At the beginning of the 20th century, scientists discovered how to measure the size and spacing of atoms using a technique called diffraction, which led to a revolution in the understanding of chemistry, biology and solid-state physics. X-rays and electrons behave like waves, but with a wavelength which is much smaller than the spacing between the atoms of a solid. These waves scatter and interfere with one another, producing strong beams coming out of the object at particular angles. By measuring these angles, and knowing the wavelength of the waves, the separation of atoms could be calculated. It was using this method that Watson and Crick determined the structure of DNA in the 1950s. However, diffraction is only useful if the object is a regular lattice structure. In order to look at more complicated atomic structures, scientists have relied on electron or X-ray microscopes. In a standard microscope, a lens is used to produce a magnified image, but the method still relies on the waves that make up the radiation (light, electrons or X-rays) interfering with one another to build up the image. With light, this is experimentally easy, but with very-short wavelength radiation (a fraction of an atomic diameter), the tiniest error in the lens or the experimental apparatus makes the waves interfere incorrectly, ruining the image. For this reason, a typical electron or X-ray microscope image is about one hundred times more blurred than the theoretical limit defined by the wavelength.In this project, we aim to unify the strengths of the above apparently very different techniques to get the best-ever pictures of individual atoms in any structure (which is not necessarily crystalline). Our approach is to use a conventional (relatively bad) X-ray or electron lens to form a patch of moderately-focussed illumination (like burning a hole in a piece of paper with the sun's rays through a magnifying glass). In fact, we do not need a lens at all! Just a moveable aperture put in front of the object of interest will suffice. We then record the intensity of the diffraction pattern which emerges from the other side of the object on a good-quality high-resolution detector, for several positions of the illuminating beam. This data does not look anything like the object, but we have worked out a way of calculating a very good image of the object by a process called 'phase-retrieval'. To make an image of an object we have to know what's called the relative phase (the different arrival times) of the waves that get scattered from it. In diffraction, this information is lost, although some of it is preserved (badly) by a lens. Our data is a complex mixture of diffraction and image data, but the key innovation in this project is that we can use a computer to calculate the phase of the very high resolution data which could never be seen by the lens alone. Other workers in the United States have demonstrated very limited versions of this new approach, but we have a much more sophisticated computational method which eliminates essentially all earlier restrictions.The new method, which has received patent protection, could be implemented on existing electron or X-ray microscopes, greatly enhancing their imaging capability. It is even possible to contemplate a solid-state optical microscope, built into a single chip with no optical elements at all. All the weakness and difficulties and costs of lenses would be replaced by a combination of good quality detectors and computers. Our ultimate aim is to be able to image in 3D directly (using X-rays or electrons) any molecular structure, although this will require a great deal of research. The work put forward in this proposal will build the Basic Technology foundations of this new approach to the ultimate microscope.

In space imaging, enhanced image quality is key to the detection and characterisation of difficult and transient targets. For example, accurate evaluation of the sea surface conditions can help with the detection and characterisation of ship wakes. These provide key information for tracking (illegal) vessels and are also useful in classifying the characteristics of the wake generating vessel. Until recently, one of the main factors hampering research into sea surface modelling was the lack of sufficient data of high enough quality, able to accurately describe the sea surface. Remote-sensing technologies have however shown remarkable progress in recent years and the availability of remotely sensed data of the Earth and sea surface is continuously growing. Several European missions (e.g., the Italian COSMO/SkyMed or the German TerraSAR-X) have developed a new generation of satellites exploiting synthetic aperture radar (SAR) to provide spatial resolutions previously unavailable from space-borne remote sensing. The UK is currently developing the first of a constellation of four satellites that will constitute the NovaSAR mission. This represents a milestone for Earth-observation capabilities but also requires the development of novel image modelling, analysis, and processing techniques, able to cope with this new generation of data and to optimally exploit them for information-extraction purposes. Indeed, the mathematical modelling and understanding of wakes and other sea surface signatures can be greatly enhanced through image analysis and information extraction from SAR imagery. Hence, this project is concerned not only with the development and validation of new sea surface models, but also with the design of very advanced methods for enhancing SAR image quality and for subsequent information extraction. The results of this project will be important in the detection and tracking of illegal vessels involved in smuggling goods or humans. They will also be indicative in terms of understanding and classifying the characteristics of the wake generating vessel. As a consequence, the work will directly benefit the design of stealthy vessels that can avoid such detections, reducing the risk to naval operations.

