UBIDEV: a homogeneous service framework for pervasive computing environments

This dissertation studies the heterogeneity problem of pervasive computing system from the viewpoint of an infrastructure aiming to provide a service-oriented application model. From Distributed System passing through mobile computing, pervasive computing is presented as a step forward in ubiquitous availability of services and proliferation of interacting autonomous entities. To better understand the problems related to the heterogeneous and dynamic nature of pervasive computing environments, we need to analyze the structure of a pervasive computing system from its physical and service dimension. The physical dimension describes the physical environment together wit the technology infrastructure that characterizes the interactions and the relations within the environment; the service dimension represents the services (being them software or not) the environment is able to provide [Nor99]. To better separate the constrains and the functionalities of a pervasive computing system, this dissertation classifies it in terms of resources, context, classification, services, coordination and application. UBIDEV, as the key result of this dissertation, introduces a unified model helping the design and the implementation of applications for heterogeneous and dynamic environments. This model is composed of the following concepts: • Resource: all elements of the environment that are manipulated by the application, they are the atomic abstraction unit of the model. • Context: all information coming from the environment that is used by the application to adapts its behavior. Context contains resources and services and defines their role in the application. • Classification: the environment is classified according to the application ontology in order to ground the generic conceptual model of the application to the specific environment. It defines the basic semantic level of interoperability. • Service: the functionalities supported by the system; each service manipulates one or more resources. Applications are defined as a coordination and adaptation of services. • Coordination: all aspects related to service composition and execution as well as the use of the contextual information are captured by the coordination concept. • Application Ontology: represents the viewpoint of the application on the specific context; it defines the high level semantic of resources, services and context. Applying the design paradigm proposed by UBIDEV, allows to describe applications according to a Service Oriented Architecture[Bie02], and to focus on application functionalities rather than their relations with the physical devices. Keywords: pervasive computing, homogenous environment, service-oriented, heterogeneity problem, coordination model, context model, resource management, service management, application interfaces, ontology, semantic services, interaction logic, description logic.Questa dissertazione studia il problema della eterogeneit`a nei sistemi pervasivi proponendo una infrastruttura basata su un modello orientato ai servizi. I sistemi pervasivi sono presentati come un’evoluzione naturale dei sistemi distribuiti, passando attraverso mobile computing, grazie ad una disponibilit`a ubiqua di servizi (sempre, ovunque ed in qualunque modo) e ad loro e con l’ambiente stesso. Al fine di meglio comprendere i problemi legati allintrinseca eterogeneit`a dei sistemi pervasivi, dobbiamo prima descrivere la struttura fondamentale di questi sistemi classificandoli attraverso la loro dimensione fisica e quella dei loro servizi. La dimensione fisica descrive l’ambiente fisico e tutti i dispositivi che fanno parte del contesto della applicazione. La dimensione dei servizi descrive le funzionalit`a (siano esse software o no) che l’ambiente `e in grado di fornire [Nor99]. I sistemi pervasivi vengono cos`ı classificati attraverso una metrica pi `u formale del tipo risorse, contesto, servizi, coordinazione ed applicazione. UBIDEV, come risultato di questa dissertazione, introduce un modello uniforme per la descrizione e lo sviluppo di applicazioni in ambienti dinamici ed eterogenei. Il modello `e composto dai seguenti concetti di base: • Risorse: gli elementi dell’ambiente fisico che fanno parte del modello dellapplicazione. Questi rappresentano l’unit`a di astrazione atomica di tutto il modello UBIDEV. • Contesto: le informazioni sullo stato dell’ambiente che il sistema utilizza per adattare il comportamento dell’applicazione. Il contesto include informazioni legate alle risorse, ai servizi ed alle relazioni che li legano. • Classificazione: l’ambiente viene classificato sulla base di una ontologia che rappresenta il punto di accordo a cui tutti i moduli di sistema fanno riferimento. Questa classificazione rappresenta il modello concettuale dell’applicazione che si riflette sull’intero ambiente. Si definisce cos`ı la semantica di base per tutto il sistema. • Servizi: le funzionalit`a che il sistema `e in grado di fornire; ogni servizio `e descritto in termini di trasformazione di una o pi `u risorse. Le applicazioni sono cos`ı definite in termini di cooperazione tra servizi autonomi. • Coordinazione: tutti gli aspetti legati alla composizione ed alla esecuzione di servizi cos`ı come l’elaborazione dell’informazione contestuale. • Ontologia dell’Applicazione: rappresenta il punto di vista dell’applicazione; definisce la semantica delle risorse, dei servizi e dell’informazione contestuale. Applicando il paradigma proposto da UBIDEV, si possono descrivere applicazioni in accordo con un modello Service-oriented [Bie02] ed, al tempo stesso, ridurre l’applicazione stessa alle sue funzionalit`a di alto livello senza intervenire troppo su come queste funzionalit` a devono essere realizzate dalle singole componenti fisiche

