published_or_final_version / abstract / Computer Science and Information Systems / Master / Master of Philosophy

Aujourd'hui, les environnements ubiquitaires font partie de notre vie quotidienne. À la maison, au travail, dans les voitures, dans les hôtels, les supermarchés et autres espaces publiques, nous rencontrons des technologies qui visent à rendre notre vie plus simple et plus facile d'une façon transparente. Durant ces dernières années, le potentiel de ces environnements a été de plus en plus exploité, notamment avec l'avènement et l'utilisation généralisée des smartphones. Ce type de dispositifs permet l'exécution d'applications qui ont la capacité de s'adapter parfaitement à l'état courant de l'environnement. De telles applications, appelées "applications sensibles au contexte", bénéficient de l'information du contexte et des services qui sont présents dans leur environnement pour améliorer et changer automatiquement leur comportement. Toutefois, ces adaptations nécessitent une intégration d'informations qui doit être effectuée en tenant compte de l'hétérogénéité en termes de dispositifs, de plateformes d'exécution, et de protocoles de communication ainsi que la mobilité des applications de sorte que les différentes responsabilités de l'adaptation peuvent être distribuées. Pour faire face à ces défis, et compte tenu des limitations des solutions existantes, nous fournissons deux contributions majeures dans cette dissertation. Tout d'abord nous introduisons l'intergiciel SPACES comme une solution d'intégration des informations contextuelles et ensuite nous définissons le paradigme de "boucles de contrôle ubiquitaires" pour adapter les applications sensibles au contexte. En particulier, dans SPACES, nous définissons un méta-modèle inspiré du style architectural REST (REpresentational State Transfer) pour favoriser l'échange des informations contextuelles en tant que ressources, ce qui représente le fondement de notre approche. Ensuite, nous définissons les connecteurs SPACES pour modulariser les différents concepts et préoccupations identifiés par le méta-modèle. Ces connecteurs sont conçus en utilisant les principes de la programmation orientée composant et ils sont incorporés dans le modèle Service Component Architecture (SCA) pour être utilisés dans différents types d'applications, et ainsi indépendamment des applications sensibles au contexte. Grâce à la définition de SPACES, nous sommes en mesure d'élaborer la seconde contribution de la dissertation--i.e., les boucles de contrôle ubiquitaires. Inspiré par les concepts de l'informatique autonome, les boucles de contrôle offre la flexibilité nécessaire pour intégrer de nouveaux participants dans le processus d'adaptation (par exemple, des applications sensibles au contexte, des services et des systèmes existants) tout en fournissant un support pour la mobilité et l'intégration de nouveaux mécanismes de communication en cas de besoin. Dans le noyau des boucles de contrôle ubiquitaires--i.e., la prise de décision-- nous employons des techniques de programmation par contraintes pour optimiser la configuration courante de l'application en intégrant des critères qui garantissent une meilleure expérience à l'utilisateur final, tels que les coûts associés à l'adaptation, les ressources consommées ou encore la qualité de service offerte par la nouvelle configuration. Enfin, nous validons notre proposition avec trois études de cas: Tout d'abord une politique de Caching or Off-Loading, dans laquelle le comportement de l'application est modifiée lors de l'exécution, ensuite TRACK.ME, une plateforme pour effectuer des expérimentations scientifiques et enfin DIGIHOME, une plateforme pour la création des maisons intelligentes. Ces scénarios démontrent la pertinence de notre approche lorsque différents types de dispositifs, des protocoles et des technologies de mise en œuvre sont impliqués dans le processus d'adaptation.

