tridentcom 2006 paper on the living lab approach

Creating a distributed mobile networking testbed environment – through the Living Labs

approach.

Presented by Miguel Ponce de Leon

Waterford Institute of Technology/TSSG,Ireland.

[email protected]

Co-Authors: Mats Eriksson**,

** Luleå University of Technology /CDT, Luleå, [email protected]

Sasitharan Balasubramaniam*, Willie Donnelly** Waterford Institute of Technology/TSSG, Waterford, Ireland.

{sasib, wdonnelly}@tssg.org

March 2006, TSSG, WIT, Ireland http://www.tssg.org

TSSG Overview

Agenda

• Introduction

• Background – Requirements/Motivation

• Main Components of a Living Lab – Proposed model

• Implementation of a Living Lab– Example – Results and Analysis

• Conclusion – Future Work


TSSG Overview

Introduction

• Many research projects over the years, have ended in a report on a bookshelf.

• Why? – Market was not ready

– Results from the project were never validated under real-life conditions.

– More often than not the project did NOT start from the very needs and preconditions of the intended user.


TSSG Overview

Digital World Value Chain

Transactions

Communications

Information

Applications/Services

Content Providers

Application Service

Providers

Portals/Aggregators

Enabling Technologies

Operators/Service

Providers

End Users

Vendors

Content

The Value Chain


TSSG Overview

Background

• The European Mobile Communications & Technology Platform identified key issues to be taken by both industry and government, with a view to assuring the success of mobile broadband communications

• The group identified the need for :-

• Large-scale demonstration platforms will arise that will permit to prototype and verify the interoperability of a multitude of applications, services and devices.


TSSG Overview

The Problem• This value chain is driven and challenged by steady technology

innovation

– Emerging network technology Infrastructures which are• Highly complex • Drastically changing • Made up of

– Next Generation Networks – Fixed/Mobile Convergence

– Emerging service delivery platforms provide• Seamless Multimedia Services• New support to application developers (so that they don't have to

care to much on the nitty gritty details of the network)


TSSG Overview

The Challenges

Fixed network operators

Mobile network operators

Equipment Manufacturers

How to reduce the ‘test infrastructure investment overhead

How to involve real end users in the innovation cycle

Have the Problem

How to enable real and rapid development, prototyping, interoperability & conformance testing, and validation of research

How to validate research given increasing complexity of multi-access technologies/multi-location requirements

SMEs

Academia


TSSG Overview

The Living Labs network approach• “Creating a user-centred

approach to Wireless Research Environment through Access to Interconnected Wireless Infrastructure Playgrounds”

– Supersedes the existing prevalence of isolated private wireless test-beds with restricted access, with

• a model of providing open testing and validation support to any research project that has a wireless or mobility research component.

• Linking national testbeds to one European hub of NGN Testbeds

IPv6

IPv6IPv6

LivingLab

LivingLabLivingLab

LivingLab

LivingLab


TSSG Overview

• Open – Open and supportive of all wireless researchers– Capable of invoking Standard interfaces

• Integrated – interconnected through European IPv6 backbone– interoperable access technologies, – parity of testbed capability– Multiple technology, multiple user, multiple location

Living Labs Motivation


TSSG Overview

• Demand/user driven

• Support– gain collective experience – test and validate multi-national, pan-European service offerings

• cater for national, regional or other cultural, business, technical or societal differences that makes a pan-European footprint essential for being able to develop pan-European applications, services.

• harmonization of European NGN testbed infrastructures

• “Extension" of network centric European testbeds – towards mobility – towards application/service support– Towards End Users

The Living Lab provides a critical, cost effective, technologically complete, testing and The Living Lab provides a critical, cost effective, technologically complete, testing and validation environment, facilitating innovative research in wireless and mobilityvalidation environment, facilitating innovative research in wireless and mobility

Living Labs Motivation


TSSG Overview

Main Components of a Living Lab

1. Multiple Access Technologies and End Systems• Access technologies such as GSM/GPRS, UMTS, WLAN, W-MAN,

Bluetooth, WLL

2. Unified Communications Infrastructure• Each access technology has its own individual switching function manager

(SM) which administers individual call legs of that technology, at this layer a unified call state model has to be offered to the next layer.

• Flexible Services Platform & Middleware• SIP, OSA Parlay, Parlay X, IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)

1. Effective Network Management and Control• Monitor the current system or peer monitoring system performing co-

operative management tasks


TSSG Overview

Main Components of a Living Lab

5. Evaluation and co-creation by the real consumer, the End User• The test facility is enhanced by means of a human resource

component

6. Tools for Testing, validation and management• A rich set of evaluation methods are in place for technical testing

measurement and human related evaluations of applications.

7. Service Development• Submit to service repository and execute the services while

monitoring the results remotely during service execution.

8. Code Repository• Support software reuse to allow partners an opportunity to access

pre-existing software to perform tests.


