Sensing motion using spectral and spatial analysis of WLAN RSSI

In this paper we present how motion sensing can be obtained just by observing the WLAN radio signal strength and its fluctuations. The temporal, spectral and spatial characteristics of WLAN signal are analyzed. Our analysis confirms our claim that ’signal strength from access points appear to jump around more vigorously when the device is moving compared to when it is still and the number of detectable access points vary considerably while the user is on the move’. Using this observation, we present a novel motion detection algorithm, Spectrally Spread Motion Detection (SpecSMD) based on the spectral analysis of WLAN signal’s RSSI. To benchmark the proposed algorithm, we used Spatially Spread Motion Detection (SpatSMD), which is inspired by the recent work of Sohn et al. Both algorithms were evaluated by carrying out extensive measurements in a diverse set of conditions (indoors in different buildings and outdoors - city center, parking lot, university campus etc.,) and tested against the same data sets. The 94% average classification accuracy of the proposed SpecSMD is outperforming the accuracy of SpatSMD (accuracy 87%). The motion detection algorithms presented in this paper provide ubiquitous methods for deriving the state of the user. The algorithms can be implemented and run on a commodity device with WLAN capability without the need of any additional hardware support

Understanding Effects and Determinants of Mobile Support Tools: A Usability-Centered Field Study on IT Service Technicians

The integration of mobile workplaces is a major challenge for companies. First-wave mobile solutions mostly support existing business processes through adding value in terms of increased efficiency. Second-wave mobile solutions comprise a re-engineering of the mobile business processes, add value through increased effectiveness and may even enable new forms of mobility. In order to achieve a systematic approach to mobile integrated business processes it is important to analyze existing processes, focusing on the effects and determinants of mobile solutions that might be used to support those processes. For this purpose we examined a typical example, the field technician support process of an IT service providing company. Our research approach combines usability and process performance issues. The results show which tasks are suitable for mobile application support, which personnel is most likely to benefit from mobile technology and what improvements on business metrics such as labor time, back office capacity, and invoice cycle are to be expected.

Controlled Experimentation in Naturalistic Mobile Settings

Performing controlled user experiments on small devices in naturalistic mobile settings has always proved to be a difficult undertaking for many Human Factors researchers. Difficulties exist, not least, because mimicking natural small device usage suffers from a lack of unobtrusive data to guide experimental design, and then validate that the experiment is proceeding naturally.Here we use observational data to derive a set of protocols and a simple checklist of validations which can be built into the design of any controlled experiment focused on the user interface of a small device. These, have been used within a series of experimental designs to measure the utility and application of experimental software. The key-point is the validation checks -- based on the observed behaviour of 400 mobile users -- to ratify that a controlled experiment is being perceived as natural by the user. While the design of the experimental route which the user follows is a major factor in the experimental setup, without check validations based on unobtrusive observed data there can be no certainty that an experiment designed to be natural is actually progressing as the design implies.Comment: 12 pages, 3 table

Picking pockets on the lawn: the development of tactics and strategies in a mobile game

This paper presents Treasure, an outdoor mobile multiplayer game inspired by Weiser’s notion of seams, gaps and breaks in different media. Playing Treasure involves movement in and out of a wi-fi network, using PDAs to pick up virtual ’coins’ that may be scattered outside network coverage. Coins have to be uploaded to a server to gain game points, and players can collaborate with teammates to double the points given for an upload. Players can also steal coins from opponents. As they move around, players’ PDAs sample network signal strength and update coverage maps. Reporting on a study of players taking part in multiple games, we discuss how their tactics and strategies developed as their experience grew with successive games. We suggest that meaningful play arises in just this way, and that repeated play is vital when evaluating such games

Visualizing pain data for wheelchair users: A ubiquitous approach

Copyright @ 2005 Rinton PressWe describe a wireless enabled solution for the vizualisation of pain data. Our approach uses pain drawings to record spatial location and type of pain and enables data collection with appropriate time stamping, thus providing a means for the seldom-recorded (but often attested) time-varying nature of pain, with consequential impact on monitoring the effectiveness of patient treatment regimes. Moreover, since the implementation platform of our solution is that of a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), data collection takes place ubiquitously, providing back pain sufferers with mobility problems (such as wheelchair users) with a convenient means of logging their pain data and of seamlessly uploading it to a hospital server using WiFi technology. Stakeholder results show that, notwithstanding problems related to PDA data input, our approach is generally perceived to be an easy to use and convenient solution to the challenges of anywhere/anytime data collection

Making local knowledge matter: Supporting non-literate people to monitor poaching in Congo

This paper describes a project initiated by non-literate indigenous people to equip their own “citizen scientists” with rugged smartphones running adapted software that enable them to share some of their detailed environmental knowledge in ways that improve the sustainable management of their forest. Supporting local people to share their environmental knowledge in scientifically valid and strategically targeted ways can lead to improvement in environmental governance, environmental justice and management practices. Mbendjele hunter-gatherers in the rainforests of Congo are working together with the ExCiteS Research Group at University College London to make their local knowledge about commercial hunters’ activities improve the control of commercial hunters and diminish the harassment they often experience at the hands of “eco-guards” who enforce hunting regulations. Developing and deploying a system for non-literate users introduces a range of challenges that we have tried to solve. Our Anti-Poaching data collection platform, running on Android smartphones, is based on a decision tree of pictorial icons and employs various smartphone sensors to augment observations. We describe its development here

