UMBRELLA: A One-stop Shop Bridging the Gap from Lab to Real-World IoT Experimentation

TL;DR

UMBRELLA is a large-scale, open IoT ecosystem in the UK that integrates diverse real-world devices and advanced tools to facilitate innovation and testing across multiple IoT and IIoT domains.

Contribution

This paper introduces UMBRELLA, a comprehensive, heterogeneous IoT testbed that bridges lab research and real-world deployment, enabling multi-domain experimentation and benchmarking.

Findings

Successfully deployed over 200 multi-sensor nodes in public infrastructure.

Integrated a robotics arena with 20 mobile robots and a 5G network-in-a-box.

Provided a unified platform for management, control, and secure access to diverse hardware.

Abstract

UMBRELLA is an open, large-scale IoT ecosystem deployed across South Gloucestershire, UK. It is intended to accelerate innovation across multiple technology domains. UMBRELLA is built to bridge the gap between existing specialised testbeds and address holistically real-world technological challenges in a System-of-Systems (SoS) fashion. UMBRELLA provides open access to real-world devices and infrastructure, enabling researchers and the industry to evaluate solutions for Smart Cities, Robotics, Wireless Communications, Edge Intelligence, and more. Key features include over 200 multi-sensor nodes installed on public infrastructure, a robotics arena with 20 mobile robots, a 5G network-in-a-box solution, and a unified backend platform for management, control and secure user access. The heterogeneity of hardware components, including diverse sensors, communication interfaces, and GPU-enabled edge devices, coupled with tools like digital twins, allows for comprehensive experimentation and benchmarking of innovative solutions not viable in lab environments. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of UMBRELLA's multi-domain architecture and capabilities, making it an ideal playground for Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial IoT (IIoT) innovation. It discusses the challenges in designing, developing and operating UMBRELLA as an open, sustainable testbed and shares lessons learned to guide similar future initiatives. With its unique openness, heterogeneity, realism and tools, UMBRELLA aims to continue accelerating cutting-edge technology research, development and translation into real-world progress.