Wireless communications have expanded enormously over the last decade. Indeed the latest prediction is that the growth will continue. Future wireless communication systems are expected to support high-speed and high-quality multimedia services. To increase the quality and capacity of wireless communications, Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems have been proposed already to exploit signals from multiple antennas at both the transmitter and receiver. Even as a relatively new technique, MIMO has already been employed by the 3rd generation (3G) wireless standards in the form of space-time coding, and it is regarded as an essential component of the 4th generation (4G) and other future systems. However, the performance of MIMO systems deteriorates severely in frequency-selective fading channels, caused by the multi-path delay of the signal. Therefore, effective solutions are required for this difficult problem. To provide a high quality service with increasing demands on data rates within a restricted frequency bandwidth is a major challege. This proposal offers a number of ideas for investigations, which have the potential to overcome the shortcoming mentioned above. Moreover this offers low-complexity, which is an important issue from the point of view of power consumption, as well as high-performance, which is desired by the customers. Single carrier frequency domain equalization (FDE) has been shown to be an effective solution for frequency selective fading channels. In this research, a novel adaptive iterative FDE architecture will be investigated for MIMO systems, to combat time-varying frequency selective fading channels. Iterative (Turbo) decoding will be incorporated with FDE to improve the system performance, where the soft information on the code bits is exchanged between the equalizer and decoder iteratively. Both the linear and nonlinear iterative MIMO FDE structures will be developed. Two types of adaptive algorithms will be investigated to track the channel variations. One is based on adaptive channel estimation, and the other requires no explicit channel estimation. In particular, an adaptive semi-blind iterative MIMO FDE structure will be proposed, which is an extremely novel and effective method to help save the valuable bandwidth and improve the performance. With the rapid growth of the wireless communications market, the high speed, high quality and low cost systems are desired by the wireless service providers. It is acknowledged that technological innovation will play a key role in underpinning this goal. The proposed adaptive Turbo-inspired iterative MIMO FDE system has the advantages of high speed, high performance, low cost and low complexity. It also allows a wide range of tradeoffs on performance, complexity and bandwidth efficiency. Based on intensive analytical and numerical results, the proposed research will be a promising solution for the future (such as 4G) wireless communications.

Real-time monitoring and control of distribution systems is very limited due to the lack of sensors and communication systems. Hence the distribution system can be described as under-determined with the number of measurements insufficient to make the system observable. Once the complete system state is available, then any quantity in the system can be calculated. The observability and controllability of a system are mathematical duals, which means an unobservable system cannot be fully controlled. Distributed energy resources introduce significant uncertainties and, at high penetrations, may lead to operational difficulties in a network. Therefore the provision of accurate system state information to the network operators is critical for them to operate the system in a safe, prompt, and cost-effective manner, and also to make best use of the assets. Smart metering is widely recognised as the first step towards a Smart Grid future and the UK is committed to the full deployment of smart meters by 2019. Smart meters and the associated ICT (information and communication) infrastructure can greatly improve observability. Therefore there is a need to investigate the technical feasibility and key technologies of using smart metering to increase the observability of the distribution system through state estimation techniques. The research programme is structured around three challenges: Research Challenge 1: The load demand needs to be aggregated at the MV nodes using data from smart meters connected to the low voltage (LV) nodes. A big challenge is how a state estimator deals with both various kinds of measurement errors with non-normal distribution and the influence of the measurement configuration (type, location, accuracy of measurements) effectively and provides accurate estimation on the system state. We will improve the distribution state estimation to make it robust to the influence of both the measurement error distribution and the measurement configuration of a distribution system. Research Challenge 2: Smart metering may change the behaviour of energy consumers and thus lead to more dynamic demand (e.g. load that is sensitive to price). Therefore the second challenge is how to model extremely dynamic load and to provide pseudo measurements to the state estimator under conditions of large latency or failure of the ICT infrastructure or if there are un-monitored quantities. We will provide a theoretical contribution to MV nodal load modelling through investigating a new machine learning method which is able to obtain knowledge from past experience (e.g. past smart meter data). Research Challenge 3: What and where additional real-time measurements should be placed, in addition to the smart meters, to make the estimated system states accurate enough for particular Smart Grid functions and reduce the impact of the measurement configuration. We will develop an optimal meter location method considering impact from both measurement errors and measurement configurations while minimising the extra metering cost. The research will benefit from close collaboration with national and international industrial partners, and will gain insight and make contribution to the research challenges through both theoretical study of using smart meter information to increase the observability of distribution systems, and technical demonstration via small scale test facility, i.e. the Smart Metering test rig and the Smart Grid test rig developed at Cardiff; medium scale test facility in RSE, Italy; and practical case study using a BC Hydro network. The impact on potentiol beneficiaries will be delivered through collaboration, communication, and commercialisation. We will also utilise EPSRC HubNet as a dissemination platform to facilitate a wider communication.

