From the Editor in Chief Editor in Chief: M. Satyanarayanan [email protected]

A Catalyst for Mobile and

M. Satyanarayanan, Carnegie Mellon University and Intel Research Pittsburgh

environments saturated with comput- commercial products: handheld and cat•a•lyst ing and communication yet gracefully wearable computers, wireless LANs, integrated with human users. and devices to sense and control appli- a person or thing acting as the stimulus in When articulated, this was a vision ances. We are now better positioned to bringing about or hastening a result far ahead of its time—the hardware begin the quest for Weiser’s vision. technology needed to achieve it simply Webster’s New World Dictionary, 1986 did not exist. Not surprisingly, the MISSION implementation attempted by Weiser IEEE Pervasive Computing’s mission and his colleagues at Xerox Parc fell is to be a catalyst for progress toward short. After a decade of hardware this vision. As a magazine rather than a he convergence of wireless commu- progress, many critical elements that transactions, it is well suited to this role. T nication and portable computers is were exotic in 1991 are now viable Because mobility brings unique chal- happening before us today. Hardly a week passes without an announcement by some major player in this arena about technology, deployment, or a new strategic partnership. Well-attended conferences and workshops attest to the vibrancy of the research community in this area. Something big is clearly under way. Where will it take us? Mark Weiser described a tantalizing destination just over a decade ago. In a seminal article, “The Computer for the 21st Century,” he described a hypo- thetical world in which humans and computers were seamlessly united. The article’s opening words are memorable:

The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it. He called this vision ubiquitous com- puting. Its essence was the creation of

2 PERVASIVEcomputing 1536-1268/02/$17.00 © 2002 IEEE lenges of its own, we identify it explic- articles might span multiple areas. ple, focuses on improving performance itly in this magazine’s charter. Indeed, the frequent appearance of arti- and user experience through speculative One of the most difficult challenges cles in which these areas are blurred or anticipatory actions. Autonomic com- in realizing Weiser’s vision is that it will be a symptom of good health. After puting focuses on improving user expe- requires a multidisciplinary approach. all, stimulating work that leads to such rience through the system’s self-regula- A successful deployment will require articles is this magazine’s goal. tion. Proactive and autonomic behavior the collaboration of hardware design- In addition to full-length articles, are important aspects of Weiser’s vision, ers, wireless engineers, human-com- each issue of the magazine will have but their overlap with ubiquitous com- puter interaction specialists, software short pieces in four departments. The puting is only partial; we can envision system developers, and so on. This departments and their editors are those behaviors in many systems unre- magazine will serve as a forum for lated to ubiquitous computing. timely material to bring these diverse • Applications: Vince Stanford, National This magazine will treat ubiquitous communities together. Institute of Standards and Technology computing and pervasive computing as Fostering dialog and collaboration • Education and Training: Scott Mid- synonyms—they mean exactly the same across these diverse technical commu- kiff, Virginia Polytechnic Institute thing and will be used interchangeably nities will be the touchstone of our edi- and State University throughout the magazine. Although torial decisions. We envision many dif- • Standards, Tools, and Best Practices: Weiser introduced the term ubiquitous ferent types of articles, such as research Sumi Helal, University of Florida computing, there is reason to believe reports of ongoing projects, survey arti- • Wearable Computing: Thad Starner, that he was not wholly satisfied with it. cles on the state of the art in different Georgia Institute of Technology Toward the end of his 1991 article is areas, and interviews with system archi- the following passage: tects and lead implementers. Ensuring As the magazine evolves, we will also Sitting back and reading the paragraph, that articles are readable and useful to experiment with other kinds of content. Sal wants to point to a word. She gestures a wide segment of the readership while For example, the magazine might contain again with the “Joe” tab onto a nearby still being of interest to specialists will reports of relevant conferences and work- pad and then uses the stylus to circle the be a challenge. Please give us your con- shops. Other examples include reviews of word she wants: “I think it’s this term structive feedback as we strive to bal- hardware and software products, opin- ‘ubiquitous.’ It’s just not in common ance these considerations. ion pieces, and news items. We anticipate enough use and makes the whole passage many special issues, each focusing on a sound a little formal. Can we rephrase the ORGANIZATION particular topic. The next two issues, for sentence to get rid of it?” The range of topics this magazine will example, will cover integrated pervasive cover is far broader than any single per- computing environments and context- son’s expertise. Hence, we’ve grouped aware computing. The latter issue will be INAUGURAL ISSUE the topics into five broad areas, each jointly produced with IEEE Personal We dedicate this first issue, “Reaching with an associate editor in chief to assist Communications. It will be the first tan- for Weiser’s Vision,” to Mark Weiser. me in making sound editorial decisions. gible product of a mutually beneficial We begin with his original 1991 article, The areas and AEICs are collaboration that we foresee between reprinted with the permission of Scien- these two magazines. tific American. We then present five • Hardware technologies: Roy Want, invited articles by the AEICs and coau- Intel Research TERMINOLOGY thors, each examining the state of the • Software infrastructure: Tim Kind- In the mid 1990s, the term pervasive art in one of the five areas of pervasive berg, Hewlett-Packard Laboratories computing came to represent essentially computing mentioned earlier. Each arti- • Sensing and influencing the physical the same vision that Weiser defined. cle begins by crisply characterizing the world: Deborah Estrin, University of More recently, researchers have pro- relevance of its area to Weiser’s vision. California, Los Angeles posed other visions, such as proactive It then summarizes recent advances and • Graceful integration with users: Gre- computing and autonomic computing. asking if they suggest any refocusing of gory Abowd, Georgia Institute of This proliferation of terms can be quite Weiser’s vision. Finally, the article looks Technology confusing, especially since they are all out into the future and identifies the • Deployment, scalability, security, and speculations about the future. challenges ahead in its area: privacy: Nigel Davies, Lancaster Uni- In many ways, we are like the prover- versity and University of Arizona bial blind men touching different parts •“Beyond Prototypes: Challenges in of an elephant and trying to visualize the Deploying Ubiquitous Systems,” by These areas overlap significantly, and whole. Proactive computing, for exam- Nigel Davies and Hans-W. Gellersen,

