Category Archives: ubicomp

2016 Ubicomp course

During the fall 2016 semester I will be teaching a course exploring the fundamentals of ubiquitous (or pervasive) computing. The course is listed as ECE 724/824 Ubiquitous Computing Fundamentals. This is the fourth time this course will run – the first time was in 2010.

Ubicomp certificate
The course is a required course for the new Graduate Certificate in Ubiquitous Computing.

Why ubiquitous computing?
We have entered the third era of modern computing. This era is defined by computing devices that are embedded in everyday objects and become part of everyday activities. These devices are also connected to other devices or networks in an effort to share or gather information.  Ubiquitous computing is a multidisciplinary field of study that explores the design and implementation of such embedded, networked computing devices.

The course in a nutshell
The Ubiquitous Computing Fundamentals course has two major thrusts:

1. Lectures: Lectures introducing fundamental material from papers, a textbook edited by John Krumm, and many research videos. Topics covered will include system software for supporting ubicomp, human-computer interaction in ubicomp systems, privacy issues, context awareness, and location-based services.
2. Projects: Following a project requirements document, students (teams or individuals) will first select topics, with the guidance of the instructor. They will then prepare a proposal, complete the project, and report on it at the end of the semester through a written document and an oral presentation. Videos are encouraged.

Two past projects
Here are two videos from 2010 to give you a taste for what a ubicomp project might look like.

Video 1: Data entry using handheld computers vs. paper

Video 2: Exploring group interaction with a multi-touch table

Who is this course for?
Students who will most benefit from the course are seniors, graduate students, and professionals with an EE, CompE, CS and IT background.

Organizational details
The course will run online asynchronously. There will be no in-class meetings.

For grading and such see the ECE900-Online-Syllabus.

Questions?
Send email to andrew DOT kun AT unh DOT edu.

2015 ubicomp course

During the fall 2015 semester I will be teaching a course exploring the fundamentals of ubiquitous (or pervasive) computing. The course is listed as ECE 796/896 Spc Top/Ubiquitous Computing. (It will soon be ECE 724/824.) This is the third time this course will run – the first time was in 2010.

Why ubiquitous computing?
We have entered the third era of modern computing. This era is defined by computing devices that are embedded in everyday objects and become part of everyday activities. These devices are also connected to other devices or networks in an effort to share or gather information.  Ubiquitous computing is a multidisciplinary field of study that explores the design and implementation of such embedded, networked computing devices.

The course in a nutshell
The Ubiquitous Computing Fundamentals course has two major thrusts:

1. Lectures: Lectures introducing fundamental material from papers, a textbook edited by John Krumm, and close to 40 research videos. Topics covered will include system software for supporting percom, human-computer interaction in ubicomp systems, privacy issues, context awareness, and location-based services.
2. Projects: Following a project requirements document, students (teams or individuals) will first select topics, with the guidance of the instructor. They will then prepare a proposal, complete the project, and report on it at the end of the semester through a written document and an oral presentation. Videos are encouraged.

Two past projects
Here are two videos from 2010 to give you a taste for what a ubicomp project might look like.

Video 1: Data entry using handheld computers vs. paper

Video 2: Exploring group interaction with a multi-touch table

Who is this course for?
Students who will most benefit from the course are EE, CompE, CS and IT seniors and graduate students.

Organizational details
Class will meet TR 11-12:30. There will be an open lab in Morse 213.

For grading and such see the 2015 syllabus.

Questions?
Send email to andrew DOT kun AT unh DOT edu.

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Fall 2013 Pervasive Computing Course

During the fall 2013 semester I will be teaching a course exploring the fundamentals of pervasive (or ubiquitous) computing. The course is listed as ECE 796/896 Spc Top/Pervasive Computing. This is the second time I’ll teach this course – the first time was in 2010.

Why pervasive computing?
We have entered the third era of modern computing. This era is defined by computing devices that are embedded in everyday objects and become part of everyday activities. These devices are also connected to other devices or networks in an effort to share or gather information.  Pervasive computing is a multidisciplinary field of study that explores the design and implementation of such embedded, networked computing devices. The field is young but it is developing fast and appears to have unstoppable momentum.

