What is Ubiquitous Computing Technology? Easy Introduction and Complete Guide

 Any computing technology that permits human interaction away from a single workstation. This includes:

• Pen-based technology
• Handheld or portable devices
• Large-scale interactive Screens
• Wireless Networking Infrastructure
• Voice or Vision technology

According to Wikipedia:

Ubiquitous Computing is a concept in software engineering and computer science where computing is made to appear anytime and everywhere. In contrast to desktop computing, ubiquitous computing can occur using any device, in any location, and in any format. A user interacts with the computer, which can exist in many different forms, including laptop computers, tablets and terminals in everyday objects such as a refrigerator or a pair of glasses.

 

Waves of Computing  

  Mainframe Computing  

• Many consumers one computer
• Computer used to take up the entire room

Desktop Computing  

• One computer one consumer
• General purpose Input/output device
• All jobs done on single device
• H2C (Human to Computer Interaction)

Ubiquitous Computing  

• One Consumer many Computers
• Size and shape of the computer is changed and can be      hidden
• Minimum Human intervention (no keyboard, no mouse)
• Context-aware • C2H

  History 

Mark Weiser is the father of ubiquitous computing. He coined the phrase "ubiquitous computing" around 1988.

He was working as Chief Technologist at the CS Lab of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in the late 1980’s and was articulated the current of computing. 

He wrote some of the earliest papers on the subject, largely defining it and sketching out its major concerns. He developed the initial initiatives of ubiquitous computing in the form of tabs, pads, and boards, built at Xerox PARC, 1988-1994.

  Ubiquitous  

• Existing or being everywhere at the same time
  • Constantly encountered
  • Widespread
• Omnipresent, allover, universal, constantly available
• Pervasive to the point of subconscious

  What is Ubicomp? 

Ubiquitous Computing is a post-desktop model of human-computer interaction in which information processing has been thoroughly integrated into everyday objects and activities. Computing is embedded everywhere in the environment (Computing & processing is embedded into everyday devices).  

• Information access and communication is possible virtually everywhere
• Devices can be connected and networked

It is also called Pervasive Computing. 

Examples:  

• Digital Audio Player
• Radio-Frequency identification tags
• PDAs
• Smartphones GPS
• And Interactive Whiteboards

How to achieve ubiquity?  

• Make computing mobile and connected
• Instrument the person
• Instrument the physical environment

  What makes Ubicomp?  

• Processing
  • Cheaper, faster, smaller, more energy efficient
• Storage
  • Big, fast, small in size (Hardware)
• Networking
  • Global, local, ad-hoc, low- power, high bandwidth, low latancies
• Sensors 
  • Types, speed, accuracy, price and robustness
• Displays
  • Projection, flexible materials, low power 
• Actuators

  Challenges to Ubicomp  

• Defining the appropriate physical interaction      experience
• Discovering general application features
• Understanding interaction in ubicomp
• Evaluation challenges for ubicomp

Physical Interaction Experience  

• Toward implicit input
• Toward multi-scale and distributed output
• Seamless integration of physical and virtual worlds

  Toward Implicit Input  

• First Class Data Types
  • Keyboard and mouse
    • Characters and x,y cords
  • Most natural interfaces try to convert to first class type
    • Pen to text, speech to text
  • Current Research is working with freeform input as a primitive.
    • Need to find other ways of structuring input
    • Current Research is working with free form input as a primitive.
    • Development issues
• Ubicomp inspires off the desktop applications
  • Needs off the desktop means of interaction
  • Speech, gestures, writing
    • More accessible
    • Easier to use

Problems with Implicit Input  

• Error Prone Interaction
  • Permit new and numerous mistakes
  • People do not have perfect recognition
  • People don’t recognize increases in accuracy
    • Needs to be 5-10% to be recognized
  • Three areas
    • Error Reduction
    • Error Discovery

  Toward multi-scale and distributed output 

Toward multi-scale and distributed output  The integration of ubiquitous computing capabilities into everyday life also requires novel output technologies and techniques.

A variety of sizes or scales of visual displays, both smaller and larger than the desktop, are being distributed throughout our environments.  

• Scales of devices
  • Weiser proposed
    • Inch
    • Foot
    • Yard

Implications for device size as well as relationship to people.

Seamless integration of physical and virtual worlds 

The important feature of ubicomp technology is that it attempts to merge computational artifacts smoothly with the world of physical artifacts.

  How can we remove the barrier?  

• Actions on physical objects have meaning electronically, and vice-versa
• Output from electronic world superimposed on physical world

  Application themes for ubicomp  

• Context-aware computing
• Automated capture and access
• Toward continuous interaction

Context-aware Computing  

• Current Systems
  • Generally using position and identification of objects
  • Still do not provide a complete context
  • Definition of context is limited
• Research Areas
  • Context Toolkits
    • Toolkit for sensing environment
    • Explicit use of sensed information is up to program

  What is Context?

  Who?

• Currently generally tailored to one user
• How important are others in determining our behavior
  • How could this be captured

What?

• Attempt to figure out what is currently happening
• Sense environment, use calendar software etc.
• What is the cost of the wrong guess?
  • TiVo Problem

Where?  

• Location based information
• GPS
• Most explored of context information

When? 

• Easily obtained information - Computer good a remembering time
  • Although determining when one event stops and another begins is not easy

Why  

• Even harder than the “what” question, biometrics sensors might help

  Problems with Context  

• How do computers represent context
  • No universal context schemes, toolkits must be developed with standard context representations
  • Context may contain a lot of information with only a few pieces relevant for determining context.
• Context Sensing and Fusion
  • Sensors are not as flexible as human sensors
    • Right sensor for right job
    • Use multiple sensors in parallel to offset noise
  • Bit of a chicken-and-egg problem
    • How do you know when to switch sensor? Use context

  Automated Capture and Access  

• Recording information and data as it occurs
• Computers are inherently good at recording, people are      not
• People freed up to summarize and understand
• Most work in academic/ classroom settings
  • Time stamping lectures, digital whiteboards

Problems in capture and access  

• Sometime we don’t know we want to capture something      until after its already happened
  • How could the computer know that?
  • If it captures everything then we need a system of sorting and filtering (access)
    • Gmail Problem
• Access is a problem because capturing of raw data can be burdensome for sifting through…systems need to recognize important events facilitate access.

  Toward continuous interaction  

• Continuously present interface
  • No current model of continuously present interfaces, even people are not continuously present
  • Create an interface that doesn’t get annoying
• Determine what information should require my attention and what should be display peripherally
• Comfort and style
  • If constantly worn or carried must be stylish and comfortable

Understanding interaction in ubicomp  

• Knowledge in the world
  • Activity theory
  • Situated action and distributed cognition
  • Understanding human practice: ethnography and cultural probes

  Evaluation challenges for ubicomp  

• How can we adapt other HCI techniques to apply to ubicomp settings?
  • Ubicomp activities not so task-centric
  • Technologies are so new, it is often hard to get long-term
  • Ubiquitous computing application research long term authentic summative evaluation
  • Metric of success could be very different (playfulness, non-distraction versus efficiency)
• Little publish on ubicomp evaluation
• Systems often required to be fully connected leading to systems that are hard to build
• Lack of development toolkits make system creation difficult
• Systems often need to be integrated into people lives which using big clunky prototypes does not lead itself well too
• Task/Goal centric approaches don’t work in ubicomp