Opportunities and Challenges in Sensing, Inference and Context-aware Computing

Small computing devices are increasingly being equipped with sensors, large storage capacities, and capable, low-power processors. When combined with recent advances in statistical modeling techniques that are able to infer more about individuals and their environment than ever before, these advances are bringing about the context-awareness that has always been a key part of making ubiquitous computing successful. In this talk, I will illustrate opportunities as well as research challenges in the context-aware computing space by describing a number of ongoing research projects at Intel Research Seattle. Topics include mobile sensing platforms, techniques for activity inference, and the use of context in a variety of application domains including health and wellness.