The Telecooperation Office (TECO) is a research group at the

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; german: Karlsruher Institut für Technologie) is a public research university in Karlsruhe, Germany. The institute is a national research center of the Helmholtz Association. KIT was created in 2009 w ...

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

, Germany. The research group is in the Institute of

Telematics Telematics is an interdisciplinary field encompassing telecommunications, vehicular technologies ( road transport, road safety, etc.), electrical engineering (sensors, instrumentation, wireless communications, etc.), and computer science (multimedi ...

, and is attached to the Chair for Pervasive Computing Systems, currently held by Michael Beigl.

History

The TECO, originally titled "The Telecooperation Office (TecO)", was founded in 1993 at the

(then University of Karlsruhe (TH)) for research and development in applied

telematics Telematics is an interdisciplinary field encompassing telecommunications, vehicular technologies ( road transport, road safety, etc.), electrical engineering (sensors, instrumentation, wireless communications, etc.), and computer science (multimedi ...

by Prof. Gerhard Krüger and the Campus-based Engineering Center (CEC) of the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). The main focus of research conducted at TECO has been on

Pervasive Pervasive may refer to: *Pervasive Computing, human computer interaction paradigm * Pervasive Informatics, study of how information affects human interactions *Pervasive Software, software company in the United States **Pervasive PSQL, software d ...

and

Ubiquitous Computing Ubiquitous computing (or "ubicomp") is a concept in software engineering, hardware engineering and computer science where computing is made to appear anytime and everywhere. In contrast to desktop computing, ubiquitous computing can occur using a ...

, with emphasis on

wireless communication Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The most ...

Embedded Systems An embedded system is a computer system—a combination of a computer processor, computer memory, and input/output peripheral devices—that has a dedicated function within a larger mechanical or electronic system. It is ''embedded'' as ...

Situational Awareness Situational awareness or situation awareness (SA) is the perception of environmental elements and events with respect to time or space, the comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of their future status. An alternative definition is tha ...

and

Human Computer Interaction Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, an ...

. When DEC was taken over by Compaq, the CEC in Karlsruhe was taken over by

SAP AG Sap is a fluid transported in xylem cells (vessel elements or tracheids) or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. These cells transport water and nutrients throughout the plant. Sap is distinct from latex, resin, or cell sap; it is a sepa ...

and was attached to SAP Research Germany. The close research ties and cooperation between the DEC and the TECO were also transferred to SAP. The TECO continues to work in close cooperation with SAP Research, and was later attached to Prof. Wilfried Juling. In April 2010, the Chair for Pervasive Computing Systems was founded as a "New Shared Field Group" in cooperation with

. This Chair was awarded to Michael Beigl, and the TECO was brought under the new Chair as a research lab with the title "TECO: Technology for Pervasive Computing". Currently the TECO contains 2 post-doctorate researchers and 11 research assistants / PhD students.

Research Focus

The focus of research is currently on various topics with the field of

and

. These include the fields of

Activity Recognition Activity recognition aims to recognize the actions and goals of one or more agents from a series of observations on the agents' actions and the environmental conditions. Since the 1980s, this research field has captured the attention of several c ...

Context Context may refer to: * Context (language use), the relevant constraints of the communicative situation that influence language use, language variation, and discourse summary Computing * Context (computing), the virtual environment required to su ...

and

Situation Awareness Situational awareness or situation awareness (SA) is the perception of environmental elements and events with respect to time or space, the comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of their future status. An alternative definition is tha ...

in embedded, mobile and distributed systems. Other past research foci in

and

include

Wireless sensor network Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) refer to networks of spatially dispersed and dedicated sensors that monitor and record the physical conditions of the environment and forward the collected data to a central location. WSNs can measure environmental c ...

s and

RFID Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder, a radio receiver and transmitter. When triggered by an electromag ...

technology and Human-Computer Interaction. The current fields of research include the following: * Sensor and

technology * Communication, Collaboration, Networks and Middleware * Human-Computer Interaction * System Design and Engineering * Security, Privacy and Trust

Notable Contributions

The first

mobile browser A mobile browser is a web browser designed for use on a mobile device such as a mobile phone or PDA. Mobile browsers are optimized to display Web content most effectively on small screens on portable devices. Mobile browser software must be sma ...

for a hand-held device, calle
PocketWeb
was developed at the TECO on the Apple Newton. The MediaCup was an early example of

appliance, demonstrating awareness in embedded systems. The TECO also organized and played a major role in initiating the HUC/Ubicomp conference series in 1999, which is now the major conference in the field of Ubiquitous Computing. The "Point & Click" human-computer interaction paradigm developed at the TECO presented at this conference is now widely used to control devices in pervasive computing environments. Th
Smart-Its
developed at the TECO, was the first European wireless sensor network in the private sector.

References

External links

www.teco.edu

Chair for Pervasive Computing Systems at KIT

Smart-Its Website

MediaCup Website
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Telecooperation Office The Telecooperation Office (TECO) is a research group at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Karlsruhe, Germany. The research group is in the Institute of Telematics, and is attached to the Chair for Pervasive Computing Systems, currently hel ...

Ubiquitous computing