Autonomous decentralized control in ubiquitous computing : Joint special section on autonomous decentralized systems

Ubiquitous computing (ubicomp) is a computing paradigm which utilizes human-centric systems and applications. With the widespread use of information appliances, robots and sensors, the ubicomp paradigm is expected to become a reality in the near future. Because close interaction between a person and the computing environment is required for ubicomp, autonomous decentralized control will play an important role. In this paper, we discuss autonomous decentralized control in ubicomp from the viewpoint of typical ubicomp applications, smart environments and context-awareness.