Autonomic Position Management

Abstract

W aterford I nstitute of Technology [W I T], C ork Road, W aterford, I reland, Phone: + 353-51-30-2927 t.pfeifer@computer.org Ab str actPositioning, as one of the prime components of C ontex t, has been a driv ing factor in the dev elopment of perv asiv e computing applications throughout the past two decades. Based on the Redundant Positioning architecture introduced prev iously, this paper discusses the issues of managing positioning and contex t data between applications and across different administrativ e domains, with a focus on implementing security and priv acy concepts, for autonomic dev ices and communications. .I ntr od uctionOn e of t h e goa l s of t h e c u rren t res ea rc h in autonomic communications is t o in t egra t e s ervic e a n d n etwork ma n a gemen t in a s ea ml es s c on t in u u m of d oma in s , wh erein b u s in es s l evel ma n a gemen t d ec is ion s c a n b e a u t oma t ic a l l y t ra n s l a t ed t o s ervic e ma n a gemen t d ec is ion s , wh ic h c a n t h en b e t ra n s l a t ed t o l ow l evel n et work ma n a gemen t op era t ion s . F u rt h ermore it is ex p ec t ed t h a t k n owl ed ge emb od ied in in forma t ion a n d d a t a mod el s c a n b e u s ed t o fa c il it a t e in t el l igen t a d a p t a t ion a n d c omp os it ion of s ervic es .A p rereq u is it e for t h is goa l is t h e a u t on omic ma na gemen t of sensed data, a n d t h eir a ggrega t ion t o contex t in forma t ion , in a n en viron men t of c oop era t in g d oma in s . Th os e a ggrega t ed d a t a p rovid e t h e b a s is for d ec is ion s d is c u s s ed a b ove. A p a rt ic u l a r p rob l em is t h e h a n d l in g of autonomic mobile dev ices in d oma in s wit h d ifferen t l evel s of c oop era t ion , wh ere c on t ex t -l evel a greemen t s a re req u ired t o a c c es s p re-s p ec ified gra n ul a rit ies of d a t a , a c c ord in g t o t h e s ec u rit y a n d p riva c y req u iremen t s of t h e res p ec t ive d oma in a n d t h e u s er in t h is en viron men t . C ontex t, wit h l oc a t ion a s on e of it s ma in c on s t it u en t s in p a rt ic u l a r, h a s b een a d rivin g fa c t or in t h e d evel opmen t of u b iq u it ou s c omp u t in g a p p l ic a t ion s t h rou gh ou t t h e p a s t t wo d ec a d es . Location Aware a p p l ic a t ion s in c omp u t in g a n d t el ec ommu n ic a t ion s a l t er t h eir b eh a viou r in d ep en d en c e of t h e l oc a t ion of a n en t it y [ 1 ] . Loc a t ion is d erived b y va riou s met h od s of positioning. F ol l owin g t h e t en d en c y t o c omb in e a n u mb er of p os it ion in g t ec h n ol ogies in t o a h y b rid a p p roa c h [ 1 1 ] [ 1 5 ] , a n a rc h it ec t u re for red u n d a n t a n d s y n erget ic p os it ion in g h a s b een in t rod u c ed [ 1 3 ] [ 1 4 ] . Ca p a b l e of d a t a fu s ion , it c omb in es mu l t ip l e p os it ion in g t ec h n ol ogies t o ob t a in b et t er c overa ge, more p rec is e a n d more rel ia b l e res u l t s a c c ord in g t o t h e va riou s n eed s of t h e wh ol e...