The course in a nutshell
The Pervasive Computing Fundamentals course has two major thrusts:

1. Lectures: Lectures introducing fundamental material from papers, a textbook edited by John Krumm, and close to 40 research videos. Topics covered will include system software for supporting percom, human-computer interaction in percom systems, privacy issues, context awareness, and location-based services.
2. Projects: Following a project requirements document, students (teams and individuals) will first select topics, with the guidance of the instructor. They will then prepare a proposal, complete the project, and report on it at the end of the semester through a written document and an oral presentation. Videos are encouraged.

 

Collaborative projects with Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute is one of the leading art, design and architecture schools in the US. Its Industrial Design Department is consistently ranked in the top 5 in the country. Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman is a multi-disciplinary designer and the founder of RPF Design Studio. She is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at Pratt. During the fall 2013 semester she will teach a junior studio on wearable technology for industrial design students. Rebeccah and I will help Pratt and UNH students form project teams. UNH students will primarily be responsible for the hardware and software development, while Pratt students will incorporate the hardware/software into wearable objects. Collaborating with Pratt students is not a requirement for UNH students, but it is highly encouraged (hopefully we can also go on a field trip to Pratt).

Two past projects
Here are two videos from 2010 to give you a taste for what a percom project might look like. Actually, if you collaborate with Pratt students, it’ll look even better – check out ID View 2012 for visuals of what you can expect.

Video 1: Data entry using handheld computers vs. paper

Video 2: Exploring group interaction with a multi-touch table

Who is this course for?
Students who will most benefit from the course are EE, CompE, CS and IT seniors and graduate students.

Organizational details
Class will meet MWF 4-5 PM. There will be an open lab in Morse 213 (ignore the lab time in the Time and Room Schedule).

For grading and such see the 2010 syllabus. The 2013 syllabus will be very similar.

Questions?
Send me email.

Introducing ubiquitous computing through videos

Students and technical professionals can quickly gain an introduction to a variety of topics in pervasive/ubiquitous computing by watching online research videos. Of course, watching videos is no replacement for reading papers (yes, starting with Weiser’s) and using an excellent textbook, such as John Krumm‘s ubicomp fundamentals. Yet, videos can quickly convey many basic ubicomp ideas in an engaging manner.

Good places to look for videos are the usual suspects: Vimeo and YouTube. Additionally, many conferences now allow uploading videos as support material for papers, and conferences such as Ubicomp and Pervasive have tracks dedicated to video submissions (see e.g. Ubicomp 2012 and Pervasive 2012).

In my 2010 intro ubicomp course I used the following videos, grouped by general topic area:

Field studies:

  1. Project54 police radio study (YouTube)
  2. Tagging photographs using voice commands (YouTube)
  3. Linking with Flickr using voice commands (YouTube)
  4. AmbiKraf (YouTube)
  5. HealthLine: Information Access for Community Health Workers in Developing Regions (YouTube)
  6. LINC, An Inkable Digital Family Calendar (YouTube)
  7. Rexplorer – an urban interactive game for tourists (YouTube)

Privacy:

  1. Sharing data on public displays: academic transcript example (YouTube)
  2. Sharing data on public displays: family pictures example (YouTube)
  3. Sharing data on public displays: map example (YouTube)
  4. Multi-user interaction using handheld projectors (YouTube)
  5. Empathy mirror (YouTube – removed) (Website)
  6. How to hack RFID-enabled credit cards for $8 (YouTube)
  7. IBM RFID commercial (YouTube)
  8. Minority report – mall scene (YouTube)
  9. RFID parking access control long range system (YouTube)
  10. Sensecam: Cambridge day out (YouTube)
  11. The Ambient Clock (YouTube)
  12. The RFID Ecosystem Project (YouTube)

User interfaces:

  1. Natural User Interfaces: Utilizing physiological data (YouTube)
  2. Skinput: Appropriating the body as an input surface (YouTube)
  3. 10GUI: 10 finger multitouch user interface (YouTube)
  4. BumpTop 3D multi-touch desktop (YouTube)
  5. Ford SYNC and Pandora (YouTube)
  6. Google Maps navigation (Beta) (YouTube)
  7. Microsoft Courier in action (YouTube)
  8. Microsoft Research: Project Gustav (YouTube)
  9. Microsoft future vision: productivity (YouTube)
  10. Microsoft’s vision of the future (Parody) (YouTube)
  11. Microsoft future vision: Windows home concept (YouTube)
  12. Microsoft future vision: manufacturing (YouTube)
  13. Microsoft future vision: personal health (YouTube)
  14. Microsoft future vision: banking (YouTube)
  15. Microsoft future vision: retail (YouTube)
  16. NanoTouch (YouTube)
  17. Reboard (YouTube)
  18. The invisible train (YouTube)
  19. Searchvox (website)

Of course this list is now 2 years old – time to update!