uMove: a wholistic framework to design and implement ubiquitous computing systems supporting user's activity and situation

Cette thèse présente un ensemble d'outils (un framework) qui permettent la définition, la création et la réalisation de systèmes informatiques ubiquitaires pouvant intégrer la prise en charge des activités des utilisateurs ainsi que de la détection de leur situation. Avec le rapide développement de l'informatique intégrant les contextes des utilisateurs ainsi que l'informatique mobile, de nouveaux défis sont apparus et parmi ceux-ci, trois d'entre eux sont adresses dans cette thèse. Le premier est le besoin d'un ensemble d'outils permettant le développement de systèmes ubiquitaires partant de leur définition théorique jusqu'à leur réalisation. Le deuxième défi consiste à développer des applications intelligentes qui intégrantes les nouvelles technologies telles que les senseurs et l'accès à des systèmes informatiques repartis. Le troisième défi est l'intégration d'interactions homme-machine enrichies par la prise en compte des mouvements, des activités et situations des utilisateurs ceci par le biais de senseurs de plus en plus présents dans nos environnements et sur les dispositifs informatiques mobiles. Dans cette thèse, nous décrivons uMove, un ensemble d'outils permettant la définition et le développement de système ubiquitaire représentant différentes sortes d'environnements physiques ou logiques. uMove comporte trois facettes qui décrivent les concepts fondamentaux ainsi que les outils logiciels nécessaires à leur développement. La première facette est consacrée à la définition du modèle conceptuel décrivant des systèmes ubiquitaires composés d'entités et d'observateurs et ceci en utilisant une approche systémique. La deuxième facette présente une architecture qui permet aux concepteurs et développeurs de formaliser leurs systèmes. La troisième facette décrit les outils logiciels qui permettront d'implémenter les projets définis de manière systémique et en respectant l'architecture uMove. Finalement, uMove est évalué et son modèle validé à travers quatre projets qui ont été implémentés avec l'ensemble de ces outils.This thesis presents a framework that offers tools for the design and the implementation of Ubiquitous computing systems supporting user motions, activities and situations. With the rapid development of context-aware mobile computing and sensor-based interaction, many new challenges come up, three of which are particularly addressed in this thesis. The first is the need for wholistic tools to develop Ubiquitous computing infrastructures. The second concerns smart applications allowing users to benefit from the distributed computing power in their environment, and the third is the integration of enriched human-computer interaction using motions, activity and situation provided by the increasing sensing capabilities of the user environment or mobile devices. We propose the uMove framework, a comprehensive solution which allows to design and develop Ubicomp systems representing different kinds of physical or virtual environments based on a systemic approach. uMove proposes both theoretical foundations and implementation tools and is divided into three specific facets. The first facet is the conceptual model describing a Ubiquitous computing system made of entities and observers within their physical or logical environment. The second facet is a system architecture which offers designers and developers the tools to theoretically define a logical system, including the types of contexts taken into consideration. The third facet is development tools that allow programmers to implement their systems, sensors, applications and services. The uMove framework is evaluated and validated in an interactive manner through four projects

