Ubiquitous Computing Testbeds

Introduction

One of the aims of the ANS project is to build a testbed ubiquitous computing environment so that ideas can be tested on real systems. At the moment two main classes of hardware are being considered for the testbed: small PC-based systems and microcontroller-based systems.

Small PCs

We considered two classes of small PC: ones based on a PC/104 motherboard (a popular standard for industrial embedded systems), and ones based on the slightly larger but rather cheaper Mini-ITX motherboard standard. It has been decided to use a Mini-ITX system for our first PC testbed node.

Microcontroller Systems

Microcontroller based testbed nodes are much cheaper than PC based nodes as well as being considerably smaller and lower power.

Scenarios and Concepts

Scenarios and lists of concepts describe plausible uses for our ubiquitous computing systems and help us decide which devices to implement.

Room 563

We’re hoping to use room 563 in Huxley as a ubiquitous computing testbed environment. This PDF shows our initial layout ideas and the scenarios we’re hoping to test.