Mobile Device Applications for Human Motion Data Collection

Posted on by

This dissertation falls within the Project SUM (Sensing and Understanding Human Motion Dynamics). The main goal concerning this project is the study of people’s movement in an enclosed space, and it tries to establish mathematical models to predict the movement of people and its interaction with the elements present in physical spaces.                                                                                                                          

  Personal mobile devices have a heavily impact in the daily life of their users, and make part of their daily routines. In addition, most of these devices are equipped with several sensors and interfaces that may be used to study human mobility.

The purpose of this dissertation is to develop an application for mobile devices that allows the collection of data from several device’s interfaces (WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth and GSM cells) and send the data to a server for later processing.

To motivate the use of the application and maximize the number of users, ensuring an intensive use for a long period of time, it becomes necessary to create an appealing service integrated in that application, and also establishing a model that rewards and motivates their users. On the other hand it is necessary to take into account the privacy issues brought up by this type of strategy in collecting data, and consider its impact in the use of the application, being necessary the integration of mechanisms for ensuring the users privacy and security.

Moreover it is necessary to minimize resource consumption by the application, such as processor and memory resources, which in mobile devices are more restricted than in other devices and also to maximize the device’s autonomy, the energy resources need to be taken in account. All this can be achieved through the creation of efficient algorithms for data collection, using the device technology, such as the several available sensors, and using opportunistic communication to transmit the collected data.

A widget toolkit for situated interaction with public displays

Posted on by

Jorge Cardoso’s PhD research topic

Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/av-1/3520151455/Public digital displays have become increasingly ubiquitous in public and semi-public spaces. Most of them, however, do not support any interactive features, even though interaction is clearly recognized as a key element in making them more engaging and valuable. A key reason behind this apparent paradox is the lack of efficient and clear abstractions for incorporating interactivity into public display applications. While interaction can be achieved for a specific display system with a particular interaction modality, the lack of proper interaction abstractions means that there is too much specific work
that needs to be done outside the core application functionality to support even basic forms of interaction. This is an effort that must be replicated by each developer, representing a wasted effort. This also leads to inconsistent interaction models across different displays and, as a result, people are not able to develop, based on previous experiences, any expectations and practices regarding their interaction with public displays.

In my PhD work, I’m addressing these issues and developing a toolkit that programmers can use to easily incorporate interactive features into their public display applications. This toolkit must address the specific requirements that the public display interaction environment imposes, namely the variety of possible interaction mechanism, the support for shared interactions that are expected to occur around the display, the specific life-cycle of public display applications, and the specific types of interactive controls that applications and users will require in this setting.

Related publications

Cardoso, J. C. S., & José, R. (2012). PuReWidgets: A programming toolkit for interactive public display applications. Proceedings of the 4th ACM SIGCHI symposium on Engineering interactive computing systems (to appear). Copenhagen, Denmark: ACM.

Cardoso, J. C. S., & José, R. (2012). The PuReWidgets Toolkit for Interactive Public Display Applications. The International Symposium on Pervasive Displays (to appear). Porto.

Cardoso, J. C. S., & José, R. (2011). Assessing Feedback for Indirect Shared Interaction with Public Displays. In R. Meersman, T. Dillon, & P. Herrero (Eds.), On the Move to Meaningful Internet Systems: OTM 2011 Workshops (Vol. 7046, pp. 553-561). Springer Berlin / Heidelberg. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-25126-9_67

Jose, R., & Cardoso, J. C. S. (2011). Opportunities and Challenges of Interactive Public Displays as an Advertising Medium. In J. Mueller, F. Alt, & D. E. Michelis (Eds.), Pervasive Advertising (pp. 139-157). Springer-Verlag London Limited. doi:10.1007/978-0-85729-352-7_7

Cardoso, J. C. S., & Jose, R. (2009). A Framework for Context-Aware Adaptation in Public Displays. In R. Meersman, P. Herrero, & T. Dillon (Eds.), On the Move to Meaningful Internet Systems: OTM 2009 Workshops (Vol. 5872/2009, pp. 118-127). Vilamoura, Portugal: Springer Berlin / Heidelberg. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-05290-3_21

Scalability of pervasive displays networks

Posted on by

This work is the master thesis of Luis and is part of the European project Pd-net, which aims to explore the scientific challenges and technologies required to enable the emergence of large-scale networks of pervasive public displays. Those kind of networks, with its continuously changing number of users, displays, contents, interactions and sensors rise inevitably several problems concerning scalability and performance that have to be studied and overtaken. In this way, it is needed to make a full study specifying what should do the core components and how would they will be interconnected in a pervasive network.