Towards active network management with "Ecomobile", an ecosystem-inspired mobile agent middleware: design, implementation, simulation and application to optical networks

Les futurs réseaux optiques multicouches utilisant le multiplexage en longueur d'onde permettront dans un proche avenir l'introduction de nouveaux services optiques à valeur ajoutée. Le réseau de transport passif conventionnel se transformera ainsi en une couche de transport active et intelligente. Le succès de ces nouveaux services dépendra toutefois de l'efficacité, de la résilience et de la programmabilité de l'infrastructure de gestion mise à la disposition des opérateurs de réseaux et des fournisseurs de service. Une approche de gestion traditionnelle et purement centralisée ne permet pas d'intégrer les contraintes d'hétérogénéité et de dynamicité inhérentes à ces nouveaux réseaux et doit par conséquent évoluer en direction d’une gestion décentralisée et auto-adaptative. L'introduction d'agents logiciels autonomes est une technique prometteuse, flexible et particulièrement bien adaptée à ce type de système distribué. Des agents réactifs capables de se déplacer dans le réseau permettent d'utiliser des approches bio-inspirées comme celles issues du comportement émergent. Dans le cadre de ce travail, nous avons développé un intergiciel appelé Ecomobile, composé d’agents mobiles qui appliquent des principes observés dans des écosystèmes naturels, afin de disséminer et d'activer des tâches coopératives de gestion de réseau. Dans cette perspective, nous avons analysé le comportement d'une communauté d'agents mobiles en examinant l'évolution de leur population, leur propagation, la fréquence de visite des noeuds et des liens, ainsi que différentes stratégies de dissémination de tâches intelligentes dans diverses topologies de réseaux de transport. Après avoir étudié différents systèmes d'agents mobiles intégrant des modèles de navigation déterministes et stochastiques, nous avons élaboré un modèle original d'agent réactif en séparant les modèles de coordination et de navigation, qui constituent le schéma de comportement mobile, du modèle computationel, qui correspond aux tâches opérationnelles. L'implémentation d'un écosystème artificiel constitué de ces agents mobiles a été réalisée à l'aide d'un formalisme de programmation réactive. Les tâches opérationnelles génériques proposées dans notre recherche permettent la composition de tâches de gestion complexes. La réponse de notre écosystème à l'insertion dynamique de ces tâches génériques a été simulée et analysée. Afin de déployer Ecomobile dans un réseau actif, nous avons utilisé une plateforme d'agent compatible FIPA appelée Jade. Le développement d'une agence particulière sous forme d’un agent Jade offre aux agents mobiles un environnement d'exécution adéquat et leur fournit les services de migration nécessaires. En guise de conclusion, nous avons établi une translation de la sémantique d'Ecomobile dans un environnement défini par un noeud de réseau comprenant différentes fonctions optiques de conversion et de routage de longueur d'onde. La définition et l'implémentation d'un service de protection différenciée à l'aide d'une tâche opérationnelle devrait enfin ouvrir la voie à des améliorations et des innovations dans le domaine de la gestion des réseaux de transport optiques multicouches grâce à Ecomobile.The future multi-layer optical networks based on wavelength division multiplexing technology will lead to the creation of new value-added optical services, which is bound to transform the traditional passive transport network into an active and intelligent transport layer. The successful deployment of these complex networking services and the possibility of subjecting them to a dynamic control, however, strongly depend on the management infrastructure, on its resilience and its ability to react to network changes. In this context, traditional platform-centred management systems have lost their attractiveness: a distributed decentralised and self-adaptive network management should constitute an ideal approach, in order to deal with the complexity of a heterogeneous, scalable and continuously evolving network environment. According to this perspective, the recourse to autonomous software agents can now be considered as one of the most promising and flexible of the distributed processing techniques. The development of reactive agents acting as mobility-oriented individuals benefits from bio-inspired approaches such as emergent behaviour. The powerful dynamic and active mechanisms characterizing the evolution of mobile reactive agents enhance the network infrastructure and lead to a self-organizing knowledge-based network environment. In order to address the numerous challenging issues related to the management of future multi-layer transport networks, we propose to develop an ecosystem-inspired mobile agent middleware called Ecomobile, intended for the dissemination and the activation of cooperative management tasks. Particular emphasis will be laid on the transport network management and several topics related to the population of mobile agents will be discussed, such as their propagation within the network infrastructure, the frequency of node and link visits or the dissemination of intelligent tasks. After having identified the main characteristics of conventional mobile multi-agent systems based upon deterministic and stochastic migration strategies, which are particularly relevant to the field of distributed control, we have decided to adopt a novel agent architecture based upon a clear separation between the mobile behaviour scheme composed of the navigation and coordination model, on the one hand, and the task objectives, which refer to the agent's operational behaviour or to the computational model, on the other hand. The implementation of the ecosystem is realized with a reactive programming formalism. The generic task objective models we have elaborated correspond to basic networking functions and are intended for the compositional building of more sophisticated tasks. The response of the ecosystem to the dynamic insertion of task objectives will be analyzed by means of a simulation. The deployment of our middleware into active nodes will be achieved with the FIPA-compliant Jade agent platform, in which the Ecomobile agency provides the mobile agents with the necessary requirements for their migration and for the execution of the task objectives. We will finally show that the Ecomobile middleware can be applied in the field of optical transport network management by means of a pertinent mapping of the Ecomobile semantics onto the optical network environment. The definition and the implementation of a new value-added differentiated protection service into a multi-layer optical network should eventually pave the way for further improvements and innovations in the field of transport network management

