Research

Nigel Davies

Research

My research work focuses on the field of distributed mobile computing. Since 1994 I have led numerous projects in this area at Lancaster University in the UK. Key projects have included:

MOST: Mobile Open Systems Technologies for the Utilities Industry

This EPSRC funded project developed applications and systems technologies to support field engineers in the power distribution industry. The project implemented extensions to the ANSAware distributed systems platform to support operation in mobile environments and constructed one of the world’s first adaptive mobile applications aimed at supporting collaboration.

During this period we also developed a slow-speed network emulator that is available for download and has been used successfully in a number of institutions world-wide.

The Mobile Multimedia Project

In collaboration with commercial partners Simoco, this project investigated the use of emerging TETRA wireless communications devices to provide multimedia applications to members of the emergency services. As part of this project we developed a new distributed systems platform called L²imbo. Based on the tuple-space paradigm and implemented using IP multicast this platform uses the time-space decoupling and anonymous communications inherent in the tuple-space paradigm to address the problems of disconnection and service rebinding that occur in mobile environments.

The Lancaster GUIDE Project

This aim of the GUIDE project was to explore the design and implementation of context-aware applications. We achieved this by developing and deploying a specific example of such an application, i.e. a context-sensitive tour guide in the city of Lancaster. Project activities included deploying a wireless network throughout the city of Lancaster, developing new data dissemination protocols for location-based information, a major content-capture exercise and a field trial involving members of the general public. The project is widely regarded as one of the most complete pieces of work in this field and has made contributions in the systems, HCI and applications design domains.

I am currently working on a number of projects at both Lancaster and Arizona that build on this earlier work. These include the development of new applications that exploit the GUIDE infrastructure and new middleware platforms to support context-aware and ubiquitous computing applications.

In all cases, I endeavor to take a broad approach to systems research, involving real-end-users and state-of-the-art technologies to motivate developments in the field of mobile distributed systems.