IoT-Based pervasive game framework - A proof of concept case study
Master thesis
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http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2565102Utgivelsesdato
2018Metadata
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Sammendrag
With the Internet of Things (IoT) playing a key role in the Fourth Industrial Revolutionit is clear that it will become a larger part of our day to day life. IoT offers unique capabilitiesfor having tiny sensors and embedded systems take part in the Internet andexpand the way we use the Internet today. Researchers are currently researching thebenefits of utilizing playful digital technology to encourage health promoting activitiesfor both children, adolescents, and elderly, and pervasive games have shown promisingsigns both for reducing sedentary behavior and as tool for rehabilitation for elderlystroke victims. The combination of pervasive games and IoT is at the time of writinga fairly unexplored field of research and the research done in this paper seeks to helpestablish the state of the art and provide a framework that could help drive the researchforward.In this master thesis, a framework for prototyping and developing pervasive gamesthat utilize Internet of Things was developed and evaluated in a proof-of-concept manner.The evaluation was done with a proposed technology stack that included a RaspberryPi Zero W, several RFduinos, the Bluetooth Low Energy and Wi-Fi protocols, theMQTT protocol, and the Unity game engine. The chosen technologies were based ona list of requirements that were proposed as suited features for supporting prototypingand development of IoT-based pervasive games. The list of requirements were establishedbased on a state of the art presentation on IoT, Cloud technology, pervasivegames, and exergames.The proof-of-concept evaluation was based around a case study with the game Follow the Red Dot , a simple pervasive game where a dot is transfered betweendifferent devices when players interact with the device that is currently in control ofthe dot. Follow the Red Dot was chosen as the case as its structure allows for implementationsin both local and distributed settings, in addition to supporting a virtualmirroring of the active game devices. The case study was split into three different casesto provide insights into different attributes of the technologies that were evaluated.The results showed that the technology stack satisfied all the requirements thatwere initially set for technologies. The framework developed also provided the intendedfunctionality when integrated with the suggested stack. There were howeversome issues experienced with the RFduinos and the discussion suggests that therelikely exists better alternatives that would provide the same functionality, but in morereliable fashion. The results also brings forth that developing a stack that is suitedfor every type of IoT-based pervasive games isn t really feasible as the pervasive gamegenre includes so many different sub-genres that vary in architecture, interaction, andpotential IoT usage. The research finally proposes that wider and more specific researchshould be performed on the different technologies that exists within each of thelayers, as the limitations of this thesis restricted the amount of research done on thedifferent technologies.