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The publication includes a generic roadmap, a short overview of the needs, and the technology enablers towards ubiquitous society. The main part of this work presents several claims together with the vision and reasoning behind each one, trends, signs, and near and long-term future possibilities. A dedicated chapter deals with the new business opportunities. The main findings were that human nature will be the same in a ubiquitous world but that the possibilities and means to do things will broaden considerably. Embedded electronics and smart devices in our surroundings will communicate for our benefit in smart spaces all around our everyday lives. Energy production, transfer, storage and use will be optimized with smart grid and energy harvesting technologies. Smart devices will provide us with digital sense and means to interact and live with the virtual world. Ever-present and fluent connectivity to the Internet makes the supporting technologies and wireless networks disappear from the users' knowledge. Similarly, the cloud will be hidden from the users. Smartness will penetrate vehicles and the road infrastructure. Technologies are being applied more often to new purposes rather than to what they were intended for in the first place. The Virtual and real worlds mimic each other, replicate and make the impossible possible. It will not always be possible to tell real from virtual. Collaboration and cognitivity will bring benefits over single device or object functionality. The integration of virtual world with the real world gives humanity a new dimension of life.

In the AuRa project an efficient wireless networking scheme for mobile terminals with advanced services and negotiated quality of service (QoS) level was researched and developed. The project consisted of various topics in the various communication layers of the OSI model. In the physical and data link layers area spectral efficiency was researched It was observed that log-normal shadowing is very crucial for the spectral efficiency. In outdoor positioning, advantages of wideband channel delay profiles were utilised so that database correlation method (DCM) algorithm can locate the terminal using only one base station hereby avoiding the problem common to observed time difference of arrival algorithm (OTDOA). For the indoor positioning a configuration tool was developed to make signal chart measurement faster with more dense and accurate grid. Hence, the typical accuracy of positioning in indoor of 2 m was achieved. In vertical handover topics signalling schemes as well as key parameters mapping and classification for the related QoS issues were developed in order to make vertical handover possible between the WLAN and UTMS networks. In the QoS research an end-to-end QoS measurement tool was also developed. From the measurements significant variations in end-to-end latency time of General Packet Radio Systems (GPRS) were observed between different operators and terminal types. Network layer topics included power efficiency research on ad hoc and sensor networks taking into consideration mobility of nodes and the number of sequential hops in signalling and data delivery. Furthermore, methods and tools for parallel networking simulation were researched and the graphical user interface tool for the NS2 simulation tool was built with the aim of hiding the complexity of NS2 tool's scripts and distribution of simulation runs.

This publication presents visions and roadmaps for the Internet of Things, focusing on global asset management and smart lighting, with a strong productivity perspective. To maintain welfare and growth in Europe, a substantial productivity leap is needed. The Internet of Things (IoT) - the next step in ICT evolution - will boost productivity and create new business opportunities. In global asset management, productivity improves when downtime of production assets decrease and unnecessary service calls are eliminated. In smart lighting, productivity improves when there is right kind and right amount of light for the task in question. In the future, smart lighting will increase energy efficiency, comfort and introduce "more than light" features such as guidance and wellbeing with the light. In future asset management, equipment in the field will constantly monitor, adapt and report their state to service ecosystem and in the case of mechanical failure, outworn parts are made locally utilising additive manufacturing methods. There will be 50 billion connected devices by 2020, generating vast amounts of information. The real-time and openly available sensor information will offer immense benefits for business by enabling faster decision making, real-time control, enhanced operational efficiency and new business models.