Using Stigmergy to Build Pervasive Computing Environments

Pervasive computing looks beyond the age of the personal computer to a time when everyday devices will be embedded with technology and connectivity. The goal of pervasive computing is to make such devices available throughout the physical environment to support people's usual activities with timely interventions without overwhelming them with inappropriate responses. So far, a number of research e orts have investigated di erent approaches to managing the complexities of developing these types of environments with varying degrees of success. The di culty still remains as to how to develop a pervasive computing environment that can support the integration and organisation of devices and applications in a spontaneous and robust manner. The problem is partly attributed to the highly dynamic and unpredictable nature of these types of environments, and is often further hampered by the limited resources found on devices. The technology for pervasive computing is reaching a point where it is possible to convert may everyday environments into interactive spaces. Typically, these spaces have been designed from the ground up to support the anticipated needs of users, and are usually pre-installed and maintained over the period during which they are in use. Conceptually, these e orts are centralised in their approach, in that, e orts are focused around coordinating the resources of a particular geographical location in meeting the demands of users. However, in the future, the construction of pervasive computing environments is more likely to evolve accidentally from physical spaces as technology is incorporated into the space over time. This suggests there is a need to support the assembly of pervasive computing environments in a more ad-hoc fashion. To address this point this thesis presents a highly-decentralised method of organising the