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Call for Papers
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4th International Workshop on Middleware for Pervasive and Ad-Hoc Computing

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

A Workshop of Middleware 2006
Melbourne, Australia
November 27th - December 1st, 2006

Problem Space

Building on the success of the 2003, 2004 and 2005 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 sensing,
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 the MPAC 2003, 2004 and
2005 workshops has led to the identification of the following topics of
interest for the workshop, this list is by no means exhaustive:

* Sensor networks: applications, infrastructure, middleware support and
emerging standards (OMG DDS, IEEE/NIST 1451.x, OSGi WireAdmin, JSR256 &
257 …);
* Calculi for sensor data, and middleware support for their processing
and distribution;
* Sensor data mining;
* Component-based and service-oriented architectures, and design
patterns for sensor based services;
* Theoretical foundations and middleware support for context based
adaptation for mobile pervasive systems, and sensor-based services;
* New notations for specifying context-sensitive systems;
* Ad-hoc communities: applications, infrastructure and middleware support;
* Roles and responsibilities in ad-hoc communities;
* Group management and communication support for ad-hoc communities;
* Ad-hoc network communications, quality of service, management and
middleware support;
* Service-connection middleware and architectures;
* Support for zero configuration;
* Middleware for self-assembly, self-configuration, self-distribution
and autonomic computing in general;
* Data management infrastructures for ad hoc and pervasive systems;
* Trust, security, and privacy for pervasive systems and sensor based
services;
* Reliability and availability in pervasive systems and sensor based
services;
* Technology trade-offs (agent infrastructures, mobile code systems,
event based middleware);
* Resource discovery and management;
* Implications of heterogeneity (addressing needs for protocol
interaction across technologies).

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/mpac2006/openconf/openconf.php.

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 programme
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 the ACM Digital Library as well as in
a CD companion proceedings issued to the workshop participants.

Appropriate publication of extended 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 and IEEE Distributed Systems Online
is being investigated.

Important Dates

Workshop papers submission: August 25th, 2006
Workshop paper notification of acceptance: September 15th, 2006
Workshop papers camera-ready: October 6th, 2006
Workshop date: November 28th, 2006

Programme Committee

Christian Becker, University of Stuttgart, DE
Vinny Cahill, Trinity College Dublin, IE
Roy Campbell, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, US
Dan Chalmers, University of Sussex, UK
Domenico Cotroneo, University of Naples, IT
Joelle Coutaz, Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble I, FR
Simon Dobson, University College Dublin, IE
Didier Donsez, Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble I, FR
Markus Endler, PUC-Rio, BR
Jason Flinn, University of Michigan, US
Karen Henricksen, National ICT Australia (NICTA), Australia
Markus Huebscher, Imperial College London, UK
Valerie Issarny, INRIA, FR
Marc-Olivier Killijian, LAAS-CNRS, FR
Spyros Lalis, University of Thessaly, GR
Paul Marrow, BT Pervasive ICT Centre, UK
Cecilia Mascolo, University College London, UK
Nitya Narasimhan, Motorola Labs, US
Paddy Nixon, University College Dublin, IE
Vincent Olive, France Telecom RD, FR
Trevor Pering, Intel Research, US
Sotirios Terzis, University of Strathclyde, UK [chair]
Jean-Yves Tigli, Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, FR
Venu Vasudevan, Motorola Labs, US
Ian Wakeman, University of Sussex, UK
Alexander Wolf, University of Lugano, CH

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

  Sotirios Terzis

  Lecturer
  Department of Computer and Information Sciences
  University of Strathclyde

      mail: Computer and Information Sciences Dept.
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  web page: http://www.cis.strath.ac.uk/~terzis