This is a set of three EU-ITEA projects and their goal has been to enable the construction of open configurable middleware for consumer devices, focusing on the provision of extra-functional properties, such as power awareness, resource awareness, fault management, software management and trust.
All three of these projects are examples of open innovation involving Nokia Research Center, Philips Research (Project coordinators), Fagor, IKERLAN, academia, and research institutes. Although the exact combination of companies within each project changed slightly the core members remained the same, allowing smooth transition between projects and continuity in the project work. EU-ITEA Robocop started in 2001 and ended in 2003, when EU-ITEA Space4U started. The current project is EU-ITEA Trust4All, which started in July 2005, when Space4U ended.
On the technological level, these projects concentrate on the use and development of components in creating middleware for high-volume devices. This focus on high-volume devices means that the software frameworks developed have to be resource efficient and lightweight. This has been the primary challenge within these projects, the provision of advanced platform features within constrained devices.
Each project has been structured into 3 work packages, corresponding to the phases of a standard project lifecycle: requirements and specification; design and implementation; and, validation and evaluation. Within each work packages there are tasks which are focused on the topics required to achieve the project goals.
Robocop concentrated on building a proof-of-concept system that showed how configurable middleware could be made for high-volume devices. Its primary topics were resource awareness and software upgrade. It also studied the issue of business models for component based software. The Robocop the tasks were:
Robocop ended with 14 demonstrators running on a diverse set of platforms, such as Symbian, Linux, PsoS and SAIA-Burgess's own operating system.
Space4U built on the result of Robocop, extending the scope of the framework and the system. It sought to address the issues relating to consequences of the system created in Robocop. These questions were: how to handle externally provided software?; how to protect a system from poor software?; how to use resource usage to provide power awareness?; and, how can external systems improve the software inside devices? The task list for Space4U included:
Space4U ended with 11 demonstrators show the use of all the frameworks. These demonstrators ran on several different platforms, and interoperated (remote television control on a mobile phone).
While Space4U helps companies build reliable, managed software there are some aspects that must be addressed to enable widespread use of component based middleware in devices. The most important issue is to instill user trust in the technical platforms provided by manufacturers. This involves the interaction between application domains, security, availability and system awareness. With Trust4All, the tasks are:
Trust4All started in July 2005, and is now going through its initial stages.
In Sum - To date these projects have had an impact on Nokia's internal products, especially in the area of resource usage. Furthermore, these project have provided a framework for Nokia Research Center to collaborate on a technical level with representatives with Philips and other large EU companies.
During the course of the projects Nokia funded collaborative research with:
These EU Projects involved working with:
Robocop project:
Space4U project:
Trust4All project:
