(Part of a joint centre with Cambridge and other Universities).
Our first project involves some infrastructure. [FTPable from UCL CS ftp site or text version. ]
Imperial College (ICL)
King's College (KCL)
Queen Mary-Westfield College (QMWC)
CCSR (Cambridge)
Bristol
NFTS/CREATEC
For more information contact
Professor J E Midwinter
University College London
Torrington Place
London WC1 7JE, UK
(44)-171-388-0427
(44)-171-380-7307
(44)-171-388-9307 (Fax)
j.midwinter@ucl.ac.uk
CCSR-London was established in response to the recommendation of Technology Foresight Panel in Communications on the need for Universities to make their work more visible and open to collaboration and multi-disciplinary operation through the formation of Virtual Centres of Excellence. The CCSR-London brings together the leading teams within the Collegiate University of London who are working in Communications to form a highly visible and interacting team.
The CCSR-London seeks to :-
In the the notes that follows, we list the primary areas of research being developed with the CCSR-London by grouping them under a series of broad topic areas. In each case, we have identified a few prime contact staff for readers wishing to learn more.
(insert details)
Services and the Human-Machine Interface
Network Design, Control and Management
Network Regulation and Inter-Working
Dr. Polina Bayvel PhD, MIEE, CEng, MIEEE
Wavelength-Routed Optical Networks
Royal Society University Research Fellow
Electrical Engineering Department
University College London
p.bayvel@eleceng.ucl.ac.uk
Profile
Polina Bayvel joined the Electronic & Electrical Engineering Department at UCL from the Transport Systems group of the Network Technology division of BNR Europe Ltd at Harlow (and prior to that based at the STC Submarine Systems Ltd in Greenwich) where she worked on the design and planning of optical fibre transmission networks (1990-1993). This followed PhD research work in the Fibre Optics group at UCL, investigating nonlinear effects in optical fibres and their applications, and a Royal Society post-doctoral research fellowship in soliton-based optical fibre transmission systems at Moscow's General Physics Institute, USSR Academy of Sciences. P. Bayvel has authored over 35 refereed papers and conference presentations. Research interests include advanced telecommunication networks, wavelength-routed allocation algorithms, transmission limitations due to fibre and amplifier nonlinearities, and the associated WDM devices (grating multiplexers and demultiplexers, cross-connects and fibre-grating lasers).
Research Interests
The research programme of the Optical Networks sub-group (led by Prof. J E Midwinter and P Bayvel) is focused on analysis, design and application of next-generation wavelength-routed optical networks (WRONs). The overwhelming advantage of wavelength routing (WR) is the ability to carry out network processing and management functions in the optical domain, defined by the 4000 GHz bandwidth of the EDFA (or greater for unamplified links) by assigning discrete wavelengths to given source-destination traffic paths. This represents a radically new approach to telecommunication network design and planning, which have opened up an additional set of questions on how to render the design of these networks future-proof. Although relatively new, the group has built up fast to 10 people and the work of the group has resulted in funding, both in grants and gifts/loans of equipment and components of over [[sterling]]750kpounds and over 30 publications, just in the initial period since 1993.
The program consists of complementary, interdependent research projects, our
programme of work covers the 3 main areas from network and system architectures, transmission limitations and device design:
1 Design and optimization of wavelength routing and allocation algorithms:
The aim of this work is to answer the first of the above questions by designing new wavelength routing and allocation algorithms and ultimately develop algorithms to quantify and optimise the design of future optically routed network topologies. The results are also intended to lead to upper and lower bounds on the number of wavelengths as a function of network parameters, such as number of nodes, number of links, nodal degree, traffic matrix and link cuts. The initial results show that the mean number of wavelengths is strongly affected by the connectivity and is almost independent of the number of nodes. Valuable impetus to this work is being provided through discussions with Prof Frank Kelly and Dr Richard Gibbens (Statistical Laboratory, Cambridge).
2 Limitations due to channel interactions arising from a combination of fibre and optical amplifier nonlinearities:
Related to the problem of wavelength allocation in WRONS is the second question of channel interactions. These arise from a combination of fibre nonlinearities and wavelength dependence of erbium-doped fibre amplifiers (EDFA) which results in preferential amplification of certain wavelength channels through gain peaking and build-up of unwanted ASE noise which can not be filtered out as in single-channel operation. Despite many theoretical studies carried out by various groups around the world, the real network limits remain unclear. We propose to answer these questions by establishing a WRON test bed based on a multi-wavelength recirculating loop, which simulates the transmission of a longer system by recirculating the optical signals through a shorter section, integrated with a routing node. The test-bed will be used to model the propagation and routing of subnanometre (30-100 GHz) spaced channels and will allow us to establish network penalties as a function of inter-amplifier and channel spacing, transmission distance, power per channel and dispersion management for a large number of network and wavelength allocation scenarios and for component evaluation. Once up and running this test-bed will be the only one such facility in any European university and one of the very few around the world.
3 Wavelength selective elements (sources, multi-demultiplexers, and crossconnects) for application in dense WRONs:
The feasibility of future WRONs depends on having suitable components to satisfy the network requirements. The programme of work is completed by the research activities on devices, namely wavelength-selective multi-demultiplexers and routing cross-connects (carried out under the collaborative programme with Cambridge University and Kings' College London under the EPSRC POETS programme), where unique results have been achieved on free-space concave grating devices and fibre-grating-stablised laser sources.
The results of these activities will provide valuable insights to future-proof network architectures using WR, and the associated device parameters. The rapid growth of the group and its experimental and theoretical activities owes much to the support and encouragement received from our industrial collaborators BNR Europe Ltd, BT Laboratories, GPT and Corning Inc.
Integrated Broadband Communication on Broadcast Networks
Research Fellow
Computer Science Department
University College London
s.bhatti@cs.ucl.ac.uk
Profile
Saleem Bhatti has a B.Eng in Electronic Engineering (1990) and M.Sc in Data Communication Networks and Distributed Systems (1991). He is involved in various networking and distributed systems projects as well as postgraduate teaching. Currently, he is part of the EU-ACTS Project IBCoBN (Integrated Broadband Communication on Broadcast Networks) looking at the provision of Internet services on CATV networks, and the dynamic configuration and resource adaptation needs of Internet applications operating in heterogeneous environments. In the past, he has worked on various projects concerned with network and distributed systems management and ISDN.
Research Interests
1. Current research is looking into the needs for Internet applications that might be asked to work in a variety of different networks scenarios, for example mobile applications on a laptop that may need to automagically reconfigure themselves for working when connected to an Ethernet, by a mobile phone or by BR-ISDN from the home. The work will look at resource and QoS models within applications (e.g. media flows) and within the network to see how the application and network can conspire to provide a service even when the network connectivity is changed or the QoS is varies.
2. The provision of ATM, especially how this might be extended to residential broadband (as well the how to provide the services in the core network). This includes how the main functional requirements of the Internet users can be met in such a network e.g.:
* High speed, low latency communication.
