Multimodal Content Delivery for Geo-services

This thesis describes a body of work carried out over several research projects in the area of multimodal interaction for location-based services. Research in this area has progressed from using simulated mobile environments to demonstrate the visual modality, to the ubiquitous delivery of rich media using multimodal interfaces (geo- services). To effectively deliver these services, research focused on innovative solutions to real-world problems in a number of disciplines including geo-location, mobile spatial interaction, location-based services, rich media interfaces and auditory user interfaces. My original contributions to knowledge are made in the areas of multimodal interaction underpinned by advances in geo-location technology and supported by the proliferation of mobile device technology into modern life. Accurate positioning is a known problem for location-based services, contributions in the area of mobile positioning demonstrate a hybrid positioning technology for mobile devices that uses terrestrial beacons to trilaterate position. Information overload is an active concern for location-based applications that struggle to manage large amounts of data, contributions in the area of egocentric visibility that filter data based on field-of-view demonstrate novel forms of multimodal input. One of the more pertinent characteristics of these applications is the delivery or output modality employed (auditory, visual or tactile). Further contributions in the area of multimodal content delivery are made, where multiple modalities are used to deliver information using graphical user interfaces, tactile interfaces and more notably auditory user interfaces. It is demonstrated how a combination of these interfaces can be used to synergistically deliver context sensitive rich media to users - in a responsive way - based on usage scenarios that consider the affordance of the device, the geographical position and bearing of the device and also the location of the device

Mobility is the Message: Experiments with Mobile Media Sharing

This thesis explores new mobile media sharing applications by building, deploying, and studying their use. While we share media in many different ways both on the web and on mobile phones, there are few ways of sharing media with people physically near us. Studied were three designed and built systems: Push!Music, Columbus, and Portrait Catalog, as well as a fourth commercially available system – Foursquare. This thesis offers four contributions: First, it explores the design space of co-present media sharing of four test systems. Second, through user studies of these systems it reports on how these come to be used. Third, it explores new ways of conducting trials as the technical mobile landscape has changed. Last, we look at how the technical solutions demonstrate different lines of thinking from how similar solutions might look today. Through a Human-Computer Interaction methodology of design, build, and study, we look at systems through the eyes of embodied interaction and examine how the systems come to be in use. Using Goffman’s understanding of social order, we see how these mobile media sharing systems allow people to actively present themselves through these media. In turn, using McLuhan’s way of understanding media, we reflect on how these new systems enable a new type of medium distinct from the web centric media, and how this relates directly to mobility. While media sharing is something that takes place everywhere in western society, it is still tied to the way media is shared through computers. Although often mobile, they do not consider the mobile settings. The systems in this thesis treat mobility as an opportunity for design. It is still left to see how this mobile media sharing will come to present itself in people’s everyday life, and when it does, how we will come to understand it and how it will transform society as a medium distinct from those before. This thesis gives a glimpse at what this future will look like

