Thursday July 8, 2010
To design telecommunication networks across India and China, researchers at the University of Southampton have been awarded a contract. To design the next generation of wireless systems across India, Professor Lajos Hanzo, Chair of Telecommunications at the University’s School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS), and his team are working in a consortium with nine UK institutions and seven Indian Institutes of Technology.
Professor Hanzo says, “India has a huge rural population and our aim is to provide telecommunications for remote villages.” “This is very challenging and there are theoretical and practical constraints but huge need for this to support next generation healthcare and other services in India.” The two phase (five-year) initiative is in its first phase and is collaboratively funded between the Indian Government’s Department of Science and Technology, the information and communication industry and the Research Councils UK Digital Economy Programme to the tune of over ten million pounds.
In Next Generation Networks System and Services the project is referred to as the India-UK Advanced Technology Centre of Excellence. By Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala at the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras and Professor Gerard Parr from the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland, services are being led overall.
For the future wireless communication networks there is the ultimate goal of creating a UK-China joint research and development centre, a second project in this regard is called as UK-China Science Bridges : Research and Development on (B)4G Wireless Mobile Communication (UC4G). Professor Hanzo asserted, “China and India together form a market of two billion people. The provision of effective telecommunication in these markets will have a powerful influence on industry.”