[An Integrated Context-Aware System Using Bluetooth and GPS]

By

Acknowledgment

I would take this opportunity to express gratitude my study supervisor, family and friends for their support and guidance without which this research would not have been possible.

DECLARATION

I, [type your full first titles and last name her], declare that the contents of this dissertation compress my own unaided work, and that the dissertation has not before been submitted for learned written test towards any qualification. Furthermore, it represents my own opinions and not necessarily those of the University.

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Abstract

Mobile phones have become the communication medium of choice. They have evolved into a multifaceted device capable of data services and multimedia applications in addition to their voice capabilities. Mobile phone communicative capabilities have been broadened significantly by the inclusion of technologies. Mobile phones have the potential to be useful for more complex functionality than common voice and text usage. Applications provide capabilities that allow mobile phones to learn and use information regarding their surroundings. Such behaviour is known as 'Context Awareness'. Applications are context aware when they reason about data with knowledge of their environment. These applications may behave differently depending on the context, which tends to be dynamic in mobile scenarios. Interactions between mobile devices can be made more efficient with the use of contextual information. Applications considering context awareness on mobile phones have not been explored in great detail. However, the evolving capabilities of mobile phones are inhibited by their limitations and constraints. The compactness of the embedded technology results in restricted resources like reduced processing power and battery life. Additionally, the mobility and geographical dispersion associated with mobile phone based applications incur common distributed systems issues. Concerns such as file storage and network partitioning are exacerbated by the mobile nature of the application and may act as inhibiting factors. The objective of this dissertation is to examine the technological communication capabilities of mobile phones, and in particular, to investigate the suitability of Bluetooth as an underlying technology for communication using mobile phones.

Table of Content

Chapter 1: Introduction6

Aims and objectives7

Context Aware Computing Challenges7

Chapter 2: Literature Review8

Context Awareness8

Context Awareness in Mobile Applications9

Integrated Context9

Mobile Phone Context Awareness10

Bluetooth12

Related Bluetooth Work12

Summary13

Chapter 3: Design14

Dating Application14

Social Considerations15

Requirements15

JXTA/JXME15

JXME and Bluetooth17

Identity18

Proximity/Location19

Calendar Items21

Hardware Challenges22

Bluetooth Dongle22

Laptop Connectivity23

Nokia 761024

Architecture26

Components26

Assumptions27

Chapter 4: Implementation29

Mobile Application Development29

Development Environment29

Existing Bluetooth Code30

Features31

Messaging31

Activity Status32

Bluetooth Connectivity32

Server/Service Advertisement33

Connection34

Chapter 5: Evaluation35

Testing35

Test Environment35

Discovery35

Range36

Battery36

Memory36

Performance38

Chapter 6: Conclusion39

Bluetooth39

Mobile Phones40

References41

Chapter 1: Introduction

Mobile phones have become pervasive in society, resulting in a mobile community across the globe. Ireland boasts a mobile penetration of 94 percent. With mobile phone handsets supporting new and various technologies, the area of mobile phone based applications has been broadened, with scope for more innovative and novel applications. Despite the expansion of the number of technologies available, growth in the area of phone based applications has not followed the rapid increase in handsets. Most mobile phone users avail of the voice and SMS features of the handset, but few choose to exploit the accessible features, which offer functions varying from personal organisation and financial planning, to games and entertainment. This dissertation aims to explore the ...