LLAMA
Monitoring Energy Usage of Laptops
Informed Consent Document
RESEARCH INFORMED CONSENT FORM Title of Project: Llama: An Adaptive Strategy for Utilizing Excess Energy to Perform Background Tasks on Mobile Devices. Principal Investigator: Mark Corner Phone (413) 545-3788 Student Investigator: Nilanjan Banerjee Phone number 413-545-0067\ Study Sponsor: NSF Purpose of Research: To support common applications like web browsing mobile computing devices often perform background tasks such as downloading news that improve the user's experience but require no interactivity. In an effort to conserve energy, background tasks are typically scheduled infrequently and only when a device is already in-use. The underlying assumption is that the user will need all the energy in the battery. However, we believe conjecture that mobile devices often recharge with a lot of battery capacity remaining. Therefore, to understand how users use their laptop batteries, we plan to do a year long user study on how users use their batteries in their laptops. The number of research subjects we want to test is around 150 and the study will take place between February 2007 -February 2008. Your participation in the study would be for one year unless you wish to opt out of the study before this period. In case you wish to opt out of the study you may uninstall our device through an uninstaller which comes with the monitoring tool software. Procedures: 1. Completing an optional online survey which would ask you simple questions regarding how you use your laptop batteries. The survey will ask the following questions: -What is the estimated battery lifetime on your system? -Do you use multiple batteries on your system? The survey will not collect personal information about you and will help us get a direct opinion from you as to whether you really recharge your laptops with a lot of energy remaining in their batteries. 2. The second part of the study will ask you to install a monitoring tool on your laptops. The monitoring tool is designed to work for Mac OS X and Windows laptops. The tool will run as a background service or daemon on the laptops. It will record the following information: a. battery capacity remaining in the laptop at a particular time b. whether the laptop is connected to the internet c. how much disk space is left on the laptop for the user d. what is the CPU utilization of your user account and e. what is the time since you last used your keyboard. In addition to the above information the monitoring tool will generate a small window which will pop up when you charge your laptop. It will ask you why you are recharging your laptop. These pieces of information will be logged into a file which will be uploaded to a central server (prisms.cs.umass.edu) once a day. The data will not contain any personal information about you and is identified by the server through the MAC address of your laptop's wireless card. Your laptop will be monitored for a period of one year. If you wish to opt out of the study, the installation package has an easy to use single-click uninstaller. If you want to uninstall the monitoring tool you will have to click on the uninstaller and the package will be automatically uninstalled from your computer. Upon completion of the study you will have to uninstall the monitoring tool using the same uninstaller described above. This informed consent form will be available to you from our tool download webpage in 14 pt font so that it is easily readable. You will have to click on an ACCEPT button to agree to the conditions of this form. We also recommend that you print a copy of this informed consent form for your records. Risks and Discomforts: There are no risks involved for you or your laptop Benefits: You will not directly benefit from participating in this study. However, by participating, you will help us determine the general trend of battery usage of laptops. Confidentiality: Only the PI and his one student (Nilanjan Banerjee involved in the data analysis) would have access to your account where your data is stored. The account is password protected and cannot be accessed by anybody from outside. So your data would not be not be used for any purpose other than scientific research. Information produced by this study will be confidential and private. Your data will be used for publication in the scientific literature or for teaching purposes. No personal information about you will be used. Server Security/Risks: The server account where the data is stored and from where the software is downloadable cannot be written into by any external user. Therefore, there is no way an external user can download malicious software on your laptop. Cost and Compension: The University of Massachusetts does not have a program for compensating subjects for injury or complications related to human subjects research. No other compensation will be provided to you by NSF or personally by the PI. Your participation in the user study is totally voluntary. Alternatives to Participation: There is no alternative involved in the study. Subject Enrollment/Length of Study: It is expected that 150 subjects will be enrolled in this study. Your participation is expected to last for one year unless you opt to withdraw from the study and uninstall the monitoring tool. Voluntary Participation: You are under no obligation to participate in this project. You may withdraw your participation at any time without prejudice by uninstalling the monitoring tool with the uninstaller provided to you. Request for additional information: Should you have any questions regarding the information in this informed consent document, you may contact Nilanjan Banerjee (Phone number : 413-687-1626, email : nilanb@cs.umass.edu). Should you have any questions about your treatment or any other matter relative to your participation in this project, you may call: Mark Corner at (413)-545-3788 (email : mcorner@cs.umass.edu). If you would like to speak with someone not directly involved in the research study, you may contact the Human Research Protection Office at the University of Massachusetts via email at humansubjects@ora.umass.edu; telephone (413) 545-3428; or mail at the Human Research Protection Office, Research Administration Building, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 70 Butterfield Terrace, Amherst, MA 01003-9242. SUBJECT STATEMENT OF VOLUNTARY CONSENT By clicking on ACCEPT I am agreeing to voluntarily enter this study. I understand that, by clicking on ACCEPT, I do not waive any of my legal rights. I have had a chance to read this consent form, and it was explained to me in a language which I use and understand. I have had the opportunity to ask questions and have received satisfactory answers. Study Representative Statement: I have explained the purpose of the research, the study procedures, the possible risks and discomforts, the possible benefits, and have answered any questions to the best of my ability. ___Mark Corner, PhD_______________________________________ Principal Investigator's Name Nilanjan Banerjee__________________________________ Student Investigator's Name