Silicon Photonics is a field that has seen rapid growth and dramatic changes in the past 5 years. According to the MIT Communications Technology Roadmap, which aims to establish a common architecture platform across market sectors with a potential $20B in annual revenue, silicon photonics is among the top ten emerging technologies. This has in part been a consequence of the recent involvement of large semiconductor companies in the USA such as Intel and IBM, who have realised the enormous potential of the technology, as well as large investment in the field by DARPA in the USA under the Electronic and Photonic Integrated Circuit (EPIC) initiative. Significant investment in the technology has also followed in Japan, Korea, and to a lesser extent in the European Union (IMEC and LETI). The technology offers an opportunity to revolutionise a range of application areas by providing excellent performance at moderate cost due primarily to the fact that silicon is a thoroughly studied material, and unsurpassed in quality of fabrication with very high yield due to decades of investment from the microelectronics industry. The proposed work is a collaboration between 5 UK Universities (Surrey, St. Andrews, Leeds, Warwick and Southampton) with input from the industrial sector both in the UK and the USA. We will target primarily the interconnect applications, as they are receiving the most attention worldwide and have the largest potential for wealth creation, based on the scalability of silicon-based processes. However, we will ensure that our approach is more broadly applicable to other applications. This can be achieved by targeting device functions that are generic, and introducing specificity only when a particular application is targeted. The generic device functions we envisage are as follows: Optical modulation; coupling from fibre to sub-micron silicon waveguides; interfacing of optical signals within sub micron waveguides; optical filtering; optical/electronic integration; optical detection; optical amplification. In each of these areas we propose to design, fabricate, and test devices that will improve the current state of the art. Subsequently we will integrate these optical devices with electronics to further improve the state of the art in optical/electronic integration in silicon.We have included in our list of objectives, benchmark targets for each of our proposed devices to give a clear and unequivocal statement of ambition and intent.We believe we have assembled an excellent consortium to deliver the proposed work, and to enable the UK to compete on an international level. The combination of skills and expertise is unique in the UK and entirely complementary within the consortium. Further, each member of the consortium is recognised as a leading international researcher in their field.The results of this work have the potential to have very significant impact to wealth creation opportunities within the UK and around the world. For example emerging applications such as optical interconnect, both intra-chip, and inter-chip, as well as board to board and rack to rack, and Fibre To The Home for internet and other large bandwidth applications, will require highly cost effective and mass production solutions. Silicon Photonics is a seen as a leading candidate technology in these application areas if suitable performance can be achieved

Public opinion on complex scientific topics can have dramatic effects on industrial sectors (e.g. GM crops, fracking, global warming). In order to realise the industrial and societal benefits of Autonomous Systems, they must be trustworthy by design and default, judged both through objective processes of systematic assurance and certification, and via the more subjective lens of users, industry, and the public. To address this and deliver it across the Trustworthy Autonomous Systems (TAS) programme, the UK Research Hub for TAS (TAS-UK) assembles a team that is world renowned for research in understanding the socially embedded nature of technologies. TASK-UK will establish a collaborative platform for the UK to deliver world-leading best practices for the design, regulation and operation of 'socially beneficial' autonomous systems which are both trustworthy in principle, and trusted in practice by individuals, society and government. TAS-UK will work to bring together those within a broader landscape of TAS research, including the TAS nodes, to deliver the fundamental scientific principles that underpin TAS; it will provide a focal point for market and society-led research into TAS; and provide a visible and open door to engage a broad range of end-users, international collaborators and investors. TAS-UK will do this by delivering three key programmes to deliver the overall TAS programme, including the Research Programme, the Advocacy & Engagement Programme, and the Skills Programme. The core of the Research Programme is to amplify and shape TAS research and innovation in the UK, building on existing programmes and linking with the seven TAS nodes to deliver a coherent programme to ensure coverage of the fundamental research issues. The Advocacy & Engagement Programme will create a set of mechanisms for engagement and co-creation with the public, public sector actors, government, the third sector, and industry to help define best practices, assurance processes, and formulate policy. It will engage in cross-sector industry and partner connection and brokering across nodes. The Skills Programme will create a structured pipeline for future leaders in TAS research and innovation with new training programmes and openly available resources for broader upskilling and reskilling in TAS industry.

