•Monographs

Opportunistic spectrum usage and the exploitation of relay stations are two technologies that will be of key importance to the future mobile communication networks WiMax and LTE. The ROCKET project (Reconfigurable OFDMA-based Cooperative Networks Enabled by Agile Spectrum Use) focuses on this field and is coordinated by lecturer Josep Vidal from the Signal Processing and Communications Group (SPCOM).

The radio spectrum is underused in specific places and at specific times. Thus, ROCKET researchers propose that both mobile terminals and base stations should detect whether these frequency bands in their surroundings can be used to increase the speed of information transmission.

Similarly, the project proposes the use of very small, inexpensive relay stations, leading to a significant increase in the provision of wireless networks, with no corresponding increase in the number of installations. Installations are usually very expensive and large, and are generally situated on the terrace roofs of buildings. In contrast, small relays can be easily placed on traffic lights or street lamps. “In some cases, when they are not being used, users’ mobile phones or laptops can act as relays”, explains Josep Vidal.

The aim is to devise wireless solutions with bit rates of over 100 Mbps, with the potential to reach peaks of 1 Gbps. UPC is the only Spanish university participating in the ROCKET project. Other collaborators include Aachen University (Germany), the University of Surrey (United Kingdom), the Czech Technical University (the Czech Republic), the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) and the companies Motorola Labs, Intracom SA, Telecom Solutions (ICOM), Iber WiFi Exchange SLU and Dune SLR.

In the field of artificial intelligence applied to software engineering, the Knowledge Engineering and Machine Learning Group investigates new models, methods and IT tools for dynamically designing, implementing and maintaining distributed service systems, regardless of whether these are for Web service or GRID environments (GRID is an innovative technology that enables high performance computers to be integrated and used collectively). This research is part of the Alive project (Coordination, Organisation and Model Driven Approaches for Dynamic, Flexible, Robust Software and Services Engineering), led by Ulises Cortés and Javier Vázquez.

To develop a new generation of distributed systems and applications made up of flexible and heterogeneous services, the project applies strategies that are currently used to organise the relations and complex dependences in human, social and economic behaviour. Javier Vázquez explains that the group is using concepts such as group dynamics and models to organise and resolve the complex interdependencies that appear during the construction of distributed systems.

The new technology will not only help in the design and implementation of new Web service systems, but will also enable existing systems to be maintained and new functions to be incorporated.

Currently, Web services are interconnected very rigidly. The new technology will enable many interconnections to be made semi-automatically. Thus, good use will be made of the potential of each service.

Alive will provide new business opportunities in different fields and will contribute to the future development of the European software industry. Participants in the project include the University of Bath and the University of Aberdeen in the United Kingdom; Trinity College, Dublin (Ireland); the University of Utrecht (Holland); and the companies BCN d’Infografia, Calico Jack Ltd. and Thales Nederland B.V.

The field of wireless networks is advancing at an incredible rate, as shown by the Marie Curie Action “Coolness”. This project, which is led by Lluís Alonso from the Mobile Communications Research Group (GRCM), is carried out in conjunction with Vidavo, a Greek company that manufactures mobile devices for monitoring patients’ progress and for providing telehealthcare to sick and elderly people. Through this action, the company’s researchers find out firsthand about UPC research into access protocols and techniques for managing radio resources via wireless sensor networks. These techniques can then be applied to Vidavo’s products.

The researcher and his team are working with cross layer techniques, which can be used to improve the adaptability of the network to the conditions at each moment. Unlike conventional radio emissions, which send a signal with constant characteristics and parameters, the group is working to obtain wireless networks that adapt automatically to changes in the sensor’s surroundings, such as the distance of the monitored person from the signal transmitter, the obstacles, the sensor’s battery level or the traffic level in the network.

In this respect, Alonso is working to improve the medium access control (MAC) protocol for wireless networks, in order to avoid the problems of the current standard, one of them being that a network may lose a great deal of its transmission capacity when it works with many sensors simultaneously.

The research will introduce constant measurements of the state of the channel, which will enable the parameters of the access protocol to be adjusted automatically. This will make the system more reliable and enable it to transmit more information in less time.

In addition, work is being done to save energy in the signal-emitting devices. This is essential for users of medical monitoring devices such as those distributed by Vidavo. The patients or elderly people who use portable monitoring equipment often find it difficult to recharge the devices. Therefore, it is important for the access protocol to be as energy-efficient as possible.

SARDANA is one of the other 7th Framework Programme projects led by UPC through the Optical Communications Group (GCO). The project, headed by Professor Josep Prat, aims to establish the bases for constructing a new broadband infrastructure: a universal, dense, fibre optic network, which the experts have dubbed the fibre-to-the-home network. This network will be able to reach every home in Europe. The fibre optic cable, and with it vast amounts of data, will be able to cover large distances to serve both towns and rural areas.

The idea is that technology, which can lead to the digital divide, should provide the tools to prevent this divide from occurring. This is the paradigm of “home and social inclusion”: we are all members of the information society; consequently we should all be able to take equal advantage of the improvements brought about by the new technological society.

The Japanese have already decided that fibre optics will reach every home at the same price as broadband. In the United States, work on fibre optic networks is gaining pace. Europe is supporting research in this field. Various research groups all over Europe, led by UPC, are seeking solutions that will provide a service for more users with a minimum infrastructure (between 1,000 and 4,000 users per fibre ring), at greater distances and with a formidable speed of 10 Gbit/s. SARDANA (single-fibre-tree advanced ring-based dense access network architecture) is working in this area.

The project, whose acronym is the name of a traditional Catalan dance, aims to create a new access network architecture and a new system of optic signal regeneration by remote pumping and amplification. This will enable users to access new multimedia applications without the current bottlenecks.

The resulting network will be scalable: it can easily be extended, with no loss in the quality of the service. In addition, it is more robust, safer and cheaper to construct and maintain than existing networks.

The SARDANA consortium is made up of UPC, which leads the project, France Telecom (FT), Orange, Tellabs, Intracom, the Instituto de Telecomunicações (IT), the High Institute of Communication and Information Technology (ISCOM) and the Research and Educational Laboratory in Information Technology (AIT).

The four projects led by UPC are included in the 25 R&D initiatives funded by the European Community in the field of ICTs in the first call for applications of the 7th Framework Programme. Currently, negotiations are underway to decide which projects will receive funding in the second and third calls for applications. The aforementioned projects are emblematic and represent models for the development of ICTs in Europe in the coming years.

UPC participated in and coordinated more European projects in the 6th Framework Programme (FP) for Research and Technological Development than other Catalan universities. Catalan universities were involved in 431 projects in total. UPC groups coordinated 16 of these projects, which are currently underway. Similarly, UPC received more funds from the 6th FP than other Catalan universities. Over €33m were received. Currently, the decisions on the other two calls for applications are being negotiated with the European Commission.