Title: THE ESSENCE OF AMI

The essence of AmI

AmI itself will not be the outcome of any single technology or application; rather it is an ‘emergent’ property. Essentially, AmI is more than just the sum of its parts. Ubiquitous Computing, a key aspect of AmI, is the next wave of technology, a paradigm shift from our current relationship with technology, whereby many thousands of wireless computing devices are distributed in the environment in everyday objects around us. Ubiquitous Communication will allow robust, ad-hoc networks to be formed by this broad range of mobile and static devices, forming a ubiquitous system of large-scale distributed networks of interconnected computing devices. By adding intelligent user interfaces and integrating sensing devices, it is possible to identify and model user activities, preferences and behaviours, and create individualised profiles. These key aspects are all required to achieve the ideal AmI Environment.

As mentioned previously, the aim of the AmI environment is to provide a context aware system, using unobtrusive computing devices that will improve the quality of people’s lives by acknowledging their needs, requirements and preferences and thus acting in some way on their behalf. To achieve this, the ‘intelligent’ environment, or rather an intelligent agent within the environment needs to build up a profile of each individual, and be able subsequently to link the profile with the correct individual. In essence, the environment itself has become the interface to the distributed, seamless and invisible AmI. In a world where computing is truly ubiquitous, the environment will monitor direct interaction of people with objects and profiles will seamlessly follow the individual to whom it is linked.