Discussion on Robin Milner’s First Computer Journal Lecture: Ubiquitous Computing: Shall We Understand It?

Although I agree with most of the points made in the paper, Robin indicates that he is tempted to consider a global ubiquitous computer. I think this would not work, as the scale of such a system would be so large, it would not be practical to apply design concepts, analyse or understand it. Software Engineering has taught us how to break large systems down into manageable components and similar concepts need to apply to ubiquitous computing. We advocate considering a Ubiquitous System (US) as multiple, interacting cells which we call self managed cells (SMCs) [1]. An SMC could correspond with a body area network which monitors (and in the future controls) the health of a person as well as providing the means to interact with other people. At another level an SMC could correspond to a meeting room in which personal SMCs interact with the other people in the meeting, as well as the local ubiquitous environment in terms of devices such as printers, displays, and audio systems supporting the meeting, devices controlling the air-conditioning and lighting etc. The meeting room SMC is part of a building SMC which manages the whole infrastructure of the building to optimize energy usage, environmental conditions, communication and even people movement via lifts etc. A large-scale service provider could also be considered an SMC providing communications services to both personal SMCs, vehicle SMCs and building SMCs.