Requirement engineering for context aware applications: a proceeding for context elements identification and representation

A few years ago, it seemed inconceivable to think about cars able to detect open doors automatically, with a device for speech recognition; besides, it was almost unbelievable to imagine houses that close their windows in case of rain, or heating systems that turn themselves on at a specific time, reaching certain temperatures; among other characteristics. However, nowadays it is almost natural to have these benefits at our disposal; even it is possible to abstract oneself about the hardware used for their implementation. This fact is due to the technical advance, as well as to the raise of a new paradigm: Context Aware Programming In other words, the development of applications aimed to react automatically towards environment changes. This type of application requires a representation scheme over the contextual information used. This paper defines some guidelines connected to Requirement Engineering for these systems to operate. First, a context taxonomy is conceptualized, used as a guide for eliciting processes; then, definitions for “element”, “context attribute”, and “representation scheme” are presented. Finally, a procedure for eliciting and specifying context is proposed.VI Workshop Ingeniería de Software (WIS)Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Mobile IoT adoption as antecedent to Care-Service Efficiency and Improvement: Empirical study in Healthcare-context

Internet of things (IoT) is the buzzword and pioneering breakthrough approach highlighted in today’s industry 4.0, where the devices are seamlessly integrated with each other, sharing vital information in real-time sync. With the wearable IoT devices, the diagnostic readings and physical measurements of the patients can be shared with the physician on the go and suitable diagnosis can as well be shared with patient in the real-time on their own mobile devices through IoT applications. This study empirically examines the importance of m-IoT adoption on the information pervasiveness across the network and patient stakeholders and in turn investigating how efficiency of healthcare services and care process improvement got affected. Study outcomes based on 221 completed responses from the healthcare professionals concludes that, m-IoT adoption opens new opportunities and challenges with the process innovation in the healthcare services and increases the efficiency of services

Requirements engineering for intelligent environments

The field of Intelligent Environments (IE) is maturing to a level at which a range of sophisticated applications are emerging. Such systems aim to be context-aware, especially being adaptable to possibly unpredictable circumstances. An area of significant potential is that of ‘ambient assisted living’, with significant advances in fields such as smart spaces, classrooms, and assisted living space for the elderly or people with disabilities. In recent years, however, it has been recognised that numerous IE systems have been developed without adopting best practises from software engineering. The work presented here focuses on the requirements engineering stage and presents a framework for IE systems in which an intrinsic component is context-awareness. Whilst the framework is intended as a general IE model, we are currently applying it to the specific area of ambient assisted living and it is being employed on the POSEIDON project. It is anticipated that such real world application of the model will help endorse its conception and facilitate further refinement of the framework

Requirement engineering for context aware applications: a proceeding for context elements identification and representation

A few years ago, it seemed inconceivable to think about cars able to detect open doors automatically, with a device for speech recognition; besides, it was almost unbelievable to imagine houses that close their windows in case of rain, or heating systems that turn themselves on at a specific time, reaching certain temperatures; among other characteristics. However, nowadays it is almost natural to have these benefits at our disposal; even it is possible to abstract oneself about the hardware used for their implementation. This fact is due to the technical advance, as well as to the raise of a new paradigm: Context Aware Programming In other words, the development of applications aimed to react automatically towards environment changes. This type of application requires a representation scheme over the contextual information used. This paper defines some guidelines connected to Requirement Engineering for these systems to operate. First, a context taxonomy is conceptualized, used as a guide for eliciting processes; then, definitions for “element”, “context attribute”, and “representation scheme” are presented. Finally, a procedure for eliciting and specifying context is proposed.VI Workshop Ingeniería de Software (WIS)Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Ingeniería de Requerimientos para Sistemas Sensibles al Contexto, un estudio comparativo

