Coordination of Ubiquitous Devices in Pervasive Environments: A Proposal Based on WS-CDL

Context: Ubiquitous devices are usual in our daily lives. We are permanently interacting with those devices, and with the services they offer. Problem: Ubiquitous devices do not provide services in isolation; they cooperate with other devices. Cooperation mechanisms are primarily proprietary. The few proposals from academy have hardly achieved an impact in practice. This contrasts with web services in the Internet environment, which have standardized mechanisms for the composition of services. Aim: We explore the application of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) specifications and standards for the coordination of ubiquitous devices in pervasive environments. Methodology: We apply Design Science. This methodology allows the iterative construction and evaluation of artifacts. Results: A coordination framework based on WS-CDL has been built for ubiquitous devices, along with a proof of concept that demonstrates that the framework works properly in a laboratory environment. The transition to real environments looks straight-forward.