@article {ElKhaddar201543, title = {A policy-based middleware for context-aware pervasive computing}, journal = {International Journal of Pervasive Computing and Communications}, volume = {11}, number = {1}, year = {2015}, note = {cited By 1}, pages = {43-68}, abstract = {Purpose {\textendash} This paper aims to demonstrate that a policy-based middleware solution which facilitates the development of context-aware applications and the integration of the heterogeneous devices should be provided for ubiquitous computing environments. Ubiquitous computing targets the provision of seamless services and applications by providing an environment that involves a variety of devices having different capabilities. These applications help transforming the physical spaces into computationally active and smart environments. The design of applications in these environments needs to consider the heterogeneous devices, applications preferences and rapidly changing contexts. The applications, therefore, need to be context-aware so that they can adapt to different situations in real-time. Design/methodology/approach {\textendash} In this paper, we argue that a policy-based middleware solution that facilitates the development of context-aware applications and the integration of the heterogeneous devices should be provided for ubiquitous computing environments. The middleware allows applications to track items and acquire contextual information about them easily, reason about this information captured using different logics and then adapt to changing contexts. A key issue in these environments is to allow heterogeneous applications to express their business rules once, and get the preferred data once they are captured by the middleware without any intervention from the application side. Findings {\textendash} Our middleware tackles this problem by using policies to define the different applications{\textquoteright} rules and preferences. These policies can specify rules about the middleware services to be used, type of data captured, devices used, user roles, context information and any other type of conditions. Originality/value {\textendash} In this paper, we propose the design of a flexible and performant ubiquitous computing, and context-aware middleware called FlexRFID along with its evaluation results. {\textcopyright} Emerald Group Publishing Limited.}, doi = {10.1108/IJPCC-07-2014-0039}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84928536703\&doi=10.1108\%2fIJPCC-07-2014-0039\&partnerID=40\&md5=1ea1a116178cb05d7fea8c54743c528b}, author = {El Khaddar, M.A.a and Chraibi, M.b and Harroud, H.b and Boulmalf, M.c and Elkoutbi, M.a and Maach, A.d} } @conference {ElKhaddar2014461, title = {Modeling and enforcing security and service control policies using FlexRFID middleware: Healthcare scenarios}, booktitle = {Proceedings of 2014 Science and Information Conference, SAI 2014}, year = {2014}, note = {cited By 0}, pages = {461-467}, abstract = {RFID and WSN technologies are widely used in today{\textquoteright}s pervasive computing. In Wireless Sensor Networks, sensor nodes sense the physical environment and send the sensed data to the sink by multi-hops. WSN are used in many applications such as military and environment monitoring. In Radio Frequency Identification, a unique ID is assigned to a RFID tag which is associated with a real world object. RFID applications cover many areas such as Supply Chain Management (SCM), healthcare, library management, automatic toll collection, etc. The integration of both technologies will bring many advantages in the future of ubiquitous computing, through the provision of real-world tracking and context information about the objects. This will increase considerably the automation of an information system. In order to process the large volume of data captured by sensors and RFID readers in real time, a middleware solution is needed. This middleware should be designed in a way to allow the aggregation, filtering and grouping of the data captured by the hardware devices before sending them to the backend applications. In this paper we demonstrate how our middleware solution called FlexRFID handles large amount of RFID and sensor scan data, and executes applications{\textquoteright} business rules in real time through its policy-based Business Rules layer. The FlexRFID middleware provides easy addition and removal of hardware devices that capture data, as well as uses the business rules of the applications to control all its services. We demonstrate how the middleware controls some defined healthcare scenarios, and deals with the access control security concern to sensitive healthcare data through the use of policies. {\textcopyright} 2014 The Science and Information (SAI) Organization.}, doi = {10.1109/SAI.2014.6918228}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84909619846\&doi=10.1109\%2fSAI.2014.6918228\&partnerID=40\&md5=14f713233106cde74364d97b68b0b9ad}, author = {El Khaddar, M.A.a and Chraibi, M.b and Harroud, H.c and Boulmalf, M.d and Elkoutbi, M.a and Maach, A.b} } @conference {Bouhouche20141025, title = {A new middleware architecture for the integration of RFID technology into information systems}, booktitle = {International Conference on Multimedia Computing and Systems -Proceedings}, year = {2014}, note = {cited By 0}, pages = {1025-1030}, abstract = {1980 marked the start of a boom in radiofrequency identification (RFID) technology, initially associated with a growing need for traceability. In view of the technological progress and lower costs, RFID{\textquoteright}s area of application became much broader and, today, multiple business sectors take advantage of this technology. But in order to achieve the maximum benefits of RFID technology, the RFID information collected should be useful, for this it is necessary that we can collect it and deliver it in the best conditions for the whole applications that have need of its exploitation, for that a dedicated middleware solution is required to ensure the collection of RFID information and their integration in an information systems. The issues and key points of this integration as the description of the RFID technology will be summarized in the present paper, with a new middleware architecture. {\textcopyright} 2014 IEEE.}, doi = {10.1109/ICMCS.2014.6911314}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84928747866\&doi=10.1109\%2fICMCS.2014.6911314\&partnerID=40\&md5=2633c52241f89748a57aec99c69c2043}, author = {Bouhouche, T.a b and El Khaddar, M.A.a and Boulmalf, M.a and Bouya, M.a and Elkoutbi, M.b} }