLS), PTZ surveillance cameras and a Building Information Model (BIM) as three sources of environmental data. Providing authorized persons with UWB tags, unauthorized intruders are distinguished as the mismatch observed between the detected tag owners and the persons detected in the video, and intrusion alert is generated. PTZ cameras allow for wide-area monitoring and motion-based recording. Furthermore, the BIM is used for space modeling and mapping the locations of intruders in the building. Fusing UWB tracking, video and spatial data can automate the entire security procedure from access control to intrusion alerting and behavior monitoring. Other benefits of the proposed method include more complex query processing and interoperability with other BIM-based solutions. A prototype system is implemented that demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed method
CellEVAC: an adaptive guidance system for crowd evacuation through behavioral optimization
A critical aspect of crowds' evacuation processes is the dynamism of individual decision making. Identifying optimal strategies at an individual level may improve both evacuation time and safety, which is essential for developing efficient evacuation systems. Here, we investigate how to favor a coordinated group dynamic through optimal exit-choice instructions using behavioral strategy optimization. We propose and evaluate an adaptive guidance system (Cell-based Crowd Evacuation, CellEVAC) that dynamically allocates colors to cells in a cellbased pedestrian positioning infrastructure, to provide efficient exit-choice indications. The operational module of CellEVAC implements an optimized discrete-choice model that integrates the influential factors that would make evacuees adapt their exit choice. To optimize the model, we used a simulation?optimization modeling framework that integrates microscopic pedestrian simulation based on the classical Social Force Model. In the majority of studies, the objective has been to optimize evacuation time. In contrast, we paid particular attention to safety by using Pedestrian Fundamental Diagrams that model the dynamics of the exit gates. CellEVAC has been tested in a simulated real scenario (Madrid Arena) under different external pedestrian flow patterns that simulate complex pedestrian interactions. Results showed that CellEVAC outperforms evacuation processes in which the system is not used, with an exponential improvement as interactions become complex. We compared our system with an existing approach based on Cartesian Genetic Programming. Our system exhibited a better overall performance in terms of safety, evacuation time, and the number of revisions of exit-choice decisions. Further analyses also revealed that Cartesian Genetic Programming generates less natural pedestrian reactions and movements than CellEVAC. The fact that the decision logic module is built upon a behavioral model seems to favor a more natural and effective response. We also found that our proposal has a positive influence on evacuations even for a low compliance rate (40%).Ministerio de Economía y Competitivida
Dense and long-term monitoring of Earth surface processes with passive RFID -- a review
Billions of Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) passive tags are produced
yearly to identify goods remotely. New research and business applications are
continuously arising, including recently localization and sensing to monitor
earth surface processes. Indeed, passive tags can cost 10 to 100 times less
than wireless sensors networks and require little maintenance, facilitating
years-long monitoring with ten's to thousands of tags. This study reviews the
existing and potential applications of RFID in geosciences. The most mature
application today is the study of coarse sediment transport in rivers or
coastal environments, using tags placed into pebbles. More recently, tag
localization was used to monitor landslide displacement, with a centimetric
accuracy. Sensing tags were used to detect a displacement threshold on unstable
rocks, to monitor the soil moisture or temperature, and to monitor the snowpack
temperature and snow water equivalent. RFID sensors, available today, could
monitor other parameters, such as the vibration of structures, the tilt of
unstable boulders, the strain of a material, or the salinity of water. Key
challenges for using RFID monitoring more broadly in geosciences include the
use of ground and aerial vehicles to collect data or localize tags, the
increase in reading range and duration, the ability to use tags placed under
ground, snow, water or vegetation, and the optimization of economical and
environmental cost. As a pattern, passive RFID could fill a gap between
wireless sensor networks and manual measurements, to collect data efficiently
over large areas, during several years, at high spatial density and moderate
cost.Comment: Invited paper for Earth Science Reviews. 50 pages without references.
31 figures. 8 table
Applications across Co-located Devices
We live surrounded by many computing devices. However, their presence has yet to
be fully explored to create a richer ubiquitous computing environment. There is an
opportunity to take better advantage of those devices by combining them into a unified
user experience. To realize this vision, we studied and explored the use of a framework,
which provides the tools and abstractions needed to develop applications that distribute
UI components across co-located devices.
The framework comprises the following components: authentication and authorization
services; a broker to sync information across multiple application instances; background
services that gather the capabilities of the devices; and a library to integrate
web applications with the broker, determine which components to show based on UI
requirements and device capabilities, and that provides custom elements to manage the
distribution of the UI components and the multiple application states. Collaboration
between users is supported by sharing application states. An indoor positioning solution
had to be developed in order to determine when devices are close to each other to trigger
the automatic redistribution of UI components.
The research questions that we set out to respond are presented along with the contributions
that have been produced. Those contributions include a framework for crossdevice
applications, an indoor positioning solution for pervasive indoor environments,
prototypes, end-user studies and developer focused evaluation. To contextualize our
research, we studied previous research work about cross-device applications, proxemic
interactions and indoor positioning systems.
We presented four application prototypes. The first three were used to perform studies
to evaluate the user experience. The last one was used to study the developer experience
provided by the framework. The results were largely positive with users showing preference
towards using multiple devices under some circumstances. Developers were also
able to grasp the concepts provided by the framework relatively well.Vivemos rodeados de dispositivos computacionais. No entanto, ainda não tiramos partido
da sua presença para criar ambientes de computação ubíqua mais ricos. Existe uma
oportunidade de combiná-los para criar uma experiência de utilizador unificada. Para
realizar esta visão, estudámos e explorámos a utilização de uma framework que forneça
ferramentas e abstrações que permitam o desenvolvimento de aplicações que distribuem
os componentes da interface do utilizador por dispositivos co-localizados.
A framework é composta por: serviços de autenticação e autorização; broker que sincroniza
informação entre várias instâncias da aplicação; serviços que reúnem as capacidades
dos dispositivos; e uma biblioteca para integrar aplicações web com o broker, determinar
as componentes a mostrar com base nos requisitos da interface e nas capacidades dos
dispositivos, e que disponibiliza elementos para gerir a distribuição dos componentes da
interface e dos estados de aplicação. A colaboração entre utilizadores é suportada através
da partilha dos estados de aplicação. Foi necessário desenvolver um sistema de posicionamento
em interiores para determinar quando é que os dispositivos estão perto uns dos
outros para despoletar a redistribuição automática dos componentes da interface.
As questões de investigação inicialmente colocadas são apresentadas juntamente com
as contribuições que foram produzidas. Essas contribuições incluem uma framework para
aplicações multi-dispositivo, uma solução de posicionamento em interiores para computação
ubíqua, protótipos, estudos com utilizadores finais e avaliação com programadores.
Para contextualizar a nossa investigação, estudámos trabalhos anteriores sobre aplicações
multi-dispositivo, interação proxémica e sistemas de posicionamento em interiores.
Apresentámos quatro aplicações protótipo. As primeiras três foram utilizadas para
avaliar a experiência de utilização. A última foi utilizada para estudar a experiência
de desenvolvimento com a framework. Os resultados foram geralmente positivos, com
os utilizadores a preferirem utilizar múltiplos dispositivos em certas circunstâncias. Os
programadores também foram capazes de compreender a framework relativamente bem
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