Coordination in pervasive computing environments

Computer science and engineering nowadays appears to be challenged (and driven) by technological progress and quantitative growth. Among the technological progress challenges are advances in submicron and system-on-a-chip designs, communication technologies, micro-electro-mechanical systems, nano and materials sciences. The cast pervasion of global networks, the growing availability of wireless communication technologies for the wide, local and personal area, and the evolving ubiquitous use of mobile and embedded information and communication technologies are indicators for accelerated quantitative growth. We perceive a shift from the "one person with one computer" paradigm, which is based on explicit human machine interaction, towards a ubiquitous and pervasive computing paradigm, in which implicit interaction and cooperation is the primary mode of computer supported activity. This, however, poses serious challenges to the conceptual architectures of computing, and related engineering disciplines in computer science.