Can We Talk Now? Technology Selection for an Intelligent Status Tracking System 5 th June 2009 Sidney Shek ( ) Supervisor: Dr Rolf Schwitter

Agenda Project Introduction Related Work Requirements and System Analysis Rule Engine Evaluation Technologies for client and server parts Future Work Conclusion 2

The Problem Where is ‘John’ and how should I contact him? What happens if I call during a meeting with the CEO?

Project Aims To develop a low-cost prototype intelligent status tracking system (Can We Talk Now?) ◦ Based on Social Networking principles ◦ Populate user’s status information based on calendar, location, etc. ◦ Use logic to determine ‘best’ means of communication between two users ◦ To integrate with mobile devices (Apple iPhone) 4

Project Phases Project split into two phases: 1.Feasibility study and technology selection:  Rule engine  Client-server communications  Server platform 2.Prototype system development 5

Agenda Project Introduction Related Work Requirements and System Analysis Rule Engine Evaluation Technologies for client and server parts Future Work Conclusion 6

Related Work Many public and private Social Networking Services (SNS) store status information ◦ Not automatically populated ◦ No logic rules applied to extract information Dinoff et al reports a similar system to CWTN for service providers or carriers (Intuitive Network Applications) ◦ CWTN is low-cost ‘add-on’ system for individual enterprises 7

Learnings from other SNSs Need for flexibility in data and functionality Need to integrate with SNS as mini-application rather than reinventing wheel Need to address enterprise deployment issues: ◦ Security ◦ Cultural hindrance ◦ Privacy ◦ Scale and critical mass 8

Agenda Project Introduction Related Work Requirements and System Analysis Rule Engine Evaluation Technologies for client and server parts Future Work Conclusion 9

Application Data Structures 10

Application Logic 1. Populating Activity facts based on: ◦ GPS, calendar information, etc. 2. Determining available means of communication based on: ◦ Matching location ◦ ‘Free to talk’ status:  Current activity (e.g. meeting versus idle)  Relative importance of people  Relative urgency of question 3. Prioritising means of communication 11

Agenda Project Introduction Related Work Requirements and System Analysis Rule Engine Evaluation Technologies for client and server parts Future Work Conclusion 12

Rule Engine Evaluation Evaluated rule engines: SWI-Prolog, Prova, Drools, JESS Criteria included: ◦ Support for application logic ◦ Integration with Java (for server platform) ◦ Enterprise based criteria (robustness, development environment, support, licence fees) ◦ Future proofing (RuleML, Semantic Web support) 13

Comparison of Rule Engines SWI-PrologProvaDroolsJESS 1. Support for rules 2. Integration with Java  3. Suitability for enterprise ~  ~ 4. IDE Available ~  5. Licence cost ~ 6. Future proofing  14

Rule Engine Evaluation Results No rule engine ideally suited ◦ Backward chaining like Prolog or Prova good for problem, but lacked in other areas ◦ Drools has good support, but is forward chaining ◦ Use Drools for now, with architecture to support simple replacement 15

Agenda Project Introduction Related Work Requirements and System Analysis Rule Engine Evaluation Technologies for client and server parts Future Work Conclusion 16

Client-Server communications Mobile device restrictions: ◦ Limited battery ◦ Limited CPU ◦ Limited libraries Use REST (RESTlet framework) ◦ Fits into SOA ◦ Easier to process than Web Services Use JSON instead of XML ◦ Lightweight and less bandwidth 17

Server platform Mobile devices need Internet-facing server ◦ Difficult to get for a prototype system! Deploy prototype to Google App Engine ◦ Internet accessible and free JEE server ◦ Consider integration with enterprise later  Enterprise hosted server  Trusted connection to Google App Engine cloud 18

Agenda Project Introduction Related Work Requirements and System Analysis Rule Engine Evaluation Technologies for client and server parts Future Work Conclusion 19

Future Work – Next Phase 20

Future Work – Post-Prototype Enterprise deployment: ◦ Implement integration with SNSs Research testbed: ◦ Use of Semantic Web technology for data storage and reasoning 21

Conclusion Aim of project is to develop a low-cost intelligent status tracking system Initial feasibility study and technology selection completed ◦ Rule engine, server platform, client-server communications Development iterations scoped Next steps – Design and develop prototype 22

Thank you Questions? 23