FEB 16 2017
FLEXMETER testbeds
The main goal of the FLEXMETER project was to develop uMeter’s capabilities so as to ultimately allow its services to be commercially deployed in 4G networks. FLEX LTE testbeds enabled Ubiwhere to alter the characteristics of the wireless environment so that we could remotely test our product in different 4G environments. By using these testbeds, Ubiwhere was able to study FLEXMETER’s behaviour in different laboratory and controlled environments, validating not only FLEXMETER’s implementation but also result reliability.
The following testbeds were used in the context of the FLEXMETER project:
NITOS
Nitos testbed was FLEXMETER’s first target. One of FIRE’s most important experimentation facilities, openly accessible to experimenters since 2009. NITOS testbed is designed to achieve reproducibility of experimentation, while also supporting evaluation of protocols and applications in real world environment. It offers a wide variety of tools for conducting experimentation-oriented research on the physical, MAC, networking and application layers of wireless networks as well as on the switching/routing and the application layer of wired networks. This testbed provides an LTE network preconfigured using OMF resources and basic OS images with LTE enabled.
w-iLab.T
The w-iLab.t testbed includes both a wireless mesh and a sensor network infrastructure, which can interact with each other, making it possible to test advanced scenarios such as using the mesh network as a backbone for the sensor network. It is deployed in an office building of 18x90m and is spread out over three floors. It consists out of 200 node fixed locations at the iMinds office premises, including meeting rooms, classrooms, offices and corridors. The w-iLab.t testbed is centrally managed for control and monitoring purposes. It supports easy configuration and deployment, including installation of new software, protocols and middleware components via an intuitive web-based interface. The iMinds testbed is slightly different from the Nitos. Instead of having a pre-configured network, this testbed requires the reservation of the femtocell as well as starting the EPC component manually. In order to run FLEXMETER extra steps to configure the EPC, load the femtocell image and enable the UE OS image in each FLEXMETER component were required, allowing the creation of the needed LTE network to test FLEXMETER.
Eurecom Testbes
OpenAirInterface is an open-source SDR-based wireless system technology platform targeting innovation in air-interface technologies and networking protocols. The platform implements an LTE system and certain LTE-Advanced features, and comprises both hardware and software components that can be used for in-lab system experimentation as well as real-time RF experimentation, using RF or emulated wireless link. It provides the entire protocol stack from the physical to the networking layer. EURECOM was the last testbed used to deploy FLEXMETER. This testbed characterises itself for using OpenAirInterface, an open source software and hardware for the core network. The usage of this testbed was slightly different than the others. EURECOM makes the experimenter to mount the core elements of the network, like the Home Subscriber Server (HSS) or Mobility Management Entity (MME), the enodeB is already deployed and it is controlled via LTErf service
