University of Bristol’s Smart Internet Lab welcomes £6 million boost

Future communication systems including 6G, faster internet access and cloud computing have received £6 million investment from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, in a move welcomed by the University of Bristol.

The university’s Smart Internet Lab is a partner in two trailblazing platforms, which have been assembled to develop innovations in communications systems, whilst connecting the wider academic, business and international communities.

The first project, Network of Networks, involves a consortium of 17 universities led by the University of Strathclyde, which leads research in crucial segments of future communication networks.

This is supported by four associate partners, the Bristol Digital Futures Institute (BDFI), the Digital Catapult, Cardi -based Compound Semiconductor Centre (CSC) and the Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics (CAP).

The consortium aims to establish a platform for research collaboration and engagement across academic and industrial partners. Together, the partners aim to conduct transformative research on the interfaces of classic communication network elements to achieve a fully integrated network of networks.

The second project, Wireless and Wired Systems and Spectrum, is led by the University of Oxford, which brings together eight teams in total including the Universities of Bristol, Belfast, Cambridge, Southampton, Strathclyde, Imperial College and University College London.

This brings together leading expertise in a wide range of wired and wireless technologies to address the challenge of providing high-speed, low-latency access to internet services for future fixed and mobile users.

Its objectives are to advance technical capabilities, build a strong engagement between academia, industry and policy makers, and train researchers. Communications systems research is a critical area that underpins the whole future digital society and forms part of a national ambition around worldclass communications systems and technology.

Professor Dimitra Simeonidou, director of the Smart Internet Lab and co-director of the Bristol Digital Futures Institute at the University of Bristol, said: “We are looking forward to working with a rich research ecosystem of partners in the Future Communications Platforms.

“These Platforms bring together telecommunications researchers and academic institutions with worldleading capabilities and facilities. Together, we will enact ambitious research on problems that we cannot yet solve, and we will develop technologies and solutions to drive major breakthroughs in future telecommunications networks.”