Tools and Architectural support for Mobile Phones based Crowd Control Systems

Abstract

There is a vast body of research dealing with the development of middleware for Opportunistic and DTN networks. The development is mainly focused on developing mathematical models and designing routing protocol. These protocols are assumed to work on Pervasive computing systems that are inherently running on unstable networks and devices, subject to constant topology changes, network failures, and high churn. Merely protocol development and studies based on simulation are not able to handle these issues as part of their design. To address this, we propose a Crowd Control approach that explore the real technical challenges that face the developer of such systems and to move the handling of these volatile properties of pervasive environments to the protocol level. Through the development of two mobile applications, we discuss the underlying principles of message passing among crowds and present a set of visual tools that facilitate the adaptation process.