 

Luis work is focused on the assessment of the network performance under various conditions, the outcome should be:

·       Identify the key design trade-offs concerning scalability of the system;

·       Study network performance with an augmenting number of the system interacting entities;

·       Discover the main bottleneck points;

·       Study the best scalability techniques to overcome growth constraints.

To accomplish these results, simulation tools will be used to assess the operation of the system under various conditions, addressing the effects of the scale in the system performance. For that is fundamental to model the system core architecture and build, based on simulation techniques, a testbed for testing and determine the scalability requirements for different representative scenarios of use of the Pd-Net network.

Luis Ferreira has a BSc in Informatics Engineering and is finishing his Master course focused on Ubiquitous Computing and Computer Networks, both, at University of Minho. Under the supervision of the professors Helena Rodrigues and Maria Joao Nicolau he is trying to study the problems associated with the growth of the pervasive displays networks. His main research interests are network security, distributed systems and ubiquitous computing.

Contact: laaferreira@gmail.com

 

 

A platform for user experience sampling in mobile devices

Image

This is a Master project in   Informatics by André Coelho. The goal is to create a platform for conducting user experience studies on smartphones. André is developing a web-based platform for conducting user experience studies, under the guidelines of the experience sampling method.

By using this method we wish to tackle known problems of user experience studies that utilize other methodologies for data acquisition, namely, we aim to combat the issues caused by self-reported data and data collected long after the event (we wish to sample) has taken place.

Our motivation was creating a flexible platform for such user studies, one that anybody could use to conduct their studies, without having to deal with the complexity of having to create a purpose-built system for the job. Also, we vied to create a system that would produce quality data that would enhance the validity of the studies’ findings and this is where the experience sampling method comes in. Within the scope of ubiquitous computing, this technique allows us to sample events in the micro-context of everyday life, enabling us to observe interactions that would otherwise go unnoticed.

The main objectives for this work are as follows:

  • Acquiring insight regarding user studies and their various supporting techniques, with a particular focus on the ESM technique and its variations, so as to establish a model to support user studies;
  • Devising a system architecture that would support the platform;
  • Gathering feedback from researchers and participants alike, as to what they feel the platform does well and what it should do better;
  • Substantiating the platform and testing it, in order to gather feedback on its validity in face of the purpose it intends to achieve.

Within the scope of this work we found ourselves challenged by an interesting problem: “How to annotate collected data with location without incurring in monetary costs for the users, or serving up a severe penalty in terms of battery-life?” We tackled this issue by creating a delay-tolerant location determination process.

More on this can be read in our published work: Coelho, André; Meneses, Filipe; José, Rui; Time-shifted positioning for location-based logging in mobile devices, in: “Proceedings of the 2011 International Conference on Indoor Positioning and Indoor Navigation (IPIN’2011) – short papers, posters and demos”, Moreira, Adriano J. C.; Meneses, Filipe M. L. (eds.). Guimarães, Portugal; ISBN 978-972-8692-63-6.

André Coelho has a degree in Computer Science (2009) and is currently a student in the MSc in Informatics at the University of Minho. He is now working on his thesis under the guidance of Rui José from the Algoritmi research centre. Current research interests fall under the guise of mobile computing and the use of smartphones as tools for improving and facilitating the study of human interaction with technology in daily life.

