Ambient Intelligence

DEPT OF COMPUTER ENGG.
AMBIENT INTELLIGENCE
1. INTRODUCTION
Ambient Intelligence (AmI) is a new paradigm in Information Technology that
has potential for great impact in the future. The vision of AmI is that the people will be
surrounded by intelligent objects that can sense the context and respond according to
the desire of the people. AmI is a multidisciplinary topic, since it combines the features
of many of the areas in Computer Science.
In the last five years, we have seen significant advances in three promising
technology areas: virtual environments, in which 3D displays and interaction devices
immerse the user in a synthesized world, mobile communication and sensors, in which
increasingly small and inexpensive terminals and wireless networking allow users to
roam the real world without being limited to stationary machines. The merging of these
areas allows the emergence of a new vision: the Ambient Intelligence (AmI).
AmI refers to a digital environment that proactively, but sensibly, supports people
in their everyday lives. It will make the feeling that the people live with technology. It is
aligned with the concept of ‘disappearing computer’, since the AmI environment make
the technology invisible. As the devices grow smaller, more connected and more
integrated into our environment, the technology disappears into our surroundings.
“The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into
the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it.” M. Weiser
The basic idea behind AmI is that by enriching an environment with technology
(mainly sensors and devices interconnected through a network), a system can be built to
take decisions to benefit the users of that environment based on real-time information
gathered and historical data accumulated.
An important aspect of AmI has to do with interaction. On one side there is a

motivation to reduce the human-computer interaction as the system is supposed to use its
intelligence to infer situations and user needs from the recorded activities, as if a passive
human assistant was observing activities unfold with the expectation to help when (and
only if) required. On the other side, a diversity of users may need or voluntarily seek
direct interaction with the system to indicate preferences and needs.
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DEPT OF COMPUTER ENGG. AMBIENT INTELLIGENCE
2. HISTORY
In 1998, the board of management of Philips commissioned a series of

presentations and internal workshops, organized by Eli Zelkha and Brian Epstein of
Palo Alto Ventures (who coined the name 'Ambient Intelligence') to investigate different
scenarios that would transform the high-volume consumer electronic industry from the
current “fragmented with features” world into a world in 2020 where user-friendly
devices support ubiquitous information, communication and entertainment. In the years
after, these developments grew more mature. In 1999, Philips joined the Oxygen alliance,
an international consortium ofindustrial partners within the context of the MIT Oxygen
project, aimed at developing technology for the computer of the 21st century. In 2000,
plans were made to construct a feasibility and usability facility dedicated to Ambient
Intelligence. This HomeLab officially opened on 24 April 2002.
Along with the development of the vision at Philips, a number of parallel

initiatives started to explore ambient intelligence in more detail. In 2001, the concept of
Ambient Intelligence (AmI) was taken up by European Commission’s Information
Society Technologies Advisory Group (ISTAG). The term Ambient Intelligence is
defined by ISTAG as "the convergence of ubiquitous computing, ubiquitous
communication, and interfaces adapting to the user". Following the advice of the
ISTAG, the European Commission used the vision for the launch of their sixth
framework (FP5) in Information, Society and Technology (IST), with a subsidiary
budget of 3.7 billion euros. EU FP6: driving vision in a 3.7BEuro 5 year ICT (Information
and Communication Technologies) research programme (2002-2006). EU FP7 (9.1
BEuro for ICT): acknowledged (mainstreamed) but more focussed, systemic and
transformational (2007-2012)
The European Commission played a crucial role in the further development of

the AmI vision. As a result of many initiatives the AmI vision gained traction.
Fraunhofer Society started several activities in a variety of domains including
multimedia, microsystems design and augmented spaces. MIT started an AmI research
group at their Media Lab. Several more research projects started in a variety of countries
such as USA, Canada, Spain, France and the Netherlands. In 2004, the first European
symposium on AmI (EUSAI) was held.
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3. AMI: VISION, SEMANTICS, KEY CONCEPTS AND KEY

TECHNOLOGIES
3.1 Vision
Ambient Intelligence (AmI) will radically change how people interact with
technology. In AmI, people will be surrounded by a multitude of interconnected
embedded systems. These devices will be able to locate and recognize objects and people,
as well as people’s intentions.
The vision of AmI is characterized by two key features: intelligence and

embedding. The feature of “intelligence” refers to the fact that the digital environment
is able to analyze the context, adapt itself to the people and objects that reside in it,
learn from their behavior, and eventually recognize as well as express emotion. The
feature of “embedding” means that miniaturized devices will increasingly become part
of the invisible background of peoples’ activities, and that social interaction and
functionality will move to the foreground.
According to the AmI vision,” people will not just use technology: they will live with
it.”
Hence, AmI is :-
 vision for our environment
 ‘smart electronic environments that are sensitive and responsive to the