The Bristol Centre for Complexity Sciences (BCCS) will meet the present national need to address the implications of Complexity within the cognate applications areas of Engineering, Life & Molecular Sciences by setting up an integrated multidisciplinary research and training environment in complexity science. The selected application areas in aspects of biology, chemistry and engineering offer major challenges to complexity but their resolution requires innovative theory to be developed. The vision for the BCCS is that it will grow a dynamic hub of theoretical and computational expertise that interacts with and connects the application areas, which in turn link to cross-cutting University research themes.

The Communications sector is a vital component within the UK economy, with revenues in this area totalling around 129B. Recognised as a key enabler of telecommunications, broadcasting and ICT, communications is also poised to be a transformational technology in areas such as energy, the environment, health and transport. The UK is well placed to reap the full economic and social benefits enabled by communications and investment in a CDT, embracing the breath and reach of the discipline, will help to facilitate our economic recovery and growth and enhance our global standing.There is a serious and growing concern over the future availability of suitably skilled staff to work in the communications sector in the UK. International competition is fierce, with large investments being made by competitor countries in research and in the training of personnel. IT and telecoms companies in the UK are reporting difficulties in attracting candidates with the right skills. In this context, the National Microelectronics Institute and the IET have warned that the ICT sector is facing a growing recruitment crisis with little confidence that the problem will improve in the short or medium term. Various organisations (eg DC-KTN and Royal Academy of Engineering) with support from industry are addressing this issue but acknowledge that it cannot be achieved without relevant high quality under- and postgraduate degrees through which specialist skills can be obtained.To address this shortage, a new Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in 'Future Communication' is proposed. The University of Bristol has a world leading reputation in this field, focused on its Centre for Communications Research (CCR), but built on close collaboration between colleagues from Mathematics, Computer Science, Safety Systems and industry. Our vision is to establish a world-leading research partnership which is focused on demand and firmly footed in a commercial context, but with freedom to conduct academically lead blue skies research.The Bristol CDT will be focused on people: not just as research providers, but also as technology consumers and, importantly, as solutions to the UK skills shortage. It will develop the skilled entrepreneurial engineers of the future, provide a coherent advanced training network for the communications community that will be recognised internationally and produce innovative solutions to key emerging research challenges. Over the next eight years, the 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. The taught component of the Programme will build on our MSc programme in Communication Systems & Signal Processing, acknowledged as leading in the UK, complemented by additional advanced material in statistics, optimisation and Human-Computer Interaction. This approach will leverage existing commitment and teaching expertise. Enterprise will form a core part of the programme, including: Project Management, Entrepreneurship, Public Communication, Marketing and Research Methods. Through its research programme and some 50 new PhD students, the CDT will undertake fundamental work in communication theory, optimisation and reliability. This will be guided by the commercial imperatives from our industry partners, and motivated by application drivers in Smart Grid, transport, healthcare, military/homeland security, safety critical systems and multimedia delivery. While communications technology is the enabler it is humans that are the consumers, users and beneficiaries in terms of its broader applications. In this respect we will focus our research programme on the challenges within and interactions between the key domains of People, Power and Performance.