Context-aware Wearable Device for Reconfigurable Application Networks

Abstract: Context information available in wearable devices is believed to be useful in many ways. It allows for hiding much of the complexity from the user, thus enabling simpler user interfaces and less user interaction when carrying out tasks on behalf of a user, as well as enabling network operators to provide a better interface to thirdparty service providers who will provide and deliver wireless services. Using the available context information from the wearable device, optimization of service delivery in wireless networks, such as setting up optimal delivery paths between two wearable devices, may be possible without using a third party to do negotiations. In order to fully enable context-awareness, a clear model for how to sense, manage, derive, store, and exchange context information must be defined. This will then provide the platform needed to enable development of context-aware applications that can exploit the possibilities of context-aware computing. The model must take into consideration parameters such as memory usage and power and bandwidth consumption, in order to be efficient on all types of platforms and in all types of networks. It must also be modular enough to survive replacing and upgrading of internal parts. Today little research is available about sensing context information, sensor management, APIs towards other applications, and how and how often to present context information to applications. Since context aware computing relies heavily on the ability to obtain and represent context information, sensing strategies greatly affect efficiency and performance. It is therefore of great interest to develop and evaluate models for carrying out these tasks in order to exploit the results of context awareness research. This thesis will identify and design several components of such a model, as well as test and evaluate the design, in order to be able to make conclusions to whether is lives up to the expectations stated. In order to make the proper design decisions, a full understanding of the context-awareness research area and the goals and purposes of context-aware computing are required. To understand the entire picture is crucial to find a suitable solution. Therefore, determining an efficient sensor input and management strategy, along with a powerful and flexible API for applications, which are the goals of this thesis, fully qualifies as a significant master thesis assignment.