presence ofpeople’
 ‘Electronics embedded in every-day objects; natural interaction; context aware;

personalised; adaptive; responsive; pro-active.’
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3.2 Semantics
Ambient Intelligence refers to electronic environments that are sensitive and

responsive to the presence of people
The term ambient refers to the environment and reflects the need for typical
requirements such as distribution, ubiquity, and transparency.
 Distribution refers to noncentral systems control and computation.
 Ubiquity means the embedding is present everywhere.
 Transparency indicates that the surrounding systems are invisible and

unobtrusive.
The term Intelligence means the digital surroundings exhibit specific forms of
social interaction. In other words, an environment must recognize the people that live
in it, adapt itself to them, learn from their behavior, and possibly show emotion. In
short, the environment should be intelligent.
3.3 Key Concepts
AmI provides ‘Smarter’ living. ie. AmI is a technology for people. To refine the
notion of ambient intelligence, Marzano and Emile Aarts formulated the following five
key concepts of AmI:
 Embedded. Many networked devices are integrated into the environment.
 Context aware. The system can recognize you and your situational context.
 Personalized. The system can tailor itself to meet your needs.
 Adaptive. It can change in response to you.
 Anticipatory. The system anticipates your desires without conscious

mediation.
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The three other key elements of ambient intelligence concern the adjustment of
electronic systems in response to users. These system adjustments occur on different
time scales. Personalization refers to those occurring on a short time scale (for example,
installing personalized settings). Adaptation involves adjustments to changing user
behaviors detected by monitoring the user over longer periods of time. Ultimately, when
the system gets to know the user so well that it can detect behavioral patterns,
adjustments are possible over a verylong period of time.
3.4 Key Technologies
The benefit of an AmI system is measured by how much can give to people while
minimizing explicit interaction. The aim is to enrich specific places (a room, a building,
a car, a street) with computing facilities which can react to people’s needs and provide
assistance.
In order for AmI to become a reality a number of key technologies are required:
 Unobtrusive hardware (Miniaturisation, Nanotechnology, smart devices,

sensors etc.)
 Seamless mobile/fixed communication and computing infrastructure

(interoperability, wired and wireless networks, service-oriented
architecture, semantic web etc.)
 Dynamic and massively distributed device networks, which are easy to

control and program (e.g. service discovery, auto-configuration, end-user
programmable devices and systems etc.).
 Human-centric computer interfaces (intelligent agents, multimodal

interaction, context awareness etc.)
 Dependable and secure systems and devices (self-testing

and self repairing software, privacy ensuring technology etc.
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4. THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ASPECTS OF AMBIENT INTELLIGENCE
Ambient intelligence is more than just a question of embedding technology into

objects. It involves human culture in its broadest sense: universal desires; complex
social relationships; diverse value systems; individual likes and dislikes; the
sustainability of economic and natural ecosystems; and codes of ethics, conduct, and
communication, both in civil society and in business. This is also what makes ambient
intelligence markedly different from other concepts such as pervasive computing and
ubiquitous computing
In AmI, technology lives with the people, hence AmI has both social and political
influences. The current phase of AmI/pervasive computing, in which computers are
already being embedded in many devices, has begun to affect our everyday lives in
ways we do not even notice.
ISTAG identified a series of necessary characteristics that will permit the eventual
societal acceptance of AmI.
AmI should:
 facilitate human contact.
 be orientated towards community and cultural enhancement.
 help to build knowledge and skills for work, better quality of work, citizenship
and consumer choice.
 inspire trust and confidence.
 be consistent with long term sustainability - personal, societal and

environmental - and with life-long learning.
 be made easy to live with and controllable by ordinary people.
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5. RELATION BETWEEN AMI AND OTHER COMPUTER SCIENCE AREAS
FIG 1: Relation In Between AMI And Other Areas In Computing Science
Networks, Sensors, Human Computer Interfaces (HCI), Pervasive Ubiquitous

