Handbook of Ambient Intelligence and Smart Environments

Our homes anticipate when we want to wake up. Our computers predict what music we want to buy. Our cars adapt to the way we drive. In today’s world, even washing machines, rice cookers and toys have the capability of autonomous decision-making. As we grow accustomed to computing power embedded in our surroundings, it becomes clear that these ‘smart environments’, with a number of devices controlled by a coordinating system capable of ‘ambient intelligence’, will play an ever larger role in our lives. This handbook provides readers with comprehensive, up-to-date coverage in what is a key technological field. . Systematically dealing with each aspect of ambient intelligence and smart environments, the text covers everything, from visual information capture and human/computer interaction to multi-agent systems, network use of sensor data, and building more rationality into artificial systems. The book also details a wide range of applications, examines case studies of recent major projects from around the world, and analyzes both the likely impact of the technology on our lives, and its ethical implications.

With a wide variety of separate disciplines all conducting research relevant to this field, this handbook encourages collaboration between disparate researchers by setting out the fundamental concepts from each area that are relevant to ambient intelligence and smart environments, providing a fertile soil in which ground-breaking new work candevelop.

Ambient Intelligence (AmI) has recently been adopted as a term referring to a multidisciplinary subject which embraces a variety of pre-existing fields of computer science and engineering. Given the diversity of potential applications this relationship naturally extends to other areas of science, such as education, health and social care, entertainment, sports, and transportation, to name a few. AmI brings these resources and many other areas together to provide flexible and intelligent services to users acting in their environments.

Handbook of Ambient Intelligence and Smart Environments is a comprehensive presentation of the latest developments in the burgeoning research area of ambient intelligence and smart environments. Written by leading international experts, this seminal reference organizes all major concepts, theories, methodologies, trends, and challenges into a coherent, unified repository.

About this handbook:

• Offers a current and thorough review of Ambient Intelligence and examines the relative physical infrastructure of smart environments
• Features application-oriented coverage and presents current projects on the subject
• Provides coverage from leading researchers and practitioners in computer science and engineering communities
• Describes infastructure and how sensors are networked and utilized in application settings
• Explores technology that can be built over a networked sensing infrastructure to make resources widely available in an unobtrusive way
• Studies the interaction between humans and artifiical systems
• Probes developments that aim to make artificial systems more rational
• Addresses Multi-Agent Systems--systems that contribute to the resources of an artificial system which can be used to understand different sitautions and decideintelligently
• Investigates a wide range of application ans well as consideration of the impact this technology can have in daily lives.
• Provides insight into some of the recent major projects developed around the world.

This complete volume is an exceptional tool for research scientists, practitioners, senior undergraduate and graduate students in computer science and engineering. This book also presents a useful text for professionals working in service science, education, education, health and social care, entertainment, sports, transportation and urban development.