Distance-Based Access Modifiers Applied to Safety in Home Networks

Home networks and the interconnection of home appliances is a classical theme in ubiquitous computing research. Security is a recurring concern, but there is a lack of awareness of safety: preventing the computerized house from harming the inhabitants, even in a worst-case scenario where an unauthorized user gains remote control of the facilities. We address this safety issue at the middleware level by restricting the operations that can be performed on devices according to the physical location of the user initiating the request. Operations that pose a potential safety hazard can only be performed within a physical proximity that ensures safety. We use a declarative approach integrated with an IDL language to express location-based restrictions on operations. This model has been implemented in a middleware for home audio-video devices, using infrared communication and a local-area network to implement location awareness.