Computing and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are all relevant and interrelated but none of
them conceptually covers the full scope of AmI. Ambient Intelligence puts together all
these resources to provide flexible and intelligent services to users acting in their
environments.
Ambient intelligence involves the convergence of several computing areas. It is a

multi-disciplinary approach which aims to enhance the way environments and people
interact with each other. The ultimate goal of the area is to make the places we live and
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work in more beneficial to us.
First, a machine was shared by many highly trained programmers. Then it became
possible in many countries around the world that many people, not necessarily with
a high level of training, will have access to one PC in an individual basis. Now many
people can have access to several computing devices like a PC, a laptop and a PDA at
work plus a PC at home and various smaller processing units embedded in electro-
domestic appliances.
All seems to indicate this trend will continue. Slowly systems are being designed
in such a way that people do not need to be a computer specialist to benefit from
computing power. This technical possibility is being explored in an area called Ambient
Intelligence (AmI) where the idea of making computing available to people in a non-
intrusive way is at the core of its values. The benefit of an AmI system is measured by
how much can give to people whilst minimizing explicit interaction. The aim is to enrich
specific places (a room, a building, a car, a street) with computing facilities
FIG 2 : Centralized Computing To Ubiquitous Computing
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6. 5WS AND 3PS OF AMI
Of Importance for AmI are the “5Ws” (Who, Where, What, When and Why) principle
of design:
WHO: the identification of a user of the system and the role that user plays within the
systemin relation to other users. This can be extended to identifying important elements
like pets, robots and objects of interest within the environment.
WHERE: the tracking of the location where a user or an object is geographically

located at each moment during the system operation. This can demand a mix of
technologies, for example technology that may work well indoors may be useless
outdoors and vice-versa.
WHEN: the association of activities with time is required to build a realistic picture of
a system’s dynamic. For example, users, pets and robots living in a house will change
location often change location and knowing when those changes happened and for
how long theylasted are fundamental to the understanding of how an environment is
evolving.
WHAT: the recognition of activities and tasks users are performing is fundamental in
order to provide appropriate help if required. The multiplicity of possible scenarios that
can follow an action makes this very difficult. Spatial and temporal awareness help to
achieve task awareness.
WHY: the capability to infer and understand intentions and goals behind activities is
one ofthe hardest challenges in the area but a fundamental one which allows the system
to anticipate needs and serve users in a sensible way.
There seems to be a growing consensus that achieving sustainability requires a

good balance between three factors, sometimes referred to as the three P’s: people,
planet, and profit.
PEOPLE: Humans exploit everything around them to improve their lives and expand
their powers. They want to acquire everything with minimum effort and maximum
comfort.This desire, to have devices that amplify human powers without hindering or
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cluttering their lives is what drives the increasing miniaturization of devices. Many
devices have already made the transition from big static objects to small objects that
people can carry around on their bodies. Clocks are now wristwatches, and more recently
phones and audio systems have reached the stage of becoming worn on the body. This
instinct to find greater comfort,power,knowledge, and freedom has been the main driving
force behind technological innovation.
Ambient intelligence intends to improve the quality of people’s lives. Not
everything that’s possible with technology is actually desirable. Therefore, it’s crucial
that people make the right choices with ambient intelligence. This is only possible if
people agree on what quality of life and what sort of world they would like to see
develop.
PLANET: AmI has a great contribution to the planet. AmI provides better care for the
environment. Numerous novel ecological developments are possible by integrating smart
electronics into the environment. They aid in checking pollution and checking
uncontrolled dumping of waste products. There are also techniques for determining
energy wastage and reduce needless consumption.
PROFIT: Ambient Intelligence describes a new economy called “experience economy”.

It is positioned as the fourth major wave following the classic economies of commodity,
goods, and service. People are willing to spend money for getting better experience.
Recollection ofa personal event might just bring back that good old feeling.
Virtual worlds in an ambient-intelligent environment might support such events.

There are many other applications, such as ambient lighting, ambient sounds and poetic
interfaces which all could bring good feel to people. A salient property of an
experience is that it can feel real, whether it has been generated by a real or a virtual
cause; what counts is the belly feeling.
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7. ARCHITECTURE OF AMI SYSTEM
FIG 3: Flow Of Information And Architecture Of AMI System
Sensors bring data to the system. The data collected is transmitted by the network
and pre-processed by the middleware, which collates and harmonises data from
different devices. In order to make decision-making easier and more beneficial to the
occupants of the environment the system will have a higher level layer of reasoning which
will accomplish diagnosis and advise or assist humans with responsibility for
intervention.
Elements that may be included in the high level ‘Decision Making’ process are a
‘Knowledge Repository’ where the events are collected and an ‘AI Reasoner’ which
will apply for example spatio-temporal reasoning to take decisions. For example, a
decision could be to perform some action in the environment and this is enabled via
‘Actuators’. Knowledge discovery and machine learning techniques learn from the
acquired information in order to update the AI Reasoner in the light of experience of
the system.
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8. COMPONENTS OF AMI SYSTEM

