A framework for engineering pervasive applications applied to intra-vehicular sensor network applications

The vehicle sector is one of the most exciting application areas for wireless ad hoc networks and pervasive computing technologies. Vehicles are constantly being equipped with more sensors and devices able to collect real-time data on traffic, vehicle condition, passenger health, and so on. Being a relatively new field of application, this area needs tools and methodologies in order to specify requirements and prototype applications. This paper presents a Framework for Pervasive Applications and describes how it can be customized in the case of Vehicular Applications. The framework consists of a set of software requirements, some metrics, and some middleware services for rapid prototyping pervasive applications. In addition, the paper introduces an ongoing project that aims at granting high-quality on-road transportation services for fragile food (e.g. wine). In particular, its objective is to provide a system able to monitor several conditions, like temperature, humidity, light, shocks, etc., which carried products are subject to during transportation.