UIC-ATC Joint Panel

Future Trends of Ubiquitous and Autonomic Computing

Chair:	Prof. Stephen S. Yau, Arizona State University, USA
Panelists:	Prof. Christian Muller-Schloer, University of Hanover, Germany
	Prof. Jiannong Cao, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China
	Prof. Jadwiga Indulska, University of Queensland, Australia
Discussants:	Prof. Tosiyasu L. Kunii, Kanazawa Institute of Technology, Japan
	Prof. Hartmut Schmeck, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany

Ubiquitous computing with extensive networking infrastructure and various types of information and processing technologies is promising to achieve a smart world (SW), in which computational intelligence is distributed throughout the physical environment to provide trustworthy and relevant services to people. Such computing systems, including hardware, software, communication and networks, are growing rapidly with an ever increasing scale and heterogeneity. To cope with such complexity and various QoS requirements, both ubiquitous and autonomic computing capabilities are needed. While ubiquitous computing environments enable “anytime, anywhere” computing, the capability of self-management enabled by autonomic computing maximizes the efficiency and reliability of computing systems without human intervention or guidance.

In this panel, after introductory remarks (Prof. Yau), the three panelists will present their position statements on the future trends of ubiquitous and autonomous computing with the emphasis on the following aspects:

1. Ubiquitous intelligent objects

Ubiquitous computing environments consist of heterogeneous mobile computing devices, which are required to be intelligent and self-manageable. Much progress has been made for such ubiquitous intelligent objects, which may be electronic labels/tags, RFIDs, MEMS devices, tiny sensors, and embedded software and agents, etc. What will be the future trends of these objects in terms of their capability, usability and dependability? (Prof. Cao).

2. Controllability of self-organized systems

Future ubiquitous computing systems will consist of a large number of heterogeneous and autonomous elements and subsystems. Due to the dynamic nature of the behaviors and characteristics of those elements and subsystems, we need to design principles and architectures which enable these systems to be self-managable. The elements and subsystems should be able to acquire the current situation of the entire system, and adjust their behaviors accordingly. It will be the responsibility of the system designers to make sure that the global objectives are translated to local goals, and that the system stays within predefined borders of state space. What will be the appropriate system architectures, which mechanisms are needed to enable flexible behavior without running out of control, and how can we keep control without stifling the creativity of self-organizing systems?. (Prof. Muller-Schloer)

3. Services and applications in ubiquitous and autonomic computing

The purpose of ubiquitous and autonomic computing environments is to enable the “anytime, anywhere” computing capabilities of users. Such environments should be able to incorporate heterogeneous services and applications. Substantial research has been done on the development of trustworthy grid/p2p services, pervasive context-aware and mobile services. The integration of such services and applications into ubiquitous and autonomic computing environments require techniques from various layers in the system architecture. What are the major challenges in developing mobile services in context-aware ubiquitous computing environments? (Prof. Indulska)

Systems in ubiquitous and autonomic computing environments are susceptible to malicious attacks, and hence all the systems, services and applications in such environments need to be trustworthy. Following the position statements of the three panelists, the two discussants (Prof. Kunii and Prof. Schmeck) will lead the discussions, including the issues related to the trust of these systems. The discussions will also be open to the floor.