Date:

2009-

Themes:

Applied Electromagnetism, Modelling and Simulation, Environmental modelling

Funding:

EPSRC

Mapping the underworld (MTU) is a multi-disciplinary, multi-university, research project has been funded by EPSRC to develop the means to locate, map in 3-D and record, using a single shared platform, the position of 100% of buried utility service pipes and cables without excavation. Its research areas include:

1. Development of the multi-sensor array 2. Fusion of sensor data with asset records 3. Enhanced ground penetrating radar 4. Acoustics for pipe location 5. Low frequency electromagnetic field technologies 6. Magnetic field technologies 7. Tuning of the multi-sensor device to the ground conditions 8. Proving trials and specification of a national MTU test facility

This project is one package (WP6) of the whole MTU project. Its aims are to utilise a passive array of magnetic sensors together with advanced signal processing techniques to detect underground electricity cables and other metallic buried infrastructure, and to develop the technique so that it can be integrated in the multi-sensor device.

The work package consists of three interlinked activities: First, finite element modelling of fields from cables and the development of suitable optimisation techniques for estimating their location, using finite element implementations of Maxwell’s equations. Second, small-scale laboratory experiments to compare the theoretical results with fields from cables and adjacent metal pipes. Third, large-scale field trials in a controlled environment in the Frnakfurt Test Facility, and at different ‘live’ sites provided by the project partners.

Primary investigators

• sgs
• Paul Lewin

Secondary investigator

• pw3

Associated research group

• Electronics and Electrical Engineering

Date:

2008-

Themes:

Healthcare, Healthcare in ECS, Wireless Sensing and Sensor Networks

Forearm crutches are frequently used in the rehabilitation of an injury to the lower limb, by enabling the patient to reduce or remove weight-bearing on the affected limb. Both excessive loading and unloading of the limb can slow healing or cause further damage, suggesting a need for a program of graduated weight-bearing and activity. Therefore, a patient is instructed by their physiotherapist to apply a certain fraction of their body weight through the crutch axis as they walk. Instructing patients on partial weight-bearing is a difficult task for the physiotherapist as there are currently few objective means of measuring how much weight is going through the affected lower limb. A patient’s perception of the loading on their leg is often prone to considerable error and clinicians can give only subjective feedback as a result of visual inspection.

Primary investigators

• Geoff Merrett
• Neil White

Secondary investigator

• Georgina Hallett

Associated research groups

• Electronic Systems and Devices Group
• Electronics and Electrical Engineering

Date:

2009-2010

Funding:

JISC

The Microviews project aims to develop a Javascript library that is capable of rendering a preview of an EPrint page that can be used as a tooltip and also as a specialised interface for mobile devices. The preview will show selected EPrints fields with the aim of providing enough information for users to choose whether to follow the link to the full EPrint page. The library will include a simple Javascript hook that can be included on any page containing links to an EPrint. The hook will display the preview as a graphical tooltip when users hover over the link. The JavaScript will also detect mobile devices and rather than a tooltip will insert a mobile friendly gateway page when users select the link.

Microviews will be useable without modifying the EPrints installations themselves, and the scripts will be referenced from a central Microviews server for easy maintainability.

Primary investigator

• David Millard

Secondary investigator

• mmr

Associated research group

• Learning Societies Lab

Date:

2009-2009

Theme:

Accessible Technologies

To build an application to replace the TechDis Toolbar and to supplement other tools like those provided by Google and Firefox. To help staff and students irrespective of their skills and abilities when they are interacting with information environments.

Phase 1 Assemble the requirements for the sets of tools and the rationale for delivery and for support

Phase 2 Develop the preferences tool set and the Study tools set

Phase 3 Evaluation and testing with users and other agencies to produce the finished application

Primary investigators

• E.A. Draffan
• Mike Wald

Secondary investigator

• Sebastian Skuse

Partner

• JISC TechDis

Associated research group

• Learning Societies Lab

Date:

2009-2010

Theme:

Accessible Technologies

This project funded by JISC TechDis includes the harvesting of the existing accessibility content from previous JISC funded projects, making the data commonly available and searchable and making sure that the engine and data are secure, portable and able to be mirrored.

The development of a system to link the related data, capable of accessing any of the content by searching across the whole data range will be required. Content will need to be viewed from different perspectives, e.g. pedagogy, technology, disability etc.

Primary investigators

• E.A. Draffan
• Mike Wald

Secondary investigators

• Russell Newman
• Sebastian Skuse
• dwf
• tg2

Partner

• JISC TechDis

Associated research group

• Learning Societies Lab

Date:

2009-2010

Theme:

Accessible Technologies

This latest information has been taken from the Teachernet website.

"The DCSF has made funding available for a consortium to lead work on a small-scale pilot project to test practical solutions aimed at improving the availability of published curriculum materials in formats that are accessible for visually impaired and dyslexic pupils who are studying at either Key Stage 3 or 4. This pilot project will run for up to two years (2009-11).

Background and rationale

This pilot project comes in response to the RNIB campaign "Right to Read'. That campaign seeks to ensure that 'blind and partially sighted people are able to read the same books at the same time and at the same price as sighted people.' In 2003, the Right to Read Charter was launched stating that:

* every day three million children and adults are denied the Right to Read just because they have a sight problem: dyslexia or a reading disability * ninety-five per cent of all books, magazines and other publications never become available in large print, audio or Braille.

The RNIB's campaign report, 'Where's My Book?' demonstrated that the current system for providing accessible versions of textbooks to blind and partially-sighted school pupils is not working. Delays often occur in the provision of accessible material and children's educational and social progress suffers as a result.

Evidence suggests that the provision of written materials in alternative formats can be an inefficient and expensive use of a school's staff time and financial resources. Where written materials are not provided in a timely and efficient way it can have a negative impact on the educational progress of print disabled students.

