The Centre for Energy-Efficient Telecommunications (CEET ) at the University of Melbourne has launched what it says is “a new cutting-edge research program to address the billions of devices and applications expected to make up the so-called Internet of Things,” and that will “position CEET “at heart of industry efforts to create a sustainable networked planet.
Researchers will use the CEET’s commercial research partnership with Alcatel-Lucent’s Bell Labs with funding from Alcatel-Lucent, the University of Melbourne and the Victorian State Government.
“Building on existing expertise in areas such as measurement and modelling, CEET will address this complex challenge through projects to produce new designs, protocols and hardware technologies, virtual or cloud-based processing specifications, and energy consumption models,” it said.
CEET says that data processing and transmission associated with billions of networked ‘things’ will consume large amounts of energy. Bell Labs’ Network Energy Research Program leader, Dr Thierry Klein, said effective collaboration with skilled specialists would be a key factor in solving future network efficiency issues.
“Efficiency and sustainability are already significant challenges for the telecommunications industry and this will only increase as more devices are connected and more data is moving around the network. “Our work with CEET is a critical part of the Bell Labs sustainability research agenda and this new research program will play a big part in how we address challenges for the global telecommunications industry in the future.”
CEET director, Dr Kerry Hinton, said the new research agenda would establish Melbourne at the heart of efforts to create a sustainable networked planet.
“CEET has proven leadership in understanding the complex energy requirements of the global telecommunications network. This next phase will build on that leadership, contributing to industrial solutions that ensure the unquestionable benefits of our connected world do not come at an unsustainable cost.”
