RegionAlert - an instant notification service for mobile users in microregions of interest

• Grant number: 19/19312-9
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): September 01, 2019
• Effective date (End): August 31, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Computer Science - Computer Systems
• Cooperation agreement: MCTI/MC
• Principal researcher: Markus Endler
• Grantee: Flávia Pisani
• Home Institution: Centro Técnico Científico (CTC). Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio)
• Associated research grant: 15/24485-9 - Future internet for smart cities, AP.TEM

Abstract

In large cities, thousands of simultaneous events occur every day. While there are services that alert citizens about major incidents (e.g., heavy rains, floods, roadwork, and accidents), these notifications usually only cover citywide events and high-traffic areas. Many people use systems that message them when an event occurs, and, when we consider the development of smart city initiatives, we see that the number of alerts that these users receive daily can be only expected to grow as more information becomes available. However, users might not be interested in what is happening in all parts of the city, instead only wanting to know about their current location or specific areas, such as the neighborhoods where they work or live. Therefore, we propose RegionAlert, an alert message posting service for microregions (e.g., city districts, street blocks, and parks) that will be based on the Internet of Mobile Things (IoMT) middleware ContextNet and will handle the delivery of messages to all mobile users who have previously subscribed to get alerts about a certain region or who are currently in it. With this investigation, we intend to analyze the impact of reducing the size of the regions of interest on the quality of service of IoMT alert systems. (AU)