Mobile learning evaluation: the development of tools and techniques for the evaluation of learning exploiting mobile devices through the analysis of automatically collected usage logs - an iterative approach

There have been many claims as to the benefits of personal digital assistants (PDA) as tools in education, but little objective data concerning device usage patterns. The aim of this project was to overcome this deficiency by objectively investigating the use of mobile devices in teaching and learning, specifically in the process of formative assessment. A bespoke PDA application was written, which recorded in detail when PDA applications were being used and overcame a number of technical barriers in securing this information for later analysis. This data, along with information on student access to the University Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and final student examination results, formed the main objective datasets recovered in the project. Novel data analysis tools and methodologies were developed to mine the extensive, heterogeneous datasets obtained, and efficiently characterise how students used PDA applications. Finally, data analysis was performed on four cohorts of students: i) fourteen joint honours students in electronics and software engineering, where researchers learned that even for technologically adept students, simple issues (such as failure to replace batteries and resultant data loss) could significantly restrict useful research outputs; ii) five summer school students using quiz applications and question sets, where the first significant evidence of the educational benefits of using mobile devices was obtained; iii) students who failed to interact in any way with what they saw as obsolete devices, emphasising the importance of keeping student PDAs current with modern technology; iv) a full scale trial involving a 1st year cohort of BTechEd students, where the lessons learned in phases 1-3 were applied. In the trials, technical and human-computer interface barriers to securing useful data were encountered and overcome, and guidelines for future good practice, of significant use to practitioners in the research area, determined. Patterns and modes of their PDA use - considering a range of factors including overall duration of use, use as a function of time of day or time of week, and the complexity of use (e.g. frequency of application switching within a usage session) - were obtained and correlated with exam results and access to the University VLE. A number of usage characteristics of successful and unsuccessful learners were extracted from this data. In addition to these results, novel student behaviour was observed, with volunteer students actively avoiding returning data despite stated interest in the project, lowered technical barriers, significant inducements, and guarantees of data anonymity. We suggest a number of social factors, including on the nature of peer group formation in student cohorts and the socially disruptive nature of new technology, as contributing to this effect and identify the area as worthy of future investigation

Project54 vehicle telematics for remote diagnostics, fleet management and traffic monitoring

The Project54 system was developed to introduce advanced technologies into the operations of the New Hampshire Department of Safety and other law enforcement agencies. The application of computing, sensing and telecommunication technologies within the Project54 system enables advanced telematics services that can provide benefits to vehicle operators, fleet managers and the public. This thesis describes the implementation of remote diagnostics and fleet management services for the Project54 system and investigates the use of radar equipped police vehicles as traffic probes. Aftermarket diagnostic hardware has been integrated in the Project54 system and software applications have been developed to control the hardware and record diagnostic information. An electronic data entry form has been created for tracking vehicle operating expenses and a vehicle status reporting system is described. Additionally, a traffic congestion scoring method using information from traffic radar units is presented

Using tracked mobile sensors to make maps of environmental effects

We present a study the results of a study of environmental carbon monoxide pollution that has uses a set of tracked, mobile pollution sensors. The motivating concept is that we will be able to map pollution and other properties of the real world a fine scale if we can deploy a large set of sensors with members of the general public who would carry them as they go about their normal everyday activities. To prove the viability of this concept we have to demonstrate that data gathered in an ad-hoc manner is reliable enough in order to allow us to build interesting geo-temporal maps. We present a trial using a small number of global positioning system-tracked CO sensors. From analysis of raw GPS logs we find some well-known spatial and temporal properties of CO. Further, by processing the GPS logs we can find fine-grained variations in pollution readings such as when crossing roads. We then discuss the space of possibilities that may be enabled by tracking sensors around the urban environment – both in getting at personal experience of properties of the environment and in making summative maps to predict future conditions. Although we present a study of CO, the techniques will be applicable to other environmental properties such as radio signal strength, noise, weather and so on

Supporting ethnographic studies of ubiquitous computing in the wild

Ethnography has become a staple feature of IT research over the last twenty years, shaping our understanding of the social character of computing systems and informing their design in a wide variety of settings. The emergence of ubiquitous computing raises new challenges for ethnography however, distributing interaction across a burgeoning array of small, mobile devices and online environments which exploit invisible sensing systems. Understanding interaction requires ethnographers to reconcile interactions that are, for example, distributed across devices on the street with online interactions in order to assemble coherent understandings of the social character and purchase of ubiquitous computing systems. We draw upon four recent studies to show how ethnographers are replaying system recordings of interaction alongside existing resources such as video recordings to do this and identify key challenges that need to be met to support ethnographic study of ubiquitous computing in the wild