La comunidad informática propició el advenimiento de la Ingeniería de Software luego de años de fracasos, y aún a pesar de los progresos, le falta tiempo -quizás décadas- para convertirse en una disciplina de ingeniería madura que la sociedad de la información requiere. Esto implica que la Ingeniería de Requerimientos tampoco ha llegado a un estado de madurez plena. Por otra parte, de la mano del avance tecnológico, ha surgido un nuevo paradigma: la Programación Sensible al Contexto, es decir, la generación de aplicaciones capaces de reaccionar a los cambios en el contexto de manera automática. Es posible, entonces, pensar en una metodología de construcción de estas aplicaciones, y por ende la “adecuación” de la Ingeniería de Requerimientos tradicional de modo tal de ser utilizada en este nuevo tipo de aplicaciones, aunque aun quede mucho camino por recorrer. Este trabajo, por lo tanto, presenta un estudio comparativo de diversos enfoques de Ingeniería de Requerimientos para Aplicaciones Sensibles al Contexto.The computing community has brought about the creation of Software Engineering after years of failure and despite the advances already made; it still requires more time –even decades- to become a mature engineering field necessary among the computing community. This also involves the fact that Requirement Engineering has not reached a maturity state either. On the other hand, a new paradigm has emerged together with the technological development: Context-Aware Software, that is to say, the generation of applications able to react automatically to context changes. Then, it is possible to imagine a methodology for the development of these applications and, consequently, an “adaptation” on the part of the Requirement Engineering to be used in these new applications, even though there is still a long way to go. This paper shows a comparative research on several Requirement Engineering approaches for Context-Aware Applications.Workshop de Ingeniería de Software y Bases de Datos (WISBD)Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Ingeniería de Requerimientos para Sistemas Sensibles al Contexto, un estudio comparativo

La comunidad informática propició el advenimiento de la Ingeniería de Software luego de años de fracasos, y aún a pesar de los progresos, le falta tiempo -quizás décadas- para convertirse en una disciplina de ingeniería madura que la sociedad de la información requiere. Esto implica que la Ingeniería de Requerimientos tampoco ha llegado a un estado de madurez plena. Por otra parte, de la mano del avance tecnológico, ha surgido un nuevo paradigma: la Programación Sensible al Contexto, es decir, la generación de aplicaciones capaces de reaccionar a los cambios en el contexto de manera automática. Es posible, entonces, pensar en una metodología de construcción de estas aplicaciones, y por ende la “adecuación” de la Ingeniería de Requerimientos tradicional de modo tal de ser utilizada en este nuevo tipo de aplicaciones, aunque aun quede mucho camino por recorrer. Este trabajo, por lo tanto, presenta un estudio comparativo de diversos enfoques de Ingeniería de Requerimientos para Aplicaciones Sensibles al Contexto.The computing community has brought about the creation of Software Engineering after years of failure and despite the advances already made; it still requires more time –even decades- to become a mature engineering field necessary among the computing community. This also involves the fact that Requirement Engineering has not reached a maturity state either. On the other hand, a new paradigm has emerged together with the technological development: Context-Aware Software, that is to say, the generation of applications able to react automatically to context changes. Then, it is possible to imagine a methodology for the development of these applications and, consequently, an “adaptation” on the part of the Requirement Engineering to be used in these new applications, even though there is still a long way to go. This paper shows a comparative research on several Requirement Engineering approaches for Context-Aware Applications.Workshop de Ingeniería de Software y Bases de Datos (WISBD)Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

A creative process to elicit contexts for context sensitive systems

Requirements engineering is concerned with the identification of services (functional requirements) and restrictions (non-functional requirements) that a system must meet to satisfy the needs of its users. Requirements, in turn, are increasingly influenced by the context in which the systems are used. In the search for systems that are adaptable to the needs of users and to changes in the operating environment, context-sensitive systems arise. There is a need for a process to systematically elicit contexts to such systems. Given this scenario, we propose a process to elicit requirements and contextual information to be used during the requirements elicitation phase. The process is based on the Storytelling Group technique and also includes mind maps, the 5W1H dimensions (who, what, when, where, why and how) and the conditional dimension that are used to structure and organize the information collected; heuristics were defined to guide the identification of contexts from the information captured in the mind map structured with 5W1H + conditional. Moreover, the contextual information is analyzed and modeled using a specific framework for contexts. To illustrate the use of the process, a Smart Home system was used. The process was also applied in the context of an information technology company for evaluation and posterior refinement. Then, the effectiveness and easiness of use of the process were evaluated in an empirical study in an academic environment. The results obtained indicate that the process is useful and easy to use, bringing benefits to the development of context sensitive systems

User-Centered Context-Aware Mobile Applications―The Next Generation of Personal Mobile Computing

Context-aware mobile applications are systems that can sense clues about the situational environment and enable appropriate mechanisms of interaction between end users and systems, making mobile devices more intelligent, adaptive, and personalized. In order to better understand such systems and the potentials and barriers of their development and practical use, this paper provides a state-of-the-art overview of this emerging field. Unlike previous literature reviews that mainly focus on technological aspects of such systems, we examine this field mainly from application and research methodology perspectives. We will present major types of current context-aware mobile applications, and discuss research methodologies used in existing studies and their limitations, and highlight potential future research