CAIRO: Professor of computer science at the American University in Cairo Sherif Aly was recently awarded Egypt’s State Achievement Award for Science and Technology.
Aly was one of two recipients of this year’s award, which is presented annually in honor of exceptional research or development in the field of science or technology. It was given to Professor Aly for his work in mobile and pervasive computing.
Aly’s research for the last four years has been largely focused on this new and growing field of computer science. Mobile computing involves handheld computer devices that can be sensitive to their location. They can be transported from place to place and can sense changes in location or position without requiring the input of the user.
Pervasive computing is similar, but is a broader form of computer technology. The fundamental premise behind pervasive computer devices is that they react to their surroundings and environment. Aly calls this ability “context awareness. Computers of this description do not require a human being to input information into them but rather take in data from their surroundings and process this data independently.
“The philosophy behind them, said Aly, “is that technology ought to react to us. People shouldn’t have to tell their computers so much. These kinds of computers are more natural to us. They react, rather than having to be told what to do.
The idea of pervasive computing was first conceived in the early 1990s, but technology at the time was not advanced enough to realize its full potential. Recently, however, with computers becoming smaller and more mobile, researchers have been able to make real progress in developing devices that react and respond to the environment.
Aly described some of the projects that he and his students have been working on over the last few years.
One undergraduate designed a prototype that would help shoppers find their desired products at a shopping mall. Customers would input what they were looking for into the device, and it would then alert the individual if he or she were in the proximity of a store carrying the desired product.
Another project involved the design of an application that automatically downloads different files from the internet according to the environment that it is in. If it happens to be in a military enclosure, it will download military files, if it is in a hospital, it will download medical files.
Research into these kinds of computer systems has been going on at universities all over the world. Aly said that some of the most advanced work has been taking place at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California in Berkeley.
Researchers at these universities have developed as an example a house that uses sensors to monitor the activities of two hypothetical elderly citizens with Alzheimers disease. When they cannot find something, all they have to do is ask the house and it can locate certain select items.
Aly said that he hopes to work with researchers at other universities in the future so as to more effectively coordinate the research on mobile and pervasive devices.
He describes this new kind of computing as the third wave of computer technology. “The first wave saw the development of big bulky computers that only businesses could use, he told Daily News Egypt. “Then there was the second wave and the widespread use of personal computers. Now we’re entering the third wave, where computers will start to input data on their own. There will be sensors and detectors everywhere.
“This is going to be the trend for the future, he continued. “It’s going to change the way we live our lives.
He said that in the future these devices could become so advanced as to be considered a form of artificial intelligence. “As the devices take in information and data they must be able to process it and make intelligent decisions. So yes, a part of pervasive computing does involve artificial intelligence, he said.
Aly said that he is encouraged by the award and that he plans to continue his research in the area of pervasive computing in the future. “There’ve been a significant number of interested students, so I think that I will continue with this work, he said.
