Recent advances of wireless communication technologies for ubiquitous computing

Citation

Zeadally, S. and Yan, L. (2008), "Recent advances of wireless communication technologies for ubiquitous computing", International Journal of Pervasive Computing and Communications, Vol. 4 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijpcc.2008.36104aaa.001

Recent advances of wireless communication technologies for ubiquitous computing

Article Type: Guest editorial From: International Journal of Pervasive Computing and Communications, Volume 4, Issue 1.

About the Guest Editors

Sherali Zeadally received the BA and MA degrees in Computer Science from University of Cambridge, England, and his doctoral degree in Computer Science from University of Buckingham, England, in 1996. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Information Technology at the University of the District of Columbia, Washington DC. Sherali Zeadally is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Internet Protocol Technology (IJIPT) and he currently serves on the editorial boards of seven other international journals (including International Journal of Computers and Applications, Wireless Personal Communications, International Journal of Pervasive Computing and Communications, etc). He also currently serves as a Guest Editor for special issues of several international journals including Computer Communications, Journal of Pervasive Computing and Communications, Computer Journal, Telecommunication Systems, Annals of Telecommunications, etc. His research has been funded by NSF, HP, Microsoft, Compaq, IBM, Intel, Sun Microsystems, and others. Sherali Zeadally is a Fellow of the British Computer Society (FBCS) and a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (FIET), UK. His research interests include Computer Networks (wired, wireless), Mobile Computing, Network and System Security, and Ubiquitous Computing.

Lu Yan is a Research Fellow at University College London. He was with University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory, Department of Information Technologies in Åbo Akademi, Distributed Systems Design Laboratory in Turku Centre for Computer Science, and Institute of Microelectronics in Peking University. He is also an Adjunct Professor at École Supérieure d'Ingénieurs généralistes and École Supérieure de Commerce de Rouen. His recent interests lie in the fields of ubiquitous computing and large-scale distributed systems.

Recent advances of wireless communication technologies for ubiquitous computing

Historically, ubiquitous systems have been highly engineered to perform a particular task, with no spontaneous interactions among devices. Advances in wireless communication, mobile computing sensor, and actuator technologies have given rise to a whole range of ubiquitous systems. Such systems are increasingly being characterized as self-organizing, critically resource constrained, and network centric. The emergence of powerful small, multi-purpose devices capable of operating collectively, rather than as standalone devices, form a dynamic ambient network that connects each device to more powerful networks and processing resources. This high network access and connectivity leads to a highly dynamic, global computing environment which enables users to communicate with each other and access services anywhere, anytime regardless of geographic location.

There has been a rapid growth in ubiquitous systems research in networking environments during the past few years. Many novel architectures, protocols, algorithms, and applications have been proposed, implemented, and evaluated. The issues and challenges for the development of such technologies not only encompass a broad spectrum of research topics but also involve envision new multi-disciplinary applications that will change the way in which we live and work. The goal of this special issue is to bring to the attention of the readers some the latest technical developments and state-of-the-art research results in the fast moving field of ubiquitous computing. For this special issue, we have selected papers that focus on two main themes that have direct impact on ubiquitous computing. The first theme deals with wireless, ad hoc and sensor networking issues while the second theme deals with middleware and other pervasive technologies that support ubiquitous services.

In "exploring GSM data in pervasive environments", Anderson et al. propose an alternative approach to sense activity of a cell phone carrier. They propose the use of GSM data such as signal strength to infer the position and current activity of the carrier of the cell phone. They also present a qualitative location system using GSM signals.

The paper "Probabilistic self-scheduling for coverage configuration in wireless ad-hoc sensor networks" by Lu et al., addresses the important issue of sensing coverage in sensor network environments. A novel scheme that probabilistically schedules sensing activities based on sensor contributions is presented. The authors demonstrate that the proposed sensing coverage approach is energy-efficient and incurs low computation/computation overheads.

Wireless mesh networks are an important component of next generation wireless networks. However, significant challenges in the interoperability area still need to be addressed to enable the ubiquitous deployment of large-scale wireless mesh networks. To solve the interoperability issue, Shen et al., in their contribution "A cross-layer design for heterogeneous routing in wireless mesh networks", propose and demonstrate the efficiency of a cross-layer heterogeneous routing protocol.

In "An efficient wireless network discovery scheme for heterogeneous access environments", Siddiqui et al. addresses the challenge of discovering available access networks using the least amount of energy (power). They propose a novel wireless network discovery scheme, with significant improvements over other discovery approaches, that enables fast discovery and selection of available access networks.

The paper, "FBSR: feedback based secure routing protocol for wireless sensor networks", by Cao et al. presents an adaptable and secure routing protocol for sensor networks. By exploiting dynamic feedback information collected from neighboring nodes routing decisions are made securely and efficiently. Mathematical analysis and simulation results validate the efficiency and reliability of the proposed protocol.

In "HoNeY: leveraging the MHP platform to provide HOme network interoperabilitY", Portelli et al. describe HoNeY, a platform of service discovery and code mobility designed for interoperability of devices connected to home networks, compatible with the multi-media home platform (MHP) standard.

In "Forming a context-sensitive web of trust by relying on sentimentally like minded", Neovius et al. propose an abstract model for managing trustworthiness in networks, emphasizing consistent behavior and managing diverse conceptions by relying on sentimentally like minded.

The paper "LooM: an anonymity quantification method in pervasive computing environments" by Imada et al. present an anonymity quantification method called loosely managed privacy protection method (LooM) to solve the privacy protection problem of private information disclosure using the classification method in pervasive computing environments.

In "Ubiquitous content formulations for real-time information communications", Law et al. explore the possibility of offering real-time content adaptation on set of data streams using the active pervasive network infrastructure. They show an approach to relieving the load by extending the network infrastructure to mediate the information delivered based on a user's personal preferences.

We thank all authors for their outstanding contributions. We selected nine papers for inclusion in this special issue. These accepted contributions came from different parts of the world including: England (1), United States (2), China (1), Taiwan (1), Italy (1), Finland (1), Japan (1), and Canada (1).

We would also like to thank Laurence Yang, the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Pervasive Computing and Communications for his kind encouragements and support during the preparation of this special issue. We express our deepest gratitude to all the anonymous reviewers who devoted much of their precious time reviewing all the papers. Their timely reviews greatly helped us select the papers included in this special issue.

Finally, we would also like to thank the managing editor, Jeremy Thompson, for his advice and assistance.

We hope you will enjoy reading these papers as we did.

Sherali Zeadally and Lu YanGuest Editors