AmI system is comprised of three main components: ubiquitous computing,
ubiquitous communication, and user adaptive interfaces.
Ubiquitous computing means any computing device, while moving with you,
can build incrementally dynamic models of its various environments and configure its
services accordingly. The devices will be able to either "remember" past environments
they operated in, or proactively build up services in new environments. Ubiquitous
computing" refers to omnipresent computers that serve people in their everyday lives at
home and at work, functioning invisibly and unobtrusively in the background and freeing
people to a large extent from tedious routine tasks. This includes pen-based technology,
hand-held or portable devices, large-scale interactive screens, wireless networking
infrastructure, and voice or vision technology.
Ubiquitous communication: Ubiquitous computing is the introduction and
expansion of wireless network technology, which enables flexible communication
between interlinked devices that can be stationed in various locations or can even be
portable.
Wireless LAN (W-LAN) applications per standard IEEE 802.11b offer high-speed
transfer rates of 11 Mbit/s and can be extended over entire office buildings and
productionareas by using several access points. While W-LAN is considerably cheaper
than a traditional stationary LAN, it is often still too costly to be included in small
individual devices
Bluetooth technology is used in today's handheld applications like cellular phones

or personal digital assistants (PDAs) per standard IEEE 802.15 to allow wireless
connection within a personal area network (W-PAN). While the cost of Bluetooth
equipment is significantly lower than the cost of W-LAN, the transmission range of up
to 10 meters and the data transfer rate of less than 720 Kbit/s are inferior. New Bluetooth
versions are currently under development that attempt to eliminate the latter drawback.
V1.2 allows rates of up to 3 Mbit/s, V2.0 of up to 12 Mbit/s
High rate W-PANs per standard IEEE 802.15 TG3, launched in 2003, use higher
power devices (8 dBm) than regular Bluetooth equipment (0 dBm) to transmit data at
a rate of up to 55 Mbit/s and over a range of up to 55 m. This technology is, therefore,
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an attractive alternative to W-LAN, especially considering the comparatively lower cost.
Low power W-PANs per standard IEEE 802.15 TG4 are particularly useful for
handheld devices since energy consumption for data transmission purposes, and costs,
are extremely low. The range of operation of up to 75 m is higher than current
Bluetooth applications, but the data transfer rate of 250 Kbit/s is lower.
Wireless body area networks (BANs) interlink various wearable devices, such as
wireless data glasses, earpieces, microphones, and sensors, and can connect them to
outside networks. BANs are often used for medical applications but also in work-related
fields, for example, to provide production operators with instructions that are adapted to
the respective work situation. BANs usually consist of a central network unit, which
connects the devices and which can provide an interface to further networks outside the
BAN, for example, via Bluetooth. Advantages of BANs versus W-PANs are the short
range and the resulting lower risk of tapping and interference, as well as low frequency
operation, which leads to lower system complexity. Technologies used for wireless
BANs include magnetic, capacitive, low- power far-field and infrared connections, while
non-wireless BANs use wires or conductive fabrics.
Radio frequency identification (RFID) encompasses wireless identification through

radio transmission. RFID systems comprise a read/write station and active (with own
power source) or passive (power supplied by the read/write station) transponders
(transmitter / responder), and can be used in a variety of applications. Traditional
examples include protection against theft, access control, and billing. The range of
possible applications is much greater: RFID systems can be used for material tracking
in manufacturing and logistics, for cash register applications in stores as an alternative to
barcode scanning, or for localizing items or persons.
Network administration is facilitated by minimizing the effort required for setting

up networks. The introduction of mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) is an important step
in this direction. A MANET uses the wireless technologies described in the list above but
is more flexible than conventional networks, since the routers are included in the mobile
nodes instead of being fixed and have the ability to configure themselves. This provides
the network with great flexibility due to its ability to adapt automatically to a changing
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network environment.
User adaptive interfaces

User adaptive interfaces, the third integral part of AmI, are also referred to as
"Intelligent social user interfaces" (ISUIs). These interfaces go beyond the traditional
keyboard and mouse to improve human interaction with technology by making it more
intuitive, efficient, and secure. They allow the computer to know and sense far more about
a person, the situation the person is in, the environment, and related objects than
traditional interfaces can.
ISUIs encompass interfaces that create a perceptive computer environment rather

thanone that relies solely on active and comprehensive user input. ISUIs can be grouped
into five categories:
 Visual recognition (e.g. face, 3D gesture, and location) and output
 Sound recognition (e.g. speech, melody) and output
 Scent recognition and output
 Tactile recognition and output
 Other sensor technologies
The key to an ISUI is the ease of use, in this case the ability to personalize
and adapt automatically to particular user behavior patterns (profiling) and different
situations (context awareness) by means of intelligent algorithms. In many cases,
different ISUIs, suchas voice recognition and touch screen, are combined to form multi-
modal interfaces. ISUIs make network usage more secure as the interfaces can identify
users automatically by, for example, face or voice recognition instead of requesting a
password.
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9. AMI SYSTEM – PLANNING