Presentation at the 2011 Emergency Responders Workshop

Yesterday I participated in the work of the 2011 Emergency Responders Workshop (pdf) organized by WisDOT, CVTA and GLTEI. The workshop had two major goals. One was to provide a sampling of state-of-the-art technologies used by emergency responders. The other was to begin charting a path toward developing advanced technologies. Participants from emergency responder agencies, industry and academia discussed their vision for future technologies as well as barriers to progress.

My presentation focused on pervasive (or ubiquitous) computing for law enforcement. I encouraged participants to ask the following question:

“What should be the focus of R&D efforts targeting percom technologies for emergency responders?”

CVTA President Scott McCormick (in picture below) and WisDOT’s John Corbin led the meeting superbly – thanks to both for including me in this effort.

For more pictures from the event visit Flickr.

2011 opportunities for UNH CS students: multi-touch surface interaction

I am seeking UNH CS students (individuals or teams) interested in developing a user interface on a multi-touch table. The interface would allow a human operator to control a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). This project will part of a collaborative effort with WPI on creating a fleet of UAVs. Students at WPI will focus on building the UAVs. Students at UNH will work on communication issues (with Professor Nicholas Kirsch) and on user interface issues (with me).

What should the user interface do?

The operator should be able to view and manipulate data sent out by the UAV fleet. Data types of interest include images, video, sounds and outputs from various sensors (temperature, pressure, accelerometers, etc.). Data manipulation will require some simple processing, such as setting beginning and end points for sounds, zooming images, etc. It will also require more complex processing of data, e.g. filtering.

What are the data sources?

Eventually, the data will come from UAVs. However, as a first step, data will be generated through games, similarly to work done by Jatin Matani and Trupti Telang. Thus, we might utilize cell phones to get images, webcams to get video, and Arduino boards to generate sensor data (e.g. temperature).

What platform will be used?

The project will leverage Project54’s Microsoft Surface multi-touch table. Here is a video by UNH ECE graduate student Tim April introducing some of the interactions he has explored with the Surface.

Is this a job, a project, or something else?

CS students would be able to use this effort as a senior project (details to be worked out with appropriate CS faculty). An independent study might also be a possiblity. Finally, I am interested in hiring students for academic year and/or summer jobs.

Can CS and ECE students collaborate?

Collaboration is not a requirement. However, some aspects of this work might benefit from the involvement of one or more UNH ECE students. E.g. ECE students can work on some of the data processing aspects of the projects, as well as on creating data sources (e.g. deployment of wireless sensor networks). I am actively recruiting ECE students for multi-touch projects and you are welcome to talk to your friends in ECE.

What are the required skills? And what new skills will I acquire?

For CS students, work on this project will require object-oriented programming that is necessary to control the multi-touch table. You will explore the application of these skills to the design of surface user interfaces as well as experiments with human subjects – after all we will have to systematically test your creation!

Interested? Have questions, ideas, suggestions?
Email me.

2011 Senior Project topics: multi-touch surface interaction

I am seeking students (individuals or teams) for two senior projects. Both projects would leverage a multi-touch surface to create a natural user interface for pervasive computing applications.

Pervasive computing problems and ideas are often introduced using videos. An excellent exampe is the Microsoft Health Future Vision video (download, watch on YouTube). 

Let’s focus on three themes from the video that are relevant to the senior projects: interactions with multi-touch interfaces, interactions with tangible user interfaces, and data manipulation/fusion. Multi-touch surfaces appear throughout the video: in Sabine’s home, in the doctor’s office, and in the hospital lobby. Several of the multi-touch interfaces, such as Sabine’s remote control, and her virtual wallet (used in the lobby), are tangible interfaces. Finally, Dr. Kemp manipulates/fuses data when interacting with Alex (patient in bed) and especially during the meeting with Sabine and Wei Yu.

The two senior projects will leverage Project54’s Microsoft Surface multi-touch table. Here is a video by UNH ECE graduate student Tim April introducing some of the interactions he has explored with the Surface.

With all this in mind, here are the specifics on the two proposed projects.

