Research on Next Generation Mobile Plattform

European Open Source Software for eMobility technology

Mobile and wireless communication is playing an increasingly central role in all aspects of business. Next-generation mobile application will have a huge impact on Europe’s economy within a couple of years. We are in the process of a major shift from the wireless and communication concept of ‘anywhere, anytime’ to a new paradigm of ‘any device, with relevant content and context in a secure and trusted manner’. Many future innovative technology projects will be based on this emerging concept. We know that future systems and applications will be complex, consisting of a multitude of services and network types from Wide Area Networks to Home Networks and Moving Networks amongst others. Our increasing dependence on such communication infrastructures requires new approaches. Europe must focus research on this to help overcome technical, business and citizen barriers, in order to remain the leader in mobile and wireless communications.


The MUSIC Project - Self-Adapting Applications for Mobile Users in Ubiquitous Computing Environments.

MUSIC (www.ist-music.eu), an EU funded research project within the mobility area, aims to solve some of the biggest challenges faced when developing usable mobile services. Small interfaces, poor data-entry capabilities, limited battery life — mobile devices are not exactly like desktop computers. Wireless users are focused on the field task or the customer in front of them, not the computer. They work in a dynamic and distracting environment, not in a quiet, static location. Mobile employees need the right information, and the right tool to anticipate their requirements. They don’t have time to browse and search. They need ‘technology’ that is easy to understand, learn and use.

The MUSIC project is a collaboration between fifteen partners from ten European countries. Partners include some of the largest companies in the industry, as well as leading research institutes. Some of the major partners are Hewlett Packard, SINTEF, Telecom Italia, SID2U.com, European Media Laboratory, Telefónica I+D and RATP. Geir Horn, MUSIC project co-coordinator from SINTEF, a leading research institute from Norway, says:

“Software is becoming an even more important part of our ‘mobile’ lives. As we move around we are all confronted with the challenging task of keeping up to date and adapting to the changing environments where we may happen to try to maximize the utility provided by our software support systems. The MUSIC platform will make this easier for us all, enabling us to focus on the work as we move around. MUSIC represents a major practical approach to ‘auto’ configuration of software systems. It represents an innovative way to handle unavoidable software system complexity. MUSIC will certainly impact our daily lives in the near future and it will enable us to stay productive while on the move.”

The MUSIC project started in October 2006 and will run for three and a half years. MUSIC is a focused initiative that develops a comprehensive open-source software development framework that facilitates the development of self-adapting, reconfigurable software that seamlessly adapts to the highly dynamic user and execution context, and maintains a high level usefulness across context changes.

Context aware computing means that the user’s current situation is analyzed in order to decide what services are presented to the user, when services are launched or stopped. This is very different compared to traditional desktop systems where direct user interaction is required (and wanted) for services to start. In practice, context information gives mobile users instantly updated access to customized services and information. Say a conductor is helping a passenger at a train station. The travel planner application automatically fills in the station’s name without the conductor having to manually enter it or having to select from a long list of menus. If the conductor leaves the platform and walks to the bus area, the next bus departures pop up on the screen.

Context parameters can encompass everything from date, time, location and user role to PIM data, task at hand and network bandwidth. They can also include custom-made parameters such as outdoor temperature, the capacity of the forklift the user is operating or any other information relevant to the specific domain. Context-aware applications are capable of exploiting knowledge of external operating conditions, and they are self-adaptive by adapting at runtime to varying contexts, like changing user needs and operating environments.

The goal of the MUSIC project is to supply architecture, design tools and a framework to make it feasible for companies to develop next generation mobile services. MUSIC field trials demonstrate the results achieved. The ASA product, for desktop and network management system, developed by SID2U.com, is used in these field trials. ASA is useful in many sectors including managed services. Tom Flynn, Managing Director of SID2U, believes that in the near future, mobile technologies will support us in our daily life in a flexible and non-intrusive manner both in a business and social capacity. For example, managed service personnel would find the MUSIC enabled implementation of SID2U’s ASA product of keen interest, due to the flexibility and control the combined technology would give them. “The user will be released from complex configuration and administration issues that are imposed on users by many applications today” commented Vedran Arnautovic, EU Project Manager at Appear Networks. The role of Appear Networks, an IST-awarded SME partner from Sweden, is to provide middleware components for context distribution as well as research about battery consumption and discovery protocols in ad-hoc and infrastructure-based networks. Alisa Devlic, lead researcher at Appear Networks says: “Nowadays we see a need to provide a global access to context information regardless of where it is produced. The challenges that need to be solved are latencies, communication cost, intermittent connectivity, adaptability and limited battery capacity. Our research is directed to find optimal solutions to those challenges”.

