ARMADA

Currently, we are witnessing a tremendous evolution in home networks : an increasing number of households is moving from a single-PC situation to a full-fledged home network, including firewalling routers, typically a few PCs and printers and in some cases a home automation system.

The introduction of new services (e.g. interactive digital TV, e-learning, etc.) in combination with new networked devices (set-top boxes, home cinema systems, mobile devices, etc) will certainly boost this evolution and open the road towards wide adoption of home services by the public.

However, this increased network complexity is also becoming a burden to both users and service providers : installation of network equipment and appliances is error-prone to many, resulting in either inefficient home networks and services and/or high OPEX-cost for service providers (highly qualified installation personnel has to visit customers premises, and help-desks must be provided).

The promise of advanced home services offered to a broad audience is hence jeopardized, and the road to success will certainly involve research and development efforts to manage complexity for end-users and the home network as a whole.

Research Activities

The main research activities of the project can be summarized as follows :

• Identification of generic requirements for service categories and of a home reference model.
• Evaluation of service and business models based on remote management.
• Exploration of technology space supporting remote management of home networks and devices (including data, control and management plane), proposing solutions for potential technology gaps.
  
• Assessment of user related and legal issues (e.g. the willingness of the end-user to allow management of equipment located in his own home and possible legal consequences of the proposed technical solutions).
  Design of a service deployment architecture.
  
• Proof-of-concept implementations and demonstrations.
  

Leaflet: Dutch, English