9.1 Features of AmI Systems
AmI system is composed of numerous agents. Agents are smart devices, which
are fixed or mobile devices. Agents form part of AmI system either permanently or
temporarily. For example a person comes with a mobile phone into a room equipped
with AmI system. The cell phone, when properly connected to the network of other
devices, is temporarily part of the system. After the person leaves the room is
disconnected.
 Features of AmI system are:-

• Feature 1: Some agents could take no responsibility in building the plan because of
their limitations in processing and communication. This pushes toward the
centralized planning process.
• Feature 2: The skills to perceive the environment and to perform the actions are
distributed over the agents. This pulls toward the distributed planning process.
9.2 Why Planning Needed For Ami Applications?
The development of ambient intelligence (AmI) applications that effectively

adapt to the needs of the users and environments requires the presence of planning
mechanisms for goal-oriented behavior. An AmI system that plans is able to find a course
of action that, when executed, achieves a desired effect. The planning system builds plans
according to the capabilities of available devices that perform actions to satisfy the user’s
need.
A planning system for AmI applications proposed by Francesco Amigoni,
Associate Member, IEEE and Nicola Gatti, Member, IEEE, is based on the hierarchical
task network (HTN) approach and it is called distributed hierarchical task network (D-
HTN). D-HTN planner can support both the features of AmI systems; i.e centralized as
well as distributed features.
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9.3 Planning And D-HTN Planner
A planning algorithm has three inputs:
– a description of the world,
– a description of the goal, and
– a description of the capabilities in form of possible actions that can be

performed.
The planning algorithm’s output is a sequence of actions such that, when they are
executed in a domain satisfying the initial state description, the goal will be achieved.
AmI system need a centralized planner that manages distributed capabilities.A
distributed HTN approach appears appropriate for AmI applications because it naturally
supports heterogeneous agents and knowledge exchange among them.
D-H TN planners are based on the concept of task network that is
represented as [(n1: 1 ),(n2: 2 ),……(nm: m), ]

where
 i are tasks, either primitive (that can be directly executed by an agent) or
nonprimitive (that must be further decomposed);
 ni are labels to distinguish different occurrences of the same task;
 is a Boolean formula representing the constraints on the tasks, such as variable

bindings constraints [e.g.,v=v’], ordering constraints [e.g., (n<n’), with the
meaning that n must be executed before n’], and state constraints [e.g.,(n,l,n’) ,
with the meaning that l must be true immediately after n, immediately before n’,
and in all states between n and n’ ].
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A task network can be represented by a graph. For example, the task network:
FIG 4: Task Network Graph Represetation
The intended meaning of this graph is that, in order to request a good g1 by e-

mail, we first have to create the RequestText t1 and look for the EmailAddress a1 of a
supplier of g1, and then we have to SendEmail with content t1 to a1.
Functions of Agents and Planner in D-HTN planner:-
• AGENT:
– Each agent keeps a local data structure called plan library, which stores all
the decompositions it knows.
– The decompositions in the plan library of an agent have been defined by

the designer during the installation of the agent and are peculiar for each
agent
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• PLANNER:
– generate a plan, the other agents are only requested to communicate

decompositions .
By means of a communication mechanism based on message passing,
– The planner can ask the currently connected agents to send their available
decompositions for a given task
– The agents can send to the planner the requested decompositions.
D-H TN planning starts with an initial task network D representing the problem
(the goal) and with a set M of methods or decompositions. Each decomposition is a pair
m=(t,d),where t is a non-primitive task and d is a task network; m says that a way to
achieve is to perform the tasks in . Then, D-HTN planning proceeds by finding a non-
primitive task from the current task network D and a method m=(t’,d’), in M such that t’
unifies with t and by replacing t with d’ in D. When only primitive tasks are left in
D, a plan for the originalproblem can be found. A plan is a sequence of ground primitive
tasks .This pure HTN planning process can be refined to make it more efficient by
introducing backtracking, critic functions, and other technicalities.
Each decomposition has associated three numerical indexes that are associated to:-
– Performance -measures the expected effectiveness of the decomposition

– Cost- measures the expected resource consumption for performing the
tasks inthe decomposition
– probability of success - measures the expected likeliness that no error occurs
9.4 D-HTN Algorithms

