Our Aim This project aims to develop and design a new satellite mission. This new mission concept will be a spaceborne multispectral canopy lidar (called SpeCL, 'speckle') that can measure the vertical profile of a forest and simultaneously determine the spectral characteristics of that profile. Since lidars can provide highly detailed 3D information on the structure of forest they have great potential in reducing the uncertainties in the terrestrial carbon cycle and of supporting the accurate mapping of land cover. The primary scientific objective of the SpeCL mission would be to determine the global distribution of above ground biomass in the world's forests using an appropriate sampling strategy, and to reduce uncertainties in the calculations of carbon stocks and fluxes associated with the terrestrial biosphere. Why is this important? Greenhouse gases associated with forestry (deforestation and degradation) accounts for roughly 17% of global emissions, more than the entire global transport network. A recent report to the Prime Minister (the 2008 Eliasch Review on Financing Global Forests) predicts that without action, the global economic cost of climate change caused by deforestation alone could reach $1 trillion a year by 2100. Most emissions of carbon from land-use change are currently from the tropics as a result of deforestation, which releases the carbon stored in biomass and soils to the atmosphere (as CO2) as organic matter is burned or decays. The regular monitoring and assessment of land cover change is therefore essential to understand the extent and impact of natural and anthropogenic changes Furthermore, analysis of the global carbon cycle shows that the annual emissions of carbon are larger than the annual accumulations of carbon in the atmosphere and oceans, suggesting a terrestrial sink for carbon in addition to that attributable to changes in land use. Remarkably, this as yet unexplained residual sink seems to have increased over the last decades in proportion to total carbon emissions, implying that carbon feedbacks are offsetting each other. This balance is unlikely to persist. The SpeCL mission is an opportunity to constrain both the net emissions of carbon from land-use/land-use change, and the residual terrestrial sink. Any further delay in understanding the carbon budget may have serious long term consequences if we leave too little time to respond. How will we do it? Edinburgh has pioneered the development of the world's first Multi Spectral Canopy Lidar (patent number 0808340.4). Using seedcorn funding from CEOI, we built the first 4-wavelength lidar, demonstrated its use in the lab and modelled the seasonal response. An airborne MSCL (A-MSCL) instrument has been designed and proposed to NERC on July 1st. In anticipation of future mission opportunities (and the long lead time required), there exists an imminent need for determining the feasibility and technical readiness of a spaceborne MSCL. In the first instance we will create a concept for the high cost, but low risk option of a traditional small satellite configuration with a cost ceiling of £100M. We will then aim to develop this concept to an ultra-low cost (<£5M), rapid deployment (within 3 years) micro-satellite platform using off-the-shelf components and where appropriate, 'proved' technologies. To this end we will consider the highly novel, high risk, but very low cost option of using a modular CubeSat platform.

In a consortium led by Heriot-Watt with St Andrews, Glasgow, Strathclyde and Dundee, this proposal is for an EPSRC CDT in Applied Photonics and responds to the Integrative Technologies priority area, but also impacts on the Measurement and Sensing, Photonic Materials and Innovative Production Processes priorities. Technologies integrating photonics and electronics pervade products and services in any modern economy, enabling vital activities in manufacturing, security, telecommunications, healthcare, retail, entertainment and transport. The success of UK companies in this technology space is threatened by a lack of doctoral-level researchers with a grasp of photonic- / electronic-engineering design, fabrication and systems integration, coupled with high-level business, management and communication skills. By ensuring a supply of these individuals, our CDT will deliver broad-ranging impacts on the UK industrial knowledge base, driving the high-growth export-led sectors of the UK economy whose photonics-enabled products and services have far-reaching impacts on society, from consumer technology and mobile computing devices to healthcare and security. Building on the success of our current IDC in Optics and Photonics Technologies, the proposed CDT will again be configured as an IDC but will enhance our existing programme to meet industry's need for engineers able to integrate photonic and electronic devices, circuits and systems to deliver high value products and processes. Our proposal was developed in partnership with industry, whose letters of support show a commitment to sponsoring 71-74 EngD and 14-17 PhD projects -- 40% more than the minimum required -- demonstrating exceptional industrial engagement. Major stakeholders include Fraunhofer UK, NPL, Renishaw, Thales, BAE Systems, Gooch and Housego and Selex ES, who are joined by a number of SMEs. The CDT follows a model in which (annually) EPSRC funds 7 EngD students, with 3 more supported by industrial / university contributions. In a progressive strategy supported by our industrial partners, we will, where appropriate, align university-funded PhD projects to the programme to leverage greater industry engagement with PhD research in the consortium. The focus of the CDT corresponds to areas of research excellence in the consortium, which comprises 89 academic