Two major UKRI-funded projects aiming to build the 6G communications systems of the future are receiving help from academics at the University of Glasgow.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) recently announced £40 million in new funding to support the ongoing work of three Future Telecoms Research Hubs – called CHEDDAR, TITAN, and HASC – which together will form a new Federated Communications Hub. The funding will also facilitate the creation of a national infrastructure for future telecoms testing and development, named JOINER.

Researchers from Glasgow are lending their support to CHEDDAR, led by Imperial College London, and JOINER, led by the University of Bristol.

CHEDDAR

Last year, the University of Glasgow was among the founding partners of CHEDDAR, the Communications Hub for Empowering Distributed Cloud Computing Applications and Research.

Initially supported by £2m from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), CHEDDAR has now received an additional £10.5m to continue its work.

Research at CHEDDAR strives to investigate and design proofs-of-concept of the 6G technologies that will enable interconnection between people and devices at all scales. It is crucial for these technologies to underpin and be reinforced by communications infrastructures that are safe, secure, trustworthy and sustainable.

Next-generation technologies, such as AI and the Internet of Things (IoT), do not operate in isolation but are underpinned by the communications infrastructures that support them.

Research on intelligent connected telecom management and control, dynamic programmability, and integrated sensing and communication are central, as is the reduction of its energy footprint.

Dame Muffy Calder, Professor of formal methods at the University of Glasgow and head of the College of Science and Engineering, will be part of the university’s team contributing to CHEDDAR, alongside Professor Qammer H. Abbasi of the James Watt School of Engineering. Professor Muhammad Ali Imran, also of the James Watt School of Engineering, is leading the university’s support for CHEDDAR and JOINER.

Professor Dame Muffy said: “I’m pleased to be working on the CHEDDAR project alongside colleagues at the University and institutions across the UK. The University of Glasgow’s deep understanding of the sector and cutting-edge research to develop future comms technologies will help us play a key role in creating the infrastructures that will enable a wide range of next-generation technologies.”

Professor Abbasi also commented: “Glasgow researchers will contribute support across all three pillars of the CHEDDAR project in areas including verifiable safety, integrated sensing and communication, cloud native radio intelligence controller, and foundational model for telecom. We’re excited to be contributing our expertise to this collaborative effort, and we look forward to working with partners in the months to come.”

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JOINER

The University of Glasgow is one of 10 UK universities, and the only Scottish higher education institution, supporting the Joint Open Infrastructure for Networks Research (JOINER) project.

JOINER is the UK’s first national accelerator programme towards 6G and beyond. It is a national R&D platform interconnecting academic institutes, research labs, and industrial partners to enable innovation within a collaborative experimental environment.

Bridging the gap between experimenters, services and equipment, the JOINER fabric is a dedicated transport network interconnecting all JOINER terminals across the UK while a multi-tenancy hybrid cloud platform enables end-to-end service provision.

The JOINER project aims to accelerate the UK’s telecom and technology approach by establishing a cutting-edge, national-scale experimentation platform designed to facilitate innovation, collaboration, and research across academia, industry, and government sectors.

Further, JOINER aims to integrate and upgrade existing national testbeds through a federated approach, enabling comprehensive research and development on future network technologies, including the pioneering of the UK’s first full-scale 6G-­enabled platform.

The University of Glasgow, alongside the Scotland 5G Centre, is Scotland’s contributor to the JOINER project.

Professor Muhammad Imran remarked: “I’m proud that the University of Glasgow is involved in these two very important projects, which will help the UK maintain its world-leading position in future communications technologies and networks. It’s a reflection of the excellence of our research base in this area, which draws in expertise across a wide range of specialisms.”