A modular location-aware service and application platform

Location-aware applications for supporting the mobile user as well as logistics of movable objects have proven to be of significant relevance for future telecommunication and computing. Based on a state-of-the-art analysis, the paper evaluates the outcome of laboratories and the requirements of commercial usage. A system architecture is proposed from the technical perspective for localisation, information, communication, and management. The required support of heterogeneous resources leads to the necessity of an adequate middleware platform. The location-aware service and application platform provides modular unified access to various services, which are commonly and overlappingly used by multiple applications. Service request trading assigns the appropriate in-house services or third-party providers to the requirements of the applications. Merging data from different sources and constraints in the transmission and presentation capabilities of the mobile side require sophisticated media scaling and conversion capabilities. The envisaged service architecture leads finally to the discussion of a number of prototype applications developed and being developed on our test-bed.