The Locust Swarm : An environmentally - powered , networklesslocation and messaging

The Locust infared system provides location information and messaging without batteries and without its own network. The system is \privacy aware" in that it supplies information to the wearable computer user who can then control how much of this information is shared with others or the installed infrastructure. By combining the abilities of Locusts with an appropriately equipped wearable computer, the user can interact with web-like hyperlinks, graphics, and sounds virtually associated with objects in the physical world. In addition the user can annotate and change these links as desired. The U.S. military's satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS) can provide meter precision position information anywhere on the planet. Unfortunately , the radio frequencies used prevent the system from being eeective indoors. However, many applications need indoor position information. For example , an indoor paging system might use position information to determine if someone is available for a last-minute meeting. Monitoring systems for high security areas can use position information to track employees and visitors. User and interaction modeling might use position information to reroute resources (e.g. an incoming call to the nearest telephone), predict the next action of the user, or provide automatic annotation of a meeting (e.g. to answer queries such as \who was I talking with in the stairs on Friday?"). 2 Privacy Concerns As observed by Mann Mann, 1995], technological infrastructure can easily be used to violate privacy if it is not taken into account in the design of the system. Most current indoor location systems work through \active badges." In these systems, the badges continually announce their presence to the environment which then, through a wired network, report the location of the badge to a central system. Such systems raise several privacy concerns. Active badge systems suuer from a possible user perception that the infrastructure is used for \spy-ing." While the badge system may be very useful for opening locked doors automatically, might it not also be used to time how long a trip to the restroom takes? While a concerned badge wearer can certainly take oo the badge at any given instance, the aggregate information collected over several days or months can still reveal patterns of behavior. Technically, active badges can be made secure. A badge system can use current encryption technology such that only a master operator/security guard has access to the descrambled signature from a given badge. However, this master operator might be …