Les applications ubiquitaires évoluent dans des environnements plus hétérogènes et plus dynamiques que ceux des systèmes distribués traditionnels. La criticité des domaines applicatifs impliqués et la vocation non intrusive de l'informatique ubiquitaire exigent de garantir la robustesse des applications avant et pendant leur déploiement en situation réelle. Les solutions proposant de gérer la dynamicité des environnements ubiquitaires offrent des canevas de programmation dont la généricité ne permet pas de garantir la fiabilité des applications développées. D'autres solutions permettent davantage de vérifications en assurant, par exemple, l'intégrité des communications. Cependant, ces vérifications, telles que proposées dans ces solutions, empêchent la prise en compte de la dynamicité, indispensable à la mise en oeuvre d'applications ubiquitaires. Dans cette thèse, nous proposons un canevas logiciel visant à concevoir, développer, vérifier et tester les applications ubiquitaires avant leur déploiement en environnements réels. Notre approche repose sur des spécifications haut niveau des applications cibles. Chaque spécification, écrites dans le langage DIASPEC, est analysée, vérifiée et compilée par le compilateur DIASPEC qui génère un canevas logiciel dédié, incluant un canevas de programmation et un canevas de simulation. Les canevas de programmation générés fournissent du support pour la programmation d'applications ubiquitaires. Ils garantissent l'intégrité des communications tout en permettant la gestion de la dynamicité des environnements ubiquitaires. Les canevas de simulation générés fournissent du support pour le test des applications ainsi développées. Les contributions de cette thèse sont les suivantes ; Nous proposons l'approche DIAGEN qui permet, à partir de spécifications d'architectures logicielles ubiquitaires, de générer du support de programmation et un ensemble de vérifications dédiés au développement d'applications ubiquitaires. Ces spécifications reposent sur un langage déclaratif, appelé DIASPEC, qui permet de décrire les types de services composant les applications ubiquitaires cibles. Le compilateur DIASPEC vérifie la cohérence des spécifications et génère, à partir de celles-ci, des canevas de programmation dédiés. Les canevas de programmation générés garantissent l'intégrité des communications d'applications dynamiques. Nous avons développé DIASIM, un simulateur pour tester à l'exécution, le comportement des applications développées avec l'approche DIAGEN. DIASIM permet de tester les applications sans les modifier et d'intégrer incrémentalement des services réels dans les scénarios de simulation. Nous avons montré que l'approche DIAGEN permet davantage de vérifications statiques tout en gérant la dynamicité des environnements ubiquitaires et en permettant une plus grande concision des applications développées. Nous avons analysé les canevas de programmation générés pour la gestion de réunion, l'immotique et la téléphonie. / Ubiquitous systems have to cope with more heterogeneous and more dynamic environments than traditional distributed systems. The criticity of application domains related to ubiquitous computing requires to ensure the robustness of applications before their deployment in actual situations. Some approaches handle the dynamicity of ubiquitous environments but propose generic programming frameworks. This genericity is a major obstacle for producing robust applications. Other approaches enable more verifications that ensure, for example, communication integrity. However, as performed by these approaches, these verifications are not compatible with managing constant changes of ubiquitous environments. This thesis proposes a declarative approach to generate software frameworks for ubiquitous computing. Our approach relies on high-level specifications of target applications. These specifications, written in the DIASPEC language, are analyzed, checked and compiled by the DIASPEC compiler which generates dedicated software frameworks, including programming frameworks and simulation frameworks. The generated programming frameworks provide programming support for developing ubiquitous applications while the generated simulation frameworks provide testing support for these applications. Programming frameworks ensure communication integrity while handling the dynamicity of ubiquitous environments. Furthermore, they are generated on top of a generic middleware; the layered architecture of this middleware allows ubiquitous applications to be independent of underlying technologies. The contributions of this thesis are as follows; We present the DIAGEN approach which proposes to generate, from specifications of ubiquitous software architectures, programming support and verifications dedicated to the development of ubiquitous applications. These specifications are written in a declarative language, called DIASPEC, which allows to describe all service types composing the target ubiquitous applications. The DIASPEC compiler checks the specification consistency and generates dedicated programming frameworks. These programming frameworks ensure communication integrity of dynamic applications. The underlying middleware has a layered architecture, making programming frameworks independent of software buses. Thus, applications are portable without modification. We present the DIASIM simulator that tests, at run time, the behavior of applications developed with DIAGEN. DIASIM allows to test applications without modification and to incrementally integrate actual services in simulation scenarios. We show that DIAGEN applications are more concise than existing approaches while enabling more verifications and handling the dynamicity of ubiquitous environments.

