The APEX framework is a rapid prototyping platform for ubiquitous computing environments developed at HASLab/INESC TEC. The framework integrates an existing 3D Application Server (OpenSimulator) with a modelling tool (CPN Tools) and physical devices (e.g. smart phones).

APEX-based prototypes enable users to navigate and interact with a virtual world simulation as well as with some of the physical devices of the envisaged ubiquitous environment. Through the prototypes, users can experience many of the features of the proposed design. APEX-based prototypes have been deployed at different levels of immersiveness, from shared displays to CAVE environments. The three distinctive features of APEX are that it allows rapid and multi-layered prototyping of Ubicomp environments. It provides a 3D virtual environment as a basis for representing the evolving design in a way that can be explored by users through an immersive experience. It also enables the connection of actual devices, as intended for the envisaged Ubicomp environment, further improving the immersive user experience and enabling a refinement process, reducing the level of virtuality by gradually populating the environment with physical components. A design process is supported in which the environment can be gradually made more concrete by substituting actual physical devices for virtual devices.

The framework has been developed in the context of the APEX project. See more details at the project's web site.

This section provides some illustrations of prototypes developed with APEX.

J.C. Campos, T. Abade, J.L. Silva and M. Harrison (2015)
Supporting the Design of an Ambient Assisted Living System Using Virtual Reality Prototypes . In Ian Cleland, Luis Guerrero and José Bravo, editors, Ambient Assisted Living. ICT-based Solutions in Real Life Situations , volume 9455 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science , pages 49-61. Springer.
   

T. Abade, J.C. Campos, R. Moreira, C.C.L. Silva and J.L. Silva (2015)
Immersiveness of Ubiquitous Computing Environments Prototypes: A case study . In N. Streitz and P. Markopoulos, editors, Distributed, Ambient and Pervasive Interactions , volume 9189 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science , pages 237-248. Springer.
   

J.L. Silva, J.C. Campos and M.D Harrison (2014)
Prototyping and Analysing Ubiquitous Computing Environments using Multiple Layers . International Journal of Human-Computer Studies , 72(5):488-506, May.
   

T. Gomes, T. Abade, J.C. Campos, M.D. Harrison and J.L. Silva (2014)
A Virtual Environment based Serious Game to Support Health Education . EAI Endorsed Transactions on Ambient Systems , 14(3):e5, March.
   

T. Abade, T. Gomes, J.L. Silva and J.C. Campos (2014)
Design and Evaluation of a Smart Library using the APEX Framework . In N. Streitz and P. Markopoulos, editors, Distributed, Ambient, and Pervasive Interactions , volume 8530 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science , pages 307-318. Springer.
   

A.I. Sampaio and J.C. Campos (2014)
Towards a Framework for Adaptive Web Applications . In C. Stephanidis, editor, HCI International 2014 - Posters' Extended Abstracts, Part I , volume 434 of Communications in Computer and Information Science , pages 240-245. Springer.
   

T. Gomes, T. Abade, J.C. Campos, M.D. Harrison and J.L. Silva (2014)
Rapid Development of First Person Serious Games using the APEX Platform: The Asthma Game . In ACM SAC 2014 proceedings - Volume I: Artificial Intelligence & Agents, Distributed Systems, and Information Systems , pages 169-174. ACM.
   

T. Gomes, T. Abade, J.L. Silva and J.C. Campos (2013)
Desenvolvimento de Jogos Educativos na plataforma APEX: O Jogo da Asma . In Luís Magalhães and Beatriz Santos, editors, Atas da Conferência Interação 2013 , pages 90-97. Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro.
 

T. Abade, T. Gomes, J.L. Silva and J. C. Campos (2013)
Avaliação de Ambientes Ubíquos na Plataforma APEX . In Luís Magalhães and Beatriz Santos, editors, Atas da Conferência Interação 2013 , pages 177-178. Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro.
 

T. Gomes, T. Abade, M.D. Harrison, J.L. Silva and J.C. Campos (2013)
Developing Serious Games With The APEX Framework . In Proceedings of the Workshop on "Ubiquitous games and gamification for promoting behavior change and wellbeing" , pages 37-40.
 

C.E. Silva and J.C. Campos (2013)
Combining Static and Dynamic Analysis for the Reverse Engineering of Web Applications . In P. Forbrig, P. Dewan, M. Harrison, K. Luyten, C. Santoro and S.D.J. Barbosa, editors, Proceedings of the 5th ACM SIGCHI Symposium on Engineering Interactive Computing Systems (EICS 2013) , pages 107-112. ACM.
   

S. Moreira, R. José and J.C. Campos (2013)
An empirical study on immersive prototyping dimensions . In M. Kurosu, editor, Human-Computer Interaction: Human-Centred Design Approaches, Methods, Tools and Environments , volume 8004 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science , pages 421-430. Springer.
     

L. Oliveira, A.N. Ribeiro and J.C. Campos (2013)
The Mobile Context Framework: providing context to mobile applications . In N. Streitz and C. Stephanidis, editors, Distributed, Ambient and Pervasive Interactions , volume 8028 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science , pages 144-153. Springer.
   

C.E. Silva and J.C. Campos (2012)
Can GUI implementation markup languages be used for modelling? . In Marco Winckler, Peter Forbrig and Regina Bernhaupt, editors, Human Centred Software Engineering (HCSE 2012) , volume 7623 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science , pages 112-129. Springer.
 

M.D. Harrison, J.C. Campos, P. Masci and N. Thomas (2012)
Modelling and systematic analysis of interactive systems . In Matthew L. Bolton, Asaf Degani and Philippe Palanque, editors, Proceedings of the Workshop on Formal Methods in Human-Machine Interaction (Formal H) , pages 25-28.
   

J.L. Silva, J.C. Campos and M.D. Harrison (2012)
Formal analysis of Ubiquitous Computing environments through the APEX framework . In ACM Symposium on Engineering Interactive Computing Systems (EICS2012) , pages 131-140. ACM.