Fig. 1.

Illustration of an A-optimal incomplete block design implemented by tricot. Rows are the blocks and columns are the treatments. In this example five technologies were tested, named Tech-1 to Tech-5, with the addition of one check (control treatment). This is a simplification as more than one check is recommended in reality. Check is part of the design that follows the principles of clinical trials. Balanced A-optimal design ensures a cohesive experimental structure even when blocks are systematically lost. Packages (blocks) should be distributed to participants in ordinal sequence (from 1 to n).