* Data transparency for a wide range of different media in heterogeneous environments.
* User initiated group (multipoint-multipoint) communication.
* User initiated resource reservation.
3. Distributed network and systems management. Models for allowing the distribution of management information and execution of management task with in a distributed, heterogeneous environment. The trade-offs between processing power and intelligence requirements versus communication overheads and robustness within a distributed systems.
4. Security in networks. Services and mechanism for the provision of security within networks and distributed applications.
Networking for Distributed Multimedia Systems
Professor of Networked Systems
Computer Science Department
University College London
j.crowcroft@cs.ucl.ac.uk
Profile
Jon Crowcroft is responsible for a number of European and US funded research projects in Multi-media Communications. He has been working in these areas for over 15 years. He graduated in Physics from Trinity College, Cambridge University in 1979, and gained his MSc in Computing in 1981, and PhD in 1993. He is a member of the ACM, the British Computer Society and the IEE and a Senior Member of the IEEE. He is general chair for the ACM SIG on COMM. He is also on the editorial teams for the Transactions on Networks and the Journal of Internetworking. With Mark Handley, is the co-author of WWW:Beneath the Surf, and of the Open Distributed Systems, both published by UCL Press.
Research Interests
These all fall under the general heading of networking, and in particular networking for distributed multimedia systems. Some problems of current interest include:
1. The very general problem of the sensitivity of distributed algorithms to topology - for example, how stable routing algorithms (or traffic control algorithms) are to changes, sources, etc.. Very little work has been done on this, and it would require some neat maths to tackle it effectively.
2. The area of multi-service networks
a) architectures (resource reservations, n-phase commit, versus closed loop adaptive end-system control systems) - again, stability, but also utilisation (power/efficiency) seem to still offer a lot of possibility for improving admission tests, shaping algorithms and so on.
b) Can one take the Parekh work further on generalised processor sharing? Maybe we could improve the bounds he got for newer traffic models (e.g. fractal traffic models that the Bellcore Sigcom 93 and 94 papers cover).
3. Multi-way distribution - multicast routing - is still worth investigating - anything from good heuristics for solving the Steiner Tree problem, through to source versus centre based algorithms, and trade-offs between delay and bandwidth....then re-solve it all for multi-metric routing and traffic types. And then Mobile multicast - now there's a nasty!
4. Video (and audio) encoding for multi-level, loss tolerant transmission and reception - the Internet will now and for always have higher loss than the so-called "Public Network Operator" networks (X.25, ATM, ISDN). We must devise new coding schemes that are not only loss tolerant but also accommodate more coding layers (for multicast delivery to people with different reception capability). Secure (encryption) of such schemes would be an added bonus. Compression is very akin to encryption, so there is a clear starting point here.
5. Intelligent, distributed agents, for WWW searching/browsing, and for mail/bulletin board/news scouting - little has been done on
a) Languages for this (extensions to safe-tcl etc.).
b) Script merging.
The integration of this with performance (responsiveness versus throughput) of a distributed information system like WWW would bear looking into.
6. Van Jacobson (and other network experts, particularly ex-physicists) have speculated that as the Internet grows, we may see emergent traffic behaviour that resembles a lattice gas - now as connections interfere constructively, will be see 2nd order effects come to dominate (a phase shift in the thermodynamic sense) ? If so, is it good or bad?
7. Paradigm shifts in network architectures - the shift from start to mesh, from circuit to virtual circuit to datagram - all are really economic plus technical - what are good ways of deciding when a shift is appropriate. With the introduction of mobile hosts and subnets, do we need to re-examine this? What is the relation between mobile nodes and mobile services (another level of indirection for caches?)?
8. Saleable Protocol Support for multi-user distributed virtual reality systems.
Telecommunications Services: Communication Management and Quality of Service
Visiting Professor
Electrical Engineering Department
University College London
a.galis@eleceng.ucl.ac.uk
Profile
Alex Galis is Visiting Professor at the University College London. After completing his degrees at Bucharest University in 1975 he worked as assistant lecturer at the same university until 1980 when he emigrated to the U.K. He served as Research Fellow of Warwick University at the Research Centre for Mathematical Modelling from 1980 until 1983. During 1983 -1984 he joined STC Telecommunications as principal engineer, Section Head for System Management and Expert Systems. In 1985 he joined Cray Communications (previously CASE Communications) as Divisional Technical Consultant and Manager of the Advanced Technology Group. He was in charge of all the company research in Network Management Systems, Telecommunication Management Networks, Object Oriented Design Methodology and Systems, Frame Relay, Broadband Access Network and Open Distributed Processing. Since 1994 he joined UCL on a contract position as a Visiting Professor at E&EE Department. Currently he is the Technical Director of a large research project, MISA - Management of SDH and ATM Networks under the auspices of the European Union research programme ACTS. He secured and he has been leading E&EE department participation in a number of ACTS projects in the area network & service management for future high-speed broadband networks. Alex Galis's research interest are in Communications Management Systems, Quality of Service, Open Service Architecture and Service Engineering. He holds patents in the area of network configurations expert systems.
Research Interests:
In the Global Information Infrastructure there will be a multiplicity of network providers, service providers, value added service providers as well as sophisticated users, all with their own management systems. To ensure that these management systems can inter-operate in a way that respects the rights and responsibilities of all the actors concerned, an inter-domain integrity policy and managed quality of service is required. Our research approach is to propose solutions which will mediate the requirements of external users, network operators and service providers needs for access to each others management systems whilst respecting system integrity, confidentiality and means of auditing contractual negotiations for future high speed broadband networks and services. The overall aim of this research, which is so far only in its preliminary stage, is to design simple, robust management and control schemes that will permit an ensure broadband network to function and be managed coherently. This research mainly covers the Communications Management Systems, Quality of Service, Open Service Architecture and Service Engineering areas.
Dr. Stephen Hailes B.Sc., Ph.D.
Mobile Systems
Research Fellow
Computer Science Department
University College London
s.hailes@cs.ucl.ac.uk
Profile
Following a PhD in the systems group at Cambridge, involving the development of distributed object-based programming language, Stephen Hailes moved to UCL as a research fellow, working on a JNT-funded project to investigate the suitability of the Janet network for the transmission of multimedia traffic. He was involved in the first
public demonstration of video transmission over JANET-II. Subsequently, he was appointed a temporary lecturer to teach distributed systems and operating systems and, in 1994, he joined the permanent staff. He was joint PI on a follow-up project (TITAN) to examine the network transmission characteristics of SMDS and ATM networks, and is also a co-PI and the project coordinator on a UKERNA-funded project, ACOL, looking at asynchronous collaboration. In addition to this, he has recently been a consultant to the European Space agency (in collaboration with Vega Space Systems) examining distributed scheduling and resource allocation for their second-generation spacecraft control system SCOS-II.
Research Interests
Currently, his research interests are concentrated in the field of mobile systems, where he leads the mobile systems group at UCL. He holds an EPSRC award to investigate mobile quality of service provision and has PhD students working in a range of areas within the mobile systems field.