Contact him at: acoelho@dsi.uminho.pt

 

 

 

Bolsa de Investigação (Ref.ª WESP-2012-BI-1)

Posted on by

Encontra-se aberto concurso para a atribuição de uma Bolsa de Investigação (BI) no âmbito do projecto “WeSP: Web Security and Privacy” do Centro Algoritmi/Universidade do Minho com a referência CMU-PT/SE/0028/2008, financiado através da FCT no quadro do programa CMU-Portugal, nas seguintes condições:

Área Científica: Informática

Requisitos de Admissão: Os candidatos deverão possuir o primeiro ciclo completo em Engenharia Informática, Ciências de Computação, Tecnologias e Sistemas de Informação, Engenharia Electrónica, Engenharia de Telecomunicações ou equivalentes.

Plano de trabalhos: O trabalho a desenvolver visa a recolha e tratamento de dados de presença em serviços situados com o objectivo de caracterizar novos modelos de gestão de presença em serviços de computação ubíqua.

Legislação e regulamentação aplicável: Regime jurídico do Estatuto do Bolseiro de Investigação (Lei Nº. 40/2004, de 18 de Agosto) e conforme regulamento de Normas para Atribuição e Gestão de Bolsas (http://alfa.fct.mctes.pt/apoios/bolsas/normasbolsasemprojectosunidades) e formação avançada de recursos humanos da FCT (http://alfa.fct.mctes.pt/apoios/bolsas/regulamento.phtml).

Local de trabalho: A actividade irá decorrer nas instalações da Universidade do Minho, sob orientação do Prof. Rui José.

Duração da bolsa: Duração de 6 meses, com início previsto para 1 de Março de 2012, em regime de exclusividade, conforme regulamento de formação avançada de recursos humanos da FCT (http://alfa.fct.mctes.pt/apoios/bolsas/normasbolsasemunidades). A Bolsa poderá ser eventualmente renovável até ao máximo permitido pela regulamentação aplicável.

Valor do subsídio de manutenção mensal: Remuneração de acordo com a tabela de valores das Bolsas de Investigação no país atribuídas pela Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia.

Métodos de selecção: A selecção será efectuada com base nos seguintes critérios, classificados de 0 a 5 valores e com as ponderações indicadas: Adequação da formação ao plano de trabalhos (30%), Média final do curso de 1º ciclo (20%), Experiência anterior em investigação (20%), Fluência em Inglês (15%), Boas competências de escrita e de comunicação (15%). O júri poderá recorrer à realização de entrevistas de selecção aos candidatos. O júri reserva-se o direito de não atribuir a bolsa no caso de não se apresentarem a concurso candidatos com perfil adequado.

Composição do Júri de Selecção: As candidaturas serão apreciadas por um júri de membros doutorados, nomeadamente: Professor Rui João (presidente), Professora Helena Rodrigues e Professora Maria João Nicolau (vogais efectivos), Professor Adriano Moreira e Professor Filipe Meneses (vogais suplentes).

Forma de publicitação/notificação dos resultados: Os resultados finais da avaliação serão publicitados, através de lista ordenada por nota final obtida, afixada em local visível e público do Departamento de Sistemas de Informação da Universidade do Minho, sendo o candidato(a) aprovado(a) notificado através de e-mail.

Prazo de candidatura e forma de apresentação das candidaturas: Todas as candidaturas deverão ser entregues ou enviadas pelo correio, entre os dias 08/02/2012 e 22/02/2012, exclusivamente por email com o assunto “Ref.ª: WESP-2012-BI-1” para o endereço rui@dsi.uminho.pt. Deverão incluir obrigatoriamente carta de apresentação indicando as razões da candidatura, Curriculum Vitae e cópia do Certificado de Habilitações.

Bolsa de Investigação (Ref.ª MOBIPAG-2012-BI-1)

Posted on by

Encontra-se aberto um concurso público para atribuição de uma Bolsa de Investigação (BI) no âmbito do Projecto “MOBIPAG – Iniciativa Nacional para os Pagamentos Móveis” (projecto nº 13847), financiado através da Agencia de Inovação e co-financiado através do QREN, através do COMPETE – Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade (POFC), nas seguintes condições:

Área Científica: Informática.

