An innovative mobile application for construction programme managers

Construction programme management is a complex and information-intensive environment. The construction programme management team requires access to construction information in real-time and when needed. The current increasing use of mobile devices offers an opportunity to meet this need. The efficient management of construction programmes is one of the major factors for improving stakeholders’ satisfaction. An innovative tool is needed in accessing the right information at the right time, especially when spontaneous and urgent decision-making is needed. To this end, the innovative use of a mobile device in delivering information and services to the management team in real-time and based on their current context offers significant benefits. This paper discusses context-aware computing, the enabling technologies for geolocation and the development of a prototype, mobile, context-aware application for construction programme management. The prototype system developed is based on the findings from an earlier study of user requirements which showed that the ability to provide relevant information and services at an appropriate time and at the most appropriate location has the potential to improve the monitoring and control of construction programmes. The prototype system demonstrates the provision of context-specific information and services to construction programme managers using a mobile device. The benefits and limitations of the proposed approach are discussed and conclusions drawn about the potential impact of enhanced information delivery for the efficiency of the construction programme managers

Delivery of Personalized and Adaptive Content to Mobile Devices:A Framework and Enabling Technology

Many innovative wireless applications that aim to provide mobile information access are emerging. Since people have different information needs and preferences, one of the challenges for mobile information systems is to take advantage of the convenience of handheld devices and provide personalized information to the right person in a preferred format. However, the unique features of wireless networks and mobile devices pose challenges to personalized mobile content delivery. This paper proposes a generic framework for delivering personalized and adaptive content to mobile users. It introduces a variety of enabling technologies and highlights important issues in this area. The framework can be applied to many applications such as mobile commerce and context-aware mobile services

Reaper – Toward Automating Mobile Cloud Communication

Mobile devices connected to cloud based services are becoming a mainstream method of delivery up-to-date and context aware information to users. Connecting mobile applications to cloud service require significant developer effort. Yet this communication code usually follows certain patterns, varying accordingly to the specific type of data sent and received from the server. By analyzing the causes of theses variations, we can create a system that can automate the code creation for communication from a mobile device to a cloud server. To automate code creation, a general pattern must extracted. This general solution can then be applied to any database configuration. Automating this process frees up valuable development time, allowing developers to make other parts of the application and/or backend service a better experience for the end user

Reaper – Toward Automating Mobile Cloud Communication

Mobile devices connected to cloud based services are becoming a mainstream method of delivery up-to-date and context aware information to users. Connecting mobile applications to cloud service require significant developer effort. Yet this communication code usually follows certain patterns, varying accordingly to the specific type of data sent and received from the server. By analyzing the causes of theses variations, we can create a system that can automate the code creation for communication from a mobile device to a cloud server. To automate code creation, a general pattern must extracted. This general solution can then be applied to any database configuration. Automating this process frees up valuable development time, allowing developers to make other parts of the application and/or backend service a better experience for the end user

Semantic Brokering of Multimedia Contents for Smart Delivery of Ubiquitous Services in Pervasive Environments

With the proliferation of modern mobile devices having the capability to interact each other and with the environment in a transparent manner, there is an increase in the development of those applications that are specifically designed for pervasive and ubiquitous environments. Those applications are able to provide a service of interest for the user that depends on context information, such as the user's position, his preferences, the capability of the device and its available resources. Services have to respond in a rational way in many different situations choosing the actions with the best expected result by the user, so making environment not only more connected and efficient, but smarter. Here we present a semantic framework that provides the technology for the development of intelligent, context aware services and their delivery in pervasive and ubiquitous environments

Reputation-based network selection solution for improved video delivery quality in heterogeneous wireless network environments

The continuous innovations and advances in both high-end mobile devices and wireless communication technologies have increased the users demand and expectations for anywhere, anytime, any device high quality multimedia applications provisioning. Moreover, the heterogeneity of the wireless network environment offers the possibility to the mobile user to select between several available radio access network technologies. However, selecting the network that enables the best user perceived video quality is not trivial given that in general the network characteristics vary widely not only in time but also depending on the user location within each network. In this context, this paper proposes a user location-aware reputation-based network selection solution which aims at improving the video delivery in a heterogeneous wireless network environment by selecting the best value network. Network performance is regularly monitored and evaluated by the currently connected users in different areas of each individual network. Based on the existing network performance-related information and mobile user location and speed, the network that offers the best support for video delivery along the user’s path is selected as the target network and the handover is triggered. The simulation results show that the proposed solution improves the video delivery quality in comparison with the case when a classic network selection mechanism was employed

Technical considerations towards mobile user QoE enhancement via Cloud interaction

This paper discusses technical considerations of a Cloud infrastructure which interacts with mobile devices in order to migrate part of the computational overhead from the mobile device to the Cloud. The aim of the interaction between the mobile device and the Cloud is the enhancement of parameters that affect the Quality of Experience (QoE) of the mobile end user through the offloading of computational aspects of demanding applications. This paper shows that mobile user’s QoE can be potentially enhanced by offloading computational tasks to the Cloud which incorporates a predictive context-aware mechanism to schedule delivery of content to the mobile end-user using a low-cost interaction model between the Cloud and the mobile user. With respect to the proposed enhancements, both the technical considerations of the cloud infrastructure are examined, as well as the interaction between the mobile device and the Cloud