Dr. Vicky Hardman B.Sc., Ph.D.
Networked Speech
Lecturer
Computer Science Department
University College London
v.hardman@cs.ucl.ac.uk
Profile
Vicky Hardman has a PhD in speech over packet networks, and a BSc in electronic and electrical engineering from the Electronic and Electrical Engineering Department, Loughborough University. She has also worked for voice switching manufacturers for a number of years. While at Loughborough, she worked on the Unison Project (ALVEY), which provided multimedia conferencing facilities over an ATM-like network. After joining UCL in 1994, she has worked for Project MICE (ESPRIT) (multimedia
conferencing over the Mbone), and Project ReLaTe (BT/JISC) (Remote Language Teaching over SuperJANET). She is co-investigator of a new EPSRC project (#GR/K72780), researching speech over packet networks, particularly shared packet networks, such as the Mbone and Internet. She is an associate member of the IEE.
Research Interests:
1. Speech over Packet Networks
Voice reconstruction algorithms to repair the effects of packet loss, both combined source and channel options, such as redundancy, and those performed solely at the receiver. Speech coding algorithms for use over packet networks, and particularly a systems approach to providing a packet speech system, that has integrated silence detection facilities and redundancy. Improved silence detection facilities. 7kHz speech compression algorithms. Congestion control. The development of speech coding algorithms that can provide a trade-off in quality as well as bit-rate.
2. Multimedia Conferencing Systems
Adaptive applications that alter their load on the network in response to congestion information. Real-time applications (such as audio and video) that can co-exist on a general purpose computing facilities, such as are currently connected to the Internet. Lip synchronisation between audio and video tools. Integrated interfaces, such as are required for both business meetings and distance learning. The integration of multimedia conferencing facilities into the Web environment.
3. Speech Quality Assessment
Assessing the quality of speech degraded by the Internet, with a view to driving adaptive applications. Techniques for assessing speech degraded by packet loss.
4. Networked Audio Virtual Reality
The simulation in real-time of virtual sound fields for use in multimedia conferencing and networked virtual reality systems. Techniques for the reduction of processing power consumed, and the reduction in the network bandwidth required. The quality assessment of virtual audio.
5. Remote Language Teaching
The integration of Computer Based Training facilities with a remote language teaching facilities based on multimedia conferencing techniques. System interaction with video servers, to provide video clips. The integration of pronunciation aids into the system.
Mobile and Satellite Communications
Lecturer
Electrical Engineering Department
University College London
a.khanifar@eleceng.ucl.ac.uk
Profile
After completion of his PhD in 1981 from University of Kent in Canterbury he joined the Iranian Telecommunication Research Centre as senior design engineer (1981-86). He was promoted to lead a team of engineers in the RF and microwave division and was responsible for the development of terrestrial microwave radio terminals for thin route expansion. He joined University of Bradford as a GPT research fellow over the period of 1986-89 and later University College as lecturer from 1989. Ahmad Khanifar has held a number of consultancy roles with Ministry of Defence and other telecom companies in private sector both in UK and overseas.
Research Interests:
a) The provision for broad-band wireless services is on the top of UMTS wish list. There are variety of issues in the system architecture and the hard ware implementation which is yet to be addressed. A broadband air interface capable being dynamically reconfigurable will require a new hardware implementation philosophy and intelligent control mechanism. There are certain stumbling blocks such as filtering and amplification which is yet to be overcome to make such base stations a practical reality. The outline of the proposed work is laid out in the project proposal part.
b) The photo-parametric amplifier is an other key R&D program which a proof of concept demonstrator has been made and tested. The results of our earlier work suggest that the optimization of diode (photo/varactor diode) characteristics is the key issue. Further device modelling, a follow-on of our previous efforts is needed to develop new diode structure/ geometries with high quantum efficiency and specified C-V characteristics. Fabrication and test of these devices and integrating into an house built SCM test bed will be the target of our research program, as discussed in research proposal part.
Computer Communications
Professor of Computer Communications Systems
Director of Research
Computer Science Department
University College London
p.kirstein@cs.ucl.ac.uk
Profile
Peter Kirstein received his BA in Mathematics and Electrical Engineering at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford U., and a D.Sc from London U in the same subject. From 1980-94, he was the first Head of the Department of Computer Science at UCL. Prior to coming to the University of London, Peter spent four years at the Centre of European Nuclear Research in Geneva, Switzerland, and four years with the US General Electric Co in Zurich, Switzerland. Peter has consulted widely to organisations like General Electric, Rockwell, Ministry of
Defence, National Health Service, Noranda, Varian Associates. Professor Kirstein has been leading research projects in computer communications - mostly in collaboration with European and US colleagues. Amongst these activities are developments in multimedia, network management, directory and security applications, and piloting them in the Research Community in Europe and elsewhere. Peter is a Fellow of the UK Royal Academy of Engineering, the British Computer Society, the Institute of Physics, and the Institution of Electrical Engineering. He is a Senior Member of the Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. He has written some 150 papers and one book.
Research Interests:
Peter Kirstein's strengths are both his specific research interests, and the international environment over which he operates. His current research interests and activities are mainly in the areas of multimedia, security, compound document and system management. His current work includes the following:
In Multimedia Systems, he is directing the European MERCI project, which is developing tools for multimedia conferencing, integrating them over a variety of networks, and deploying them in particular application area. The project is very practical, and uses a variety of networks including standard packet-switched, ATM and ISDN networks. Because of its use of heterogeneous networks in real-time systems, interests include the impact of congestion control and reservation techniques over concatenated networks - particularly of an Internet type. The multimedia components of interest here include: hierarchic coding of voice and data, multimedia servers, multi-platform support, incorporation of security. There are concomitant interests also in the environment around such conferences including the following: multiplexing, conference control, negotiation re available multimedia resources, conference monitoring and conference management. Unlike most such projects, it is just being extended to CRC in Canada. He is just extending this work into integrating also with cable TV - though the actual cable TV hardware will not be done at UCL.
Leading out of the MERCI interests are several others. Crowcroft and Kirstein are the only non-US co-Principal-Investigators on the ARPA communications and computing programme, and are closely involved with the current ARPA moves to mobile systems and large scalable systems in these areas. Professor Kirstein is discussing with various parties how to achieve a real intercontinental testbed for these ideas - and to have realistic testbeds for resource reservation and policy-based routing. This work involves also other activities in integrated services with British and North American bodies arising out of my Chairmanship of the International Collaboration Board of NATO unclassified research activities, and in the collaborative activities involving NASA, ARPA, NSF, MOD and UKERNA in deploying more functional intercontinental integrated services over the Internet.