Basic Concepts of the CoLa Coordination Language

. This paper introduces the basic ideas of CoLa , a coordination language which is especially aimed at providing new concepts for the development of applications in the field of distributed artificial intelligence in a massively parallel environment. These new features include a high level identification abstraction for communication purposes and extended semantics on messages. Furthermore, the CoLa programming model allows to define complex communication topologies logically, therefore facilitating the development of portable and scalable applications in a massively parallel environment. Keywords: Coordination language, massively parallel systems, distributed artificial intelligence, communication primitives, virtual topologies. 1. Introduction The lack of a common programming model for massively parallel and distributed computing, like the Von Neumann Model for sequential computing, concentrates current research activities on the development of new programming paradigms for para..

A Generic Coordination Model for Pervasive Computing Based on Semantic Web Languages

Abstract. Human interaction occurs always in a specific context and in a particular environment, and a common knowledge base about them is essential for understanding each other. By immersing computational system into physical world, pervasive computing bring us from traditional desktop computing interaction, to a new paradigm of interaction closer to Humans one’s in term of context and environment dependency, and knowledge sharing. To tackle this problem, we present in this paper, XCM, a generic coordination model for Pervasive Computing. XCM is organized around a few abstract concepts (entity, environment, social law and port), and is expressed as an ontology by using semantic web languages. While the abstract concepts of XCM deal with environmental representation and context-dependency, the use of the semantic web language OWL allows us to achieve knowledge sharing and context reasoning within Pervasive Computing coordination

A Coordination Model for Ubiquitous Computing

Abstract:-This paper presents a coordination model called XCM, intended to conceptualise coordination within ubiquitous computing, and one instantiation of this model called UCM. The constraints brought up to coordination by ubiquitous computing are the need to face immersion within physical environments, a very strong heterogeneity of software and hardware components, and a very high dynamicity and contextsensitivity of applications. XCM is an generic model organized around a few abstract concepts (entity, environment, social law and port) addressing coordination basically in terms of proactive and reactive contextual behaviours. The UCM instantiation allows us to show how XCM concepts can be applied, and to discuss the expression power gained through XCM high level of abstraction