Christian Köhler

Diploma Thesis Student

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I'm currently a Diplom student working at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, under supervision of Prof. Anind Dey.

Thesis:

My thesis, Using Mobile Phones for Sustainability in Domestic Environments, was a cooperation between the The Media Computing Group and Prof. Anind Dey. In my work I was interested how GPS-enabled thermostats could help us reduce energy consumption in domestic environments.

To achieve this goal I used a location predictive algorithm, which predicted when the user comes homes. Based on the predicted return time the temperature in the apartment is regulated. I also tried to reduce standby power consumption by deactivating devices which draw power unnecessary while the user is not at home.

I developed a prototype system with off-the-shelf home automation hardware, which allowed the user to control temperature and standby devices. The system was developed on a Google Android G1 smart phone and allowed the user remote control over the system.

My thesis was supervised by Prof. Anind Dey and Max Möllers.

Current Projects:

• MobileSafer, a system that explores the possibility to influence a user's long-term behavior towards power consumption
• with data gathered through the MobileSafer project I also want to realize the idea of using a machine learning technique to accurately calculate power consumption of heating and cooling systems in an apartment

Research Interest:

• Sustainability
• Machine-Learning in relation to HCI and Sustainability
• Activity Prediction
• UbiComp
• Mobile Technologies