TSSG Overview

IPv6Backbone

Applications

UMTSFDD/TDD

GSM /GPRS

WLANa/b/x

DVB-S/T

weitere

3Gb Network Technologies

Service Platforms & Middleware

mGov

OtherNetw

Parlay

3Gb Roaming

SIPAAAIMS

weitere

Web services

Otherplatforms

mHealth mLearn. weitereweitereOtherApps

Eng

ineeri

ng T

ools

, C

onfo

rmance

Test

ing,

Measu

rments

, an

d M

anag

em

ent

Inte

rcon

nect

ion

Adapto

r (S

ecu

rity

, M

an

agem

ent,

etc

.)

International TestBeds

End Systems

Access Technologies

End User (Individual)

End User (SME)End User (Enterprise)

End User (SME)Test Pilots

•Each National Hub•Physical (PSTN, GSM/GPRS, UMTS, WLAN, DVB-T, Bluetooth, 4G, IPv4, IPv6, mobileIP,

•Service Delivery Platforms SIP, IN/Camel, OSA Parlay, Parlay X, IMS, CTI, AAA

•Engaged End Users

Living Lab Wireless Playground


TSSG Overview

Implementation of a Living Lab

• In EU IST FP5 – OPIUM (2002 – 2004)– The goal of the project was to support the accelerated

rollout of commercial mobile services within Europe addressing

• interoperability, roaming and billing prior to the delivery of commercial services.

– OPIUM consisted of five trial sites in five countries (Portugal, Germany, Spain, UK and China).


TSSG Overview


• OPIUM trials looked at the validation of end-to-end service mobility, interoperability and roaming solutions through the interconnection of open middleware platforms (Parlay)

©IKV++ Technologies AG, 2002

OPIUM Testbed Architecture

Spain testbed Berlin testbedPortugal testbed

UMTS

CustomerCare

UMTSUMTS WLAN

SmartMessenger

PSTN

OSA:CC, UI, MobOSA:

CC, Mob,UI, Charg

UK testbed

GPRS

OSA:CC, UI, Mob

BroadmediaGeoPlaneta

UC3M services

enago enago

MotorolaFOKUS

AePona/Nortel

VodafoneSiemensPortugal

enagoIKV

IKV

MailmorphWITRatingBureauUHC IPDR StoreWIT SIP Server

CIT SIP Compression

Chinese testbed

OSA:CC, UI,GMS, Mob

UMS

TMC

OMIP / LESSiemensAustria

End User Administration

SmartMessenger

End User Administration

ZTE

Location BasedServices

IKV

IKV++ATOSGw

UMTS

LocationPlatform


TSSG Overview

Implementation of a Living Lab• In EU IST FP6 – Daidalos (2004 – 2008)

– Daidalos' vision is a world in which a mobile user can use a diverse range of personalised services - seamlessly supported by underlying technologies at all system levels and from heterogeneous access methods and networks to service platforms.

– The Official Test Sites were selected from a list of candidates within Daidalos partners considering a number of requirements (such as UMTS/WLAN coverage, transport facilities, availability of specific equipment, broadcast availability, logistics for demonstrations/workshops and expertise from former projects, among others) to decide which sites were more suitable for the chosen scenarios: automotive and university.

– The three Daidalos Official Sites are in place at Stuttgart (Germany), Aveiro (Portugal) and Sophia-Antipolis (France).


TSSG Overview


• Daidalos

• In order for the project to benchmark and validate the progress and completeness of the integration process.

• An analyses was carried out of each of the Scenario steps and from this exercise a series of conformance tests were developed, which are then used to validate the Daidalos demonstrator.


TSSG Overview

1. In building this Living Lab: A Distributed Open pan-European wireless testbed with state-of-the-art service platforms and end user engagement

• Collection of access technologies making up the comprehensive platform for others to use … with

• Rich multi-vendor service platforms …. with

• Inclusion of test pilots, where ‘real’ end-users validate clients research … with

• Integrated verification and testing process

2. Acting a “Catalyst for Innovation”• improving performance, take up, effectiveness of ICT and

other complex research projects with wireless component• Acting as a real world ‘clustering’ mechanism

Where is the Innovation in Testbeds?


TSSG Overview

Conclusion (1/2)

• The result of implementing the mobile research Living Lab environment

– Researchers have 'Open' access to a powerful, flexible, and evolving federated wireless test bed infrastructure

– Interoperability of services and service provision environments (including roaming across heterogeneous networks) are validated; research approaches are verified; and take-up is accelerated.

– Real End users participate actively in the validation of a complex wireless environment of mobile intelligence


TSSG Overview

Conclusion (2/2)

• Future work– Just about to start EU FP6 project CoreLabs (April

2006)• Co-ordination of activities towards the establishment of co-

creative Living Labs as the foundation of a Common European Infrastructure concept.

– Harmonisation of existing and emerging Living Labs– Creation of a common European Roadmap for relevant

research activities

– A Living Lab is an “end-user” oriented testing environment for validating research. In addition to technological aspects, the Living Lab allows insight to the human dimension of technology.