Rice Mobile Information System

ERIT Proposal

The power and capability of mobile devices continues to improve. Equally important, the ability to pass digital data to and from a mobile device is starting to see great improvement. A couple of years ago, it was not uncommon to find a person carrying a pager, a cell phone, a PDA and a notebook computer. Many advances discussed later in this proposal are resulting in smart phone systems offering better connectivity, storage, and computing capacityin one device than all the first three devices, and in many cases even eliminate the need to carry a notebook computer.

The main thrust of this proposal is to put Rice at the forefront in the area of using connected intelligent mobile devices (primarily Smart Phones and cellular connected PDA’s) combined with customized backend software and agents to create a connected mobile informationsystem. There are some related projects taking place at CMU and Duke that are well funded; however both institutions have chosen an approach that limits their abilities.

Rice’s effort in this area is primarily centered on a course shared between Computer Science (COMP-446) and Electrical and Computer Engineering (ELEC-446) with additional support from IT.We have also received a small amount of funding from Microsoft and HP. If Rice wants to be at the forefront of this technology, we need to step up our effort significantly before we are left behind.

The proposed system would use a new breed of Windows Mobile based Smart Phones and connected PDAs connecting over 2.5G and 3G cellular wireless data networks. Although these devices are capable of connecting directly to the internet, the proposed system will improve response time and functionality using features such as a .NET backend gateway and client level caching. It will tie into XML portal efforts being undertaken by Rice IT. Based on such aplatform, we will then build pervasive services for education, campus safety, and personal health for the Rice community members.

The main purpose of the ERIT grant will be to greatly accelerate this project beyond what could be done with only a classroom / project scenario including understanding how to best leverage this technology to improve the educational and campus life of Rice students. If fully funded, the money would add two full time graduate students to the project. In the minimal, “planning grant” scenario, the project would be augmented by undergraduates working over the summer and during the course’s off semester to keep the project moving forward and to add continuity.

External funding opportunities

Industrial funding opportunities

We will be seeking funds from Microsoft and probably Samsung and Motorola to help with our hardware and software needs. Since we will be leveraging cellular wireless networks, we can also seek funding from Sprint, Verizon, Cingular and T-Mobile. The larger the Rice based initiative is, the higher the funding level we should be able to achieve from these outside sources.

Intel, with its new reorganization, is devoted to promoting digital health, i.e., utilizing information technology to enhance healthcare. Our mobile information system with its potential service for pervasive personal health monitoring and reporting will be very interesting to Intel. We will seek funding from Intel through its University Program.

Lin Zhong has worked with Microsoft Research on Windows based Smart Phones, their interfaces and new services. Microsoft has been striving to establish a prominent presence in the cell phone/smart phone market. It is eager to see more applications and services that can be enabled on Windows based Smart Phone. Our mobile information system and its services will be of great interest to Microsoft. I have already spoken to Microsoft Academic Relations Manager Bradley Jensen about coupling the CITI grant to the ability to get more Microsoft funds, and he is receptive to the dialog.

Federal funding opportunities

National Science Foundation: NSF, through its program in Computer Information Science and Engineering (CISE), has a number of proposal solicitations that are highly related to our project. For example, the Advanced Learning Technologies(ALT)solicitation will be very interested in our mobile information system with its educational services. Building the mobile information system will be a research challenge highly related to the CISE Computing Research Infrastructure(CRI) solicitation.

National Institute of Health: The mobile information system with the pervasive personal health monitoring and reporting service is likely to revolutionize the way diseases are diagnosed and treated. In collaboration with researchers from the Dept. of Bioengineering and the TexasMedicalCenter, we will actively seek funding from NIH for the application of our mobile information system for healthcare.

Dept. of Homeland Security: The prototype mobile information system will provide a campus safety (physical parameters such as toxicant and radiation level) monitoring service through multiple Smart Phone end users. Such a service can be eventually leveraged to cover a metropolitan area such as Houston. We will also actively seek funding from the Department of Homeland Security for this big picture.

