A visual, open-ended approach to prototyping ubiquitous computing applications

By nature, ubiquitous computing applications are intimately intertwined with users' everyday life. This situation is challenging because it requires to make the development of applications accessible to end-users. Furthermore, ubiquitous computing consists of a variety of areas, including home automation and assisted living, raising a need for an open-ended approach. We present Pantagruel, a visual programming language that is end-user oriented. Our approach is open-ended in that Pantagruel integrates a language to describe a ubiquitous computing environment. Such description takes the form of a taxonomy, defining the entities relevant to a given ubiquitous computing area. This description serves as a parameter to a sensor-controller-actuator development paradigm. The orchestration of area-specific entities is supported by high-level constructs, customized with respect to taxonomical information. We have implemented a visual environment to prototyping ubiquitous computing applications. Furthermore, we have developed a compiler for Pantagruel that targets a domain-specific middleware. Our environment leverages a 2D Tenderer to enable the simulation and of applications. We successfully simulated a range of applications in various ubiquitous computing areas, such as home automation, assisted living and building management.