Natural computing for vehicular networks

La presente tesis aborda el diseño inteligente de soluciones para el despliegue de redes vehiculares ad-hoc (vehicular ad hoc networks, VANETs). Estas son redes de comunicación inalámbrica formada principalmente por vehículos y elementos de infraestructura vial. Las VANETs ofrecen la oportunidad para desarrollar aplicaciones revolucionarias en el ámbito de la seguridad y eficiencia vial. Al ser un dominio tan novedoso, existe una serie de cuestiones abiertas, como el diseño de la infraestructura de estaciones base necesaria y el encaminamiento (routing) y difusión (broadcasting) de paquetes de datos, que todavía no han podido resolverse empleando estrategias clásicas. Es por tanto necesario crear y estudiar nuevas técnicas que permitan de forma eficiente, eficaz, robusta y flexible resolver dichos problemas. Este trabajo de tesis doctoral propone el uso de computación inspirada en la naturaleza o Computación Natural (CN) para tratar algunos de los problemas más importantes en el ámbito de las VANETs, porque representan una serie de algoritmos versátiles, flexibles y eficientes para resolver problemas complejos. Además de resolver los problemas VANET en los que nos enfocamos, se han realizado avances en el uso de estas técnicas para que traten estos problemas de forma más eficiente y eficaz. Por último, se han llevado a cabo pruebas reales de concepto empleando vehículos y dispositivos de comunicación reales en la ciudad de Málaga (España). La tesis se ha estructurado en cuatro grandes fases. En la primera fase, se han estudiado los principales fundamentos en los que se basa esta tesis. Para ello se hizo un estudio exhaustivo sobre las tecnologías que emplean las redes vehiculares, para así, identificar sus principales debilidades. A su vez, se ha profundizado en el análisis de la CN como herramienta eficiente para resolver problemas de optimización complejos, y de cómo utilizarla en la resolución de los problemas en VANETs. En la segunda fase, se han abordado cuatro problemas de optimización en redes vehiculares: la transferencia de archivos, el encaminamiento (routing) de paquetes, la difusión (broadcasting) de mensajes y el diseño de la infraestructura de estaciones base necesaria para desplegar redes vehiculares. Para la resolución de dichos problemas se han propuesto diferentes algoritmos CN que se clasifican en algoritmos evolutivos (evolutionary algorithms, EAs), métodos de inteligencia de enjambre (swarm intelligence, SI) y enfriamiento simulado (simulated annealing, SA). Los resultados obtenidos han proporcionado protocolos de han mejorado de forma significativa las comunicaciones en VANETs. En la tercera y última fase, se han realizado experimentos empleando vehículos reales circulando por las carreteras de Málaga y que se comunicaban entre sí. El principal objetivo de estas pruebas ha sido el validar las mejoras que presentan los protocolos que se han optimizado empleando CN. Los resultados obtenidos de las fases segunda y tercera confirman la hipótesis de trabajo, que la CN es una herramienta eficiente para tratar el diseño inteligente en redes vehiculares

Indoor localization using place and motion signatures

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2013.This electronic version was submitted and approved by the author's academic department as part of an electronic thesis pilot project. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Cataloged from department-submitted PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 141-153).Most current methods for 802.11-based indoor localization depend on either simple radio propagation models or exhaustive, costly surveys conducted by skilled technicians. These methods are not satisfactory for long-term, large-scale positioning of mobile devices in practice. This thesis describes two approaches to the indoor localization problem, which we formulate as discovering user locations using place and motion signatures. The first approach, organic indoor localization, combines the idea of crowd-sourcing, encouraging end-users to contribute place signatures (location RF fingerprints) in an organic fashion. Based on prior work on organic localization systems, we study algorithmic challenges associated with structuring such organic location systems: the design of localization algorithms suitable for organic localization systems, qualitative and quantitative control of user inputs to "grow" an organic system from the very beginning, and handling the device heterogeneity problem, in which different devices have different RF characteristics. In the second approach, motion compatibility-based indoor localization, we formulate the localization problem as trajectory matching of a user motion sequence onto a prior map. Our method estimates indoor location with respect to a prior map consisting of a set of 2D floor plans linked through horizontal and vertical adjacencies. To enable the localization system, we present a motion classification algorithm that estimates user motions from the sensors available in commodity mobile devices. We also present a route network generation method, which constructs a graph representation of all user routes from legacy floor plans. Given these inputs, our HMM-based trajectory matching algorithm recovers user trajectories. The main contribution is the notion of path compatibility, in which the sequential output of a classifier of inertial data producing low-level motion estimates (standing still, walking straight, going upstairs, turning left etc.) is examined for metric/topological/semantic agreement with the prior map. We show that, using only proprioceptive data of the quality typically available on a modern smartphone, our method can recover the user's location to within several meters in one to two minutes after a "cold start."by Jun-geun Park.Ph.D

Improving Vehicular ad hoc Network Protocols to Support Safety Applications in Realistic Scenarios

