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.

Supporting the Design of an Ambient Assisted Living System Using Virtual Reality Prototypes
J.C. Campos and J.L. Silva and M. Harrison (2015) In Ian Cleland and 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.

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

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

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

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

Towards a Framework for Adaptive Web Applications
A.I. Sampaio and J.C. Campos (2014) 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.

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

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

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

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

Combining Static and Dynamic Analysis for the Reverse Engineering of Web Applications
C.E. Silva and J.C. Campos (2013) In P. Forbrig and P. Dewan and M. Harrison and K. Luyten and 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.

An empirical study on immersive prototyping dimensions
S. Moreira and R. José and J.C. Campos (2013) 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.

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

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

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

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