Lecture notes, exercises assignments etc. are provided on the Metacoon e-learning platform at https://elearning4.uni-weimar.de/mcbuw/ . Login with your university credentials, select "In Raum einschreiben" → "Studium und Lehre" → "Medien" → "Software Engineering WS14/15" and provide the password given in the first lecture.
Project: Privacy-Aware Location Services
Location-based services are one of the most important applications for mobile devices. They include such diverse tasks as finding the next restaurant, navigating to a destination or notifications about a friend's proximity. However, location determination is often dependent on a central service provider which consequently has unlimited access to the private location data. While GPS is an exception, it is not available indoors nor over prolonged time periods due to battery drain.
In the year 1 after Snowden, such uncontrolled access to highly sensitive private data can not be accepted without question. Consequently, it is the goal of the project „Privacy-Aware Location Services“ to develop an alternative Location Provider for Android which is able to deliver basic location data without any central infrastructure. A peer-to-peer approach should also include data provided by trusted 3rd parties.
Possible solutions (which can possibly be combined) include:
- deployment of multiple private micro servers (e.g. Raspberry Pi)
- using public databases such as OpenCellID or Mozilla Location Services (possibly with replication to private servers)
- dynamic generation of a wireless cell database, e.g. of WiFi access points
- dedicated deployment of fixed beacons based on Bluetooth Low Energy, possibly also temporary use of mobile devices as beacons