The DCSF believes that the solution to this problem lies in ensuring that curriculum materials are available in electronic form to enable efficient production of formats that are accessible to all learners with print disabilities.

Primary investigators

• E.A. Draffan
• Mike Wald

Partner

• Dolphin Computer Access

Associated research group

• Learning Societies Lab

Date:

2008-

Theme:

Accessible Technologies

Web2Access is a JISC TechDis funded project, whose purpose is to develop a practical, pragmatic and relevant toolkits to support the projects funded within the JISC Users and Innovation Programme in their engagement with next generation and Web 2.0 technologies and emerging legal issues, such as IP, libel and accessibility. You may find Web2Rights a useful resource to explore.

There are a number of ways in which these projects will engage with Web 2.0 and the resources created here will be relevant for projects which are:

* Adapting and deployment of pre-existing tools, technologies and software. * Developing new tools, technologies and software. * Adapting and using own content. * Use of third party created content.

We anticipate that these tools will also be useful for other projects funded by JISC, JISC Programme Managers, organisations represented by the Strategic Content Alliance, the wider Higher and Further education communities, and other organisations engaged with the web.

Primary investigators

• E.A. Draffan
• Mike Wald

Secondary investigators

• Russell Newman
• cjp
• Abigail Catherine Louise James

Associated research group

• Web and Internet Science

Date:

2009-

Theme:

MEMs and NEMs

This research is about the analysis, design and implementation of a new two degree-of-freedom (DoF) capacitive micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) velocity sensor. A first prototype MEMS velocity sensor was fabricated using piezoresistive transducer technique to prove the concept; however this proposed sensor is susceptible to temperature changes and has lower sensitivity. The sensor presented in this research has been specifically designed with capacitive transducer and actuation technique to avoid such drawbacks. This velocity sensor is envisaged for active vibration control of distributed flexible structures such as thin plates and shells. It can be used with a piezoelectric patch actuator to construct dual and collocated sensor-actuator pair, in order to implement direct velocity feedback control loop. The sensor comprises an internal feedback loop, which produces a sky-hook damping effect on the principal mass-spring-damper system of the sensor. In contrast to standard accelerometer vibration sensors, the frequency response function of the velocity sensor has three important properties for the implementation of stable velocity feedback loops, which are an advantage introduced by the sky-hook damping effect: First, at low frequencies below the fundamental resonance of the 2-DoF, the output of the sensor becomes proportional to the velocity of the sensor’s frame; second, around the fundamental resonance of the transducer, it is characterised by a flat amplitude spectrum; and third, above the fundamental resonance of the transducer, it is characterised by an amplitude roll-off with only a 90o phase lag. Thus this sensor produces the desired velocity output up to a cut off frequency and then produces a filtering effect with little phase lag. In this way it can prevent the strong control spillover effect that characterise velocity feedback loops using piezoelectric strain actuators.

Primary investigators

• mk1
• Professor Paolo Gardonio - ISVR

Associated research groups

• Nano Research Group
• Southampton Nanofabrication Centre

Date:

2009-2009

Themes:

Knowledge Technologies, Web Science

Funding:

JISC

This project will develop a prototype demonstrator that synthesises research information from heterogeneous sources (institutional repositories and research council information systems), resolves name co-reference issues between the sources, and presents it to research-focussed end users through an interface that will allow them to explore the state of the research landscape in UKHE.

Primary investigator

• Nicholas Gibbins

Secondary investigators

• Les Carr
• Hugh Glaser

Associated research groups

• Intelligence, Agents, Multimedia Group
• Dependable Systems & Software Engineering

Theme:

Nanoelectronics

Laboratory tests are a vital part of the accurate diagnosis of a patient’s condition, with around 1 billion tests performed in the UK each year. To enable the routine application of predictive, preventive and personalized healthcare, these biochemical tests will have to be performed at a much larger scale, at much lower cost, and preferably at point-of-care locations rather than at clinical laboratories. The realization of this highly desirable situation necessitates the development of new, more cost-effective, technologies for biosensor fabrication. Recently, silicon nanowire biosensors have been reported suitable for real-time, high sensitivity, high selectivity and label-free biosensing. The high sensitivity is due to the nanoscale diameter of nanowires, which is comparable to that of biomolecules. However, while the feasibility of nanowire biosensors has been demonstrated, current fabrication approaches are expensive due to the use of silicon-on-insulator wafers and e-beam lithography.

This project aims to develop a low-cost fabrication process for silicon nanowire biosensors using thin film transistor technology. The use of low cost glass or plastic substrates requires a low thermal budget process for the nanowire biosensor fabrication. Amorphous silicon could be used to fabricate the silicon nanowires, but the mobility is very low. In this project, nickel-induced lateral crystallization is being researched to convert amorphous silicon into polycrystalline silicon using a low temperature anneal. Polycrystalline silicon has a dramatically higher value of mobility than amorphous silicon and hence should give better sensor performance. Two nanowire configurations are being investigated, namely Si-on-Oxide and Si-on-Air. The Si-on-Oxide structure has the advantage of a simple fabrication process, whereas the Si-on-Air structure has the advantage of allowing biomolecule attachment all around the nanowire and hence should have higher sensitivity. Fig.1(a) shows that crystallization proceeds more rapidly in the Si-on-Air structure, which should allow crystallization to be achieved at a lower temperature. We are also investigating the use of fluorine implantation to enhance the crystallization. Fig.1 (b) shows that fluorine aids crystallization at or below a critical dose of 1E15 cm-2.

Primary investigator

• Professor Peter Ashburn

Secondary investigator

• Sun, Kai

Associated research groups

• Nano Research Group
• Southampton Nanofabrication Centre