Project 1: Mobile data fusion

This project will explore fusing data, such as images, video, sounds and outputs from various sensors (temperature, pressure, accelerometers, etc.). Data fusion will require some simple processing, such as setting beginning and end points for sounds, zooming images, etc. It will also require more complex digital signal processing of data, e.g. windowing and filtering (topics covered in ECE 714). Consequently, work on this project will focus on data processing as well as object-oriented programming that is necessary to control the multi-touch table.

This project will be tied to a collaborative effort with WPI on creating a fleet of UAVs. Thus, eventually, the data to process and display on the multi-touch will come from the UAVs. However, as a first step, data will be generated through games, similarly to work done by Jatin Matani and Trupti Telang.

Project 2: IR wallet

The Microsoft Surface uses infrared illumination and cameras to recognize interactions with its surface. It can also recognize 2D barcodes if they are visible in the IR part of the spectrum. The “IR wallet” project would result in a tangible user interface, similar to Sabine’s virtual wallet, that can display 2D barcodes in IR. These in turn will be picked up by the Microsoft Surface. Work on this project will focus on microcontroller-based design (e.g. with an Arduino board) and object-oriented programming for the Surface.

Interested? Have questions, ideas, suggestions? Email me.

Pervasive Computing and Communications Group at UNH

Three UNH ECE faculty, Nicholas Kirsch, Tom Miller and me, have formed the Pervasive Computing and Communications Group. Our group investigates a wide range of topics from human-computer interactions to the physical networks that make sharing information effortless.

Nick joined UNH ECE in the fall of 2010. His interest is in spectrally efficient wireless communications systems utilizing software defined radios. Tom and I have been involved with the Project54 system since 1999. Tom’s interest is in embedded system design and application development and on human-computer interaction with mobile devices. My primary interest is in human-computer interaction for mobile devices and for desktop multi-touch devices.

Report on Fundamentals of Ubicomp course

During the spring 2010 semester I taught a new course entitled Ubiquitous Computing Fundamentals. The term ubiquitous computing refers to the model of computing in which computers are embedded in everyday objects and become part of everyday activities. As the name implies, this course was designed as an introduction to this exciting field of study.

In this course I used the excellent new ubicomp textbook [1] edited by John Krumm. I highly recommend this book to anyone starting out in the field of ubicomp. Specifically, I like two aspects of the book. First, the team of contributors assembled by John provides a comprehensive introduction to the myriad topics that make up the ubicomp field. The fact that ubicomp is an interdisciplinary field is exciting, but getting an overview of the field may seem like a daunting task. The textbook provides this overview. Second, paraphrasing Aaron Quigley‘s assessment of his chapter [2], the book provides “an entry point” to the world of conducting research in general, and ubicomp research in particular. The contributors discuss the tools used in various aspects of ubicomp research, from prototyping, to user studies, to data processing. The individual chapters help the reader formulate research questions and steps, and provide valuable tips on how to report on results. 

The course covered three topic areas:

  • History of ubicomp. The semester started with Weiser’s seminal paper [3] and with a textbook chapter introducing ubicomp by Roy Want, one of Weiser’s collaborators at Xerox PARC.
  • Building ubicomp systems. We discussed various aspects of creating ubicomp systems, from writing always-on software, to privacy, to conducting laboratory and field experiments.
  • The user experience. As this is my research focus, we spent a considerable amount of time discussion user interactions with ubicomp systems, from speech interactions, to multi-touch tables, to tangible user interfaces.

I found that an excellent way to discuss ubicomp topics is to take advantage of research videos posted online. We viewed many such videos and this led to productive discussions. We also benefited from excellent talks by Marko Popovic, Bret Harsham and Albrecht Schmidt.

I felt that the course was a success. Students indicated that they liked the course and thought that it was useful. The course also allowed students to express themselves creatively through the course project. The results were impressive and I’ll end this post with an example. The video below is the work of UNH ECE seniors Amy Schwarzenberg and Kyle Maroney (both graduated in May). Amy and Kyle explored user interactions with a Microsoft Surface multi-touch table.

References

[1] John Krumm (editor), “Ubiquitous Computing Fundamentals,” CRC Press, 2010

[2] Aaron Quigley, “From GUI to UUI: Interfaces for Ubiquitous Computing,” in John Krumm (editor), “Ubiquitous Computing Fundamentals,” CRC Press, 2010

[3] Mark Weiser, “The Computer for the 21st century,” Scientific American, pp. 94-10, September 1991