Sensors 2012, 12, 10259-10291; doi:10.3390/s120810259 OPEN ACCESS sensors ISSN 1424-8220 www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors Article FunBlocks. A Modular Framework for AmI System Development Rafael Baquero 1,*, José Rodríguez 1, Sonia Mendoza 1, Dominique Decouchant 2,3 and Alfredo Piero Mateos Papis 2 1 Department of Computer Science, CINVESTAV-IPN, Instituto Politécnico Nacional 2508, San Pedro Zacatenco, Del. Gustavo A. Madero, DF 07360, Mexico; E-Mails:
[email protected] (J.R.);
[email protected] (S.M.) 2 Department of Information Technologies, UAM Cuajimalpa, Av. Constituyentes 1000 Lomas Altas, Del. Miguel Hidalgo, DF 11950, Mexico; E-Mails:
[email protected] (D.D.);
[email protected] (A.P.M.P.) 3 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Laboratoire LIG, 681 Rue de la Passerelle, 38400 St Martin d’Hères, France * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
[email protected]; Tel.: +5255-5747-3800 (ext. 3758); Fax: +5255-5747-3757. Received: 6 June 2012; in revised form: 12 July 2012 / Accepted: 27 July 2012 / Published: 30 July 2012 Abstract: The last decade has seen explosive growth in the technologies required to implement Ambient Intelligence (AmI) systems. Technologies such as facial and speech recognition, home networks, household cleaning robots, to name a few, have become commonplace. However, due to the multidisciplinary nature of AmI systems and the distinct requirements of different user groups, integrating these developments into full-scale systems is not an easy task. In this paper we propose FunBlocks, a minimalist modular framework for the development of AmI systems based on the function module abstraction used in the IEC 61499 standard for distributed control systems.