La convergencia de las telecomunicaciones, la informática, la tecnología inalámbrica y los sistemas de transporte, va a facilitar que nuestras carreteras y autopistas nos sirvan tanto como plataforma de transporte, como de comunicaciones. Estos cambios van a revolucionar completamente cómo y cuándo vamos a acceder a determinados servicios, comunicarnos, viajar, entretenernos, y navegar, en un futuro muy cercano. Las redes vehiculares ad hoc (vehicular ad hoc networks VANETs) son redes de comunicación inalámbricas que no requieren de ningún tipo de infraestructura, y que permiten la comunicación y conducción cooperativa entre los vehículos en la carretera. Los vehículos actúan como nodos de comunicación y transmisores, formando redes dinámicas junto a otros vehículos cercanos en entornos urbanos y autopistas. Las características especiales de las redes vehiculares favorecen el desarrollo de servicios y aplicaciones atractivas y desafiantes. En esta tesis nos centramos en las aplicaciones relacionadas con la seguridad. Específicamente, desarrollamos y evaluamos un novedoso protocol que mejora la seguridad en las carreteras. Nuestra propuesta combina el uso de información de la localización de los vehículos y las características del mapa del escenario, para mejorar la diseminación de los mensajes de alerta. En las aplicaciones de seguridad para redes vehiculares, nuestra propuesta permite reducir el problema de las tormentas de difusión, mientras que se mantiene una alta efectividad en la diseminación de los mensajes hacia los vehículos cercanos. Debido a que desplegar y evaluar redes VANET supone un gran coste y una tarea dura, la metodología basada en la simulación se muestra como una metodología alternativa a la implementación real. A diferencia de otros trabajos previos, con el fin de evaluar nuestra propuesta en un entorno realista, en nuestras simulaciones tenemos muy en cuenta tanto la movilidad de los vehículos, como la transmisión de radio en entornos urbanos, especialmente cuando los edificios interfieren en la propagación de la señal de radio. Con este propósito, desarrollamos herramientas para la simulación de VANETs más precisas y realistas, mejorando tanto la modelización de la propagación de radio, como la movilidad de los vehículos, obteniendo una solución que permite integrar mapas reales en el entorno de simulación. Finalmente, evaluamos las prestaciones de nuestro protocolo propuesto haciendo uso de nuestra plataforma de simulación mejorada, evidenciando la importancia del uso de un entorno de simulación adecuado para conseguir resultados más realistas y poder obtener conclusiones más significativas.Martínez Domínguez, FJ. (2010). Improving Vehicular ad hoc Network Protocols to Support Safety Applications in Realistic Scenarios [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/9195Palanci

