Pervasive & Ubiquitous
Computing (UbiComp)
Lecture #1: Introduction
Hao-hua Chu (朱浩華)
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What is UbiComp?
Keynote talk at the 26th Conference of Taiwan
Occupational Therapy, November 2007
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Students Intro
• Please tell us about:
– Current (future) research area, interests, & faculty advisor
– Background
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Hardware skills
Software programming skills (C/C++, Java)
User interface
Computer vision and sensors
Interdisciplinary
English (presentation, reading, and writing)
– Why are you interested in this course?
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Course Outline
• Reading list will be finalized
next week.
• Persuasive objects (3)
• Autism technology
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Reading list intro
UbiComp vision
UbiComp criticized
Smart objects & Contextawareness
• Localization systems
• Tangible interaction &
ambient display
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Course Objectives
• To prepare us (students and faculty) for research in UbiComp
research.
• Learning by reading & discussing papers
– Define problems & challenges
– Understand state-of-art techniques & solutions
– Identify limitations of state-of-art solutions
• Learning by doing projects
– The project must have a research component.
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What more can you get out of this course?
• Develop your own belief on where computer science is going
• Learn research experiences
– Scenario, problem definition, related work survey, design &
implementation, evaluation, etc.
– Reading, writing, and presentation skills
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Collaborative Learning
• This is a research seminar course, so everyone (faculty and
students) will contribute to the learning process.
– Paper discussion
– Project presentation
• UbiComp is a new, fast changing field, so faculty may not
know all materials!
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(Unusual) Course Format
• Each lecture will discuss 3~5 papers on a specific topic.
• For each paper,
– Faculty & presenters will pose questions before the start of the class
– An overview of the paper will be given for 15~20 minutes.
– Everyone will join the discussion for 15~20 minutes.
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How to read a paper?
• For each paper, try to answer the following questions:
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What is the problem?
What is the current state-of-the-art?
What is the key make-a-difference (new) method and technique?
What is good/bad/ugly about this make-a-difference method?
What has actually been done?
What is the future work?
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Reading in Depth
• Must challenge what you read!
• Attack the paper (use your common sense)
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Are assumptions reasonable?
Is the method similar to other methods in related work?
Is the improvement marginal or significant?
Are arguments logically sound?
Are evaluation metrics reasonable?
Is conclusion drawn logically from measurements?
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Develop Critical Thinking
• Critical thinking is "the examination and testing of suggested
solutions to see whether they will work." Lindzey, Hall, and
Thompson, 1978.
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Paper Sources
• ACM UBICOMP
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Pervasive
ACM CHI
IEEE PERCOM
IEEE Pervasive Computing Magazines
ACM Transaction on Computer Human Interaction (TOCHI)
ACM/Springer Personal and Ubiquitous Computing (PUC) Journal
• MOBICOM, SENSYS, MOBIHOC, etc. (system & network oriented)
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Project Component
• Rapid research prototype of an UBICOMP application in one
semester.
• Push you to do some research
• Find a fit with your current research
• Learn some team work
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Lifecycle of a Research Project
• Define motivation scenario
(an interesting story)
– Emphasize the parts of scenario
where it is currently not possible, but
with your idea, it will become
possible.
– Show me a proof-of-concept demo
prototype
• Derive problem(s)
– Assumptions, requirements,
implementation vs. research
problems
• Survey related work
• Design
– Differentiate your work from related
work
– What’s new? Why is it significant?
• Rapid prototype
implementation
• Evaluation of prototype
implementation
– Define evaluation metrics
– Experiments & user studies
• Shoot a video & write a report
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Project Phases
• Phase 1: project idea presentation (4 weeks)
– Fun, realizable within one semester time framework and computing
equipments, has a research component.
– [Scenario]
• Phase 2: project proposal document (4 weeks)
– Form teams, define goals, plan, and needed equipments.
– [Problems, related work, and design]
• Phase 3: progress checkpoint (4 weeks)
– [Preliminary prototype, evaluation metrics]
• Phase 4: project working prototype and final report (4 weeks)
– Working prototype demonstration
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Project Focus
• Localization
• Autism
• Play
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Toys for your projects
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NTU Zigbee Taroko nodes
Crossbow motes
Nokia and Windows CE Smart phones
HP IPAQ 5500 (Bluetooth + 802.11)
Handheld PCs
IPAQ Accessories: expansion pack,
camera, memory card, GPS, GPRS, ..
• Sparkfun Sensors: light, tilt, temperature,
accelerometer, pressure, weight,
orientation, ultrasound, etc.
• Philgets RFID kits
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More Toys for your projects
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Passive RFID tags & readers (Skyetek and Alien)
Biometric sensors (heart rate, BVP, GSR, etc.)
Projectors
WiFi based location systems (ekahau.com)
Ultrasound-based positioning systems (Navinote or Cricket motes)
LCD TV
Use your imagination
– Anything you can find on the Internet or from your own lab …
– However, budget may be limited 
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Grading
• Class Participation (30%)
• Project (70%)
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Course Requirements
• Class attendance (MUST!)
– Please don’t register if you are going to miss classes.
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Must talk & exchange ideas with others
Creativity
Good programming skill
Willing to learn hardware skill (by yourself)
Willing to spend extra time & efforts than what a regular
course would need
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Course webpage
http://mll.csie.ntu.edu.tw/course/embedded_s07/
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Who are still interested in this
course?
<Collect Students’ Email Addresses>
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