Mobile
and Pervasive Computing Services |
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| Course Overview | |||||
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Background: With around 3 billion mobile phone users worldwide, including several hundred million mobile Internet users, new wireless and pervasive computing services are changing the way enterprises interact with both their customers and their employees. The explosion in smart phone ownership, the adoption of faster wireless standards, and the emergence of different location tracking technologies are but a few factors contributing to the development of a slew of new services. These include mobile commerce services, mobile social software services, enterprise applications all the way to more futuristic pervasive computing services. Objective: The objective of the course is to introduce participants to the technologies, services and business models associated with Mobile and Pervasive Commerce. It also provides an overview of future trends and ongoing research in this new and fast growing area. What You Will Learn: Students who take this course will learn to evaluate critical design tradeoffs associated with different mobile technologies, architectures, interfaces and business models and how they impact the usability, security, privacy and commercial viability of mobile and pervasive computing services. Topics include: Mobile Communication and Mobile Internet technologies, Mobile and Wireless Security, Mobile Development Environments, Mobile Commerce Applications (e.g. mobile banking, mobile ticketing, mobile payment, mobile infotainment, etc.), location tracking and location-based services, RFID, mobile social software applications, mobile enterprise and mobile government applications, context awareness, pervasive computing. Projects: Students enrolled in the 9-unit section of the course are expected to complete a team project. This year, thanks to a donation from Nokia, we have 100 N95 GPS-enabled cell phones. Projects can also be defined for Google's new Android Challenge - submissions are due by March 3, 2008. Click here for additional details on projects. |
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| Format | |||||
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Lectures (including guest lectures), discussions, project presentations |
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| Target Audience & Prerequisites | |||||
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This course is intended for a broad audience of graduate students interested in the emerging field of Mobile and Pervasive Commerce. In prior years, students have typically come from a number of different master's degree programs across campus, including programs from the School of Computer Science (e.g. eBusiness, human computer interaction, software engineering), Heinz (e.g. MISM), CIT (e.g. INI), and the Tepper School of Business. Students are expected to have had some prior exposure to Java and HTML. |
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| 6-Unit (08-766/46-866) versus 9-Unit (08-781) Section | |||||
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This course is available both as a 6-unit and a 9-unit mini-course during Mini 3 (first seven weeks of the Spring semester). With the exception of Tepper students, all students are strongly encouraged to register for the 9 unit section. Occasionally, a 12-unit full-semester course is also offered in the Spring. The 6-unit and 9-unit mini-course sections both share the same set of core lectures. Students registered in the 6-unit section are expected to complete two homework assignments, a midterm and a final. Students in the 9-unit section have no homework assignment and no final exam, but have to work on a team project (and take the midterm exam). All students are expected to also give a short class presentation on a topic to be arranged with the instructor. The 12-unit section, which is not offered in the Spring of 2008, starts with the same mini-3 lectures as the other two sections. The second half of the semester is devoted to the discussion of research papers. |
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| Meeting Times | |||||
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To be announced. |
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| Grading | |||||
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6-unit Section: Midterm: 25%, Final: 20%, HW1: 15%, HW2: 20%, Class Presentation: 15%, Class Participation: 5% 9-unit Section: Midterm: 25%, Class Presentation: 20%, Project: 50%, Class Participation: 5% |
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| Textbooks | |||||
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Additional required and optional reading materials are identified at the end of each lecture |
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| Course Syllabus | |||||
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A copy of the 2007 syllabus is available here. |
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