In other projects in security, compound documents and in large databases. In the European ICETEL project, he is developing a European wide infrastructure for Public Key systems, trying to think through all the practical and theoretical problems involved insetting up such an infrastructure. He is working out the requirements for a broader British infrastructure in work with UKERNA, and verifying our theories, by applying the infrastructure to secured MIME messages, WWW environments, and to large databases. Again this work includes standards and activities both in Europe and North America. He has been piloting the Information Search and Retrieval with large -scale SGML/image data bases (particularly of journals), and are attempting to determine the most practical mechanisms for disseminating formatted documents with test and image data over the British Academic community
Network Management and Teleworking
Senior Lecturer
Computer Science Department
University College London
g.knight@cs.ucl.ac.uk
Profile
Graham Knight teaches courses in Computer Communications, Networks and Computer Architecture. He has been working in these areas for 16 years and has taken part in a number of collaborative research projects funded by UK institutions and the European Union. Initially he worked on projects concerning LAN protocols and the management of interconnected LANs. More recently he has worked on the design and deployment of large management systems in both public and private networks. A second strand has been ISDN teleworking and the support of integrated services between LANs and the ISDN. Currently he is responsible for two projects funded under the EU ACTS programme one of which is studying the integrated management of ATM and SDH whilst the other is looking ad the provision of broadband services over CATV networks. Graham Knight obtained a BSc in Mathematics from the University of Southampton in 1970 and an MSc in Computer Science from University College London in 1979.
Research Interests
My main concerns are with management and teleworking:
1. Currently, distributed management is wedded closely to a client-server (manager-agent) model. This model does not fit well with complex hierarchical management systems in which more flexible mechanisms for distributing control and intelligence is needed. I am interested in how such mechanisms can be incorporated into existing distributed management models such as the ITU-T TMN model for telecommunications management.
2. Related to the above, it seems clear that in the future many platforms will include an interpreter for a universal language such as Java. The ability to run an arbitrary program on a managed system or, equally, for a managed system to pass a tailored management programme to a manager profoundly affects the way management is done. I am interested in investigating this situation and how it relates to standardised ways of modelling management information.
3. The combination of multimedia services, the Internet and CATV offers the prospect of near-universal broad-band, multi-service connectivity in the home. These connections will carry a variety of traffic ranging from pure entertainment services such as video on demand to novel services like tele-shopping, tele-education etc. A large number if issues arise from this including those related to management, security and resource management. In addition, there are major social issues to be resolved. I hope to pursue these issues through a combination of simulation exercises, and pilot studies related to the ACTS projects mentioned above.
Mobile & SDH Network Technology
Lecturer
Electrical Engineering Department
University College London
p.lane@eleceng.ucl.ac.uk
Profile
Phil Lane graduated with a 1st class Honours degree in electrical engineering from the University of Wales in Bangor in 1989 and gained a PhD there in 1992 for work on "Design and realisation strategies for very high rate optical receivers"
He joined UCL as a Lecturer in July 1995 after two years as a part time lecturer at University of Wales, Bangor. During that time he was also a Research Fellow and project manager of an EU-RACE project.
Research Interests
Current research interests fall into 4 areas:
* mm-wave radio over fibre.
* High data rate optical communication systems.
* SDH network planning.
* Future evolution of mobile radio systems.
If mobile or tetherless systems are to support broadband communications then the microwave frequencies currently used, or proposed, cannot provide the bandwidth required. The operating frequency must therefore move to higher frequencies and consequently there is considerable interest in the mm-wave regions of the radio spectrum. A difficulty of mm-wave systems is the very large number of antenna sites required due to the limited propagation at these frequencies. For the system solution to be economically viable, each antenna unit must therefore be of low-cost. Generating the mm-wave signal locally is complex while distributing an electrical signal over any distance is impossible. Several projects are looking at optical fibre solutions for the distribution and generation of the mm-wave signals at low-cost antenna units. Specific topics being addressed include generation methods, the impact of fibre impairments, the imposition of modulation and the techno-economic trade-offs associated with fibre radio systems.
In the area of high rate optical communication systems, two areas dominate the work that is currently being carried out: design and optimisation of high rate optical receivers and wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) optical systems. Early work on high rate receiver amplifiers in both microstrip and GaAs MMIC form is now moving towards an investigation of methods appropriate to the integration of the photodiode with the receiver electronics to produce an OEIC. WDM systems may find application in both the access and the core network. An area that is being investigated is the effect of interferometric noise caused by a signal beating with a delayed version of itself or with another optical signal that causes mixing products to fall into the receiver bandwidth. The performance penalty incurred due to this effect as well as threshold placement strategies to provide maximum robustness to system parameter variations are being investigated.
The planning and allocation of capacity in a single SDH based self healing ring (SHR) is a relatively trivial task. However, when multiple SHRs in a hierarchical stacked architecture are considered, the planning problem becomes very complex. This work is developing models that allow the implications of various traffic patterns in these complex networks to be assessed, as well as new algorithms that enable near optimal network designs to be identified. An aspect of this work is the development of metrics that allow a potential network user to prioritise the factors that define the quality of a solution and hence enable optimisation.
Future third generation mobile systems aim to combine the functionality of current mobile systems with current cordless access systems. Also, it is being proposed that these systems will deliver much higher data rates than are currently available to a mobile user. The work in this area is focused on the identification of systems level issues that impact both the role and performance of future mobile radio systems. Of particular interest is the delivery of broadband data to mobile and tetherless terminals. Issues being addressed include the identification of the actual requirements of mobile users, strategies that can achieve the required data rates and the linkage between future developments of the fixed access network and radio systems.
Prof. John E Midwinter BSc PhD FRS FEng
Optical Fibre Communications Networks & Systems
Pender Professor of Electrical Engineering
Head of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Dept.
Vice Provost
University College London
j.midwinter@ucl.ac.uk
Profile
John Midwinter joined UCL in 1984 after having led the development of Optical Fibre Communications Systems at BT Labs for 7 years. Prior to joining the Post Office in 1971, he had worked in US Industrial Research for 3 years and RSRE for 7 years on lasers and non-linear optics, having graduated in Physics for King's College London in 1961, gaining a London PhD in 1968 for his work in Non-Linear optics. He is currently a Vice President of the IEE and has been closely involved in the recent Technology Foresight programme both as a member of the Communications Panel and the newly formed ITEC Panel. Other interests include (UK) University-Industry relations linked with "short termism" and its effect upon the technology transfer process.
Research Interests:
By 1984, it was clear that optical fibre communications systems were set to offer dramatic cost reductions for high bit-rate long-haul telecommunications transmission and while many problems remained unsolved, it appeared that point-to-point data transmission was no longer the key problem area. The great publicity being given at that time to "all optical digital computers" suggested that perhaps this technology could tackle some of the switching problems and this formed the primary topic of study on joining UCL. However, it soon became apparent that this was field dominated by hype and wishful thinking rather than hard reality. What emerged with growing clarity was that optics provided an unbeatable interconnect capability but that its potential for carrying out complex logical processing was dwarfed by silicon technology. As a result, the "photonic switching" studies at UCL departed in two different directions, one examining the options for optical interconnects at a very low level in digital processors, perhaps even down to the level of "within chip" and the other at the broadband transport level of a telecommunications network and both strands continue at present.
