Published by the IEEE CS and IEEE ComSoc ��� 1536-1268/06/$20.00 �� 2006 IEEE PERVASIVE computing 91 Conferences Editor: Mary Baker ��� HP Labs ��� mary.baker@hp.com Real-World Challenges of Pervasive Computing Albrecht Schmidt, Sarah Spiekermann, Anatole Gershman, and Florian Michahelles T he idea of pervasive computing has been around for more than a decade, and we���re seeing more and more real-world deployments of the technologies. At the Pervasive Tech- nologies Applied workshop on 7 May (as part of Pervasive 2006), about 30 people met to discuss the challenges of deploying RFID technologies, sen- sor networks, and their related appli- cations. The participants were mainly researchers from US, European, and Asian academic institutions and indus- trial research labs. The presentations and discussions made plain that many issues easily solved from a technical perspective in labora- tory settings might turn out to be major obstacles when you try to solve them in the real world. In particular, require- ments engineering seems to be a chal- lenge if you want usage across partners in a supply chain. Furthermore, privacy and acceptance issues could become major impediments to deployment. FINDING A ���ONE FITS ALL��� SOLUTION Several presentations showed that defining appropriate technological standards for the myriad supply chain partners is crucial for deployment suc- cess. Leena Ukkonen and her col- leagues (Tampere Univ. of Technology) reported on requirements for identify- ing industrial paper reels. Here, to build the application platform, the research- ers had to resolve different industry partners��� competing requirements in terms of reading distance, preferred frequency, and tag location. Christian Fl��rkemeier and his colleagues (ETH Z��rich) described item-level tagging in the ski industry, where similar issues arise regarding confl icting requirements. In the ensuing discussion, partici- pants suggested that disparate require- ments might trigger demand for the inclusion of multiple tags in each prod- uct. Both presentations also raised the question of the economics of tag inte- gration. The participants generally acknowledged that tag integration is fi nancially benefi cial if benefi ts accrue across the supply chain. Christian Decker and his colleagues (Univ. of Karlsruhe and SAP Research) looked at how tags and sensor nodes with enhanced capabilities can benefi t business processes, particularly in the case of hazardous-materials handling. Attaching computation power and sensing capabilities to objects lets you monitor processes more precisely and allows early intervention in the case of process diffi culties. The participants concluded that, owing to the lack of a predominant killer app for RFID technology, one approach is to identify several appli- cations across the supply chain that generate enough return on investment to justify RFID funding. The overall challenge, accordingly, is to defi ne the proper sequence of implementing those applications to gain experience and improve the technology, and generate suffi cient ROI to continue with the stepwise introduction until, fi nally, the entire supply chain ben- efi ts from RFID. Furthermore, the discussion made it clear that in many cases the manu- facturer might be the best suited to drive the development. Incorporating RFID into products before customers demand such integration will allow the manufacturer more choices of how to do it. TOWARD IMPLICIT INTERACTION The workshop included several exam- ples of how to realize implicit interac- tion. Jos�� Bravo and his colleagues (Castilla-La Mancha Univ.) reported on a system that supports hospital work processes. In the discussion that followed, participants commented that when you use information to improve accountability, the users themselves must gain a large-enough advantage from the technology to accept it. Michael Crawford and his colleagues (IBM Software Group and University ��� ��� Defi ning appropriate technological standards for the myriad supply chain partners is crucial for deployment success.