Context-aware computing utilizes information about users and/or their environments in order to provide relevant information and services. To date, however, most context-aware applications only take advantage of contexts that can either be produced on the device they are running on, or on external devices that are known beforehand. While there are many application domains where sharing context is useful and/or necessary, creating these applications is currently difficult because there is no easy way for devices to share information without 1) explicitly directing them to do so, or 2) through some form of advanced user coordination (e.g., sharing credentials and/or IP addresses, installing and running the same software). This makes these techniques useful when the need to share context is known a priori, but impractical for the one time, opportunistic encounters which make up the majority of users’ lives. To address this problem, this thesis presents the Group Context Framework (GCF), a software framework that allows devices to form groups and share context with minimal prior coordination. GCF lets devices openly discover and request context from each other. The framework then lets devices intelligently and autonomously forms opportunistic groups and work together without requiring either the application developer or the user to know of these devices beforehand. GCF supports use cases where devices only need to share information once or spontaneously. Additionally, the framework provides standardized mechanisms for applications to collect, store, and share context. This lets devices form groups and work together, even when they are performing logically separate tasks (i.e., running different applications). Through the development of GCF, this thesis identifies the conceptual and software abstractions needed to support opportunistic groups in context-aware applications. As part of our design process, we looked at current contextsharing applications, systems, and frameworks, and developed a conceptual model that identifies the most common conditions that cause users/devices to form a group. We then created a framework that supports grouping across this entire model. Through the creation of four prototype systems, we show how the ability to form opportunistic groups of devices can increase users and devices’ access to timely information and services. Finally, we had 20 developers evaluate GCF, and verified that the framework supports a wide range of existing and novel use cases. Collectively, this thesis demonstrates the utility of opportunistic groups in context-aware computing, and highlights the critical challenges that need to be addressed to make opportunistic context sharing both practical and usable in real-world settings. The contributions of this thesis are: 1. A conceptual model, based on an analysis of prior literature, which describes the conditions under which users and/or devices form and work in groups. 2. An implementation of the Group Context Framework, which highlights the software abstractions and architecture needed to support all of the group types identified in our conceptual model. 3. A demonstration of the value of opportunistic groups in context aware computing, through the creation of four major systems and numerous smaller applications. 4. A validation of GCF’s robustness, through an examination of 65 ideas submitted by 20 developers. 5. An examination of the challenges associated with utilizing opportunistic groups in context-aware applications, based on our own experiences using GCF, as well as from issues raised by developers from academia and industry.

Many disciplines spend considerable resources studying behavior. Tools range from pen-and-paper observation to biometric sensing. A tool's appropriateness depends on the goal and justification of the study, the observable context and feature set of target behaviors, the observers' resources, and the subjects' tolerance to intrusiveness. We present two systems: Viz-A-Vis and Tableau Machine. Viz-A-Vis is an analytical tool appropriate for onsite, continuous, wide-coverage and long-term capture, and for objective, contextual, and detailed analysis of the physical actions of subjects who consent to overhead video observation. Tableau Machine is a creative artifact for the home. It is a long-lasting, continuous, interactive, and abstract Art installation that captures overhead video and visualizes activity to open opportunities for creative interpretation. We focus on overhead video observation because it affords a near one-to-one correspondence between pixels and floor plan locations, naturally framing the activity in its spatial context. Viz-A-Vis is an information visualization interface that renders and manipulates computer vision abstractions. It visualizes the hidden structure of behavior in its spatiotemporal context. We demonstrate the practicality of this approach through two user studies. In the first user study, we show an important search performance boost when compared against standard video playback and against the video cube. Furthermore, we determine a unanimous user choice for overviewing and searching with Viz-A-Vis. In the second study, a domain expert evaluation, we validate a number of real discoveries of insightful environmental behavior patterns by a group of senior architects using Viz-A-Vis. Furthermore, we determine clear influences of Viz-A-Vis over the resulting architectural designs in the study. Tableau Machine is a sensing, interpreting, and painting artificial intelligence. It is an Art installation with a model of perception and personality that continuously and enduringly engages its co-occupants in the home, creating an aura of presence. It perceives the environment through overhead cameras, interprets its perceptions with computational models of behavior, maps its interpretations to generative abstract visual compositions, and renders its compositions through paintings. We validate the goal of opening a space for creative interpretation through a study that included three long-term deployments in real family homes. / <p>QC 20160405</p>

