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Pervasive computing systems can be modeled effectively as populations of interacting autonomous components. The key challenge to realizing such models is in getting separately-specified and -developed sub-systems to discover and interoperate with each other in an open and extensible way, supported by appropriate middleware services. In this paper, we argue that nature-inspired coordination models offer a promising way of addressing this challenge. We first frame the various dimensions along which nature-inspired coordination models can be defined, and survey the most relevant proposals in the area. We describe the nature-inspired coordination model developed within the SAPERE project as a synthesis of existing approaches, and show how it can effectively support the multifold requirements of modern and emerging pervasive services. We conclude by identifying what we think are the open research challenges in this area, and identify some research directions that we believe are promising.

Social networks are perhaps the purest example of "Web 2.0" services, and offer a sophisticated tool for accessing the preferences and properties of individuals and groups. Thus, they potentially allow up-to-date, richly annotated contextual data to be acquired as a side effect of users' everyday use of the services. In this paper, we explore how such "social sensing" could be integrated into pervasive systems. We frame and survey the possible approaches to such an integration, and eventually discuss the open issues and challenges facing researchers.

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Here we present the overall objectives and approach of the SAPERE (“Self-aware Pervasive Service Ecosystems”) project, focussed on the development of a highly-innovative nature-inspired framework, suited for the decentralized deployment, execution, and management, of self-aware and adaptive pervasive services in future network scenarios