Home Activity Study

        Goal:    For our study, we want to gather information about how often your phone is in your home, and when it is, how often it is moving around or it is simply sitting idle (i.e., not moving and screen off).

        Why:    We are currently developing the first highly usable system for the home that allows the average user to understand the range, quality, and sustained interference of their wireless networks and devices. As you walk around your home with your smartphone in your pocket, the system we are developing will automatically learn about where your devices are placed and what interferes with them. With the understanding it gains, it can automatically reconfigure your networks or present information directly to you via your phone's interface.

 How You Can Help Us

   We have created a simple Android application that:
    • Anonymously shares with us how often your phone is home and moving (or not).
    • Runs entirely in the background, never disturbing you.
    • Has a negligeable impact on your phone's battery usage.
    • Uses less than 2MB of data a day.
    • Doesn't require you to have Wifi enabled. *
    • Never shares information that would give away your identity or location.
    • Is open source for you to verify these claims!
   * Although we never require your Wifi to be enabled, your phone must have connected to your home's wireless network at least once. If it has never done so before, connect it at least once before installing to participate!

  How To Install: To help our study by installing this application, type the following URL in your phone's web browser which will download the application: http://tinyurl.com/pastudy. You do not need to be in your home when you install and run the application for the first time.



   You are free to uninstall the application at any time (it is listed as "Home Activity Study"), however it would be most useful to us if you left it installed for at least a week for it to gather meaningful information. Again, it runs entirely in the background and does not disturb you in any way.


(QR code linking to the Application)