Design of Context-Aware Information Systems in Manufacturing Industries: Overview and Challenges.

In the last 30 years, several academic and commercial projects have explored the context-awareness concept in multiple domains. Ubiquitous computing and ambient intelligence are features associated with the 4th generation industry empowering space to interact and respond appropriately according to context. In the scope of Industry 4.0, context-aware systems aim to improve productivity in smart factories and offer assistance to workers through services, applications, and devices, delivering functionalities and contextualised content. This article, through descriptive research, discusses the concepts related to context, presents and analyses projects related to ubiquitous computing and associated with Industry 4.0, and discusses the main challenges in systems and applications development to support intelligent environments for increased productivity, supporting informed decision-making in the factories of the future. The study results indicate that many research questions regarding the analysed projects remain the same, leading the research in the context-aware systems area to minimise issues related to context-aware features, improving the incorporation of Industry 4.0 paradigm concepts.