EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Future Communications 2: : Training Tomorrow's Internet Innovators

随着电子通信在我们的日常生活中变得越来越普遍，我们正经历着一场革命。移动和智能手机技术的使用正变得越来越普遍，语音通信之外的应用包括访问社交和商业数据，通过直播和更身临其境的视频流进行娱乐，以及通过高性能数据中心和云进行信息的分布式处理和存储。所有这些都需要在高可靠性、灵活性和低成本的情况下实现，解决方案需要集成理论算法的发展、软件的优化和硬件性能的持续进步。这些趋势将继续塑造我们的未来。据预测，到2020年，联网设备的数量将达到世界人口的1000倍：70亿人将拥有7万亿台联网设备。到2016年，这将导致全球互联网流量达到1.3 zb（其中80%以上来自视频），电信网络的能耗将增加27%。多年来，英国在通信方面的卓越表现一直是外来投资的焦点——该行业每年对英国经济的价值已经达到820亿英镑（约占GDP的5.7%）。然而，这种优势受到劳动力年龄不平衡和高技能研究人员短缺的威胁。我们的CDT将通过培训下一代研究人员来弥补这一技能差距，这些研究人员可以确保英国保持在全球通信行业的核心地位，为我们的经济提供急需的增长红利。它将以我们的行业合作伙伴的商业需求为指导，并受到未来城市、交通、电子医疗、国土安全和娱乐领域应用驱动因素的推动。英国互联网业务的扩张受到光传输机制、无线技术和高效数据表示方面创新产品开发的推动。因此，未来的通信从业者必须有一个全面的系统视角，弥合硬件和软件、无线和有线通信、应用程序驱动程序和网络约束之间的差距。虽然通信技术是推动者，但就其更广泛的应用而言，人类是生产者、消费者和受益者。因此，我们的课程将侧重于人员，权力和绩效的关键领域内的挑战和相互作用。新的CDT将以布里斯托尔在高效系统和使能技术方面的核心专业知识为基础，设计出新颖的解决方案，提供更高的性能、更低的成本和更少的环境影响。我们将培养学生的数学基础，这是现代通信系统的基础，并为未来的通信系统景观提供人力和技术解决方案。总而言之，未来通信2将培养一种新型的博士毕业生：一个智力领先，有创造力，数学严谨，了解其工作的商业含义的人-这些人是该领域未来的技术领导者。

We are living through a revolution, as electronic communications become ever more ubiquitous in our daily lives. The use of mobile and smart phone technology is becoming increasingly universal, with applications beyond voice communications including access to social and business data, entertainment through live and more immersive video streaming and distributed processing and storage of information through high performance data centres and the cloud. All of this needs to be achieved with high levels of reliability, flexibility and at low cost, and solutions need to integrate developments in theoretical algorithms, optimization of software and ongoing advances in hardware performance.These trends will continue to shape our future. By 2020 it is predicted that the number of network-connected devices will reach 1000 times the world's population: there will be 7 trillion connected devices for 7 billion people. This will result in 1.3 zettabytes of global internet traffic by 2016 (with over 80% of this being due to video), requiring a 27% increase in energy consumption by telecommunications networks. The UK's excellence in communications has been a focal point for inward investment for many years - already this sector has a value of £82Bn a year to the UK economy (~5.7% GDP). However this strength is threatened by an age imbalance in the workforce and a shortage of highly skilled researchers. Our CDT will bridge this skills gap, by training the next generation of researchers, who can ensure that the UK remains at the heart of the worldwide communications industry, providing a much needed growth dividend for our economy. It will be guided by the commercial imperatives from our industry partners, and motivated by application drivers in future cities, transport, e-health, homeland security and entertainment. The expansion of the UK internet business is fuelled by innovative product development in optical transport mechanisms, wireless enabled technologies and efficient data representations. It is thus essential that communications practitioners of the future have an overall system perspective, bridging the gaps between hardware and software, wireless and wired communications, and application drivers and network constraints. While communications technology is the enabler, it is humans that are the producers, consumers and beneficiaries in terms of its broader applications. Our programme will thus focus on the challenges within and the interactions between the key domains of People, Power and Performance. Over three cohorts, the new CDT will build on Bristol's core expertise in Efficient Systems and Enabling Technologies to engineer novel solutions, offering enhanced performance, lower cost and reduced environmental impact. We will train our students in the mathematical fundamentals which underpin modern communication systems and deliver both human and technological solutions for the communication systems landscape of the future.In summary, Future Communications 2 will produce a new type of PhD graduate: one who is intellectually leading, creative, mathematically rigorous and who understands the commercial implications of his or her work - people who are the future technical leaders in the sector.