It has been widely recognised for many years that optical fibres offer massive throughput capability for transporting data at rates far in excess of what is carried today and extending up to 0.1 Terabit/s or more. At these rates, however, many fundamental factors start to impinge upon the design and optimisation of the network. The non-linear properties of the optical fibre will ultimately set a hard limit, there being three, Brillouin and Raman scattering and the Kerr effect nonlinearity. The latter leads to self phase matching, of a single wavelength channel and cross phase modulation and four wave mixing in multiwavelength systems. The extent to which each of the effects degrades the transmission is sensitively dependent upon the local dispersion, to dispersion map for the link, the disposition of the amplifiers and the selection of the number of carriers, their spacing, mean power and modulation format. We are currently studying this multi-variable optimisation process for a number of practical situations that are of interest to collaborating companies.
Above this "physical layer" optimisation lie a large number of interesting issues concerned with how many wavelength channels are needed to carry out routing in a complex network, how should they be allocated and how can network integrity and control be maintained in the face of the inevitable link failures. Following from these issues, we have been studying issues related to the flow and access control mechanisms that might be applied to variable bandwidth broad-band ATM traffic flows in such networks building on some novel ideas proposed by BNR(E) staff.
Professor John O'Reilly DSc FEng FIEE
Telecommunication Networks and Systems
Professor of Telecommunications
Electrical Engineering Department
University College London
j.oreilly@eleceng.ucl.ac.uk
Profile
John O'Reilly holds the Chair of Telecommunications at University College London. He was formerly Professor of Electronic Engineering and Head of the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Systems at the University of Wales, Bangor and before that Senior Lecturer in Telecommunications at Essex University. He is a graduate of Brunel University (BTech, DSc) and of Essex University (PhD). His industrial experience includes periods with the Royal Radar Establishment, Ultra Electronics Ltd., Post Office Research Centre and BT Laboratories. Experience in the SME sector includes a period as Chief Executive/Deputy Chairman of IDB Ltd. His research interests range widely in telecommunications, with a particular emphasis on telecommunications transmission systems and networks. He is the author/co-editor of three books in the field and of some 200+ papers in research journals and conference proceedings.
He is a former Chairman of the UK SERC/DTI Communications and Distributed Systems Committee and member of the UK IT Advisory Board; past Chairman of the IEE Telecommunication Networks and Services Committee and member of the IEE Electronics Divisional Board. He serves on the English Advisory Committee on Telecommunications for OFTEL and is a member of the UK Government's Foresight Panel on Information Technology, Electronics and Communications.
Research interests:
These encompass telecommunications networks and systems, with a particular focus on the role of communication and information theory in securing efficient exploitation of transmission technology options.
A specific current activity is concerned with signal design and coding for high performance digital channels such as trans-oceanic telecommunication systems. In this context we are co-operating with BT and Alcatel Submarine Systems in studying the impact of non-linear channel impairments and the scope for coded modulation schemes to combat these limitations. Analytic and computational techniques supporting the performance assessment and transmission quality of such systems have been devised which facilitate assessment down to the very low channel error rate levels required by today's demanding applications.
Another, broadly related, area of work deals with the interface between the fixed network and a wireless final drop to the customer's premises equipment. A particular interest has been the further development and application of concepts and techniques from non-linear system theory to enable relatively low-cost solutions to achieve the required performance targets for emerging networked multi-media applications. External collaboration for this work involves, amongst others, GEC and Alcatel from the telecommunications manufacturing sector and France Telecom as a telecommunications network operator.
At the network level we have been concerned also with developing tools and techniques for performance engineering focusing on the use of performance bounds as a basis for design methods. This has involved the development of new bounds (often variants of the classical = Chernoff bound) suited to particular applications domains. For example, a modified Chernoff bound has been devised and applied to a wide range of problems in the design and analysis of optical fibre-based digital links and networks, including emerging multi-wavelength access networks. This last aspect has involved collaboration with BT and DT as operators and Siemens and GEC as telecommunications manufacturers. In a similar vein, we are working with Nortel on developing these and related ideas to support the network planning process for self-healing broadband network structures based on SDH and ATM.
Integrated Broadband Networks and Services
Senior Research Fellow
Computer Science Department
University College London
g.pavlou@cs.ucl.ac.uk
Profile
George Pavlou is a senior research fellow in the Department of Computer Science, University College London where he has been leading European-funded research projects in the area of network & service management for future high-speed broadband networks. He has been working in this area for about 8 years and is acknowledged as a leading expert. He graduated in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens in 1982 and gained his MSc in Computing in 1986 while he expects to finalise his PhD thesis in 1996. He is a member of the IEEE and member of the program committee for the IFIP/IEEE International Symposium on Integrated Network Management, the International Conference on Intelligence in Services and Networks, the IEEE Distributed Systems Operations and Management Workshop and the IEEE Systems Management Workshop.
He has contributed to the TMN and the ISO/ITU Internet Management Co-existence standardisation work. He is currently responsible for the ACTS VITAL project, which studies the convergence and co-existence of the IN and TMN frameworks in a long term integrated framework. He is also co-responsible for the ACTS MISA project which studies issues in the integrated management of SDH & ATM, focusing in the provision of global broadband connectivity services.
Research Interests
Research interests are in the area of management and control for integrated broadband networks and services.
a. Management Frameworks:
The current management frameworks are the Internet SNMP, OSI management and the ITU-T TMN. The emergence of ODP and in particular of CORBA as its pragmatic counterpart creates new possibilities for frameworks applicable to network, service and distributed application management. Issues to be researched are the impact of ODP/CORBA on OSI management and TMN, the management information modelling from various viewpoints, the seamless integration of different frameworks and various aspects such as scalability, performance, security, transaction support, self-management, availability, dynamic discovery and knowledge sharing etc.
b. Integrated frameworks for Service Operation, Control and Network/Service Management:
Currently, there exist different frameworks for Service Operation (user plane with either transaction or stream-based [multimedia] operations), Control (signaling/routing in real time e.g. IN), Management (more long term global view of administration/maintenance e.g. TMN). The key issue is the provision of a single integrated framework encompassing all of them. The proposed TINA framework is currently being researched worldwide and will be addressed in the VITAL project. The completion, modification and validation of such a framework creates the scope for a lot of interesting research, some of which will be addressed in VITAL.
c. Intelligent Agents:
The emergence of object-oriented interpreted languages such as Object-TCL and Java and their integration with similar compiled environments (e.g. C++) in distributed processing platforms (e.g. TMN OSIMIS, TINA CORBA) provides the possibility to control the migration of intelligence and execute it closely to other information needed for decisions to be taken and implemented. This breaks away from the static model of the distribution of intelligence. The impact on current management frameworks such as OSI management & TMN and on integrated service frameworks such as TINA poses very interesting problems to tackle. Work of such orientation will be pursued in the MISA (TMN context) and VITAL (TINA context) projects.
d. ATM resource and routing management for Quality of Service:
ATM technology offers the possibility to reserve resources in advance and design a network in terms of VPC topology anticipating its usage. Dynamic VPC bandwidth and routing management can take into account the current state of the network in real-time and make changes to optimise resource use, performance and availability in the case of failures. The management plane operation can be combined with maintenance control protocols operating directly over ATM for real-time performance. Intelligent agent techniques may be also used. The framework for this type of work was defined in the ICM project and some of this type of work will be pursued in the VITAL project in the context of a multi-service network promising guaranteed QoS characteristics.
