Technologies

Technology platforms

The Inria Lille - Nord Europe research centre's technology and experimentation platforms are testament to the diversity and expertise of the research teams' work. These developments are of great value in terms of scientific output, but also in terms of innovation, facilitating dialogue with industrial players in the field of new technologies.

Sensor networks

SensLab is a national open experimentation platform for large-scale wireless sensor networks, which comprises four sites in France (Rennes, Strasbourg, Grenoble and Lille). 1,024 sensors, also known as "nodes", are deployed at these sites. The platform allows fully automated real-life experimentation. The sensors need no longer be individually manipulated. The whole experiment is launched and loaded without any need for intervention from the user. The network in Lille, based at Inria's EuraTechnologies site, contains 256 sensors. Like the other sites, this network uses special hardware, and 32 of its sensors are mobile. An experiment using all of the sensors in the Senslab platform can be launched via a web page to perform large-scale tests. The mobile sensors can be activated at any point.

Contact: POPS research team

Supercomputing

The Grid 5000/Aladdin technology and experimentation platform is made up of computing units spread among 9 different geographical sites (Bordeaux, Grenoble, Lille, Lyon, Nancy, Orsay, Rennes, Sophia-Antipolis and Toulouse), interconnected via the Renater network. This large-scale infrastructure is a research tool designed to serve the growing number of research communities with experimentation needs in the field of distributed systems. In 2003, the Ministry for Education, Youth and Research launched the national project Grid5000 to promote research on computing grids in France. Supported by other organisations such as Inria, the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), universities, the public interest grouping Renater and a handful of regional and general councils, this project aimed to create a nationwide experimental platform with 5000 computing nodes (hence the name "GRID5000") by 2007. The major objective of Grid 5000/Aladdin is to develop the experimental platform into a professional-grade tool that can be of use to researchers.

Contact: DOLPHIN research team

Virtual Reality and Interactions

PIRVI (Interaction, Virtual Reality and Images) is a technology and software platform with cutting-edge virtual reality equipment, and in particular a collaborative interaction room for 3D objects, with a 3D scanner and touch tables. The platform is based in the IRCICA building. It is managed by the LIFL in partnership with Inria Lille - Nord Europe (via the MINT research team), L2EP, LAGIS and the IEMN.