Disseminating multimedia content to users in a mobile computing environment such that they receive it in an appropriate and timely manner is fundamental to the success of mobile information systems. Too often, however, this endeavour is hindered by the poor data rates supported by wireless telecommunications networks and by the limited computational resources available on mobile devices. We describe an approach to overcome these limitations, which is based on extremely dynamic and proactive precaching. This approach, which we have termed intelligent precaching, is realised through the innovative deployment of intelligent agents on mobile devices. To illustrate this concept, the design and implementation of an archetypical mobile computing application is provided, namely that of an electronic tourist guide. This is augmented with a description of the salient points derived from a user evaluation, from which emerging avenues for further research are identified.

This paper presents the Agent Factory Development Methodology, an Agent-Oriented Software Engineering (AOSE) methodology that employs a synthesis of the Unified Modelling Language (UML) and Agent UML to support the development of multi-agent systems. We illustrate the use of this methodology, through a simple case study and briefly compare it to some other well-known AOSE methodologies. 1

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Navigation support will form a critical component of future mobile computing systems. However, the ability of people to navigate in unfamiliar environments can vary substantially. In this paper, it is argued that the current generation of mobile devices and associated software does not adequately support the navigational requirements of a broad segment of users and that alternative strategies and design criteria need to be considered.

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Abstract. This paper describes a revision to the design of Agent-Oriented Programming (AOP) that introduces the concept of a role. The proposed AOP framework introduces the notion of a role template and describes how these templates can be used to engender code reuse. We then use this framework to extend the ALPHA programming language and illustrate the use of this extension via a simple case study. 1

Abstract. This paper describes an extension to the ALPHA (A Language for Programming Hybrid Agents) programming language that employs roles as runtime constructs. Specifically, this paper describes how the inclusion of this concept has facilitated the use of a number of OOP-based reuse mechanisms within the language. Finally, we illustrate the new version of ALPHA through a simple auction-based example. 1

Providing an intuitive and ubiquitous interface to those services aimed at the mobile computing community continues to preoccupy both service providers and certain sections of the research community. In this short paper, we present a snapshot of a system that is under ongoing development and reflect briefly on the initial results of some user evaluations. Based on these, we identify some critical problems with the current implementation and present a design orientated towards significantly improving the end user experience and making the interface more adaptable such that it meets the expectations and requirements of the user.

If mobile computing is to become the predominant computer usage paradigm in the coming years as is widely anticipated, a substantial increase in the demand for mobile computing applications and services will arise. How best to engineer such applications remains an open question and is naturally the focus of much research. In this article, we propose the use of intelligent agents as the constituent entities around which such applications and services can be conceptualised and realised. We describe the design and implementation of Gulliver's Genie, an archetypal ubiquitous computing application that commissions a collaborative embedded agents approach.

The challenge presented by ambient intelligence and pervasive computing is an environment within which computing artifacts become seamlessly merged into our surroundings, whereby interaction with such artifacts becomes intuitive and unobtrusive, where the devices become sensitive to the presence of people and are imbued with the ability to anticipate and service the individual needs of each and every user. In this paper, we present Gulliver's Genie, an archetypical ubiquitous computing application. Gulliver's Genie embraces three central constructs; those of agency, mobility and adaptivity. The architecture adopts a Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) metaphor whereby agents manage and maintain a context within which mobile users exist and, based upon this context, seeks to adapt and personalize content based upon perceived individual user needs. Agents are mobile and may migrate to or from environmental artifacts reflecting their computational constraints.