Integrated Broadband Communication on Broadcast Networks
Lecturer
Computer Science Department
University College London
a.sasse@cs.ucl.ac.uk
Profile
Angela Sasse joined CS Dept in 1990 as a lecturer. She read psychology in Germany and holds an M.Sc. on Occupational Psychology from Sheffield University (1986). Her main areas of teaching are Systems Analysis & Design and Human-Computer Interaction.
Research interests
Her main interests are currently focused on Multimedia Systems, Computer-Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW), and Distance Education. After joining UCL, Angela worked on the RACE CAR project, particularly on usability issues of multimedia conferencing systems. She was Project Manager of the EU-MICE Project, Principal Investigator and Project Manager of the MICE-NSCs, and Principal Investigator of the RAT project. She is also involved in the BT/JISC SuperJANET applications project ReLaTe and is a member of the Executive Committee of The British HCI Group a Specialist Group of the British Computer Society (BCS) and is Joint Technical Programme Chair of HCI-96. A strong common theme throughout all these projects is the critically important issue of how complex multimedia communications systems can be made readily useable by non-experts.
"Bandwidth on Demand" in Telecommunications
IGDP Programme Cordinator
Electrical Engineering Department
University College London
m.searle@eleceng.ucl.ac.uk
Profile
Mark Searle completed a PhD, at UMIST, in 1989. On completion he held a post as Research Fellow in the School of Electronic Engineering Science, University of Wales at Bangor, where he developed propagation models for low and medium frequency ground-based radio navigation systems and later went on to become responsible for the day-to-day management of RACE project MUNDI. He later became a Senior Lecturer and Research Co-ordinator, in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics, Manchester Metropolitan University.
Research Interests
His main interests focus on the provision of next-generation services. The scope of the activity includes the following two sub-areas: Intelligent network (IN) architectures and Network Management. The first sub-area is specifically to do with the development of architectures for the provision of future super-IN services including the management of personal mobility in the combined fixed and mobile-terminal networks and the development of intelligent agents. In the second sub-area, Network Management, he is involved in aspects of Service Provider control and the Management of security as part of ACTS project TRUMPET and is also interested in the co-ordinated management of ATM, SDH and WDM optical networks. In addition, he is also interested in aspects of the future provision of web-based home appliances.
Professor A. J. Seeds B.Sc., PhD, Senior Member IEEE
Network Management and Teleworking
Professor of Opto-electronics
Electrical Engineering Department
University College London
a.seeds@eleceng.ucl.ac.uk
Profile
Alwyn Seeds is Professor of Opto-electronics in the University of London and Leader of the Opto-electronics and Optical Networks Group in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University College London. He received the B.Sc. degree in Electronics in 1976 and the Ph.D. Degree in Electronic Engineering in 1980, both from the University of London. From 1980 to 1983 he was a Staff Member at Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he worked on monolithic millimetre-wave integrated circuits for use in phased-array radar. He was appointed Lecturer in Telecommunications at Queen Mary College, University of London in 1983. In 1986 he moved to University College London and was promoted to his present post in 1995.
Professor Seeds is author of over 100 papers on microwave and opto-electronic devices and their systems applications and presenter of the video "Microwave Opto-electronics" in the IEEE Emerging Technologies series. He is a member of the Peer Review College in Electronics and Photonics Technology of the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, a member of the Lightwave Technology Committee of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society and has served as a consultant to Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the UK Ministry of Defence, the General Electric Company, PLC and its subsidiaries, BNR Europe Ltd., the European Space Agency and the British Broadcasting Corporation.
Research Interests:
Teleprescence, telemedia and other next generation systems all generate raw data at rates between ten thousand and one hundred thousand times greater than conventional telephony. To communicate these data requires massive data compression, the development of communication networks of massively increased throughput or, more realistically, a combination of both techniques optimised according to economic considerations. The objective of the Opto-electronics and Optical Networks (OON) group at UCL is to create technologies suitable for a future optical communications network of very high throughput and great operational flexibility. Key technologies for meeting this objective are wireless over fibre for meeting the portable, mobile and low density fixed access requirements; advanced tuneable semiconductor lasers with appropriate frequency referencing systems for the creation of Dense Wavelength Division Multiplex (DWDM) communication networks, and soliton systems for intercontinental communication. We are working in all of these technology areas.
Wideband wireless communication implies the use of microwave or millimetre-wave bearer channels with an attendant reduction in cell size and increase in cell site numbers for coverage of a given geographical area. The use of wireless over fibre technology enables the complexity of each cell site to be minimised reducing space and maintenance requirements. We are pursuing studies of this technology at microwave and millimetre-wave frequencies with support from BNR Europe, BT Labs. and the UK-Israel Science and Technology Fund, including the use of novel optically controlled devices for optical signal demodulation, a research area we pioneered.
In a very high throughput optical communications network switching requirements become difficult to meet using electronic switching techniques and all-optical techniques become attractive. One of the simplest concepts is to use wavelength dependent switching in a DWDM network. The address space that can be obtained is directly dependent on the number of channels that can be accommodated within the system transmission window (approximately 35nm for a system using erbium doped fibre amplifiers (EDFAs)). With channel data rates of a few Gbit/s channel spacings of 10 to 30 GHz would be optimum, allowing over 200 addressable channels per fibre. Since the centre frequency of the system is about 200 THz the development of suitable tunable optical sources is a significant challenge. Our work in this area ranges from the design and fabrication of novel tuneable semiconductor lasers, through the development of precision frequency control techniques based on phase-locking to sub-systems experiments. The work is supported by EPSRC, BT Labs. and US Government agencies.
WDM soliton systems appear attractive for high bit rate intercontinental transmission systems. We are investigating an approach based on saturable absorption in multi-quantum well devices to overcome the impairments of soliton-soliton interaction and Gordon-Haus jitter which set limit long distance soliton transmission capacity. This work is carried out in collaboration with colleagues at the Opto-electronics Research Centre, Southampton University, Aston University and the University of St. Andrews and is supported by EPSRC.
Virtual Environments
Reader in Computer Graphics
Computer Science Department
University College London
m.slater@cs.ucl.ac.uk
Profile
Mel Slater was Head of Department of Computer Science at QMW University of London from 1993 to 1995. He then joined University College London to continue his research in computer graphics and virtual environments. He became Reader in Computer Science at QMW in December 1992, and joined QMW in 1981. His original background was in statistics, and he also has an MA in Sociology from the University of Essex, but during the 1980s as part of his research in computational statistics he became involved in computer graphics, and was on the international standardisation committee (ISO) for the first graphics international standard, the Graphical Kernel System (GKS). During the 1980s his research switched completely to computer graphics, and in the 1990s the dominating theme has been virtual reality. In 1991 and 1992 he was Visiting Professor in the Computer Science Division at University of California, Berkeley.
