Research Funding and Grants at the Centre

The University of Surrey (UniS) Centre for Communications Systems Research (CCSR) has been awarded the status of lead partner of the second phase of the Mobile Virtual Centre of Excellence (MVCE) core 4 research programme on efficiency by the EPSRC. The award, worth £2.5m in total, will be distributed amongst UniS, as lead partner, as well as King's College, London, the University of Southampton, the University of Edinburgh and the University of Bristol. Professor Rahim Tafazolli, leader of the team who put the bid together at UniS, comments: "The EU, EPSRC and Mobile VCE projects collectively address different aspects of a mobile communication system and CCSR is in a unique position to influence the design and optimisation of future mobile systems currently known as Beyond 3G or 4G." Mobile communication systems are becoming more and more complex to design and operate; and are used by the man in the street, who requires always to be connected, irrespective of time and place, and to have access to a range of new services to help him in his everyday life, and all at the lowest possible cost. Currently no one knows how to evaluate whether a system is efficient or not in such provision. There are three important aspects of a system that need to be considered and designed together to achieve a highly efficient mobile system. These are: quality of offered service, capacity and the cost of the system. Each of these criteria are influenced by a large number of parameters individually, where each have different weightings. Optimum design needs to find a fine balance between the three different aspects and yet currently there is no technique which enables them to be optimised together to provide the required low cost solution. What makes this difficult is that a mobile system is dynamic by nature in terms of range of mobility of users, range of operational environments, range of services different bit rates and expected qualities. This all points to requirements for a system with a certain degree of adaptability so that the system can self-organise and adapt itself to changing conditions. The mobile systems of the future are continuously adaptable and reconfigurable and respond automatically to the conditions of environments and user demands.

Professor Barry Evans, Director of CCSR comments:
"The provision of cost-effect services and applications is driving research towards 4G mobile systems likely to emerge around 2010-2012. We at Surrey are at the heart of this research - the UK, EPSRC/DTI research funding along with the EU project funding that we have just won, will underpin this research for the next 3 years." This EPSRC award, along with the funding awarded by the DTI Technology bid earlier in the year, has secured CCSR just over £1m to fund research over the next three years on future generation mobile communications. In addition to the above CCSR has secured 15 new EU FP6 projects in the recent call to a value of circa 5M€ over two years which sees it collaborating with all the major players in Europe on future mobile and wireless communications systems, applications and services. This represents a major endorsement for CCSR as the leading academic research team in Europe in the mobile communications and services area. CCSR is also represented in 4 of the new EU Technology Platforms, chairing e-mobility which will advise the R&D programme for FP7 which commences in 2007.

Professor Barry G. Evans
Director of CCSR
Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research & Enterprise)
E mail: b.evans@surrey.ac.uk