L'essor des dispositifs mobiles a conduit à un nouveau paradigme d'Environnements Informatiques pour l'Apprentissage Humain (EIAH) : les environnements d'apprentissage ubiquitaires. Tout comme beaucoup d’EIAH classiques, les environnements d'apprentissage ubiquitaires permettent une médiation informatique entre l'apprenant et des connaissances propres au domaine d'apprentissage. Cependant, dans les EIAH ubiquitaires, cette médiation a lieu dans un contexte physique spécifique qui détermine en partie le déroulement des sessions d'apprentissage. Les objets de l’environnement physique, ainsi que les événements ou processus qui s’y déroulent, sont pris en compte pour fournir des informations adaptées ou proposer des interactions pertinentes. Nous nous plaçons dans ce travail dans le cadre de l'apprentissage en musée, pour des visites libres ou en groupes scolaires organisés. Nous analysons en première partie les pratiques d'apprentissage en musée et en particulier l'apprentissage instrumenté par des dispositifs mobiles. Cette analyse nous permet d'introduire, d'une part, les notions de représentation et de manipulation automatique de connaissances utiles à notre travail et, d'autre part, les concepts propres aux systèmes informatiques sensibles au contexte qui nous intéresseront en particulier. Nous proposons par la suite un modèle sémantique du patrimoine culturel permettant une description riche et complète des artefacts muséaux. L'apprentissage ubiquitaire nécessite une représentation adéquate du contexte. En nous inspirant des travaux de Zimmerman, nous proposons de représenter le contexte suivant plusieurs espaces contextuels, chaque espace contextuel étant associé à une ontologie. Ces espaces permettent de faire le lien entre les connaissances purement contextuelles et les connaissances issues de la modélisation du patrimoine culturel ; ils sont peuplés automatiquement en fonction des déplacements de l'utilisateur et de ses interactions avec le dispositif.Nous définissons un processus d'opérationnalisation des modèles du patrimoine culturel et du contexte à l’aide de calculs de proximités sémantiques pour la génération automatique d'activités d'apprentissage. Afin de prendre en compte le contexte, nous définissons également des proximités contextuelles mesurant l'adéquation des activités générées au contexte de l'utilisateur. Pour permettre aux enseignants de spécifier des objectifs pédagogiques, nous proposons un formalisme de règles pédagogiques offrant deux modes de contrôle : un contrôle thématique et un contrôle contextuel. Ces derniers permettent de concilier la liberté d’exploration de l’environnement, indispensable dans le cadre d’un apprentissage ubiquitaire, avec un guidage pédagogique défini par l'enseignant. / The rise of mobile devices has led to a new paradigm of technology enhanced learning (TEL) environment : ubiquitous learning environment. Like many classics TEL environments,ubiquitous learning environments offer a computer based mediation between thelearner and the learning domain. However, in ubiquitous environments, this mediationtakes place in a specific physical context which partly determines the course of learning.The learner acts both in the physical and in the digital spaces. Objects in the physicalenvironment, as well as events or processes that take places are taken into account toprovide appropriate information or propose relevant interactions. The field of application of this work is ubiquitous learning in museum, either in thecase of informal learning (e.g. classic museum visit) or in the case of more formal schoollearning in museum. We first analyse learning practices in museum, especially usingmobile devices. This analysis allows us to introduce, on the one hand, the concepts ofknowledge representation used in our work and, on the other hand, the concepts specificto context sensitive systems.We propose in the following a semantic model of cultural heritage allowing a rich andfull description of museum artifacts. Ubiquitous learning requires an adequate representationof context. Drawing our inspiration from the work of Zimmerman, we proposeto represent context according to several contextual spaces, each space being associatedwith an ontology. These spaces allow to relate the purely contextual knowledgeand knowledge from the model of cultural heritage, they are automatically populatedaccording to movements of the user and his interaction with the device.We define a process for operationalizing the models of cultural heritage and contextusing semantic proximity computations for the automatic generation of learning activities.To take into account the context, we also define contextual proximity, measuringthe adequacy of generated activities to the user context. To enable teachers to specifylearning objectives, we propose a formalism of rules offering two modes of control: athematic control and contextual control.