Research Interests
The virtual environments research group at UCL which is led by M. Slater comprises, two Research Fellows (Martin Usoh and one vacancy) and five Ph.D. students. Interactive computer graphics has provided the foundation of the work in virtual environments, and an understanding of experimentation and social science research techniques has provided the means for constructing quantitative and predictive models of presence. An example of the integration of these two lines of research can be found in the work on dynamic shadows (Chysanthou and Slater, 1995; Slater, Usoh and Chrysanthou,
1995). The presence centred approach has been successful, leading to a situation where in a short time the group has become internationally known for its research in VEs. It led to several publications on presence and interactive techniques (for example, Slater and Usoh, 1994a; Slater, Usoh and Steed, 1994). The concept of body centred interaction (BCI), which is based on a relationship between presence and proprioception (Slater and Usoh, 1994b), arose directly out of the model for presence, and a particular technique for 'walking' in virtual environments was developed as a result (Slater, Usoh and Steed, 1995). This work started in 1992 with the DTI/EPSRC London Parallel Applications
Centre (LPAC) project, 'virtual Reality for Architectural Walkthrough', which had project partners Thorn CRL and Division Ltd. The group currently has two funded research projects, both in the area of multi-participant (wide area distributed) virtual environments. The Distributed Extensible Virtual Reality Laboratory (DEVRL), funded by a ROPA/EPSRC grant, 1995-97, is a collaboration of three UK Universities to develop such a system. UCL's role is in the development of a multi-participant system for computer aided geometric design. This is a continuation of an earlier LPAC project in partnership with Division Ltd., 'modelling in Virtual Environments' (Slater and Usoh, 1994/95). The DEVRL work is to be further developed on a European wide basis through a new ACTS (Fourth Framework) which has just started (COVEN).
Communication with & for the Disabled
Reader
Electrical Engineering Department
University College London
j.taylor@eleceng.ucl.ac.uk
Profile
John Taylor completed his Ph.D. at Imperial College, London, in 1984, working on Switched Capacitor filter design and followed this by a period of postdoctoral research on the same topic in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Edinburgh University (1983-4). As a result of this work, early in 1985, Dr Taylor visited various Japanese academic institutions under a scheme funded by a joint British Council/ Royal Society award scheme.
Dr Taylor was appointed a lecturer in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University College, London, in 1985 and currently holds the position of Reader in Electrical Engineering. Dr Taylor, working with various collaborators, has about 90 publications in the areas of SC and continuous time analogue filters, electro-optic systems, artificial neural networks and related topics which have appeared in international journals and conferences in the UK and overseas. He is currently studying the problems of silicon interfacing electronic circuits directly into the human nervous, both as nerve-impulse sensors and drivers, initially as a way helping severely paraplegic individuals to regain some use of their limbs.
Research Interest
Damage to the nervous system due, for example, to spinal cord injury or stroke, leaves part of the body paralysed. The effects range from slight abnormality of the gait to a devastating loss all voluntary movements of the limbs and trunk. It is well-established that implanted nerve stimulators can cause paralysed muscles to contract under artificial control, and that such motor neuroprostheses can restore useful function. Historically, replacing the natural command and afferent pathways have received much less attention than the efferent pathway.
Obtaining command signals for neuroprostheses requires a man-machine interface. The development of man-machine interfaces in Rehabilitation is part of a much wider field in which humans communicate directly with machines without the need for, e.g.., keyboards or microphones . This aspect of neuroprosthesis research relies on the availability of useful signals which remain in paralysed bodies. Important sources of such signals are:
* The sensory nerves from the limbs, carrying information about limb position, skin sensations, etc.
* The muscles in the intact (non-paralysed) part of the body. These exhibit patterns of activity (postural reflexes) which may characterise the action which the person is trying to achieve.
* At the highest level, the motor cortex. Electrodes on the surface of the brain may be used to inform a prosthesis of the person's intentions.
Research which aims to utilise these signals for neuroprostheses covers many disciplines including the neurosciences and bioengineering. We are particularly interested in the technological difficulties which must be overcome before long-term trials in man can begin. Specifically, the signal-to-noise ratio of the signals picked up by the electrodes is inherently poor and this is exacerbated by interference from the electrical activity of adjacent muscles. In addition, the constraints on device size and power consumption make it clear that a Systems approach should be taken and the widest choice of technologies and signal processing methods should be considered.
This work aims to develop the electrodes, amplifiers, telemetry and signal processing techniques which will be needed for communication between disabled people and future neuroprostheses. In the longer term, we might envisage this exploratory study as the basis for a far more far reaching man-machine interaction technology.
Professor Chris J Todd PhD (Cornell), FIEE
User-Conscious Generic Service Models
BT Professor of Network Science
Electrical Engineering Department
University College London
c.todd@eleceng.ucl.ac.uk
Profile
Chris Todd is Professor of Network Science at University College London. After completing his first degree at Cambridge in 1963 he joined Plessey Caswell Laboratories and then in 1967 moved to Cornell and completed his PhD there in 1970 in solid state physics. He returned to the UK in 1970 and joined what was to become the British Telecom Research Laboratories. In 1978 he was promoted and joined the growing Optical Systems Research Division at BT's Martlesham Heath Laboratories, and in 1984 became Head of that Division. Under his care and strategic direction that Division produced over 600 papers and filed around 200 patents in the areas of optical networks and system technologies, in the period through to the end of 1990. In addition during that period he provided the technical systems foundation for a [[sterling]]100m investment by BT and Dupont in a new optoelectronics manufacturing company in Ipswich. In 1991 BT endowed the Chair of Network Science at UCL, and he left BT to take up the Chair appointment.
Since joining UCL he has established a networks research group and became Director of the Martlesham MSc (now known as the BTMSc) from UCL for the University of London. That MSc in Telecommunications Engineering taught entirely at BT Martlesham is now in its 5th year, has a total student body entirely from BT of around 200 professionals, and is in the process of renewing itself module by module. The experience gained from the BT MSc has led to the E&EE Department at UCL leading the founding of a parallel programme at UCL in 1995 to serve the needs of the Telecommunications industry in the UK and Europe. During the last few years he has worked as a strategic auditor for the European Commission and in 1995 was Chairman of a Panel which assessed the DG XIII ACTS telecommunications programmes for CREST.
