CFP: ICOST2006

Call for Papers

4th International Conference On Smart homes and health Telematics
ICOST2006 - 26-28 June, 2006 - Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK

Organiser
University of Ulster

After three successful editions held in France (2003), Singapore (2004), and Canada (2005), ICOST2006 aims to continue to develop an active research community dedicated to explore how Smart Homes and Health Telematics can foster independent living and offer an enhanced quality of life for ageing and disabled people. A Smart Home can be considered to be an augmented environment with the ability to consolidate embedded computers, information appliances, micro/nano systems, and multi-modal sensors to offer people unprecedented levels of access to information and assistance from information and communication technology. Health Telematics makes the most of networks and telecommunications to provide, within the home environment, health services, expertise and information and hence radically transform the way health-related services are conceived and delivered. We believe that in the future ageing and disabled people will use smart assistive technology to perform daily living activities, socialize, and enjoy entertainment and leisure activities. Nowadays networks, microprocessors, memory chips, smart sensors and actuators are faster, cheaper, more intelligent and smaller than ever. Current advances in such enabling technologies coupled with evolving care paradigms allow us to foresee novel applications and services for improving the quality of life for ageing and disabled people both inside and outside of their homes. The conference will present the latest approaches and technical solutions in the area of Smart Homes, Health Telematics, and emerging enabling technologies. Technical topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

o Intelligent Environments / Smart Homes
o Medical Data Collection and Processing
o Human-Machine Interface / Ambient Intelligence
o Modeling of Physical and Conceptual Information in Intelligent Environments
o Vision / Hearing / Cognitive Devices
o Tele-Assistance and Tele-Rehabilitation
o Personal Robotics and Smart Wheelchairs
o Context Awareness / Autonomous Computing
o Home Networks / Residential Gateways
o Wearable Sensors / Integrated Micro/Nano Systems / Home Health Monitoring
o Social / Privacy / Security Issues
o Middleware Support for Smart Home and Health Telematic Services

Each year, ICOST has a specific flavour. ICOST2003 focused on usability. The theme was "Independent living for persons with disabilities and elderly people". The theme for ICOST2004 was "Towards a Human-Friendly Assistive Environment" and for ICOST2005 was "From Smart Homes to Smart Care". This year the conference has the theme "Smart Homes and Beyond". This focuses on promoting personal autonomy and extending the quality of life. Papers or special sessions addressing the following topics are especially encouraged:

o Inclusive smart home services
o Smart services inside and outside of the home
o Situation awareness
o Location-based services
o Mobility of service delivery

Submission of Papers: There will be a combination of presentations including scientific papers, posters, exhibits and technology demonstrations. Prospective authors are invited, in the first instance, to submit papers for oral presentation in any of the areas of interest for this conference as well as proposals for Special Sessions. The initial submission for evaluation should be in the form of a 4-8 page paper outline. Authors are strongly recommended to submit the full 8-page English language version. IOS Press will publish the proceedings as a volume of the Assistive Technology Research Series therefore their paper publication format (www.iospress.nl/authco/instruction_crc.html) should be used for submission.

Important Dates:
Papers submission: 20 January, 2006
Author notification: 3 March, 2006
Camera-ready copy: 3 April, 2006

Conference Web Page: http://www.icost2006.ulster.ac.uk/
Conference Organisation Email: info@icost2006.ac.uk

Conference Venue: ICOST2006 will be held at the Culloden Hotel, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK