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Our research on cross-layer optimised video distribution over wireless networks has led to wide- reaching economic and societal impact, via the following pathways:
- Standardisation: our research results were directly adopted in WirelessMAN and LTE, the two global standards for the next generation of wireless broadband networks.
- Collaborative research: the work resulted in a product that has been commercialised by our collaborators Rinicom Ltd, an SME specialising in mobile video, and recognised with a Queen's Award for Enterprise (2013), for achievements to which our research contributed significantly.
- User engagement: the work resulted in the deployment of a WiMAX network in Slavutych/Chernobyl, Ukraine; contributing to community regeneration in a UK Government programme to address social and economic consequences of nuclear power plant closure.
As a key participant in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), Dr Perkins has been instrumental in developing key protocol standards that underpin modern telecommunications. The Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) acts as a transport layer distributing audio-visual data across the network, whilst the Session Description Protocol (SDP) describes the format and destination of streaming media. These standards are essential components of 3G and 4G mobile phone standards and form the infrastructure for many fixed telephone networks. They are implemented in Apple's Mac OS X and iOS, Google's Android, and Microsoft Windows, and feature in billions of devices around the world.
The impact described in this case study is the more efficient use of transport infrastructure through the application of our research into the use of wireless components and wireless communication devices. This gives passengers reduced travel times, better business performance for operators, and, for everyone, reduced pollution (including CO2) and a more pleasant urban environment as a result of reduced congestion. The impact has benefitted transport systems throughout Europe, including Nottingham and Coventry in the UK, Gouda in the Netherlands, Leuven in Belgium and Sofia in Bulgaria.
The worldwide population of mobile TV subscribers had almost quadrupled from 75 million in 2008 to 271 million in 2011, and it is expected to reach 792.5 million by 2014 according to RNCOS report (an industry and consultancy firm) on Global Mobile TV Forecast to 2013. The recent roll-out of 4G in the UK strongly features its capacity to deliver real-time TV programmes and videos with high-definition image quality on their mobile devices. Brunel Wireless Networks and Communications Centre developed a global schema, DVB-CBMS (Digital Video Broadcast - Convergence of Broadcast and Mobile Service), subsequently adapted as OMA-BCAST (Open Mobile Alliance - Broadcasting Services Enabler Suite), which enables users to access mainstream TV channels at real time through various networks such as DVB-H in Europe, DVB-SH (satellite) in the USA and DVB-NGH in China.
OMA-BCAST has been successfully used in South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana since 2010: a digital satellite TV service provider, DStv Mobile, delivers mobile TV programmes to its 6.7 million subscribers in Africa. In Europe, 3 Italia offered DVB-H customers free access to six TV channels in 2008; 3 Austria had 90,000 subscribers to its DVB-H mobile TV service between 2008 and 2009. Major mobile phone manufacturers such as Nokia, Samsung and LG have launched special mobile TV editions (e.g. Nokia 5330, Samsung, Philips, Garmin, LG, Motorola, Sagem, ZTE, etc) using DVB-H technology and the convergence system.
Mobile technologies and in particular mobile applications have become key drivers of the economy in many countries especially those that lack established communications infrastructures. Since 2003, the research team led by Professor Al-Begain has created both significant infrastructure and know-how that became the base for the creation of the £6.4million Centre of Excellence in Mobile Applications and Services (CEMAS) that is providing research and development to SMEs in Wales to increase their competitiveness. In the first three years since its inception 28 projects have been completed and 66 companies have received services.
While basic communications protocols for the Internet were developed decades ago, new requirements such as bandwidth-hungry multimedia and the need for the Internet to reach the "final third" of the population create constant demand for improvements. Research at the University of Aberdeen has greatly contributed to meeting this demand by influencing the standardization and implementation of the Internet Protocol (IP) stack in commercial networks. New standards for Internet Transport Protocols and Satellite IP Transmission resulting from the research have been implemented in industrial products in Europe and the US, benefitting industry and millions of end users.
UCL spinout company, Senceive Ltd, has established itself as an innovative provider of wireless enabled remote condition monitoring solutions. The company provides a robust, scalable, safe and highly cost-effective infrastructure monitoring capability for railway and construction industry applications, with customers including Amey, Costain, Network Rail and Tubelines. Recent deployments on projects such as Crossrail have been recognised by industry bodies as delivering significant product innovation and cost savings in excess of £1 million compared to use of a wired monitoring solution.
Research undertaken between 2002 and 2012 at Birkbeck has helped establish a participatory approach to cyber-physical computing as the predominant methodology for the construction of mobile and pervasive computing systems. Cyber-physical systems intimately interlink material entities and their information representations as existing on the Internet. Our specific research contributions in systems architecture, privacy protection and human dynamics have demonstrated how the user's activity can be exploited as the core ingredient in building such systems. Our research has resulted in the implementation of applications that are used to monitor biodiversity across the globe, to assess and support Parkinson's disease patients in the UK, to improve the well-being of office workers in London, to engage the public in a debate about the costs and benefits of pervasive computing, and to inform legislatures in the UK and the US.
Pioneering research at Bangor on the advanced communications technology termed Optical Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OOFDM) has enabled industrial impact with global implications. OOFDM was a candidate technique for the ITU-T G989.1 NG-PON2 and the IEEE 802.3bm standards and is currently under consideration by the IEEE 802.3 400Gb/s Ethernet Study Group. Supported by 8 patent families and first-phase funding of £1.1M, in 2013, the pre-revenue Bangor University spin-off company Smarterlight Limited, was established. Smarterlight has deployed services to several international telecommunications companies to develop advanced solutions for access optical networks and data centres.
Low-cost wireless solutions beyond the technologies available previously and developed at Loughborough University since 2005 are used by IDC, and Sure, who integrate these technologies in several products and services so generating impacts in terms of:
The technologies have been deployed in a logistics distribution centre (ToysRUs), an automotive manufacturing process (Toyota), and a safety and security system (Sure).