supervisors, whose papers since 2008 total 584 in all optics journals , with 111 in Science / Nature / PRL, and whose active EPSRC PI photonics funding is £40.9M. All academics are experienced supervisors, having each supervised on average >6 doctoral students, with many previously acting as IDC supervisors. The strategic commitment by the participating universities is evidenced by their recruitment since 2008 of 29 new academic staff in relevant areas (including 9 professors). An 8-month frontloaded residential phase in St Andrews and Glasgow will ensure the cohort strongly gels together, and will equip students with the technical knowledge and skills they need before they begin their industrial research project. Business modules (x3) will bring each cohort back to Heriot-Watt for 1-week periods, and weekend skills workshops will be used to regularly reunite the cohort, further consolidating it to create opportunities for peer-to-peer interactions. Taught courses will total 120 credits, and will be supplemented by new Computational Methods, Systems Integration and Research Skills workshops delivered by our industry partners, as well as public-engagement training led by Glasgow Science Centre. Another innovation is an International Advisory Board, comprising leading academics / industrialists , who will benchmark and advise on our performance. The requested EPSRC support of £4.5M is complemented by £2.8M of industrial / academic cash, covering the cost of 3 students in each cohort of 10. In-kind industrial / academic contributions are worth a further £5.4M, providing exceptional value.

We propose a Centre for Doctoral Training in Integrative Sensing and Measurement that addresses the unmet UK need for specialist training in innovative sensing and measurement systems identified by EPSRC priorities the TSB and EPOSS . The proposed CDT will benefit from the strategic, targeted investment of >£20M by the partners in enhancing sensing and measurement research capability and by alignment with the complementary, industry-focused Innovation Centre in Sensor and Imaging Systems (CENSIS). This investment provides both the breadth and depth required to provide high quality cohort-based training in sensing across the sciences, medicine and engineering and into the myriad of sensing applications, whilst ensuring PhD supervision by well-resourced internationally leading academics with a passion for sensor science and technology. The synergistic partnership of GU and UoE with their active sensors-related research collaborations with over 160 companies provides a unique research excellence and capability to provide a dynamic and innovative research programme in sensing and measurement to fuel the development pipeline from initial concept to industrial exploitation.

This proposal aims to transition today's highest precision laser technology -- optical frequency combs -- from the lab to the factory, establishing the technique of dual-comb distance metrology as an enabling technology for manufacturing the next generation of precision-engineered products, whose functionality relies on micro-/ nanoscale accuracy. Optical techniques form the basis of critical industrial distance metrology, but face compromises between accuracy, precision and dynamic range. Time-of-flight methods give mm accuracy over an extended range, while interferometric trackers achieve nm precision but with no absolute positional accuracy. By developing novel dual-comb metrology techniques, this project will bridge the gap between precision and extended-range accuracy, providing traceable nm precision, with almost unlimited extended-range operation. For manufacturing industry, comb metrology therefore addresses the important problem of how to verifiably fabricate macro-scale objects with nano-/micro-precision. Building on Heriot-Watt's frequency-comb expertise, we will develop Ti:sapphire and Er:fibre dual combs, with the aim of demonstrating nm-precision controlled-environment metrology using Ti:sapphire, and micron-precision free-space ranging using eye-safe Er:fibre. Besides their novel applications in precision metrology, by implementing new efficient and compact diode-pumping schemes our research will extend laser comb technology in a way that makes these systems suitable for deployment in a wide range of environments outside the research lab, for example as modules in a precision quantum navigation system. Our project integrates key academic and industrial partners who will contribute resources and expertise in lasers (Chromacity), precision micro-optics (Powerphotonic), industrial metrology and manufacturing (Renishaw), ultra-precision metrology (EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Ultra Precision and CDT in Ultra Precision) and applications in large optics for astronomy (STFC UK Astronomy Technology Centre). The commitment of our partners is evidenced by >£300K of support, including £145K of cash which will be used primarily to support two EPSRC EngD and PhD students recruited to the project. The project aligns closely with the EPSRC's Manufacturing the Future challenge theme and the ICT Photonics for Future Systems priority, as well as the EPSRC's training agenda, by engaging EngD and PhD researchers from the CDT in Applied Photonics and the CDT in Ultra Precision. More generally, the project will support the UK's high-precision manufacturing and metrology communities, with potential academic and industrial benefits. By the end of the project we expect to have demonstrated and evaluated dual-comb distance metrology in a variety of practical manufacturing contexts (machine calibration, in-process control, finished-product inspection), and to be in a position to translate the technology into our industrial and academic partners.

This project is all about multi-disciplinary collaboration - and capitalisation in a clinical setting of the many new vistas and opportunities that will arise. As such this research programme brings together a group of world class scientists (physicists, chemists, engineers and computer experts) and clinicians to design, make and test a cutting-edge bedside technology platform which will help doctors in the intensive care unit (ICU) make rapid and accurate diagnoses that would inform therapy and ensure patients get the right treatment, quickly. While we are developing our technology platform with a focus on ICU, it will also be applicable to a wide range of other healthcare situations. ICU patients suffer high death and disability rates and are responsible for a disproportionate financial burden on the health service. Potentially fatal lung complications are a common problem in ventilated ICU patients and doctors caring for these patients in the ICU face many challenges, often needing to make snap decisions without the information necessary to properly inform those decisions. The technology platform developed in this programme will provide doctors with important information on the state of ICU patients and whether they have infections, inflammation or scarring in their lungs. Currently there are no methods to do this accurately. This information will aid them in making decisions about treatment. A new approach to rapidly diagnose lung complications in ICU would enable doctors to target the correct drugs to the appropriate patients and to withdraw drugs with confidence, with resultant improvement in patient outcomes and major cost efficiencies - thus revolutionising ICU care. Using advanced fibre optic technology and micro-electronics and new sensor arrays our ground-breaking solution is to create a novel fibre-based probe that can readily be passed into the gas exchanging areas of the lung and blood vessels of ICU patients. The probe will house a variety of special optical fibres, some of which allow clinicians to "view" inside the lung while others will be modified with sensors that can measure important parameters such as oxygen concentration and acidity in both blood and lung. In addition the fibre will deliver tiny amounts (microdoses) of 'smart reagents' that fluorescently detect specific bacteria and other agents that can damage the lung. When integrated together these signals will provide highly specific information about the degree or type of lung damage and the potential causative 'bug' if an infection is suspected. Because of the large amount of information generated and in order to make it easily interpreted by doctors, computing experts will convert these signals into easy-to-understand disease readouts for our clinicians. Work on the different elements needed to create this technology platform will be undertaken by groups of chemists, physicists, engineers, computer scientists and biologists working at Bath, Heriot Watt and Edinburgh universities. Crucially, this programme will bring these scientific disciplines together in a "hub" where they will work side-by-side, promoting integration of purpose and to ensure that advances are rapidly translated into the clinical setting. This interdisciplinary hub will also provide a fertile training base for new PhD students who will learn the cross-disciplinary skills that will equip them to meet the challenges of translating the current 'revolution' in physical sciences into benefit for UK healthcare. In summary this project will generate; 1) a new cohort of scientists trained in physical and biological science that have a full appreciation of clinical translational and commercialisation pathways and who are equipped to meet the challenges of converting advances in basic science into healthcare benefit and; 2) a cutting-edge bedside technology platform which will help doctors in the ICU make rapid and accurate diagnoses.