Smart environments are increasingly common. By utilizing sensor data from the indoor environment and applying methods like machine learning, they can autonomously control and increase productivity, comfort, and well-being of occupants. The aim of this thesis was to model indoor climate in conference rooms and use K-means clustering to determine quality levels. Together, they enable categorization of conference room quality level during meetings. Theoretically, by alerts to the user, this may enhance occupant productivity, comfort, and well-being. Moreover, the objective was to determine which features and which k would produce the highest quality clusters given chosen evaluation measures. To do this, a quasi-experiment was used. CO2, temperature, and humidity sensors were placed in four conference rooms and were sampled continuously. K-means clustering was then used to generate clusters with 10 days of sensor data. To evaluate which feature combination and which k created optimal clusters, we used Silhouette, Davis Bouldin, and the Elbow method. The resulting model, using three clusters to represent quality levels, enabled categorization of the quality of specific meetings. Additionally, all three methods indicated that a feature combination of CO2 and humidity, with k = 2 or k = 3, was suitable.

Orientador: João Fernando Marar / Banca: Regilene Aparecida Sarzi Ribeiro / Banca: Antonio Tadeu Pellison / Resumo: Objetos conectados e um ambiente sensível capaz de interagir de forma calma e praticamente onipresente entre si e com humanos. Essa é a premissa da computação ubíqua, termo cunhado em 1991 pelo cientista da computação Mark Weiser. Recentemente têm-se ouvido falar de forma cada vez mais frequente de aplicações e dispositivos para internet das coisas, porém existem aplicações complexas demais para uso e outras têm custo proibitivo para implantação em larga escala. O atual projeto tem como objetivo investigar as potencialidades do desenvolvimento de um dispositivo para ser um modelo de neurônio artifical para Internet das Coisas e comunicação M2M utilizando-se do microcontrolador Wi-Fi ESP8266 e da linguagem de programação Micropython. Justificamos para a escolha desse microcontrolador, além do seu baixo custo e simplicidade, o fato de comparativamente ser uma opção mais prática e de baixo consumo de energia, quando comparado com outros dispositivos semelhantes, como Arduino e Raspberry Pi. Para nossa pesquisa utilizaremos além de pesquisa bibliográfica uma proposta prática de utilização do dispositivo com compartilhamento de informações de sensores através da rede wireless. A metodologia utilizada constitui-se na proposta do dispositivo, seu desenvolvimento e testes, bem como a demonstração dos scripts de programação utilizados no sistema. / Abstract: Connected objects and a sensitive environment capable of interacting in a calm and practically omnipresent way with each other and with humans. This is the premise of ubiquitous computing, a term coined in 1991 by computer scientist Mark Weiser. Recently there has been listen in an increasing frequency of applications and Internet devices of things, but there are too many applications that are too complex to use and others have a prohibitive cost for large-scale deployment. The current project aims to investigate the potential of developing a device to be an artificial neuron model for Internet of Things and M2M communication using the Wi-Fi ESP8266 microcontroller and the Micropython programming language. We justify for the choice of this microcontroller, in addition to its low cost and simplicity, the fact that it is comparatively a more practical and low energy option when compared to other similar devices, such as Arduino and Raspberry Pi. For our research we will use besides bibliographical research a practical proposal of use of the device with information sharing of sensors through the wireless network. The methodology used is based on the proposal of the device, its development and testing, as well as the demonstration of programming scripts used in the system. / Mestre

