1. Test Beds & Living Labs
Jo Pierson
IBBT-SMIT-VUB

2. What is happening in the ICT world…?
2005 2006
Disruptive technologies - Doom Users as innovators - Boom

3. Answers
1. Test and Experimentation Platforms
2. IBBT iLabs
3. Projects

4. Test and Experimentation Platforms (TEP)
TEP = All facilities and environments for (joint) innovation
including testing, prototyping and confronting technology with
usage situations (Ballon, Pierson & Delaere, 2007)
IBBT aims at sharing it’s knowledge and expertise on stimulating
valorisation and innovation through testbeds and living labs

5. iLab.o: Mission
IBBT iLab.o – Open innovation in ICT
Contact: prof. Jo Pierson & Pieter Ballon (pieter.ballon@vub.ac.be)
Mission: Lab and competence center for multi-stakeholder
innovation, policy and experimentation of services and
technologies
Essential policy and strategy issues
Stimulating open innovation
Building strong partnerships and networks
Reaping rewards from Web 2.0 innovations
Closing the digital divide
Safeguarding privacy and trust
Methods
Experimental, multi-stakeholder analysis and co-design with users, policy and business partners
Use of various simulation tools and Living Lab settings
Co-operation
Interdisciplinary involvement of various IBBT research groups
i-City Living Lab; ITS Belgium; VKOA

6. iLab.o: Outdoor setting
Wireless internet access on
campus
App. 11,000 users (students -
personnel) with 500 dedicated
Full mesh WiFi network with WiMAX backbone set up by Brussels Region
0.5 km2 outdoors and indoors coverage (end 2006 - end 2008)
Mobile VOIP tests on-going
Multi-stakeholder tools and application development for mobile Web 2.0
Currently up-scaling CampusLab in co-operation with Brussels Regional authorities

7. iLab.u: Mission
IBBT iLab.u – User experience design and evaluation
Contact: prof. Dirk De Grooff (dirk.degrooff@soc.kuleuven.be)
Goal: Observation of user experiences
To observe reactions and experiences of users of new ICT applications
To identify problem areas so that usability experts can suggest improvements in user experience
Usability
Accessibility
Functionality
Emotional experiences (likeability)

8. iLab.u: Equipment
Stationary lab
Reproduces a living room or an office environment
Evaluation of ICT applications on a wide array of carriers,
including (interactive)TV, games, computer hard- and
software, etc.
Portable lab
Evaluation of ICT applications in real-life environment
Mobile lab
Evaluation of mobile devices
Eye tracking
Records precisely what users are looking at
Psychophysiological measurement
Measuring emotional reactions of users
Galvanic skin reader, heart rate monitors, …

9. iLab.t: Mission
IBBT iLab.t – Technology center
Contact: prof. Piet Demeester (Piet.Demeester@UGent.be)
Mission: Support of research projects by providing lab
infrastructure to evaluate technical feasibility, performance and
service quality of ICT innovation
iLab.t has a wide range of advanced equipment, including:
Wired and wireless measuring equipment to evaluate networks, audio
and video quality, wireless applications, …
A general testing environment with more than 100 nodes (terminals,
servers, routers) to imitate and evaluate networks, services and
applications (virtual wall)
A wireless testing environment with 200 nodes (wireless sensor lab)
A wide diversity of terminals and appliances such as PDAs, mobile
phones, smart phones, …
Efficient internet connectivity through Belnet with a capacity of 1Gbit/s to
facilitate experiments requiring high band-width

10. iLab.t : Overview
500 m2
Approx. 100 racks (~ 4000 units)
10

11. iLab.t : Virtual Wall
Servers (100x)
Dual CPU, dual core
4GB RAM
4x 80GB harddisk
60x 6 and 40x 4 network interfaces
Central switch: Force 10 networks
576x Gb/s port
8x 10 Gb/s port
1.6Tb/s backplane
Displays+VGA
Full Automatic Install and
Remote Access

12. iLab.t : Wireless Sensor Lab
200 nodes in office environment
Every node is generic and is equipped with
1 or 2 Sensor node IEEE802.15.4 (+ embedded sensors: Temp, Light,
Humidity)
2 WiFi IEEE 802.11 radios (a/b/g)
Extendable: Bluetooth, Software Defined Radio, …
Environment emulator
Battery power
Sensor signals
Class Room
FAI and Remote Access
Corridor
Sensor Sensor + i-node

13. Project snapshots: Interactive television
Consortium
Telenet
Interkabel
VRT
VMMa
VT4
CUO
EDM
MICT
SMIT
Development of interactive
television in Flanders
300 households
1 year trial
2003-2004
Introduced by Cable Operator

14. Project snapshots: e-Paper
Consortium
Belgacom
De Tijd
Hypervision
I-Merge
Philips
CUO
DistriNet
INTEC-IBCN
IMEC
World’s First development of a digital
MICT
newspaper on a specific e-Reader
SMIT
device
Business Models and User Research
200 users
Trial of 2 months
March - May 2006
Entire value chain involved: OEM, Media
Conglomerate, Digital Advertiser

15. Project snapshots: LLECOS
Consortium
MS Research
i-City
SMIT
Living Lab Exploration of Community
Services (LLECOS)
New multiplatform communication and
broadcast tool
Virtual co-presence
i-City living lab environment
Ongoing project
Start July 2007
Contractor: Microsoft Research
Cambridge

16. Ideas on potential e-health living lab
Rationale
Potential of ICT in health and health care sector for efficiency and
effectiveness
Emerging new industry – Atypical business model
E-health living lab
Natural user centric test environment
Brings stakeholders together in common horizontal platform
Industry potential
Transmural communication and data sharing
Home care
Medical imaging
Hospitals, social profit and other organisations

17. IBBT iLab conclusion and opportunities
Diverse test and experimentation facilities supporting research
as well as innovation process on technological and socio-
economical level
Tools for strengthening ICT research and development in each
stage (concept – experimentation – evaluation)
iLab infrastructure open to scientific, public and private
stakeholders
IBBT aims at sharing it’s knowledge and expertise on stimulating
valorisation and innovation through testbeds and living labs

18. Q&A
Thank you
Any questions?