Programmable Smart Things
("smart things" is synonymous with "smart artifacts", "smart objects", etc)
This research topic investigates programming models for smart artifacts, or everyday objects augmented with computational, networking and sensing behaviours; such objects are those we use often and are commonplace, as well as everyday objects that are not quite so conventional (e.g., the Ambient Orb). This addition of behaviours might be via hardware (basically, a computer) embedded into these objects or by associating these physical objects with computational behaviours via technology (e.g., via electronic tags).
We term a collection of such smart artifacts (or smart things) that have mechanisms to work together, or cooperate on tasks in some way, an artifact ecology (or thing ecology, or if they are obviously computer devices, a device ecology).
Our earlier work utilized a Web service model of artifacts and explored a workflow metaphor to coordinate device ecologies. We also looked at models for context-aware artifacts and how artifacts can become aware of each other, and explored RFID technologies. More recently, we consider declarative peer-to-peer approaches.
Selected Publications
Loke, S.W. Service-Oriented Device Ecology Workflows. Proceedings of the International Conference on Service-Oriented Computing, (eds.) M. Orlowska, S. Weerawarana, M.P. Papazoglou, and J. Yang, Trento, Italy, December 2003, pp. 559-574, Springer-Verlag, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 2910. [PDF]
Loke, S.W. and Ling, S. Analyzing Observable Behaviours of Device Ecology Workflows. Proceedings 6th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems (ICEIS2004), Porto, Portugal. [PDF]
Loke, S.W., Syukur, E., and Stanski, P. Adding Context-Aware Behaviour to Almost Anything: the Case of Context-Aware Device Ecologies. Proceedings of the MobiSys 2004 workshop on Context-Awareness. [PDF]
Loke, S.W. Formally Characterizing Device Ecology Workflows with Predictable Observable Effects. Proceedings of the Formal Foundations of Embedded Software and Component-Based Software Architectures (FESCA) Workshop 2004. [PDF]
Loke, S.W., Ling, S., Butler, G., and Gillick, B. Levels of Abstraction in Programming Device Ecology Workflows. Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems (ICEIS 2005), pp. 137-144. [PDF]
Smanchat, S., Indrawan, M., Ling, S., and Loke, S.W. Asynchronous and Synchronous Communications in Petri Nets for Run-Time Analysis of a Device Ecology. Proceedings of IIWAS 2005, pp. 1113-1124. [PDF]
Indrawan, M., Ling, S., and Loke, S.W. Device Ecology: A Micro Digital Ecosystem. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Digital Ecosystems and Technologies (DEST 2007), February, 2007, Cairns, Australia, pp. 446-451. [PDF]
Loke, S.W. Context-Aware Artifacts: Two Development Approaches. IEEE Pervasive Computing 5(2), pp. 48-53, 2006.[PDF]
Ling, S., Loke, S.W. and Indrawan, M. Towards A Model of Interaction for Mutual Aware Devices and Everyday Artifacts. Proceedings of Ubiquitous Intelligence and Computing 2007, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 4611, pp. 184-194, Springer. [PDF].
Ling, S., Indrawan, M. and Loke, S.W. RFID-Based User Profiling of Fashion Preferences: Blueprint for a Smart Wardrobe. In the International Journal of Internet Protocol Technology 2(3-4) (IJPIT), 2007, pp. 153-164, Inderscience. Also in Inderscience. [PDF]
Seera, H., Loke, S.W. and Torabi, T. Towards Device-Blending: Model and Challenges. Proceedings of the Second IEEE International Symposium on Pervasive Computing and Ad Hoc Communications (PCAC-07). [PDF].
Loke, S.W., Smanchat, S., Ling, S., and Indrawan, M. Formal Mirror Models: an Approach to Just-in-Time Reasoning for Device Ecologies. International Journal of Smart Home (IJSH) 2(1), 2008, pp. 15-31, SERSC. [PDF]
Loke, S.W. Building Intelligent Environments By Adding Smart Artifacts to Spaces: a Peer-to-Peer Architecture. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Intelligent Environments (IE'10), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, July, 2010. [PDF]
Loke, S.W., Ling, S., Indrawan, M. and Leung, E. Q-Aura: a Quantitative Model for Managing Mutual Awareness of Smart Social Artifacts. Accepted for the IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (Part A). [PDF preprint]
Updated: S.W. Loke, July 2010