Innovation and new venture creation

[SPA] Crear lo "nuevo" para resolver problemas es una hazaña incierta. Aun así, el ser humano ha innovado y aplicado el ingenio durante milenios, llegando a crear nuevas herramientas, puentes y empresas, a pesar de la falta de recursos o de claridad en los objetivos. En este sentido, el problema de la asimetría de información (cómo se desplegará el futuro) y de la asimetría de recursos (de qué medios se dispondrá) motivó esta tesis. En particular, el problema de cómo los emprendedores crean nuevos emprendimientos e innovan bajo la incertidumbre y sin objetivos iniciales claros. Esta tesis pretende contribuir a la comprensión de la innovación y la creación de nuevos emprendimientos utilizando una lógica no predictiva (effectuation) y métodos ágiles (utilizados por las aceleradoras de startups) como principios orientadores de esta discusión. Effectuation es una lógica común aplicada por los emprendedores expertos para resolver los problemas típicos de la innovación y creación de nuevas empresas. Se trata de una heurística de control no predictiva que los emprendedores ponen en práctica a través de cinco principios de acción effectual al abordar las incertidumbres y sorpresas en la creación de nuevos productos, servicios o mercados: 1) Principio de "pájaro en mano": construyen un nuevo emprendimiento no necesariamente con un objetivo en mente, sino partiendo de sus propios medios y recursos (quiénes son, qué saben, a quienes conocen), 2) Principio de "pérdida asequible": no hacen grandes apuestas con la expectativa de obtener grandes beneficios, sino que evalúan las oportunidades en función de las desventajas aceptables, 3) Principio de "colcha loca": reducen la incertidumbre formando asociaciones y obteniendo compromisos iniciales en las primeras fases de sus nuevas empresas, 4) Principio de la “limonada”: aprovechan las contingencias en lugar de rechazarlas, permaneciendo flexibles y adaptando sus proyectos según sea necesario, 5) Principio del “piloto en el avión”: se centran en controlar lo que sea controlable en su entorno, entendiendo que el futuro no se encuentra ni se predice, sino que se hace a través de la acción humana. Las aceleradoras y los métodos ágiles activan los principios effectual a través de herramientas y prescripciones que reducen sistemáticamente las inversiones mientras se crea un nuevo emprendimiento. Las aceleradoras promueven ampliamente los métodos ágiles (por ejemplo, el modelo de desarrollo de clientes, los sprints de diseño, el ciclo de innovación rápida) para construir prototipos y primeras versiones de productos y servicios mientras se descubren los clientes y partners iniciales. Además, reduce el riesgo para los inversores en todas las fases de crecimiento de las startups al validar la idea del emprendimiento y aclarar qué recursos serán necesarios. En este sentido, esta tesis examinó si, y en qué medida, los emprendedores construyen nuevas empresas utilizando effectuation y métodos ágiles mediante la creación de tres innovaciones reales con aplicaciones en el mundo real. Los tres casos eran pruebas de concepto implementadas en contextos del mundo real con el objetivo explícito de lanzar Productos Mínimos Viables (Minimum Viable Products, MVP) pero bajo incertidumbre y con ambigüedad de objetivos sobre su funcionalidad. Las tres aplicaciones eran soluciones tecnológicas a problemas de congestión del tráfico, pandemias y confianza en las transacciones digitales. La aplicación 1, "Lemur", es una aplicación edge para el control del tráfico; la aplicación 2, "Dolphin", un sistema de geolocalización basado en sensores e Internet de las Cosas (Internet of Things, IoT) aplicado para el control de pandemias y la aplicación 3, "Crypto Degrees", una solución basada en blockchain para verificar títulos universitarios. En todas las etapas del desarrollo de cada aplicación, los equipos implicados la abordaron de forma emprendedora/eficaz, afrontando las incertidumbres y emprendiendo acciones para comprometerse con múltiples partes interesadas al tiempo que apalancaban las contingencias. Tras implementar las tres soluciones y analizar sus resultados e impacto, los tres casos validaron las predicciones teóricas de que, aplicando principios effectual de forma ágil, se pueden crear nuevos emprendimientos de forma emprendedora e innovadora. [ENG] Creating the "new" to solve problems is an uncertain feat. Still, humans have innovated and applied Ingenium for millennia, eventually creating new tools, bridges, and ventures, despite a lack of resources or clarity of objectives. In this sense, the problem of information asymmetry (how the future will deploy) and resource asymmetry (what means will be available) motivated this thesis. In particular, the problem of how entrepreneurs create new ventures and innovate under uncertainty and without clear initial goals. This thesis aims to contribute to understanding innovation and the creation of new ventures using a non-predictive logic (effectuation) and agile methods (used by startup accelerators) as guiding principles of this discussion. Effectuation is a common logic applied by expert entrepreneurs to solve the typical problems of starting new ventures and innovating. It is a non-predictive control heuristics entrepreneurs operationalize through five principles of effectual action while addressing the uncertainties and contingencies in creating new products, services or markets: 1) Bird-in-hand principle: they build a new venture not necessarily with a goal in mind, but starting with their own means and resources (who they are, what they know, who they know), 2) Affordable loss principle: they do not place large bets with the expectation of high returns, but rather assess opportunities based on acceptable downsides, 3) Crazy quilt principle: they reduce uncertainty by forming partnerships and gaining initial commitments early in their new ventures, 4) Lemonade principle: they leverage contingencies instead of rejecting them, remaining flexible and adapting their projects as required, 5) Pilot in the plane principle: they focus on controlling whatever is controllable in their environment, understanding that the future is not found or predicted, but it is made through human action. Accelerators and agile methods activate the effectual principles through tools and prescriptions that systematically reduce investments while creating a new venture. Accelerators extensively promote "agile" methods (e.g., customer development model, design sprints, rapid innovation cycle) to build prototypes and early versions Effectuation is a common logic applied by expert entrepreneurs to solve the typical problems of starting new ventures and innovating. It is a non-predictive control heuristics entrepreneurs operationalize through five principles of effectual action while addressing the uncertainties and contingencies in creating new products, services or markets: 1) Bird-in-hand principle: they build a new venture not necessarily with a goal in mind, but starting with their own means and resources (who they are, what they know, who they know), 2) Affordable loss principle: they do not place large bets with the expectation of high returns, but rather assess opportunities based on acceptable downsides, 3) Crazy quilt principle: they reduce uncertainty by forming partnerships and gaining initial commitments early in their new ventures, 4) Lemonade principle: they leverage contingencies instead of rejecting them, remaining flexible and adapting their projects as required, 5) Pilot in the plane principle: they focus on controlling whatever is controllable in their environment, understanding that the future is not found or predicted, but it is made through human action. Accelerators and agile methods activate the effectual principles through tools and prescriptions that systematically reduce investments while creating a new venture. Accelerators extensively promote "agile" methods (e.g., customer development model, design sprints, rapid innovation cycle) to build prototypes and early versions of products and services while discovering the initial customers and partners. Additionally, it reduces the risk for investors across all startup growth phases by validating the venture idea and clarifying what resources will be required. In this sense, this thesis examined whether and to what extent entrepreneurs build new ventures using effectuation and agile methods by creating three actual innovations with real-world applications. The three cases were proofs of concept implemented in real-world contexts with the explicit goal of launching Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) but under uncertainty and with ambiguity of objectives about its functionality. The three applications were technological solutions to problems of traffic congestion, pandemics, and trust in digital transactions. Application 1, "Lemur," is an edge application for traffic control; application 2, "Dolphin," an Internet of Things (IoT)-based geolocation system applied for pandemic control and application 3, "Crypto Degrees," a blockchainbased solution to verify university degrees. In all stages of each application development, the teams involved approached it in an entrepreneurial/effectual way, facing uncertainties and engaging in actions to engage with multiple stakeholders while leveraging contingencies. After implementing the three solutions and analyzing their results and impact, the three cases validated the theoretical predictions that by applying effectual principles in an agile form, new ventures can be created in an entrepreneurial, innovative way.Escuela Internacional de Doctorado de la Universidad Politécnica de CartagenaUniversidad Politécnica de CartagenaPrograma Doctorado en Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicacione

