Software Technology Bachelor Projects 2007-2008
Mindmapping
is method of representing the relationships bewteen different
ideas, concepts, tasks, etc. Mindmapping is particularly useful
for brainstorming, when studying a new topic or trying to
understand the relationships between already known concepts.
The goal of this project is to develop a (distributed)
collaborative version of the existing mindmapping software Freemind, which is
written in Java. The collaborative version of Freemind, should
allow 2 or more people, using separate computers or terminals,
to construct a single common mindmap. The solution must
investigate different system architectures (e.g., client-server,
peer-to-peer, ...), synchronisation and concurrent access to
shared objects, distribution of control and state, security,
usability, etc. The project must develop a prototype based on
Freemind, which implements the necessary functionality to
support collaboration.
Embedding sensors into our homes, allows us to build home
automation systems that monitor the way we inhabit the building
and allows the building to adapt the home environment to our
current needs, e.g., a number of movement sensors installed in
the ground floor hallway of building 322 captures the movement
of people in the hallway and interfaces with a system that
controls the individual fluorescent tubes in the ceiling.
The purpose of this project is to first develop a model of the
physical environment and the behaviour of the different agents
(people), secondly to develop an operational model that
describes how the system identifies the different forms of
behaviour and, in particular, how the system should react to the
identified behaviour, thirdly to define a set of rules that
implement the operational model and finally to develop a program
that implements the rules and control the lights in the ground
floor hallway of building 322.
Doors are natural choke points in buildings, which means that
people frequently arrive at the same door from different
directions. If two people arrive at the same door at exactly the
same time, one will risk opening the door into the face of the
other. Even if grievously bodily harm is avoided, at least one
of the people is likely to be startled, which is never a
pleasant experience.
Installing movement sensors on both sides of the door allows an
intelligent home environment to determine when two users are
likely to arrive at the door at the same time, thus risking
collisions, and warn one (or both) of the peple that someone is
also approaching from the other side. This will decrease the
risk of collisions and generally increase the comfort level of
all inhabitants. There a different auditive and visual means of
warning people that someone is approaching from the other side
of the door. Visual means, e.g., traffic lights or flashes,
might be preferred in an environment with a high ambient noise
level, while sound may be more appropriate when there is a lot
of ambient light or blind people have to be considered. It also
appears obvious that loud audial warnings are in appropriate in
quiet environments such as library reading rooms or office
environments.
The project must develop a working prototype of a doorway
collision control system for an intelligent building
environment. This requires installation of sensors on an actual
door, development of a sensor network that transports sensor data to
the intelligent buildings system, the development of a
generic collision detection framework that allows different
types of sensors to be used and the development of a generic
warning system that may issue different forms of auditive and
visual warnings.
The project requires special hardware so it will
only be available to one group of students.