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News (22 Dec 2005): The AmbieSense project is now a company.
The founders of the EU IST project have commercialised. They are both grateful and humble for the opportunity that arose after
the successful completion of the project. They have customers too. See the AmbieSense
company web for more information...
The Project
AmbieSense is a project funded by the Information Society
Technologies Programme of the European Commission (FP5)
The AmbieSense looks into the future of the Ambient Intelligence
Landscape. Miniature and wireless context tags are mounted in everyday surroundings and situations. The tags are smart objects
embedded in the environment of people with mobile devices.
The project vision is:
- Relevant information
to the right situation and user
AmbieSense technology and applications have been a key inspiration to several
of the newly funded FP6 projects.
Some refer to the project as turning the mobile operator model on its head. We just
think it adds flexibility.
Project outcome
The project has been successfully completed and achieved:
- Innovative
applications and technologies
- Publicity in TV, radio, news papers, web, and popular scientific magazines
- 15+
scientific publications
The scientific challenge
The main scientific challenge is in the use of
environmental context information and individual user context information to develop leading edge personalised interactive
information services for mobile users. The main technological challenge is in the combination of ambient, context-sensitive
and personalisation technologies.
The thesis of the project can be formulated as: "It is impossible to provide mobile
users with the Ambient Intelligence Landscape without making the surroundings around more intelligent and adapted to the situation."
This will be enlightened via user scenarios. The AmbieSense project will both develop and improve technology possessed
by the technology providers in the project. The corner-stones of the AmbieSense system are:
- wireless context
tags
- mobile devices
- intelligent agents
- personalised and context-sensitive information services
The
AmbieSense concept was born in Summer 2001 during a workshop in User Modelling 2001 conference, Sonthofen, Germany. SINTEF
and RGU wanted to seek out the possibility of combining context technology and RFID with multi-media content for mobile users.
The AmbieSense applications are based on the use of context tags. These small electronic tags are a means of capturing
and communicating information about the surroundings (i.e. info about the environment). The context tags communicate with
mobile devices. Additionally, the tags can also be updated with information from remote.
The tags can be mounted everywhere
- in buildings, within shops and restaurants, in vehicles, hidden in furniture, in user clothes, and even outdoors. The context
tags automatically send the contextual information about the surroundings to the mobile users who travel. The effect is that
the user is relieved from specifying the context around him. Context tags can be networked and integrated with existing computers
and wireless network infrastructures. Hence, a context tag is smarter than an RFID tag.
The AmbieSense system
The
system and reference architecture supports the development of mobile information services that are ubiquitous, personalised
and adapted to the situation. On the mobile devices one can run both thin and think clients, and media-rich web content is
delivered to the end users.
Context-aware applications
An AmbieSense application consists of context tags
mounted in the surroundings, mobile devices, and online content services. It builds upon state-of the-art wireless network
infrastructures and de facto software and hardware.
Ambient information access for travellers and tourists
Access
to different information depending of user’s interests and the current context and location. The applications was tested and
demonstrated for mobile users in Oslo airport and in Seville. The integrated AmbieSense applications was tested and evaluated
in both realistic and controlled environments. Commercial demos are available for interested parties.
Context middleware
This
software component runs on mobile devices and in the content service. It implements state-of-the art security and privacy
mechanisms that mobile users need. A user context is capable of describing the user’s interests, his state, the social setting,
the spatio-temporal aspects, and other entities in the surroundings.
Intelligent agents for mobile devices
Agent
technology that personalises and adapts the information system in terms of information extraction, retrieval, filtering, and
presentation is also developed and tested. Personalisation is achieved via the use of the context-sensitive technology. The
intelligent agents help the mobile users to get the right information to the right situation.
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The AmbieSense travel guide for Seville in
use on two Nokia handsets. Content from Lonely Planet, Sevilla Global, RGU, and SINTEF.
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