Call for Papers
---------------

6th International Workshop on Middleware for Pervasive and Ad-Hoc
Computing (MPAC2008)

http://www.smartlab.cis.strath.ac.uk/MPAC/

A Workshop of Middleware 2008
Leuven, Belgium
December 1st - 5th, 2008


Problem Space

Building on the success of the 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007
workshops, this workshop seeks to develop a roadmap for research on the
essential middleware abstractions and infrastructures for ad-hoc and
pervasive computing in general, and sensor-based services in particular.

Over the past decade, large-scale ad-hoc and pervasive computing
environments have grabbed the attention of the research community as
evidenced by the large number of research and development projects in
the area. However, despite considerable progress, the promise of
pervasive computing still remains elusive. The diversity in currently
available devices, networking infrastructure and information content has
complicated research efforts, forcing many projects to focus only on
point-examples of this technology.

This workshop is premised on our belief that underpinning middleware
mechanisms are central in weaving together the multitude of computing,
communication and information technologies. In this respect, middleware
for pervasive computing and ad-hoc networking provides two core research
areas. In particular, pervasive computing middleware will allow you to
take advantage of the resources in your environment to tailor your
services and applications for seamless access and unrestricted mobility.
Ad-hoc networking middleware will permit the formation of ad-hoc
communities for new applications. However, such pervasive and ad-hoc
environments pose some serious challenges to existing middleware
technologies and approaches.

A synthesis of the discussion that took place in previous MPAC workshops
has led to the identification of the following general themes of
interest for the workshop. This list is by no means exhaustive.

1. Cross-device experiences

- Support for zero configuration;
- Resource/service discovery, management, and composition;
- Implications of heterogeneity (addressing needs for protocol
interaction across technologies);
- Technology trade-offs (agent infrastructures, mobile code systems,
event based middleware);
- Virtualisation technologies and applications, especially for task
migration;

2. Security and Privacy

- Trust, security, and privacy for pervasive and ad-hoc systems;
- Privacy preservation and identity management for device-to-device
interactions;
- Roles and responsibilities in ad-hoc communities;
- Security architectures balancing risk and utility;

3. Mobile Web

- Web architectures (REST, Ajax) in ad-hoc computing and pervasive
computing;
- Context adaptation and management in pervasive computing;
- Mobile web scalability and reliability in access;

4. Emerging Wireless Technologies and Platforms

- Experiences or case studies with new technologies (WiMax, WiBree, LTE,
etc.) and devices (e.g. MID, UMPC, wearables, etc);
- Use of emerging mobile platforms (e.g. Android) as enabler for
pervasive computing;

5. Vertical Application Domains

- Middleware infrastructures supporting novel applications of pervasive
and ad-hoc computing (e.g. advertising, health care, gaming, mobile TV,
smart spaces, device ensembles, etc.);

6. Autonomics

- Service-connection middleware and architectures;
- Middleware for self-assembly, self-configuration, self-distribution
and autonomic computing in general;
- Reliability and availability in pervasive and ad-hoc systems;
- Ad-hoc network communications, quality of service, management and
middleware support;

7. Supporting context-awareness and user interaction and experiences

- Theoretical foundations and middleware support for context based
adaptation for mobile pervasive systems;
- New notations for specifying context-sensitive systems;
- Ad-hoc communities: applications, infrastructure and middleware  
support;
- Group management and communication support for ad-hoc communities;
- Tangible computing (surface computing, RFID / NFC, 2D and 3D  
barcodes).


Submission

The workshop format will be focused around submission of position papers
of no more than 6 pages. Please submit your papers in PDF, using the ACM
proceeding format (see
http://www.acm.org/sigs/pubs/proceed/template.html), to the web site
http://www.cis.strath.ac.uk/external/mpac2008/openconf/.

Papers are solicited that present a view of the state of the art in a
particular sub-problem area, identify specific middleware challenges,
and suggest potential avenues for exploration by proposing models,
abstractions and infrastructure components addressing these challenges.
Approximately two thirds of the workshop will be devoted to the
presentation and discussion of these papers, while the remaining third
of the time will be devoted to the development of the research roadmap.

Papers will be reviewed by at least 2 members of the program committee.
The review process will be based upon identifying the relevance and
potential of the position statement to contribute to the elaboration of
the roadmap and to stimulate discussion.

All accepted papers will appear in a special workshop proceedings volume
in the ACM Digital Library as well as in a CD companion proceedings
issued to the workshop participants.

Appropriate publication of revised versions of the best workshop
submissions and the research roadmap along similar lines to the special
issue on middleware and systems software for pervasive computing of the
Journal of Personal and Ubiquitous Computing and IEEE Distributed
Systems Online is being investigated.


Important Dates

Workshop paper submission: August 1st, 2008
Workshop paper notification acceptance: September 15th, 2008
Workshop paper camera-ready: October 8th, 2008
Workshop date: December 2nd, 2008


Program Committee

Christian Becker, University of Mannheim, DE
Dan Chalmers, University of Sussex, UK
Paolo Costa, Vrije Universiteit, NL
Didier Donsez, Universite Joseph Fourier, Grenoble I, FR
Markus Endler, PUC-Rio, BR
Nikolaos Georgantas, INRIA, FR
Spyros Lalis, University of Thessaly, GR
Rene Meier, Trinity College Dubline, IE
Mirco Musolesi, Dartmouth College, US
Nitya Narasimhan, Motorola Labs, US
Steve Neely, University College Dublin, IE
Jon Robinson, University of Sussex, UK
John Soldatos, AIT, GR
Sotirios Terzis, University of Strathclyde, UK [chair]
Jean-Yves Tigli, Universite de Nice Sophia Antipolis, FR
Lin Zhong, Rice University, US

If you have any question then contact either
Sotirios.Terzis<at>cis.strath.ac.uk
(replace <at> with @).

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