Autonomous agents to support interoperability and physical integration in pervasive environments

Abstract

Ubiquitous computing is the method of augmenting and improving work practices and knowledge sharing, by making computers of all scales, available but invisible throughout the physical environment, while amplifying human-to-human communication. Personal systems, such as PDAs and cell phones, give users access to computing resources regardless of their location. Handheld computers are being transformed from personal electronic agendas into mobile communication devices with intermittent network connectivity. Thus, they are becoming a natural medium to tap into an ubiquitous computing infrastructure. However, handhelds most often operate disconnected from the network thus reducing the opportunities for spontaneous interoperation with other peers or web services, which is a desirable feature of ubicomp environments. Autonomous agents can enable spontaneous collaboration by representing users, as well as devices or services available through the Web, which has become an ubiquitous medium for information sharing. An agent acts on behalf of the user while he is disconnected, and represents services added to the environment, thus allowing the physical integration and interoperability of these entities. We present the SALSA framework, which allows developers to implement simple agents for ubicomp systems. These agents use an expressive communication language based on XML, which provides protocols for locating and interacting with Web services even when the user is disconnected.