Context Aware Systems in Well-Being. From user needs to software architecture

Abstract

Mobile devices and sensors can be used in context-aware (CA) systems by gathering information from the sensors and the user's actions the system provides certain feedback. In this project we study the well-being domain defined in a context-aware system using Causal Loop Diagrams (CLD). When the user performs an activity the system collects information from mobile sensors and external agents, and with this information a feedback is provided to the user aiming to improve his well-being. Analysing the application Activity Coach helped identifying a transformation gap from the general well-being model to the application model. The solution proposed to prune the general model diagram following a bottom-up, a top-down or a combination of both approaches. For transforming the CLD application model we would use UML, but, how could the transformations be done? How much information does the application model need for correct developing? Would it be possible to produce a general model?. To answer the questions, this work proposed generating three different models, context structure, UML class and UML activity diagram, to represent context, implementation and behavior. After the study on previous works it was considered whether an existent CA framework could gave a better solution. If ConText Toolkit was used, the model obtained would be too strict for the development phase and its composition would mean a shorter battery life in the mobile devices. The evaluation of the solution approach showed that a choice should be made. Either using strict models, or open models for the transformations. For the developers, open models would require large assumptions and less information in the UML models, while strict models fewer assumptions and more information.