JANUARY–MARCH 2002 PERVASIVEcomputing 3 IEEE Computer Society Publications Office describes technical and social advances contributions. 10662 Los Vaqueros Circle, PO Box 3014 in ubiquitous computing and presents The IEEE Computer Society’s 2001 Los Alamitos, CA 90720-1314 key reasons why, despite advances, president, Benjamin Wah, and publisher we are still falling significantly short Angela Burgess and assistant publisher STAFF of realizing the type of world Weiser Dick Price provided leadership for cre- Associate Lead Editor Shani Murray envisioned. ating this magazine. Their wise counsel [email protected] •“Disappearing Hardware,” by Roy and support has been invaluable to me Group Managing Editor Want, Trevor Pering, Gaetano Bor- in the magazine’s formative stages. Crystal Chweh riello, and Keith Farkas, discusses Crystal Chweh, Shani Murray, and [email protected] ubiquitous hardware, reviewing how their colleagues have done a fine job in Senior Editor close we are to Weiser’s vision and transforming raw content into this Dale Strok what will be enabled in the future. inaugural issue. As a novice in the role Associate Editors •“The Human Experience,” by Gre- of editor in chief, I am grateful to the Jenny Ferrero and Dennis Taylor gory Abowd, Elizabeth Mynatt, and Computer Society staff for their Staff Editors Tom Rodden, defines the scope of patience and good cheer in helping me Scott L. Andresen human experience in pervasive com- learn my role. and Kathy Clark-Fisher puting and discusses evaluation as The founding editorial board of this Editorial Assistants well as social implications. magazine is almost a “Who’s Who” of Rebecca Deuel and Ty Manuel •“Connecting the Physical World with the pervasive computing field. In spite Magazine Assistants Pervasive Networks,” by Deborah of their busy schedules and many Pauline Hosillos [email protected] Estrin, David Culler, Kris Pister, and responsibilities, the board members Gaurav Sukhatme, discusses issues have contributed high-quality time and Dawn Craig related to sensing, actuation, localiza- attention to the creation of this maga- Contributing Editor tion, and node resource constraints. It zine. They have offered valuable in- Keri Schreiner reviews developments of the last sights and good suggestions on content, Design Director decade, trends, and challenges. structure, and other aspects of the mag- Toni Van Buskirk •“Software Infrastructure for Ubiqui- azine. They have also done a wonderful Layout/Technical Illustrations tous Computing,” by Tim Kindberg job of producing detailed reviews of the Larry Bauer and Alex Torres and Armando Fox, discusses the articles for this issue in a short amount Publisher defining characteristics of ubiquitous of time. Angela Burgess systems—integration with the phys- The AEICs and the department edi- Assistant Publisher ical world and ad hoc interoperabil- tors have done an amazing job of Dick Price ity—and presents criteria for ubiqui- authoring articles and department Membership/Circulation Marketing Manager tous computing software research. pieces of high quality for this inaugural Georgann Carter issue under tight time constraints. I Business Development Manager This issue also includes pieces in the couldn’t have asked for a better group Sandra Brown four departments, each providing a of colleagues to share custody of mag- Assistant Advertising Coordinator thought-provoking report or perspective azine content. I look forward to work- Debbie Sims on an aspect of pervasive computing. ing with them and the others for the rest Vince Stanford reviews pervasive com- of my term as editor in chief. Submissions: Submit two copies of all articles and track proposals to IEEE Pervasive Computing, puting and elder care, and Thad Starner Magazine Assistant, 10662 Los Vaqueros Circle, offers an overview of wearable comput- A NEW FRONTIER Los Alamitos, CA 90720-1314, phone +1 714 821 ing. Sumi Helal discusses pervasive Java, When describing his vision, Weiser 8380, [email protected]. Manuscripts should be approximately 5,000 words long, preferably not and Scott Midkiff discusses a multidis- was fully aware that attaining it would exceeding 10 references. Visit http://computer.org/ ciplinary design course on the rapid pro- require tremendous creativity and effort pervasive for editorial guidelines. totyping of computing systems. by many people, sustained over many Editorial: Unless otherwise stated, bylined articles as well years. The early decades of the 21st cen- as products and services reflect the author’s or firm’s ACKNOWLEDGMENTS tury will be a period of great excitement opinion; inclusion does not necessarily constitute The birth of a new magazine is not as we engage in the research and endorsement by the IEEE Computer Society or the IEEE. the work of one person. Many people deployment challenges of pervasive have worked very hard and shown computing. Like the frontier of the excellent team spirit in making this hap- American West in the early 19th cen- pen. It is a pleasure to recognize their tury, pervasive computing offers new

