Site Administration: Using Pressure Sensor Akhil Pai Ramkumar Chandrasekaran

Introduction/Outline Motivation Problem Definition Existing System in our own computing sites Our Proposal, which we propose to be a better solution Architecture/Design involved Implementation/Assumptions from Demo point of view Results Screen Shots Conclusion and Future Work

Motivation To get a feel of a ubiquitous computing system by implementing one, which involves reducing distraction and time spent by a user, in a real life scenario. Why Computing Site ? We can see that in a vast open computing site or work place, it is difficult for the staff or higher officials to identify the available or abandoned workstations unless they walk through the entire site. This requires a lot of energy and time, while it also creates a lot of distraction for the Staff.

Problem Definition The need for manually performing few activities which cause the site staff to spend his/her precious time in just walking around the site in regular short intervals. We could reduce this and thus provide time for the staff, to spend effectively and productively. Thus the need to implement pressure sensors on the chairs of the computing site and develop an application which would use this information to analyze the state or context of a site at any time.

Existing System in our computing sites The staff is supposed to walk around the site every 5 mins and perform the activity manually everytime. He/She is required to check for open workstations and then place the cone stating “PC Open” on top of it, so that customers could easily identify the available workstations on the site. Thus improving the customer service. He/She is also required to keep track of any workstation which has been left unattended and also keep note of the time. Once this time exceeds 15 mins, he/she could log the customer out, according to the site policy.

Our Proposal/Objective We plan to build a context aware application, which will help to reduce the site staff’s time and distraction from such activities and help him concentrate on other duties he/she is required to perform. We decided to keep track or be aware (context aware) of the site state by implementing pressure sensors to detect if a user is available at a workstation or not. Hence we thought, this would keep track of the open workstations and also the abandoned workstations, which could then be displayed using a good GUI.

Basic Architecture Pressure Switch Server Login info Application Time flag DISPLAY /GUI DISPLAY /GUI

Design Login Info Pressure Switch Timer Flag Workstation Condition 000Available Occupied 10 0 (Timer is activated) Occupied 101Abandoned Login Info : 0 – logged on, 1 – logged off Pressure Switch : 0 – activated, 1 – inactivated Timer flag : 0 – default and until T<15 for (1,0) condition 1 – T>=15

Implementation/Assumptions The application was developed using Visual Basic and MS-Access as the database. The application is set to refresh every minute. We are making the assumption of using one and only that particular chair for each workstation. The pressure sensor has a default minimum weight, in order to be activated. The values from the sensor is being simulated by user input.

Results The application as predicted provides information regarding the free and available workstations to the staff, which reduces his/her distraction and time spent in these activities. The application further provides information to the customer in identifying the available workstations at any point of time in the site. This helps the customer to reach an open workstation easily and with least assistance.

Screen Shots Login screen Sensor Simulation screen Staff Display screen Customer Display screen

Conclusion The motivation behind creating a context aware ubiquitous computing system which could be used in a real life scenario was successful. We wanted to identify a problem which is relevant enough in day to day life and then create a solution for it that would really serve the purpose. We are very satisfied from the outcome and results of the project, which helped us to realize how ubiquitous computing systems could be effective in every day life to make life easy.

Future Work The application can be further extended to provide excellent customer service. This can be done by providing means for a customer to send a help message to the site staff from their respective workstation. Hence reducing the overall mobility in the site and providing a study environment. A better and energy efficient sensor system could be built in order to identify the availability of a customer at each workstation.

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