This paper evaluates Wi-Fi Fine Timing Measure ment (FTM) for 3D indoor positioning and compares it with Ultra-Wideband (UWB). We follow a two-phase experimental methodology. First, we quantify ranging precision in a 45 m corridor under Line-of-Sight (LoS), Non-Line-of-Sight (NLoS), and mixed conditions. Second, we assess 3D positioning accuracy in a laboratory using nonlinear multilateration with four anchors, under both LoS and strong NLoS conditions. The evaluation uses commercial off-the-shelf FTM devices (Google Nest Wi-Fi and Pixel 6 Pro) and a Qorvo MDEK1001 UWB development kit. Results show that Wi-Fi FTM provides meter-level 3D positioning with minimal infrastructure, while UWB achieves substantially higher ranging precision and lower 3D positioning error under LoS. Under strong NLoS, both technologies suffer from reduced range availability, preventing 3D estimation when fewer than four ranges are returned. These results clarify the accuracy versus deployability trade-offs when selecting FTM or UWB for practical 3D indoor positioning.

This paper presents an architecture for building multi player games that aim to teach coding skills and promote algorithmic thinking. The main requirements for the architecture are to enable quick and affordable development and deployment, support commodity client devices, and enable multiplayer, com-petitive gameplay. By demonstrating an evaluation case study, we show how the proposed architecture achieves these requirements. At its core, it realizes a distributed model extending the client-server paradigm, where multiple players can independently train, then compete in a multiplayer mode using a shared, cloud-based server. While the architecture is validated with a specific maze-themed case study game, we argue that the main principles of this approach can be reused to a wider range of multi player, educational games.

Abstract Adding context ‐awareness capabilities to modern mobile and pervasive computing applications (apps) is becoming a mainstream activity in the software engineering community. In this respect, many context models and middleware architectures have been proposed with the aim to provide the developers with tools and abstractions that make it easier to produce context‐aware applications. However, current solutions suffer from relatively low reusability and lack ease‐of‐use. In this paper, we propose a two‐layer approach based on model‐driven development: At the higher layer, we introduce the design of reusable context plug‐ins, which can be used to monitor low‐level context data and to infer higher‐level information about the users, their computing infrastructure, and their interaction. At the lower layer, the plug‐ins themselves are synthesized using more elementary, reusable components. We argue that this development approach provides significant advantages to the developers, as it enables them to design, implement, reuse, and maintain the codebase of context‐aware apps more efficiently. To evaluate this approach, we demonstrate it in the context of a two‐part example application and assess it both qualitatively and quantitatively.

Today there is a high demand for computing programmers, and at the same time a shortage of skilled professionals. This has triggered the creation of many initiatives in the past few years, with the aim of reversing the phenomenon. To achieve this, such events are designed to promote a more appealing image for programming, both as a profession and as a skill. This paper describes one such initiative, which uses a unique blend of differently themed, parallel workshops to motivate high school students to learn programming. With the use of questionnaires, we survey the participants and present our findings concerning the effectiveness of these workshops to engage the participants, to promote the value of coding, and to encourage the participants to consider a career in the field. We evaluate our results both at a general level, as well as by comparison among five individually themed workshops.

SUMMARY Although the idea of context‐awareness was introduced almost two decades ago, few mobile software applications are available today that can sense and adapt to their run‐time environment. The development of context‐aware and self‐adaptive applications is complex and few developers have experience in this area. On the basis of several demonstrators built by the joint European research project MUSIC, this paper describes typical context and adaptation features relevant for the development of context‐aware and self‐adaptive mobile applications. We explain how the demonstrators were realised using the open‐source platform MUSIC and present the feedback of the developers of these demonstrators. The main contribution of this paper is to show how the development complexity of context‐aware and self‐adaptive mobile applications can be mastered by using an adaptation framework such as MUSIC. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The huge growth of the mobile devices market and the fast-changing requirements of mobile users, increase the need to develop native Web Service clients that can be deployed on both mobile and desktop devices. Existing work attempts to address heterogeneity, in order to simplify the development of device-aware Web Services. This paper defines the Presentation Modelling Language, which allows defining clients as graphical user interface models that are then transformed to platform-specific code. Also, the Web Services Description Language is used to define and generate the proxy classes that enable service communication from the generated clients. A functional device-aware Web Service is developed, showcasing the high-degree of automation achieved and the multi-platform nature of the approach.

Abstract Driven by the emergence of mobile and pervasive computing there is a growing demand for context‐aware software systems that can dynamically adapt to their run‐time environment. We present the results of project MADAM that has delivered a comprehensive solution for the development and operation of context‐aware, self‐adaptive applications. The main contributions of MADAM are (a) a sophisticated middleware that supports the dynamic adaptation of component‐based applications, and (b) an innovative model‐driven development methodology that is based on abstract adaptation models and corresponding model‐to‐code transformations. MADAM has demonstrated the viability of a general, integrated approach to application‐level adaptation. We discuss our experiences with two real‐world case studies that were built using the MADAM approach. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A fundamental requirement for autonomic computing is to be able to automatically infer how human users react in similar contextual conditions. This paper examines the problem of autonomic reasoning for adapting context-aware applications in mobile and pervasive computing environments. In this type o

This paper identifies requirements for querying and accessing context information in mobile and pervasive computing environments. Furthermore it studies existing query languages showing that they satisfy only a subset of these requirements or cover some of them only to a limited extent. A new context query language is presented to overcome these shortcomings, improving the state of the art in several respects: heterogeneous representations of context information, definition of complex filtering mechanisms, elaborate aggregation functions and ontology integration, all in one language.

Modern mobile computing paradigms have set new challenges for the development of distributed mobile applications and services. Because of the variability which characterizes the context of such environments, it is important that mobile applications are developed so that they can dynamically adapt their extra-functional behavior, in order to optimize the experience perceived by their users. This paper proposes an approach for developing adaptive, mobile applications. It is argued that this approach eases the development effort by clearly separating the work required for the development of the application logic from that required for enabling its adaptive behavior. It is argued that in addition to mitigating the development complexity, this approach also enables a new generation of distributed applications. The novelty in the latter is that the applications can dynamically and collaboratively adapt in an ad-hoc manner to improve the quality of the services offered to mobile users

The operating context of mobile applications and services is constantly changing. In order to achieve higher levels of usability, mobile applications and services need to adapt to changes in context. This paper argues the need for adaptation enabling middleware that simplifies the development of context aware adaptive applications, and makes it economically and practically feasible to develop such applications. We claim that the traditional approach of simply providing contextual information to applications and let them handle the adaptation can be ineffective. We suggest a holistic approach where context management is an integral part of a more comprehensive adaptation enabling middleware. This paper describes the role and the design of the context management component in such a middleware architecture. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated in a scenario where proof-of-concept implementations have been developed and evaluated.