Estimating Movement from Mobile Telephony Data

Mobile enabled devices are ubiquitous in modern society. The information gathered by their normal service operations has become one of the primary data sources used in the understanding of human mobility, social connection and information transfer. This thesis investigates techniques that can extract useful information from anonymised call detail records (CDR). CDR consist of mobile subscriber data related to people in connection with the network operators, the nature of their communication activity (voice, SMS, data, etc.), duration of the activity and starting time of the activity and servicing cell identification numbers of both the sender and the receiver when available. The main contributions of the research are a methodology for distance measurements which enables the identification of mobile subscriber travel paths and a methodology for population density estimation based on significant mobile subscriber regions of interest. In addition, insights are given into how a mobile network operator may use geographically located subscriber data to create new revenue streams and improved network performance. A range of novel algorithms and techniques underpin the development of these methodologies. These include, among others, techniques for CDR feature extraction, data visualisation and CDR data cleansing. The primary data source used in this body of work was the CDR of Meteor, a mobile network operator in the Republic of Ireland. The Meteor network under investigation has just over 1 million customers, which represents approximately a quarter of the country’s 4.6 million inhabitants, and operates using both 2G and 3G cellular telephony technologies. Results show that the steady state vector analysis of modified Markov chain mobility models can return population density estimates comparable to population estimates obtained through a census. Evaluated using a test dataset, results of travel path identification showed that developed distance measurements achieved greater accuracy when classifying the routes CDR journey trajectories took compared to traditional trajectory distance measurements. Results from subscriber segmentation indicate that subscribers who have perceived similar relationships to geographical features can be grouped based on weighted steady state mobility vectors. Overall, this thesis proposes novel algorithms and techniques for the estimation of movement from mobile telephony data addressing practical issues related to sampling, privacy and spatial uncertainty

Advanced Location-Based Technologies and Services

Since the publication of the first edition in 2004, advances in mobile devices, positioning sensors, WiFi fingerprinting, and wireless communications, among others, have paved the way for developing new and advanced location-based services (LBSs). This second edition provides up-to-date information on LBSs, including WiFi fingerprinting, mobile computing, geospatial clouds, geospatial data mining, location privacy, and location-based social networking. It also includes new chapters on application areas such as LBSs for public health, indoor navigation, and advertising. In addition, the chapter on remote sensing has been revised to address advancements