Research Interests
The modern global telecommunications network is at an early stage of evolution away from a successful adventure in network automation as a pure engineering achievement, towards a role which supports information flows between people as users. The ramifications of this paradigm shift are believed to be far reaching although they are not yet well understood. Our research approach is to tackle a number of specific issues which shed light on fragments of an as yet elusive world model. Among these issues are included: the building of generic service models which recognise individual user choice, and seek to understand the implications at network level; the investigation of and approaches to reducing the rising levels of software complexity as services proliferate; improving our understanding of the relationship between the management process and network performance on the quality of service provision as perceived by the user; investigating factors which affect the robustness or integrity of networks and their management as service complexity grows and open networks become prevalent; better understanding the evolution of management architectures for specific transport scenarios; analysing control strategies for hybrid network technologies where bandwidth will always be scarce. Most of these research activities will only have practical relevance if set in the context of realistic regulatory and business models for the future, and therefore study of these areas forms a growing part of our research process.
Prof Keith E. Ward FCGI, CEng FIEE, MIMgt.
Telecommunications Regulation
Visiting Professor of Telecommunications Business
Electrical Engineering Department
University College London
k.ward@eleceng.ucl.ac.uk
Profile:
Keith Ward has been employed, full time by UCL, as Visiting Professor of Telecommunications Business since January 1992, having retired from BT at the end of a career spanning over 44 years. Prior to that in 1982 he had been Chief Engineer in the National Networks Division responsible for planning BT's trunk telephone network together with the development, procurement and installation of switching and transmission equipment and later for the whole of BT's inland network as well with an annual capital budget of around [[sterling]]3bn. During this period, he had BT responsibility for establishing and operating the technical interface with other UK licensed operators for interconnect to the BT UK network. His final job with BT was to design, launch [in 1990] and run the BT Telecommunications Business Masters Programme, now validated by the University College London.
He has lectured widely on networks and the telecommunications business, in Europe, North America, Africa and the Far East and participated in European network research projects, carried out overseas consultancy for BT and the European Commission, was a member of the International Scientific Committee for the International Network Planning Symposium and has served on the EuroPACE Telecommunications Programme Advisory Group. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of the Institute of British Telecommunications Engineers and is technical editor of its "Structured Learning Programme" issued as a supplement to the journal. For many years he was a member of the IERE Communications Group Committee and has also served on the CCITT Conference Committee. He is currently a member of the IEE Professional Group Committee E7 [Telecommunication Networks and Services] and a Fellow of the City and Guilds of London Institute. He is also Chief Technical and Business Advisor to Development Dynamics Ltd, a consultancy company who are currently undertaking a "Phare" programme for the Commission related to Regional Telecommunications Development in Central and Eastern Europe.
Research Interests
Modern telecommunications operates in an environment of privatisation; competition; regulation; the rapid development of technology platforms and the services they deliver; and the convergence of the telecommunications, IT, information and entertainment industries. The model is complex, dynamic and highly interactive. The holistic picture is not well understood in an era where complexity is giving rise to an increasing need for specialisation. But, paradoxically, senior managers in the business need to appreciate the interactive nature together with the drivers and consequences since a decision in one area can ripple through to give unexpected effects to other aspects.
Telecommunications network complexity is primarily due to its distributed processing nature and the traditional teletraffic approach is becoming subsumed by the need to understand the control aspects. The strength arising from the processing capability is also becoming a weakness due to the fragility of software control. This is exemplified by the, so called network "brownout", where unexpected perturbations can result in wholesale network outages. The problem is exacerbated by a regulatory regime that demands open interconnect and inter-networked services between competing network operators and service providers. The study of network integrity in an interconnect environment is therefore of paramount importance.
Professor Steve R Wilbur MSc, CEng, FIEE, MBCS
Mobile and Nomadic Computing
Professor of Distributed Systems
Head of Computer Science Department
University College London
s.wilbur@cs.ucl.ac.uk
Profile:
Steve Wilbur graduated in Electrical Engineering in 1966, and obtained an MSc in Computer Science in 1968. His early career interests were in Computer Aided Design and operating systems. More recently his research has been concerned with Local Area Networks and Distributed Multimedia Systems.
He was principal investigator for the Alvey Admiral project, which was concerned with network and distributed systems management, including security aspects spanning different organisations, and a secure Remote Procedure Call mechanism. He was involved in the Locator project dealing with electronic mail security and key management in an X.500 framework. As a member of the DARPA Privacy Task Force he has contributed to the production of Internet standards for secure e-mail and key management.
He was principal investigator at UCL for the RACE CAR project where UCL's main involvement was the systems architecture design, and in the design and implementation of the prototype multi-media conferencing system for the project. This allowed several designers to collaborate on CAD and related computer-based applications with additional audio and video support. It initially used an analogue system for voice/video switching, but later used digital H.261 coded video for evaluation by designers.
More recently he was a member of the SuperJanet project team and was involved in the initial design of the national network and the applications programmes. Recent work has included evaluation of digital video transmission over packet switched networks, including SuperJanet. A current project involves piloting and evaluating use of electronic workflow systems.
On the teaching side he has been responsible for designing and teaching courses in operating systems, system software, graphics, computer architecture and distributed systems. He was jointly responsible for designing the curriculum for an MSc in Information Technology in the early 1980's and was responsible for leading an advanced MSc in Data Communications Networks and Distributed Systems including curriculum design.
He is Professor of Distributed Systems in the University of London, was recently Dean of the Faculty of Mathematical and Physical Sciences and is currently Head of Department of Computer Science at UCL.
Research Interests:
Steve Wilbur's interests are predominantly in the nomadic and corporate information systems area. There are a number of different threads which need to be developed for successful systems which meet the needs of commerce and industry in the future: a) mobility b) information systems c) software systems and their management.
In the area of mobility there are many problems related to the user and their applications which need to be addressed. These include the ability of users to attach themselves to the Internet as they travel, either locally within the area of one or more micro-cellular networks, or parasitically within other organisations (with permission). This clearly involves many aspects of security and authenticity of entities within systems. Depending on mode of transport it may also involve the exchange of information between networks and applications in order to optimise the behaviour of applications with regard to performance or cost.
Modern information systems are highly distributed, and users are increasingly nomadic brought about by teleworking and travel. Managing information flows and ensuring consistency within the limits needed for effective use of the applications is vital. A recent UKERNA contract is allowing us to explore some of the issues in distributed information systems, which recognise the formal, semi-formal and informal information flows within organisations, as well as recognising that networked information may be too far away in time to be useful.
Finally, the nature of software systems and their development and management is changing. Formal development methodologies are too slow and cumbersome for many applications, and commercial packages are now encouraging end-users to tailor systems (idiosyncratically sometimes). This move to increase the power in the hands of end-users and the growth in scale of systems will need new software deployment and management strategies. This is an important theme in the Information Systems' Research Group at UCL-CS.
University College London (UCL)
The formal participation among the Centre's Key Staff is restricted to the two Departments above. However, we believe that it is pertinent to note that there a large number of other groups in UCL with whom active links either already exist or are likely to within the next 12 months. Among the active links we include projects with Medical Physics, other parts of the Medical School and the School of Public Policy while work in the Centre for Higher Education and Learning Development will be exploited in the development of distance learning material. Other activities of interest include that of the Medical Informatics Centre which is at the forefront in developing the use of IT information systems in the medical support role and already operates a number of substantial data-bases of International importance.