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This paper provides a comparative study of state-of-the-art means of predicting occupancy for smart heating control applications. We focus on approaches that predict the occupancy state of a home using occupancy schedules – that is, past records of the occupancy state. We ran our analysis on actual occupancy schedules covering several months for 45 homes. Our results show that state-of-the-art, schedule-based occupancy prediction algorithms achieve an overall prediction accuracy of over 80%. We also show that the performance of these algorithms is close to the theoretical upper bound expressed by the predictability of the input schedules. Building upon these results, we used ISO 13790-standard modelling techniques to analyse the energy savings that can be achieved by smart heating controllers that use occupancy predictors. Furthermore, we investigated the trade-off between achievable savings (typically 6–17% on average) and the risk of comfort loss for household residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When it comes to conserving electricity, it is crucial for users to know how much energy is consumed by individual appliances. However, the technical feedback provided by existing energy consumption feedback systems in the form of dry numbers and intangible units is not appropriate for most users. To address this shortcoming, we developed PowerPedia, a system that provides behavior-influencing feedback over and above pure consumption values. By integrating a community platform-a Wikipedia for electrical appliances-PowerPedia enables users to identify and compare the consumption of their domestic appliances with that of others. It thus helps users to better understand their electricity consumption and take effective action to save electricity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper gives an overview of the INCAS (INCremental Architecture for distributed Systems) multicomputer project, which aims at the development of a comprehensive methodology for the design and implementation of locally distributed systems. A structuring concept for distributed operating systems has been developed and integrated into the system implementation language LADY. The concurrent high-level programming language CSSA, based on the actor model, has been designed for the implementation of distributed applications. A substantial effort in the INCAS project is directed towards the development of a distributed test methodology. An experimental system has been implemented on a network of ten MC68000 microcomputers. Preliminary experience with the methodology has been gained from a small number of prototype applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the central research challenges in the Internet of Things and Ubiquitous Computing domains is how users can be enabled to “program” their personal and industrial smart environments by combining services that are provided by devices around them. We present a service composition system that enables the goal-driven configuration of smart environments for end users by combining semantic metadata and reasoning with a visual modeling tool. In contrast to process-driven approaches where service mashups are statically defined, we make use of embedded semantic API descriptions to dynamically create mashups that fulfill the user’s goal. The main advantage of our system is its high degree of flexibility, as service mashups can adapt to dynamic environments and are fault-tolerant with respect to individual services becoming unavailable. To support users in expressing their goals, we integrated a visual programming tool with our system that allows to model the desired state of a smart environment graphically, thereby hiding the technicalities of the underlying semantics. Possible applications of the presented system include the management of smart homes to increase individual well-being, and reconfigurations of smart environments, for instance in the industrial automation or healthcare domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visions of Pervasive Computing and ambient intelligence involve integrating tiny microelectronic processors and sensors into everyday objects in order to make them "smart." Smart things can explore their environment, communicate with other smart things, and interact with humans, therefore helping users to cope with their tasks in new, intuitive ways. Although many concepts have already been tested out as prototypes in field trials, the repercussions of such extensive integration of computer technology into our everyday lives are difficult to predict. This article is a first attempt to classify the social, economic, and ethical implications of this development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]