Challenges in UbiComp Take 2

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Challenges in UbiComp Take 2

• Sushmita Subramanian

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Readings

• Beyond Prototypes Challenges in Deploying
  Ubiquitous Systems
• by Nigel Davies and Hans-Werner Gellersen
• Disappearing Hardware
• by Roy Want, Trevor Pering, Gaetano Borriello,
  Keith Farkas
• Mega-Utilities Drive Invisible Technologies by
  Bill Schilit

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Beyond Prototypes Challenges in Deploying
Ubiquitous Systems Overview

• Ubiquitous Information and Communication
• Problems
• No one system that can manage it all
• Technical problems
• Social/legal problems
• Economic concerns
• Experiments in the field
• Results/requirements of ubiquitous computing

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Ubiquitous Information and Communication

• Ubiquitous computing systems are made more
  possible because of
• advances in technology
• processing power/storage
• GPS, smart cards, RFID
• social developments
• And particularly
• World Wide Web accessibility
• Mobile communication popularity

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World Wide Web

• People have become accustomed to web portals
  reducing attachment to one device.
• People use multiple devices in a single day to
  access info
• Web encouraged us dealing with privacy issues.

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Mobile Communications

• 800 million subscribers to mobile phone services
• 23 billion SMS, heading to 1 billion per day
• Phones offer many capabilities and are now a
  commodity
• SIM cards approximate ubiquitous computing
  model, but users only have one and still have to
  make conscious effort.

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A Broader SystemTechnical Challenges

• Different technologies can make up ubiquitous
  systems
• Might have to map between different systems (e.g.
  if cameras describe view using different location
  model than cars navigational system)
• Hard to predict user intent in
• software

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Social and Legal Challenges

• Intelligent systems might be gathering too much
  personal data
• Can they discard personal information and only
  return the relevant information like parking
  space availability?
• What about mistakes?
• Privacy is two-way
• May communicate other peoples information to a
  user
• Need to communicate users information to a
  server

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Economic concerns

• Since technologies are distinct, there are
  multiple service providers
• Whats the business model for this?
• How do you ensure fair competition?

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Findings in Ubiquitous Computing

• Need forums to discuss projects/results
• Need actual deployment (not just demos)
• Design open extensible systems
• Need a management system
• Figure out a business model
• Systems need to interpret contextual info and
  adapt
• User interface that allows users to interact and
  coordinate between multiple systems

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Disappearing Hardware

• Current computer experience is not enjoyable
• Focus on task completion instead of interaction
  with the tools
• Detect user goals/tasks
• But hard to manage this complexity

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Trend over last decade

• Task-specific hardware improvements
• E.g. spell checker, calculator, electronic
  translators
• Specialized interface and ease of use
• PC has become generalized machine that can
  perform multiple tasks better value with added
  complexity

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Progress since the 90s

• People researched and attempted invisible
  computing, but technology wasnt there yet.
• Notable improvements
• Wireless networking
• Processing capability
• Storage capacity
• High-quality displays
• Current adoption rate of emerging technology

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Current ubiquitous systems

• Personal systems
• Mobile and wearable systems
• Limited by computational ability and integration
  with other devices
• Can be overly intrusive
• Personal servers are useful and convenient
• Infrastructure systems
• Hard to deploy and manage
• Power and environmental impact are still concerns
• Too small, too numerous
• Security issues need to keep track of each node
  and who is listening to who.

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Necessities for ubiquitous computing

• Wireless needs to be fast and robust
• Display needs to be high quality
• Physical hardware determined likeability (size,
  weight, power consumption)
• Technologies have to be better than pen and paper
  technology or provide some better functionality

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Which interaction is appropriate?

• Pen computing
• Successful on PDA devices with accessible
  displays
• Not good on systems with small/no displays
• Speech/vision interfaces
• Good when systems have good computation resources
  and static environment
• Bad for mobile systems that need to operate in
  dynamic environments
• Touch-based interfaces
• Task-specific crafted for a specific application
• Is a dynamic touch based system possible?

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The Future

• Able to access personal information quickly and
  conveniently
• Integration of computation and real world without
  human intervention
• Proactive systems predicting user needs

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Challenges

• Size and weight
• Hardest to accomplish because of battery size
• Example Itsy pocket computer
• Reducing this can also decrease usability
• Energy
• Reduce power consumption
• Find alternative/improved energy sources
• User interface
• Buttons, keyboards, mice, pointers, LCD panels,
  touch screens, microphones, and speakers
  popular for high-rate info flow
• ambientROOM explores low-latency, low importance
  info
• Interaction Design
• System has to distinguish and handle multiple
  users
• Better and cheaper accuracy in location within
  few millimeters