The Anatomy of a Context-Aware Application

We describe a platform for context-aware computing which enables applications to follow mobile users as they move around a building. The platform is particularly suitable for richly equipped, networked environments. The only item a user is required to carry is a small sensor tag, which identifies them to the system and locates them accurately in three dimensions. The platform builds a dynamic model of the environment using these location sensors and resource information gathered by telemetry software, and presents it in a form suitable for application programmers. Use of the platform is illustrated through a practical example, which allows a user's current working desktop to follow a user as they move around the environment.

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2002
• Where: WINET
• Authors: Andy Harter, Andy Hopper, Pete Steggles, Andy Ward, Paul Webster
• Keywords: Context-aware Computing, Mobile Users, Small Sensor Tag, WINET 2002