Deliverables and objectives

Our deliverables are:

  • Design the technologies required to implement an effective mobile information system for Rice students, faculty and staff based on Smart Phone devices communicating over 2.5G and 3G cellular data networks.
  • Develop server and client side caching technologies to overcome issues related to slow and unreliable connectivity. This greatly increases response time and increases functionality when out of communications range.
  • Study the changes to the environment at Rice that result from this new level of information access and determine how to best use it to further the education process at Rice. Investigate the human factors involved in the design of such a mobile information system, and study the user and social acceptance of it.
  • Fully integrate into planned Rice IT efforts around XML based Portal systems.
  • Develop a.NET XML web service backend system to format data for small devices, act as an always available fixed resource and user agent and to increase data and information security.
  • Develop a prototype service for personal health/safety for the Rice communitybased on such a mobile information system. A Smart Phone will function as the personal server that collectsand reports physical information.

Our overall objectives are:

  • Be one of the premiere institutions leveraging highly portable technology to improve campus life. We feel we have a significantly better approach than those being used at CMU and Duke and can interface well with MIT’s iCampus initiative.
  • Keep Rice at the leading edge of smart, connected mobile device systems thereby increasing our ability to obtain external funds.
  • Providing Rice with the reputation of providing a leading edge infrastructure for incoming freshman and graduate students.

Current state of the art

Notebook Computers have been around for many years, yet most people do not carry one with themselves at all times and they do not fit into pockets. PDAs are becoming more capable; however most lack sufficient wide area connectivity and are too large. Cell phones have a small form factor, but traditionally did not provide significant levels of data communications, readability and performance. On May 10th, Microsoft introduced its next generation of smart phone devices (for which Scott Cutler and some students in COMP446/ELEC446 were part of the Beta test program) along with a large number of prominent hardware and software vendors. We are starting to see great convergence devices capable of working with modern computer science tools.

As mentioned previously, we are not the only ones working on such systems. There is a large multiinstitution portal effort called uPortal ( that, while targeting desktop computers, contains capabilities for mobile clients. Rice is working on an implementation of uPortal. At present, this does not address the smart phone, connected environment. It is not a competitive threat for us and is likely to be a great collaborative resource for us since it gathers data in standard formats.

Duke gained great publicity early this academic year by announcing that every incoming freshman would be given an Apple iPod. While this was good for publicity and attracting students, it was not a great success as the iPods were primarily useful only in audio centered tasks. They lacked a wireless communications option and were quite limited in functionality. Duke is scaling back on this program for next year.

CMU has a program called MyCampus ( MyCampus is based on wireless LAN connected PDAs and has concentrated primarily on the permission and privacy issues in a user agent scenario. When we contacted them for more details than we found on the web, we were told by the project leader that the bulk of the project was on the web. What was most surprising about this program was the list of faculty, researchers and sponsors. The list was much more impressive than the technology shown on the web.

The most promising external effort is MIT’s iCampus initiative ( iCampus is a project funded by Microsoft Research and based at MIT that promotes a wide range of information technologies to promote the educational process. It has connections with MIT’s Open Courseware initiative as well as it iLabs experimental infrastructure. It is also acting as an umbrella program for other educational efforts leveraging information technology and this project, particularly with our connection to Connexions, would fit well with iCampus.

Innovative aspects of the proposal

This project is centered on many emerging technologies.

  • New smart phone devices are powerful, well connected, have useful input and output mechanisms yet still fit easily in one’s pocket or purse. They are true convergence devices.
  • Utilization of XML data feeds, RSS concurrency and .NET web services
  • A truly mobile information system geared for academic institutions, particularly Rice that is likely to be continuously carried by students, staff and faculty.
  • Portable access to content well suited to electronic distribution such as Connexions modules

The mobile information system we propose has the following innovative aspects:

  • It will be the first prototype of a connected, distributed Smart Phone system of collaborative users that provide collective data services through existing 2.5 G and 3G network. By designing and prototyping such a system, we will be able to explore many important research issues. With a prototype system, we will be able to experiment advanced pervasive/ubiquitous services. These will be itemized next.
  • Many issues involved are important research topics: energy-efficient design for longer Smart Phone battery life; operating system and middleware supports for system management; user and society-aware design of such a system involving many users in a community.
  • Based on the mobile information system, we will be able to prototype and experiment many novel pervasive/ubiquitous services. The pervasive personal health and campus safety monitoring and reporting servicesthat we will prototype will be the first.
  • For the personal health and campus safety services, we will design and prototype a personal-area network (PAN) of wireless biosensors to collect physical information and report to a Smart Phone, and to become an integral part of the mobile information system. Such a PAN will be the first of this nature. Meeting the energy efficiency, security/privacy, and usability challenges will make significant contributions to the research community.

