Ambient Intelligence

This volume contains the proceedings of the Second European Ambient Intelligence (AmI) Conference. The conference took place in Erlangen and Nürnberg, November 19–22, 2008. The concept of ambient intelligence (AmI) was introduced in the late 1990s as a novel paradigm for electronic environments for the years 2010-2020. It builds on the early visions of Weiser describing a novel mobile computing infrastr- ture integrated into the networked environment of people. According to early defi- tions, AmI refers to smart electronic surroundings that are sensitive and responsive to the presence of people. The added value for the multi-dimensional society we are living in lies in the fact that the large-scale integration of microelectronics into the environment enables people and objects to interact with this environment in a se- less, trustworthy, and natural manner. Obviously, AmI solutions deliver a new quality of communication and information exchange, they help people to fulfill their professional tasks with increasing efficiency, enable the older generation to stay much longer in the privacy of their own homes and the younger one to lead a healthy and responsible life. Smart mobile devices navigate in private apartments as well as in complex public or industrial environments in order to support people with a broad variety of services.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Second European Conference on Ambient Intelligence, AmI 2008, held in Nuremberg, Germany, in November 2008.

The 22 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions for inclusion in the book. The papers are roughly classified into two groups on well-being and care, and mobility and logistics respectively; they are organized in topical sections on service-oriented smart and comfortable homes for better recreation and leisure time, intelligent and cooperative domestic devices for smart home and shopping environments, navigation and guidance in unknown environments and unusual situations, context-oriented health monitoring and alerting systems for a carefree life.