Wireless Local Area Network Positioning - Ambient Intelligence for Scientific Discovery - page 259

Fig. 7. Mobility Percentages. (First column for each group is for all users, the second
for Non-GSIA users, and the third for GSIA users.)
Devices that would be considered highly mobile make up only a small mi-
nority of Wireless Andrew users. Specifically, only 1.9% of devices have mobility
values of 10 or higher and 0.4% have values of 20 or higher. It is often this small
fraction of users that context-aware application developers have in mind when
developing their services, given that, by virtue of their mobility, these users stand
to benefit the most from context-aware services.
Context-aware application developers should be aware that most users in a
wireless network are not highly mobile. Often times, wireless users, especially
those with laptops, will only utilize their devices in, at most, a handful of loca-
tions. While users may move around a great deal over the course of their day,
their mobile devices are generally powered off while moving, limiting their po-
tential ability to use context-aware applications. Context-aware developers will
need to provide users with a compelling reason to leave their device on, or to
obtain a device that is small enough to be conveniently left on, while moving.
6Conluon
As technology advances, novel tools are developed to help us manage growing
complexity and take advantage of new opportunity. Wireless technology has
opened the door to tremendous possibility, enabling us to roam untethered,
while keeping data and communications within arm's reach. As wireless networks
continue to blanket our homes, businesses, and rapidly, our cities, the ability to
pinpoint a device's location in a wireless network becomes increasingly relevant
to the vision of ambient intelligence.
Researchers have made great strides over the years in developing systems
and methodologies to dynamically determine the position of wireless devices.
The technology and associated infrastructure, however, need to be further de-
veloped before context-aware services can reach critical mass. Given that this is