D-H TN is composed of a set of distributed algorithms that are executed
concurrentlyby the planner and by the agents. Algorithm 1 presents an overview of the
D-HTN algorithm executed by the planning agent. The main data structure to represent
the plan that is being formed is a task network D. D is initialized with the initial task to
be solved (i.e., the goal to be reached). The D-HTN planner produces a final plan D
composed only of primitive tasks that can be executed by the agents. M(t) denotes the
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decomposition set.
Algorithm 1 D-HTN algorithm for the planner
1: D = initial task
2: while D contains nonprimitive tasks do
a) choose a nonprimitive task t from D
b) populate M(t), by requesting the currently connected agents to
send the decompositions m = (t’, d’) such that t’ unifies with t and
by collecting these decompositions
c) choose a decomposition m = (t’,d’) from M(t)

d) if t is primitive for the agent a proposing m then
bind a to t and remove t from the nonprimitive tasks
e) end if
f) replace t with d’ in D
3:end while
Algorithm 2 D-HTN algorithm for the agents
1: while the agent is active do
a) wait for a message from the planner

b) if the message is a request of decompositions for a nonprimitive task t
then
send to the planner the decompositions m = (t’, d’) in the

plan library such that t’ unifies with t
c) end if
2: end while
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9.5 Application Scenario

Consider a diabetic patient equipped with on-body monitoring devices
who is in a room equipped with AmI devices. In the diabetes case, the patient
seldom becomes suddenly ill because the monitoring devices can usually detect
potential alarming situations some time before they appear. AmI system is show
in fig 5.
FIG 5: Architecture Of AMI System
The agent that simulates the monitoring devices on the diabetic patient is called goal
generator agent because in our application scenario it is the source of goals that the
planning system attempts to achieve. The goal generator agent stands for any device or
user that can generate a goal for the AmI system. The goal generator agent provides the
input to our planner in terms of high-level goals to be reached. The agents that populate
the room in our scenario are conceptually organized in three main classes: communication
agents, repository agents, and interactive agents.
The communication agents include the SMS agent, the email agent, the fax agent,
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and the phone agent for sending and receiving SMS, e-mails, faxes, and phone calls,
respectively. The repository agents are the address book agent, a database of contacts,
and the medical store agent, a database of medicines currently present in the environment.
The interactive agents provide the sensors and the actuators to interact with the
environment; they include the thermometer agent, a temperature sensor, and the heating
agent that can change the temperature in the environment. All these agents (the goal
generator agent and those equipping the room) are supervised and coordinated by the
environmental majordomo agent.
The agents represent devices that are physically and permanently part of the room
(e.g., the heating agent) and the agents that represent mobile devices that are transiently
part of the room (e.g., the phone agent could be a cell phone carried by a person walking
through the room).
Some of the decompositions initially included in the plan libraries of some of the
agents composing the AmI system for the application scenario are listed in Fig 6.
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FIG 6: Application Scenario Of AMI System

Example :-
Consider a planner in solving the goal CheckAndRequest (Insulin) that is

intended to check the presence of insulin in the medical store and, if no insulin is
left, to make a request to pharmacies to provide insulin. The environmental majordomo
asks the agents currently connected to the AmI system to send their available
decompositions.
The only decomposition for CheckAndRequest is provided by the environmental

majordomo itself and introduces two nonprimitive tasks, IsThere(Insulin) and
Request(Insulin).
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The two tasks are connected by a selection statement: if the output of the
execution of the task IsThere (Insulin) (that checks if some insulin is left in the room) is
False then the task Request (Insulin) (that requests to supply insulin) is executed. The
planning process picks up the nonprimitive task IsThere (Insulin). This task can be
decomposed only by a primitive task of the medical store agent.
Then, the nonprimitive task Request (Insulin) is considered. The SMS, e-

mail, fax, and phone agents propose their decompositions for the task in order to contact
the pharmacies by different communication means. Since the performance index value
of the decomposition proposed by the SMS agent is the highest, this is selected.
It is composed of nonprimitive tasks SearchCellNumber(Insulin,c1), SendSMS(t1,.c1)
and CreateRequestText(Insulin,t1)
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The selected decomposition constraints the tasks CreateRequestText(Insulin,t1)

and SearchCellNumber(Insulin,c1) to be executed before SendSMS(t1,.c1). The first
task createsthe text containing t1 the request to supply insulin. The second task finds the
mobile phone numbers of the pharmacies. The SendSMS task sends out the requests.
The planning process continues and the new inserted nonprimitive tasks are
decomposed in primitive tasks performed by the goal generator, the address book
agent, and the SMS agent.
The planning process picks up the nonprimitive task

