Testbed
With Testbed is called a scientific platform for experimentation and research in general. The term comes from English and means translated test environment or test
Testbed in computer science
In computer science provides a testbed environment for scientific experiments dar. Unlike software simulators consist of real hardware testbed and subject to the physical effects of their environment. Depending on the research objective, this can also, for example, include the daily influence of a university operation. The sizes of the testbeds can range from a few to hundreds of Testbedknoten. Testbeds are used increasingly in wireless MESH networks in order to specifically do research.
However, the disadvantage of a testbed is the huge cost of the hardware and the cost of installing one. The hardware used can result from components off the shelf ( shelf goods ) to custom-built components. This depends inter alia on the particular research budget of the operators.