ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES Context-Aware Mobile Phone Based City Guide By: Ayenew Yifru Argaw A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Addis Ababa University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Computer Science April, 2013 Addis Ababa University School of Graduate Studies College of Natural Sciences Department of Computer Science Context-Aware Mobile Phone Based City Guide By: Ayenew Yifru Argaw Approved By: Members of the Examination Board: 1. Dejene Ejigu (Ph. D.), Advisor __________________ 2. Yaregal Assabie (Ph.D.),Examiner __________________ 3. ___________________________ ______________________ 4. ____________________________ _____________________ Context-Aware Mobile Phone Based City Guide Acknowledgement I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Dejene Ejigu, for his guidance, and advice throughout this thesis. His eagerness and encouragement has always inspired me to accelerate towards the completion of the work. I would also like to thank all my instructors at the Department of Computer Science, for their personal commitment and contribution to the success of the graduate program. I would also like to thank my friends, Andinet, Misganaw, Shewangzaw and Siraj, who always shared those harsh and gladly events with me and the same is true for the years to come. In Parallel I would like to express my hearty respect to Meseret Assefa who supports me with relevant resources and materials. Finally, I thank my family for years of encouragement. I am sure that no one will be happier or prouder to see me complete this course of study than my parents. I Context-Aware Mobile Phone Based City Guide Dedication To my mother Zeneb Adamu. II Context-Aware Mobile Phone Based City Guide Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ........................................................................................................ I LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................... VI LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................ VII LIST OF ACRONYMS ....................................................................................................... VIII ABSTRACT............................................................................................................................ IX 1. INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................1 1.1. BACKGROUND ...................................................................................................................1 1.2. MOTIVATION .....................................................................................................................3 1.3. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM ............................................................................................4 1.4 APPLICATION OF THE STUDY ..............................................................................................5 1.5. OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE ....................................................................................................6 1.5.1. Objectives ..............................................................................................................6 1.5.2. Scope .....................................................................................................................7 1.6. METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................7 1.7. THESIS ORGANIZATION......................................................................................................8 2. LITERATURE REVIEW AND RELATED WORKS .....................................................9 2.1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................9 2.2. POSITIONING TECHNIQUES .................................................................................................9 2.2.1. Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) (Cell-ID) ..................................9 2.2.2. Uplink Time Difference of Arrival ........................................................................ 10 2.2.3. Angle of Arrival (AOA) ........................................................................................ 10 2.2.4. Database Correlation Method .............................................................................. 11 2.2.5. Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDA) ...................................................... 11 2.2.6. Global Positioning System (GPS) ......................................................................... 12 2.2.7. Assisted Global Positioning System (A-GPS)........................................................ 13 2.3. SIGNAL PROPAGATION PATH LOSS MODEL ...................................................................... 15 III Context-Aware Mobile Phone Based City Guide 2.3.1. Empirical Models ................................................................................................. 16 2.3.2. Semi-deterministic Models ................................................................................... 17 2.3.3. Signal Propagation for Indoor Environment ........................................................ 19 2.4. CONTEXT AND CONTEXT-AWARE SYSTEM ....................................................................... 20 2.4.1. Definition ............................................................................................................. 20 2.4.2. Context Model...................................................................................................... 20 2.5. RELATED WORKS ............................................................................................................ 24 2.5.1. Context-Aware Tourist Guide Systems ................................................................. 24 2.5.1.1. Building a Context-aware Mobile Tourist Guide System Based on a Service Oriented Architecture ..................................................................................................... 24 2.5.1.2. Context-Aware Recommendations in the Mobile Tourist Application COMPASS 25 2.5.2. Context Aware Location Based Service ................................................................ 27 2.5.2.1. Magitti Mobile Leisure Guide........................................................................... 27 2.5.2.2. Location-Aware Information Delivery with ComMotion .................................. 28 2.5.3. Summary .............................................................................................................. 29 3. THE PROPOSED CONTEXT AWARE LOCATION BASED SERVICE ................... 30 3.1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 30 3.2. CA-LBS ARCHITECTURE ................................................................................................. 30 3.3. READING LOCATION AND CONTEXT DATA ....................................................................... 33 3.3.1. Location Data Collector ...................................................................................... 33 3.3.2. Context Collector ................................................................................................. 34 3.3.3. Initial Setting Reader ........................................................................................... 35 3.3.4. Message Organizer .............................................................................................. 35 3.3.5. Connection Manager............................................................................................ 35 3.4. CONTEXT AND LOCATION DATA PROCESSOR.................................................................... 35 3.4.1. Context and Location Data Separator .................................................................. 35 3.4.2. Location Calculator ............................................................................................. 36 3.4.2.1. Processing Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) .................................... 36 3.4.2.2. Computing User Location ................................................................................. 39 3.4.3. Context Organizer................................................................................................ 46 IV Context-Aware Mobile Phone Based City Guide 3.4.4. CA-LBS (Location Based Service) Provider ......................................................... 46 3.4.5. Interaction Manager ............................................................................................ 47 4. IMPLEMENTATION AND VALIDATION .................................................................. 48 4.1. OVERVIEW ...................................................................................................................... 48 4.2. TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGIES USED FOR IMPLEMENTATION................................................. 49 4.3. SETTING UP THE PROTOTYPE ............................................................................................ 50 4.4. IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS ............................................................................................. 51 4.4.1. Modules on the Client Mobile Device ................................................................... 51 4.4.2. Modules on the Context-Aware LBS Server .........................................................