TITAN delivers stand-out performance at FTH Advanced Connectivity Showcase

The Federated Telecoms Hub’s FTH Advanced Connectivity Showcase, on 1 December at the Science Museum in London, was the latest stage on which TITAN demonstrated its research impacts, alongside those…

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The Federated Telecoms Hub’s FTH Advanced Connectivity Showcase, on 1 December at the Science Museum in London, was the latest stage on which TITAN demonstrated its research impacts, alongside those of fellow Telecoms Hubs CHEDDAR, HASC and JOINER. This high-profile event attracted an audience spanning industry, academia, government and the investment community, who turned out in force to witness how the FTH is pushing the boundaries of innovation in the global telecommunications sector.

Over the course of the day, which was orchestrated to perfection by Event Chair, Michaela Eschbach, Chief Executive Officer of Cambridge Wireless, delegates took in: presentations by leading experts, who discussed how the UK’s blue-sky research is translating into real-world applications; elevator pitches introducing proprietary new technologies set to inform next generation telecoms networks; a vibrant exhibition comprising 55+ break-through research projects that are heading towards commercialisation; and a lively closing panel session between the FTH Directors and the audience.

TITAN showed an impressive 23 novel technology projects during the exhibition, displaying the collaborative research teams’ depth and breadth of knowledge and experience across the event’s five themes of: next-generation network architectures; advanced radio systems and physical later technologies, and spectrum innovation; artificial intelligence (AI)-native networks and automation; emerging technologies and frontier communications; and security, privacy and trust. Several projects were also the subject of elevator pitches, honing in on what makes them revolutionary and where the investment opportunity lies. To highlight just a few of the solutions exhibited:

  • mm-level sensing with mmWave: privacy-safe, indoor healthcare and smart city traffic solutions (mmSense) – a prototype at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 4-5 that can be applied in indoor environments such as care homes or hospitals, offering a privacy-friendly alternative to camera-based monitoring, as well as outdoors, for example traffic surveillance
  • Time-optimised optical networks for data centres (NanoSync DC) – a nanosecond-level timed, optical demonstrator incorporating a software defining network (SDN) controller, local agent, fast optical switching and time synchronisation, addressing market needs for scalable, ultra-fast, cross-domain coordination in data communication networks
  • Secure integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) for defence – a system seamlessly fusing radar sensing and data communication functions within a single hardware and signal processing framework, tested and validated at TRL 6, with possible applications in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), automotive systems, robotics and industrial automation
  • Micro light-emitting diodes for ultrafast optical wireless communications: a novel platform for terrestrial and satellite communications – a ‘Mega Projector’ micro-LED array, at TRL 4, enabling ‘data-through-display’ applications where images and video are displayed to the human eye while high-speed wireless data is simultaneously transmitted to electronic devices, exceeding 100 Mbps

Playing an instrumental role throughout the conference were the Hub Directors: Prof Julie McCann, CHEDDAR Hub; Prof Dominic O’Brien, HASC Hub; Prof Dimitra Simeonidou, JOINER Platform and Prof Harald Haas, TITAN Hub and research translation lead within the FTH. Michaela Eschbach, CEO of Cambridge Wireless, provided the context for the day’s activities, including opening up the morning’s plenary session and hosting the post-exhibition panel followed by audience Q&A round. The Directors explained how the 35 universities within the FHT work collaboratively to tackle the crucial gap between TRLs 3 and 6 – producing research outcomes that form an intellectual property pipeline of new technologies with intellectual property (IP), spin-out and licensing potential – as well as contributing to international standardisation initiatives and the development of translational skills.

Reflecting on TITAN’s role at the FTH Advanced Connectivity Showcase, Director Prof Haas said “It is exciting to see how far the TITAN Telecoms Hub has come in the nearly three years since its inception. It was a privilege to be at the heart of this event, alongside the other Hubs, and to exhibit a cross-section of TITAN projects, giving us the floor to clearly illustrate how our research teams are advancing the state-of-the-art in communications technologies, delivering industrial and commercial viability, and attractive propositions for investors. We will keep pushing, and with some luck, perhaps we will see the next UK telecoms unicorn emerge from one of the Hubs.”