A wireless solution, using the MUSIC technology, will provide new opportunities for developing intelligent mobile services, not only in the B2E (Business to Employees) market, but also in the growing B2C (Business to Consumers) market. Mobile applications developed using MUSIC technology will be:

 context-aware – i.e. understand user “context” in the widest possible sense, including aspects related to users themselves (i.e. role, location, environmental conditions, etc.) as well as technical aspects, such as the availability of computing and communications facilities.

 self-adapting – i.e. dynamically adapt to changing demands and operational conditions.

 inherently distributed and support direct interactions among multiple users.

 aimed primarily at mobile users (but may include stationary users, too).

 address operational aspects such as security, dependability, etc. according to user needs and circumstances.

 "innovative" either because they provide users with entirely new services or because they make traditional services available in a practical and usable form in a mobile environment.

The benefit of MUSIC technology can be demonstrated by the following B2C-scenario:
On her free day, Ms. Flynn plans to spend some time shopping in the city centre before relaxing at home. Over breakfast, she browses her music library with her PDA to select a list of songs to play that day. In the train, she reads on-line newspapers on the PDA or listens to some good music. She can access local information sources so that she is aware of information relevant her trip, such as where of special offers are available. On arrival in the city, the PDA connects to a pedestrian information portal that offers her location-based services. Upon returning after a hard day's shopping in the city, Ms. Flynn's PDA re-establishes her home settings and awaits the upcoming tasks.
This excerpt of a day in the life of Ms. Flynn's PDA demonstrates a range of services that soon will be readily available on small mobile devices. These services have to run with limited resources, with network connections of unreliable quality and with changing user needs. Software programs that realize these services are required to adapt themselves constantly and proactively, which makes their development complex and challenging.


Consortium
The MUSIC Consortium is composed by the following organizations:
 SINTEF, Norway: Is the largest independent R&D organisation in the Nordic countries, employing in excess of 1700 employees.
 SID2U.com, Ireland: Developer of the well known ASA desktop and network management systems.
 Hewlett Packard, Italy: Is a leading global provider of products, technologies, solutions and services to consumers and business.
 Appear Network, Sweden: Is a software provider for context-awareness services over wireless networks.
 Condat AG., Germany: Is a leading provider of innovative and integrated products for leading European companies.
 Mobicomp, Portugal: Is a leading mobile computing and wireless solutions provider.
 Integrasys, Spain: Is an engineering company specializing in innovative and integrated products for automated measurement systems in telecommunications.
 Telefónica I+D, Spain: Is an R&D subsidiary of Telefónica S.A..
 Telecom Italia Lab.: Is the R&D branch of the Telecom Italia Group employing over 1200 people.
 RATP, France: Is the leading French urban transport operator employing over 42,000 employees.
 European Media Laboratory, Germany: Is a high-tech company for advanced research into information technology.
 University of Kassel, Germany: Offers a wide spectrum of engineering subjects including engineering science and has over 17,000 students in 14 departments.
 University of Cyprus: The Department of Computer Science was established in 1992 and has over thirty graduate students and more than two hundred undergradute students.
 Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium: The Department of Computer Science is the largest IT department in Belgium and its research group ‘DistriNet’ is a centre of expertise in software technology R&D.
 University of Oslo, Norway: The Department of Informatics at the University of Oslo, part of the Mathematics and Natural Science is the largest Science Faculty for educational and basic research in Norway.


For more information about the MUSIC-project, go to http://www.ist-music.eu/
 www.sintef.no
 www.sid2u.com
 www.hp.com
 www.telecomitalia.it
 www.appearnetworks.com
 www.condat.de
 www.mobicomp.com
 www.integrasys-sa.com
 www.tid.es
 www.ratp.fr
 www.eml-d.villa-bosch.de
 www.uni-kassel.de
 www.cs.ucy.ac.cy
 www.cs.kuleuven.be
 www.ifi.uio.no