Ubiquitous computing in emergency: Role-based situation response based on self-organizing resource network

Smart environment is defined here as a number of devices that can share information and services independently of their physical location. Smart environments based on ubiquitous computing open new possibilities to various aspects of human activities. The paper proposes an approach to emergency situation response that benefits of the ubiquitous computing. The approach is based on utilizing role profiles to facilitate the coordination of the activities of the emergency response operation members. Emergency response operations usually involve different people and organizations with different subordination. As a result, the centralized control is often impossible. The idea behind the approach is to self-organize resources of the smart environment according to the state of the situation caused by the accident. The resources self-organize a collaborative network that comprises physical devices, software services, organizations, and persons to undertake joint actions for accident response. The accident response system intended for operating in smart environments has a service-oriented architecture. Some of Web-services making up the architecture are intended to model the accident situations; others model resource functionalities or bear supporting functions. Web-services that model resource functionalities are aligned against the emergency situation management ontology. This alignment ensures semantic interoperability of the heterogeneous resources. A case study illustrates main ideas presented in the paper.