Future optical networks - seeing through the cloud
Project ID: 2531ad1533
(You will need this ID for your application)
Research Theme: Information and Communication Technologies
UCL Lead department: Electronic and Electrical Engineering (EEE)
Lead Supervisor: Polina Bayvel
Project Summary:
The growth of data needs, with new services and increasing AI applications, requires high-capacity, adaptive and secure optical networks. These optical networks underpin the digital communications infrastructure. The challenge is how to design next-generation optical networks, able to adapt to capacity and delay needs and deliver processing capability and capacity - when and where it is needed, with reduced complexity and energy. There is an unexpected connection with brain sciences. Connectomes are a brain-wide synaptic-level network topologies, that define the connectivity within the brain. Brain-imaging technology, image analysis and machine learning has revolutionised the way we study the brain, enabling large datasets of physical connectomes of insects, animals and even humans. Combining the understanding of biological neural networks and AI techniques for optical networks is likely to yield benefits to both areas in designing adaptive networks with reduced complexity - the goal of the PhD research.
You will join the Optical Networks Group (ONG) at UCL, an internationally leading group in optical communications research. Our work spans all distance scales—from micrometre-scale photonic integrated circuits for ultra-fast data centres to 10,000-kilometer intercontinental fibre systems that form the backbone of the internet. Collaboration with the Institute of Neurology and the Cortex Lab will be invlauable in applying techniques from computational neuroscience and in understanding the biological frameworks which is able to achieve high educability with low energy needs.
We seek academically outstanding and creative candidates with a background in electrical engineering, physics, computer science, or a related discipline with interests in AI, communications, neuroscience and graph theory. Experimental experience will be of great advantage.
There is a state-of-the-art, high-speed optical transmission/network experimental laboratory to verify and refine the models - it is unique to the UK and internationally and used by our many industrial partners. It will provide an exceptional training opportunity for the student.