The ability to transmit high power wirelessly over long distances is a potential game changer. In this project we are ambitiously investigating the area of medium power (200 W) medium distance (25 m) microwave wireless power transmission (WPT). Current research on microwave WPT tends to focus on low power "scavenging" techniques, with power levels of < 1mW. This can be useful for applications such as low power sensors, but is unlikely to be disruptive for commonly used wireless devices requiring higher power such as smartphones, or even electric vehicles. Higher powered WPT can be carried out using low frequency inductive coupling techniques, although range is very short (<20 cm). Therefore we see microwave WPT, as the only way of breaking the barrier of longer distance and higher power. We intend to take commercial Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Drones) as a demanding, high added value, and un-resolved application example. Current drone technology is battery powered with a flight time of around only 20 minutes. The ability for continuous drone flight would be highly disruptive allowing many new applications for the technology that currently cannot be accessed e.g. first response situations such as delivery of emergency medical supplies. The development of new strategies for medium (<25m) range wireless power transmission (WPT) that permit high efficiency end to end energy transfer delivering up to 200W d.c. power will be a game changer, as it will largely offset the current critical dependence on rechargeable battery technology. This proposal will provide a step change in microwave WPT technology in order to allow continuous powering of arbitrarily located mobile electrical systems entirely wirelessly over distance in an energy effective way. We are not aware of any other research programme that has studied efficient end to end WPT to moving platforms with arbitrary orientation that are capable of both near and far field power delivery ensuring 24/7 endurance. We intend to address complex research challenges in microwave WPT regarding both transmit and receive rectifying antenna (rectenna) technology. We propose an innovative microwave WPT system that; (i) can transfer power to an object or objects whose position relative to the wireless power source is/are unknown a-priori, (ii) can lie in either the near or the far-field of each other with arbitrary orientation in both line of sight and non-line sight situations (iii) can operate using small, arbitrarily spaced, transmit sub-arrays, to artificially enhance the transmit aperture, since WPT with a single, conventional antenna, requires a massive aperture to produce reasonable efficiency. This will require major innovations that currently lie beyond state of the art. (a) Near/far field auto focusing tracking antenna array technology, with a high degree of focusing from a distributed array transmitter, allowing for extremely low free space path loss (b) Power amplifiers that can maintain extremely high efficiency over a range of power levels (c) Conformal, orientation agnostic rectifying antenna (rectenna) systems. In addition to the above we are aware that applying a conformal rectenna around a drone will be highly challenging, if the drone is still to be capable of efficient and stable flight. Therefore staff from the QUB school of Mechanical and Aerospace engineering are also involved in the project to establish novel conformal rectenna flight-ready solutions. As a grand finale to the research programme we propose to show two high impact practical demonstrations. We intend to show a laboratory measurement of high efficiency microwave WPT, but, to put this research project on the world stage, we plan to show a long duration vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) flight, by flying a drone continuously, powered entirely by microwave wireless power.