Requisitos de Admissão: Podem candidatar-se a este concurso Licenciados (Pré-Bolonha) ou Mestres nas áreas de Engenharia Informática, Computação e outras afins. Dar-se-á preferência a candidatos com conhecimentos em programação para a plataforma Android.

Plano de trabalhos: O trabalho visa a concepção, desenvolvimento, implementação e teste de serviços, sistemas ou protótipos relacionados com pagamentos móveis.

Legislação e regulamentação aplicável: Regime jurídico do Estatuto do Bolseiro de Investigação (Lei Nº. 40/2004, de 18 de Agosto) e conforme regulamento de Normas para Atribuição e Gestão de Bolsas (http://alfa.fct.mctes.pt/apoios/bolsas/normasbolsasemprojectosunidades) e formação avançada de recursos humanos da FCT (http://alfa.fct.mctes.pt/apoios/bolsas/regulamento.phtml).

Local de trabalho: A actividade irá decorrer nas instalações da Universidade do Minho, sob orientação do Professor Rui José.

Duração da bolsa: A bolsa será atribuída por um período de 6 meses (eventualmente renovável até um máximo de 18 meses), com início previsto para 1 de Março de 2012, em regime de exclusividade.

Valor do subsídio de manutenção mensal: O valor da bolsa será definido consoante a formação académica do candidato e de acordo com a tabela de valores das Bolsas de Investigação no país atribuídas pela FCT (http://alfa.fct.mctes.pt/apoios/bolsas/valores).

Métodos de selecção: A selecção será efectuada com base nos seguintes critérios, classificados de 0 a 5 valores e com as ponderações indicadas: currículo vitae (30%), experiência anterior em programação para a plataforma Android (25%), classificação final de curso (20%), fluência em Inglês escrito e falado (15%) e capacidade de trabalho em equipa (10%). O júri poderá recorrer à realização de entrevistas de selecção aos candidatos.

Composição do Júri de Selecção: As candidaturas serão apreciadas por um júri de membros doutorados, nomeadamente: Professor Rui José (presidente), Professora Helena Rodrigues e Professor Adriano Moreira (vogais efectivos), Professora Maria João Nicolau e Professor Filipe Meneses (vogais suplentes).

Forma de publicitação/notificação dos resultados: Os resultados finais da avaliação serão publicitados, através de lista ordenada por nota final obtida, afixada em local visível e público do Departamento de Sistemas de Informação da Universidade do Minho, sendo o candidato(a) aprovado(a) notificado através de e-mail.

Prazo de candidatura e forma de apresentação das candidaturas: O concurso encontra-se aberto no período de 1 a 15 de Fevereiro de 2012. As candidaturas devem ser formalizadas obrigatoriamente através do envio de carta de apresentação indicando as razões da candidatura, acompanhada dos seguintes documentos: Curriculum Vitae, certificado de habilitações, dois contactos ou cartas de referência. As candidaturas deverão ser enviadas por correio electrónico para rui@dsi.uminho.pt com o assunto “Candidatura Bolsa Refª. MOBIPAG-2012-BI-1”.

Karim Keramat (profile)

Posted on by

     Karim Keramat jahromi has been admitted to Map-Tele Doctoral Program in Telecommunication  in  Information Systems Department in University of Minho, Guimaraes – Portugal, in November 2011. Now he works under supervision of Prof. Adriano Moreira in SUM project (Sensing and Understanding Human Motion Dynamic). Karim has been graduated in BSC Electronic Engineering (in July 2002) from K.N.T University of technology and also MSC Control Engineering (in July 2005) from Polytechnic (Amirkabir) University of Technology in Tehran Iran. His research field in MSC Thesis was Congestion control in Network communication (optimal, Robust and adaptive). Also he has worked as Instrumentation and Control Design Engineer in Energy fields for more than 6 years. His research interests are Human mobility sensing and  modeling, Networked Control Systems (NCS), Congestion Control in Network, Control and Automation.