CreateRequestText(Insulin,t 1).This task can be decomposed only by a primitive task of
the goal generator agent. Next nonprmitive task SearchCellNumber(Insulin,c1) can be
decomposed only by a primitive task of the address book agent. . Next nonprmitive task
SendSMS(t1,c1) can be decomposed only by a primitive task of the SMS agent.
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The plan is now complete and ready to be executed. The execution of the plan is
supervised by the environmental majordomo that requests the agents to perform the
primitive
tasks they proposed. During the execution, first the medical store is checked for insulin;
if it is found its counter is decremented by 1 and the plan execution ends since the task
IsThere (Insulin) returns True; otherwise, the execution continues by activating the other
agents.
25
10. APPLICATION AREAS
Ambient Intelligence possesses applications in many areas. Some of them are listed below:-
• Health-related applications. Hospitals can increase the efficiency of their services by

monitoring patients’ health and progress by performing automatic analysis of activities
intheir rooms. They can also increase safety by, for example, only allowing authorized
personnel and patients to have access to specific areas and devices.
• Public transportation sector. Public transport can benefit from extra technology
including satellite services, GPS-based spatial location, vehicle identification, image
processing and other technologies to make transport more fluent and hence more
efficient and safe.
• Education services. Education-related institutions may use technology to track students

progression on their tasks, frequency of attendance to specific places and health related
issues like advising on their diet regarding their habits and the class of intakes they opted
for.
• Emergency services. Safety-related services like fire brigades can improve the reaction
to a hazard by locating the place more efficiently and also by preparing the way to reach
the place in connection with street services. The prison service can also quickly locate a
place where a hazard is occurring or is likely to occur and prepare better access to it for
security personnel.
• Production-oriented places. Production-centred places like factories can self-organize

according to the production/demand ratio of the goods produced. This will demand
careful correlation between the collection of data through sensors within the different
sections of the production line and the pool of demands via a diagnostic system which
can advice the people in charge of the system at a decision-making level
26
11. CHALLENGES
FIG 7: User Centred ,Participative, Ambient Intelligence
The fast penetration of wireless communications has put into evidence the user’s
need to get easily connected anywhere and anytime at an affordable price. On the one
hand, wireless communications clearly proved that the most a technology provides simple
access means, added to freedom of movement and increased security, the most the user
is willing to accept it.
On the other hand, the most a technology is complex and costly, the less the user
is prone to accept it, in spite of possibly large potential advantages, which are generally
not reachable by the average user not interested in spending time and energies in
acquiring the underlying technology fundamentals. As a consequence, the successful
systems of the future will adhere to the paradigm of ”disappearing technologies”, both
valid for communications and computing, and will provide improved ease-of use at the
expense of an increased, but invisible to the user, complexity of the underlying systems
and networks necessary to transport and process the information in the different
multimedia forms and usage contexts.
27
Ambient Intelligence faces a lot of challenges. Among these are the social
implications of AmI environments, the different potentials of AmI to enrich our lives,
aspects of privacy and trust, characteristics of different AmI interactions, how much
intelligence people are willing to accept, the different dimensions of the term ambient,
the design of future interaction spaces and intelligent artifacts, factors of user experience
for implicit interaction, existing and emerging AmI application areas and scenarios, the
connection of AmI concepts to physical spaces where it happens etc.
• Challenges in Interaction technology
 Develop ambient interaction concepts that are truly intelligent,simple, and

intuitive.
 Integrate multi-modality with context awareness and intuitive feedback

mechanisms.
 Integrate smart media access into surroundings (audio, video, and light).
 Develop interaction concepts for novel AmI technologies

(photonictextiles, e- paper, polymer lighting, and uld’s)
• Challenges in Innovation
 Build an eco-system that uses co-creation as a model for open innovation.
 Involve multiple parties in the user centered design cycle at large.
 Concentrate on well-defined business domains (i.e., hospitality, fashion,

furniture, well-being, city beautification).
 Develop new business models for AmI innovation
28
• Challenges in Involvement
 Reach out to ordinary people so as to let them participate in the AmI effort.
 Involve ordinary people in the user centered design cycle at large.
 Let people experience the AmI future and live in it yourselves.
 Make AmI part of education.
29
12. CONCLUSION
Ambient Intelligence (AmI) is growing fast as a multi-disciplinary topic of

interest which can allow many areas of research to have a significant beneficial
influence into our society. AmI is a vision on the future of consumer electronics,
telecommunications and computing for the time frame 2010–2020.
Ambient Intelligence envisions a world where people are surrounded by

intelligent and intuitive interfaces embedded in the everyday objects & physical
environments around them. These interfaces recognize and respond to the presence
and behaviors of an individualin a personalized and relevant way.
The new paradigm of ambient intelligence can bring about a revolution in the
design, appearance, and use of electronics in ordinary life. It could support and
facilitate simple and recurrent tasks, but it could also lead to a culture very different
from today’s. This new culture could develop through the expansion of the use media
into a world in which physical and virtual experiences merge to support personal
expression, business productivity, and personal lifestyles
Technology will not be the limiting factor in realizing ambient intelligence.