Interdisciplinary aspects of the proposal

This project already collaborates with IT, Computer Science and ECE. As it grows, it will interface will all aspects of life on the Rice campus aided by Rice uPortal and Sharepoint projects. It will incorporate a Connexions reader as well as an interface into our Digital Library efforts.In the long run, the project will involve researchers from the Dept. of Bioengineering for sensors that collect the user’s physiological data for pervasive personal health services through a Smart Phone. We will seek collaborations from the TexasMedicalCenter for leveraging the mobile information system for better healthcare. Moreover, since the mobile information system involves massive end users, the user and social acceptance studies are important. We are seeking collaborations from the Depts. of Psychology and Anthropology.

This project aims to provide a revolutionary level of connectivity and access in an entirely mobile fashion. As such it will change the dynamics of many areas of our campus and could change the way we teach and live. There will be a wealth of opportunities to leverage the humanities and social science communities of Rice and this is why Chris Kelty, Assistant Professor of Anthropology is participating in the project.

Impact and exploitation plan.

There are many ways this project will impact Rice.

  • It will be a very useful information platform for the entire Rice community
  • It will generate great publicity / recruiting tool showcasing Rice at the forefront of some fun and interesting technologies
  • It provides collaborative opportunities between Rice IT and academic departments
  • Leadership in this area will greatly help us achieve additional funding from Microsoft as well as new cell phone sponsors (particularly Motorola and Samsung).
  • ECE just hired Lin Zhong to start as a new Assistant Professor in September 2005. He has a strong interest in mobile devices and this could be a great initial project for him in this area. He will actively seek external funding to continue research as this seed funding will start.

Project work plan, timetable, and milestones

Timetable

  • The test run of COMP446 / ELEC446 took place in the spring 2005 semester with a carefully recruited set of students
  • The first real run of COMP446 / ELEC446 with smart phones is set for the fall 2005 semester.
  • ERIT funding will be used starting January 2006 to hire an undergraduate student, one graduate student or two graduate students depending on the funding level we receive. It is a race against the clock. I believe we are in a good position to take a leadership role, however if we do not move fast enough, we are likely to lose the lead, and thus our ability to receive primary Microsoft and other funds.

Milestones

  • Initial deployment of backend server, mobile technology tool kit, a user’s website and a developer’s website will be completed by the end of the fall 2005 semester.
  • Full feature plan to be developed over the spring 2006 semester
  • By the beginning of summer 2006, we expect the mobile information prototype system to be ready. The system will consist of multiple Windows Mobile based Smart Phones for the end users and several backend servers.
  • By the end of summer 2006, we expect to implement and experiment prototype services for campus safety and personal health monitoring and reporting based on the mobile information system.
  • With the increased funding levels, we will complete interfaces to Rice’s uPortal and/or Connexions programs by January 2007. With two staff, we will do both of these, with one, we will have to choose.
  • As noted, we are still exploring the interests of a number of co-investigators, each of which will offer a milestone in conjunction with their efforts.

Budget

The budget is given for three funding levels. The small project covers a very modest development of the system and adds continuity between offerings of the project course.

The desired, medium level program significantly increases both the system growth and our exploration into improving Rice with the technology.

The large level support provides the resources required to have Rice be a significant leader in this area.

The pertinent elements are:

  • One undergraduate (employee) for a semester and summer as a minimum
  • One graduate student (full support) for a year for the base case of the full project
  • Two graduate students (full support) for a year for the large project
  • We will also have some extra hardware, software and service expenses
  • Software for development ($3K -$10K, donated from Microsoft)
  • Smart Phones (minimum of 6, max 25, $500 each with an excellent chance of full or partial donations from Samsung and/or Motorola)
  • Service $20/month/phone for data services. There is a good potential of having this funded from Cingular, Sprint and Verizon
  • With this grant, it is quite reasonable to assume we will receive funds and equipment from external sources. I would anticipate the ability to get matching funds for any CITI dollars up to a total of $50,000 and potentially move this project well beyond what is proposed here. I have already spoken to Microsoft Academic Relations Manager Bradley Jensen about coupling the CITI grant to the ability to get more Microsoft funds, and he is receptive to the dialog.

2006 ERIT Proposal Budget