Ontology Based Policy Mobility for Pervasive Computing

The array of devices, networks and resources available in pervasive computing environments, or smart spaces, will require effective self-management systems controlled via user-level policies. However, the local nature of smart spaces means that they present a potentially huge increase in the number of and nature of management domains, e.g. representing individual homes, shops, businesses, schools, hospitals etc. However, differences in local domain models and local resource models means that policies relevant to one smart space will often use different semantics for subject and target objects compared to other pervasive computing domains. To allow users to capture personal preferences in terms of policies that can be consistently applied as they roam between smart spaces, the semantic interoperability problem resulting from different models for policy subjects and targets must be overcome. In this paper we present a framework where the use of ontology-based semantics for policy elements allows dynamic ontology mapping capabilities to support policy mobility. We demonstrate its operation with a case study showing policy mobility in a policy-driven smart space management system