Charter
             Grid Support for Ubiquitous Computing Research Group
                                Global Grid Forum

Research Group
Name:               Grid Support for Ubiquitous Computing Research Group
                    (ubicomp-rg)
Co-Chairs:          Nigel Davies (nigel@cs.arizona.edu),
                    University of Arizona, Lancaster University
                    Adrian Friday (adrian@comp.lancs.ac.uk),
                    Lancaster University
                    Oliver Storz (oliver@comp.lancs.ac.uk),
                    Lancaster University
Area Director:      Unknown
Mailing List:       (ubicomp-rg@gridforum.org)
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Description of research group:

        In contrast to many scientific disciplines that are embracing the
        vision of a uniform global distributed infrastructure to support
        their activities, the field of ubiquitous computing is currently
        characterized by an extremely diverse set of infrastructure
        platforms. Such heterogeneity makes conducting large-scale
        wide-area experiments impossible. Moreover, this heterogeneity
        makes the basic vision of ubiquitous computing difficult to realize
        since interworking between components at different sites is not
        possible. It our belief that Grid technologies will make an ideal
        starting point for the development of future infrastructure support
        for ubiquitous computing, facilitating the deployment of ubiquitous
        computing technologies and helping to accelerate progress towards
        Weiser's vision. The group will focus on the use of Grid
        technologies both as a means to interconnect existing and emerging
        ubiquitous computing environments and as a core underlying
        technology for creating new ubiquitous computing systems.

Goals:

        The goal of this research group is to investigate the use of Grid
        technologies to support experiments in, and development and
        deployment of, ubiquitous computing systems. The group will produce 
        a series of GGF documents that focus on the use of individual Grid 
        technologies in this new domain. Where applicable these 
        recommendations could form the basis of future GGF working groups in
        specific areas. A specific goal of the group will be to encourage 
        participation from both Grid and Ubicomp researchers.

Milestones:


        M1:
        

          a) Identification of key application domains for Grid technologies within
             the context of  ubiquitous computing applications and research.
             (Oct 2003)

          b) Mapping of existing Grid technologies to the requirements of ubiquitous 
             computing and identification of major areas that are not currently 
             supported.
             (Dec 2003) 

          d) Allocation of areas of work identified in milestone M1b to research 
             group members for further investigation.
             (Jan 2004)

        M2:

          a) Problem statement and work plan for each area that is to be investigated.
             (Feb 2004)

          b) Analysis and recommendation for each technology investigated following 
             milestone M2a.
             (Sep 2004)

        M3:
         
          Overall assessment of the applicability of Grid technologies to support ubiquitous 
          computing and recommendations regarding further activities.
          (Dec 2004)