MOBILE AND UBIQUITOUS SYSTEMS http://computer.org/pervasive FROM THE EDITOR IN CHIEF

How to Reach Us beginnings for the adventurous and the ders yet to be drawn. We hope this restless—a rich open space where the magazine can help you reach and Writers rules have yet to be written and the bor- inhabit that frontier. For detailed information on submitting articles, write for our Editorial Guidelines ([email protected]) or access http://computer.org/pervasive/author.htm.

Letters to the Editor Mahadev Satyanarayanan is the Carnegie Group Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon Send letters to University. He is currently on partial sabbatical, serving as the founding director of Intel Research Pitts- burgh. He is an experimental computer scientist who has pioneered research in the field of mobile Shani Murray, Associate Lead Editor information access. One outcome of this work is the File System, which supports disconnected IEEE Pervasive Computing and bandwidth-adaptive operation. Microsoft has incorporated key ideas from Coda into the Intel- 10662 Los Vaqueros Circle Los Alamitos, CA 90720 liMirror component of Windows. Another outcome is Odyssey, a set of open-source operating system [email protected] extensions for enabling mobile applications to adapt to variation in critical resources such as band- width and energy. Coda and Odyssey are building blocks in Project Aura, a research initiative at Carnegie Please provide an email address or Mellon to build a distraction-free ubiquitous computing environment. Earlier, he was a principal archi- daytime phone number with your letter. tect and implementer of the , which was commercialized by IBM. He received his BTech and MTech from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and his PhD in computer science On the Web from Carnegie Mellon. He is the founding editor in chief of IEEE Pervasive Computing. Contact him at Access http://computer.org/pervasive or [email protected]. http://[email protected] for infor- mation about IEEE Pervasive Computing.

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MOBILE AND UBIQUITOUS SYSTEMS JANUARY–MARCH 2002