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Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Alois Ferscha (Johannes Kepler Universität Linz, Institut für Pervasive Computing)

[ Alois Ferscha, Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr., Johannes Kepler Universität Linz ] Title: Self-Managing Digital Artefacts Abstract: Pervasive Computing has postulated to invisibly integrate technology into everyday objects in such a way, that these objects turn into smart things. Not only a single object of this kind is supposed to represent the interface among the “physical world of atoms” and the “digital world of bits”, but a whole landscapes of them. As an approach to link each artefact in the physical world with the software objects in the digital world we propose stick-on solutions – Digital Artefacts – as the symbiosis of technology rich artefacts and a P2P based coordination framework. A spatial proximity based spontaneous interaction approach for “shared nothing” P2P systems has been developed and implemented in our P2P coordination framework. Mobile peers, once in spatial proximity to each other, coordinate their activities based on the exchange and analysis of self descriptions in metadata format. Each peer individually conducts a similarity analysis of the role and profile data received from other peers in vicinity, and invokes triggers if a certain similarity threshold is reached. I will present aspects of the underlying profile description language, expressing peer preferences with respect to the particular context in which the interaction is attempted (like time, geoposition, owner, environmental conditions, etc.), the mathematical formulation of similarity metrics and the matching analysis of semistructured data, the mechanisms for consensus finding and coordination in peer ensembles, and the component model within which the framework is implemented. Findings will be demonstrated in scenarios involving our “Digital Artefact” miniaturized hardware platform, serving as a stick-on solution for artefacts. Bio: Alois Ferscha received the Mag. degree in 1984, and a PhD in business informatics in 1990, both from the University of Vienna, Austria. From 1986 through 2000 he was with the Department of Applied Computer Science at the University of Vienna at the levels of assistant and associate professor. In 2000 he joined the University of Linz as full professor where he is now head of the department for Pervasive Computing and the speaker of the JKU Pervasive Computing Initiative. Prof. Ferscha has published on topics related to parallel and distributed computing, like e.g. Computer Aided Parallel Software Engineering, Performance Oriented Distributed/Parallel Program Development, Parallel and Distributed Discrete Event Simulation, Performance Modeling/Analysis of Parallel Systems and Parallel Visual Programming. Currently he is focussed on Pervasive Computing, Embedded Software Systems, Wireless Communication, Multiuser Cooperation, Distributed Interaction and Distributed Interactive Simulation. He has been the project leader of several national and international research projects like e.g.: Network Computing, Performance Analysis of Parallel Systems and their Workload, Parallel Simulation of Very Large Office Workflow Models, Distributed Simulation on High Performance Parallel Computer Architectures, Modelling and Analysis of Time Constrained and Hierarchical Systems, Broadband Integrated Satellite Network Traffic Evaluation and Distributed Cooperative Environments, etc. Currently he is pursuing project work related to networked embedded systems, software frameworks for context computing, coordination architectures and models, wireless and mobile ad-hoc networks and sensor/actuator networks. In his application related work he has built context based application frameworks for the JKU "Wireless Campus" network, public community displays with wireless remote controls ("WebWall"), geo-enhanced, augmented reality mobile navigation systems (“SmartRoad”), RFID based realtime notification systems, wearable computing and embedded internet application frameworks ("DitgitalAura", "SmartCase", "DigiScope"). He has been a visiting researcher at the Dipartimento di Informatica, Universita di Torino, Italy, at the Dipartimento di Informatica, Universita di Genoa, Italy, at the Computer Science Department, University of Maryland at College Park, College Park, Maryland, U.S.A., and at the Department of Computer and Information Sciences, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, U.S.A. He has served on the committees of several conferences like PERVASIVE, UBICOMP, WWW, PADS, DIS-RT, SIGMETRICS, MASCOTS, TOOLS, PNPM, ICS, etc. Prof. Ferscha is member of the OCG, GI, ACM, IEEE and holds the Heinz-Zemanek Award for distinguished contributions in computer science.