Civil Engineering Reference
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(iv) Availability: it is a property of systems where a third party with no access
should not be able to block legitimate parties from using a resource.
1.3 Pervasive computing
Weiser (2002) described a pervasive computing world in which virtually every
object has processing power with wireless or wired connections to a global network.
The term pervasive computing also goes by the name
ubiquitous computing
and has
very close relationship in technical implementation with
mobile computing.
Mobile computing is a necessary component of pervasive computing. This is
why there are many common research interests across these two areas and
technologies. Maybe one of the most unique features of pervasive computing is
invisibility (i.e. being embedded into objects everywhere). There are many prom-
inent concepts created based on pervasive computing; for example, smart cities,
smart homes, smart cars and so on. One the most reputed examples is Digital Cities,
which is a concept that inhabitants in cities can interact and share knowledge,
interests and life experience. For example, the city of Lancaster in the United
Kingdom used wireless devices to improve services for both visitors and residents
based on Wi-Fi applications. Kyoto, Japan, is another example in which the digital
city complements and corresponds to the physical city (Ishida, 2002). Pervasive
computing could have a range of applications, many of which may not yet have
been identified. Applications exist in environmental monitoring, healthcare,
domiciliary care and intelligent transportation systems.
Pervasive computing has considerable potential in the built environment, just as
many other emerging and prominent technologies have. For example, a mobile
worker should be able to access the procurement or inventory information of a
specific type of construction material at a nearby location without necessarily
having to connect to the office service via a network. All they may need is a local
embedded information service onto the piece of material. This can help workers
access these resources without having to reconfigure their devices. The facility
manager can monitor the building's equipment use and energy consumption status
through reports. Data can then be analysed based on dimensions such as time, the
type of equipment and use conditions to reveal the trends of use as well as giving
suggestions of how to use them in a more efficient way.
1.3.1 Pervasive computing technologies
Pervasive Computing Devices
The forms and sizes of pervasive computing devices vary. They can range from
mobile phones to computing units embedded into normal and daily objects, such
as clothing and topics. Examples of objects and devices include barcodes, e-tags,
RFID, PDAs (personal digital assistants) and laptops with sensing capacities, and
information appliances such as digital cameras. Pervasive computing also uses
internet and wireless communications. A global wireless connection like a mobile
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