The ingredients to let the computer disappear are already available, but the true
success of the paradigm will depend on the ability to develop concepts that allow
natural interaction with digital environments.
30
13. REFERENCES
[1] Francesco Amigoni, Associate Member, IEEE, Nicola Gatti, Member, IEEE, Carlo
Pinciroli, and Manuel Roveri, “What Planner for Ambient Intelligence
Applications?” ,IEEE Transactions On Systems, Man, And Cybernetics—Part A:
Systems And Humans , Vol. 35, No. 1, January 2005
[2] Emile Aarts, Philips Research, “Ambient Intelligence: A Multimedia Perspective”,
Published by the IEEE Computer Society, January–March 2004
[3] Carlos Ramos, Polytechnic of Porto • Juan Carlos Augusto, University of Ulster
Daniel Shapiro, Institute for the Study of Learning and Expertise, “Ambient
Intelligence—the Next Step for Artificial Intelligence”, Published by the IEEE
Computer Society, March/April 2008.
[4] Philips Research technology magazine , Password: Issue 23 • May 2005
[5] Juan Carlos Augusto and Paul McCullagh School of Computer Science and
Mathematics University of Ulster at Jordanstown BT37 0QB United Kingdom,
“Ambient Intelligence: Concepts and Applications ”
[6] Nigel Shadbolt ,University of Southampton, “Ambient Intelligence”, Published by

the IEEE Computer Society, July/August 2003
31

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DEPT OF COMPUTER ENGG.

An important aspect of AmI has to do with interaction. On one side there is a

In 1998, the board of management of Philips commissioned a series of

Along with the development of the vision at Philips, a number of parallel

The European Commission played a crucial role in the further development of

3. AMI: VISION, SEMANTICS, KEY CONCEPTS AND KEY

The vision of AmI is characterized by two key features: intelligence and

 vision for our environment

 ‘smart electronic environments that are sensitive and responsive to the

 ‘Electronics embedded in every-day objects; natural interaction; context aware;

Ambient Intelligence refers to electronic environments that are sensitive and

 Distribution refers to noncentral systems control and computation.

 Ubiquity means the embedding is present everywhere.

 Transparency indicates that the surrounding systems are invisible and

3.3 Key Concepts

 Embedded. Many networked devices are integrated into the environment.

 Personalized. The system can tailor itself to meet your needs.

 Adaptive. It can change in response to you.

 Anticipatory. The system anticipates your desires without conscious

3.4 Key Technologies

 Unobtrusive hardware (Miniaturisation, Nanotechnology, smart devices,

 Seamless mobile/fixed communication and computing infrastructure

 Dynamic and massively distributed device networks, which are easy to

 Human-centric computer interfaces (intelligent agents, multimodal

 Dependable and secure systems and devices (self-testing

4. THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ASPECTS OF AMBIENT INTELLIGENCE

Ambient intelligence is more than just a question of embedding technology into

 facilitate human contact.

 be orientated towards community and cultural enhancement.

 inspire trust and confidence.

 be consistent with long term sustainability - personal, societal and

 be made easy to live with and controllable by ordinary people.

5. RELATION BETWEEN AMI AND OTHER COMPUTER SCIENCE AREAS

FIG 1: Relation In Between AMI And Other Areas In Computing Science

Networks, Sensors, Human Computer Interfaces (HCI), Pervasive Ubiquitous

Ambient intelligence involves the convergence of several computing areas. It is a

work in more beneficial to us.

FIG 2 : Centralized Computing To Ubiquitous Computing

6. 5WS AND 3PS OF AMI

WHERE: the tracking of the location where a user or an object is geographically

There seems to be a growing consensus that achieving sustainability requires a

PROFIT: Ambient Intelligence describes a new economy called “experience economy”.

Virtual worlds in an ambient-intelligent environment might support such events.

7. ARCHITECTURE OF AMI SYSTEM

FIG 3: Flow Of Information And Architecture Of AMI System

8. COMPONENTS OF AMI SYSTEM

Bluetooth technology is used in today's handheld applications like cellular phones

an attractive alternative to W-LAN, especially considering the comparatively lower cost.

Radio frequency identification (RFID) encompasses wireless identification through

Network administration is facilitated by minimizing the effort required for setting

User adaptive interfaces

ISUIs encompass interfaces that create a perceptive computer environment rather

 Visual recognition (e.g. face, 3D gesture, and location) and output

 Sound recognition (e.g. speech, melody) and output

 Scent recognition and output

 Tactile recognition and output

 Other sensor technologies

9. AMI SYSTEM – PLANNING

 Features of AmI system are:-

9.2 Why Planning Needed For Ami Applications?

The development of ambient intelligence (AmI) applications that effectively

9.3 Planning And D-HTN Planner

A planning algorithm has three inputs:

– a description of the world,