A RESEARCH REPORT SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF COMMERCE, LAW AND MANAGEMENT, UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND, IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF MANAGEMENT SPECIALISING IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND NEW VENTURE CREATION Johannesburg, 2016 / Technology entrepreneurship is vital to economic development as it could have positive effects on employment and could rejuvenate industries, especially through disruptive technologies. Studies have shown that South Africa has one of the highest new venture failure rates across the globe and it is, therefore, becoming critical to determine the key factors of successful technology ventures that could contribute to sustaining new technology ventures in South Africa. With the Internet of Things (IoT) fast becoming the most exciting technology trend aimed at transforming everyday business and individual lives, this study set out to investigate the key success criteria for IoT new ventures, as well as key sectors for IoT within South Africa. Linking technology entrepreneurship and the opportunities provided by IoT, this research aims to identify the key success criteria of entrepreneurial ventures within South Africa, as well as analyse the South African IoT ecosystem to determine which sectors provide the greatest opportunity for technology entrepreneurs. This research was conducted through primary research across IoT new technology ventures, as well as enterprises across industries within South Africa. The study found that successful ventures and unsuccessful ventures have different entrepreneur characteristics. A key characteristic for successful IoT ventures is entrepreneur ambitions, while education is the biggest hindrance to unsuccessful ventures. The related car and fleet management industries were found to provide the largest opportunity for IoT entrepreneurship in South Africa. This study provides valuable insight into the IoT market that will aid the sustainability of IoT entrepreneurship. From an academic perspective, it supplements the existing literature on technology and IoT entrepreneurship in South Africa. / MT2016

Devido à sua constante evolução, associada ao surgimento contínuo de novas tecnologias, a computação tem se tornado cada vez mais presente no cotidiano das pessoas, sendo utilizada não só no meio acadêmico e corporativo, mas também no entretenimento e no auxílio às atividades pessoais, entre outros. Nesse contexto, vem ocorrendo um grande avanço em termos de redução de custo e de aumento da variedade de dispositivos do tipo Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). Esse avanço aumenta a demanda por aplicações que explorem esses equipamentos, mas são poucas as ferramentas que auxiliam no desenvolvimento dessas aplicações. O objetivo da presente pesquisa foi investigar o desenvolvimento de aplicações para dispositivos móveis, especificamente para PDAs, com independência de plataforma. A abordagem adotada foi a extensão da ferramenta MCards, um construtor de aplicações para PDAs, com o propósito de permitir a geração de aplicações para dispositivos móveis com a utilização da tecnologia J2ME (Java 2 Micro Edition). Para tanto, foi necessário, inicialmente, um entendimento do protótipo disponível da ferramenta MCards realizado através da aplicação de um processo de Engenharia Reversa na ferramenta MCards, baseando-se no modelo FUSION-RE/I. Foram executadas, também, manutenções na ferramenta com a finalidade de corrigir imperfeições e problemas de execução e de melhorar suas funcionalidades. Após o processo de Engenharia Reversa e manutenção da ferramenta, foi implementado e incorporado à ferramenta MCards o módulo de geração de aplicações J2ME. O módulo de geração de aplicações J2ME transforma a especificação abstrata, gerada pela manipulação do usuário no editor visual da ferramenta MCards, em código para a tecnologia J2ME com a utilização do perfil CDC / Personal Profile, compilando o código gerado para dar origem aos arquivos da aplicação J2ME que serão utilizados para instalação no dispositivo móvel. / Mobile devices such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) have grown up and number and models, while their cost has been continuously decreasing. Although this scenario indicates that there is a demand for tools that support the development of applications for mobile devices, the literature does not report platform-independent tools. The aim of this research was to investigate the development of applications for mobile devices in a platform-independent way. We have elected to extend an existing prototype tool that supported the development of Palm OS applications, MCards, so that it supported the development of applications using J2ME (Java 2 Micro Edition). We first carried out a reverse engineering process, using FUSION-RE/I, which lead to the understanding of the prototype along with the production of a new, more stable and documented version. We then investigated the process of application generation for the J2ME platform and proposed an extension to MCards that supported both Palm OS and J2ME. In the extended version, the J2ME module transforms an abstract specification, generated with the MCards visual editor, in J2ME code using the CDC/Personal profile. As a result, the extended MCards tool supports the development of applications for the two most common platforms for mobile devices, Palm Os, Pocket PC and Symbian OS.