UbiPaPaGo: Context-aware path planning

The increased prevalence of digital devices with communication capability heralds the era of ubiquitous computing, as predicted by Mark Weiser. Ubiquitous computing aims to provide users with intelligent human-centric context-aware services at anytime anywhere. Optimal path planning in a ubiquitous network considers the needs of users and the surrounding context. This approach is very different from that applied by existing research on car navigation and mobile robots. This study proposes a context-aware path planning mechanism based on spatial conceptual map (SCM) and genetic algorithm (GA), referred to as UbiPaPaGo. The SCM model is adopted to represent the real map of the surrounding environment. The optimal path is planned using a GA, which is a robust metaheuristic algorithm. UbiPaPaGo attempts to automatically find the best path that satisfies the requirements of an individual user. A prototype of UbiPaPaGo is implemented to demonstrate its feasibility and scalability. Experimental results validate the effectiveness and the efficiency of UbiPaPaGo in finding the optimal path.