An Engineering Information Service Infrastructure for Ubiquitous Computing

This paper describes a software framework for the development of a ubiquitous computing environment for distributed engineering information services. Two fundamental issues are addressed: universal accessibility from devices to information services, and collaboration among the parties accessing the information services. The first issue calls for the development of device independent information services that have the flexibility to support wide range of client devices. We introduce a mediation-based framework that enables the information clients to calibrate the source information services to the clients’ characteristics. The second issue requires effective integration of information services, for which we address in two ways: (1) we sketch an ontology standard and describe how such standard can be effectively applied for exchanging scheduling information; (2) we illustrate an infrastructure that is particularly suitable for the integration of engineering services. A prototype for the ubiquitous computing environment has been developed that incorporates a variety of project management software as well as different devices ranging from PDA, web browsers, desktop computers, and servers. 1 Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. E-mail: [email protected] 2 Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. E-mail: [email protected] 3 Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. E-mail: [email protected] 4 Professor, Computer Science Department, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. E-mail: [email protected] 5 Group Leader, Manufacturing Systems Integration Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899. E-mail: [email protected] 1