Current Research Interests

I really should fill this out a bit, but I'm currently involved in the following programmes;

• Models for Optimising Dynamic Urban Mobility (MODUM), implemented in Sofia and Nottingham, provides platforms for providing more information to commuters about the current and projected state of their travel route.

• PowerUp implements a standards based ISO15118 based charging infrastructure for a future world incorporating an electric vehicle fleet.

• Internet of Energy (IoE) considers the consequences and opportunities of connecting our power and data networks - what new capabilities do we gain, and what are the risks that we expose ourselves to?

• DESERVE considers how we can create architectures that allow the re-use of in-vehicle components for multiple purposes. The intention is to avoid the 'stovepiped' hardware and software architectures that we see all too often in current in-vehicle architectures.

• CORTIF considering how we deal with the co-existence of more and more RF based systems around us, and how we can avoid mutual interference and reduced performance. This becomes increasingly important with chip and board level RF systems.
  

• EMC2 looks at mixed criticality embedded software systems - how can we have mixed criticality in a single system level implementation?  eCall and entertainment functions, for example, have very different performance and criticality requirements, but have many of the same communication requirements. With ARM and others starting to incorporate virtualisation features into their CPUs this question becomes increasingly relevant.
  

• M2MGrids considers how we can build standards-based communication infrastructures for machine to machine communication. My specific interest is how we can standardise vehicle to vehicle communications addressing questions of security, privacy, performance, timeliness, reliability and non-repudiation etc. This issue is timely because of the explosive increase in M2M systems.
  

Current Hobby Interests

For this purpose hobby is taken to mean stuff that no-one is daft enough to pay me to do, but I do it anyway....there's about a million and one things I'd like to do, so I have to prioritise a bit. In the past I've never been very good about making these things available because of the documentation overhead, but I'm trying to turn over a new leaf;

• I'm working on some Computer Numerical Control (CNC) milling designs (which aren't really ready for publication yet!) using NURBS for motion control.  I'm trying to do everything from the metalwork through the electronic design and embedded software, so it's taking a while. First versions are built and working and have cut metal...80x40 section Aluminium frame structure, Kress spindle and a STM32F4 CPU flying it all. I'm always keen to collaborate, especially if you're handy at the metalworking side of things, 'cos I'm not.
  

• In support of the CNC project I've had to create a quite a few tools, including a LPC812 based PID Reflow Oven controller, leater, which is available for people to adopt and improve.

Old Research Interests

• I did some work on behalf of NEN for CEN/TC278/WG1 and ISO/TC204/WG5 on the development of an API for tolling and road charging applications. This became the ISO 17575 standard and, for better or worse, the comms stack in there is pretty much mine.
  
  
• I was general chair for the 2008 IEEE Consumer Communications and Networking (CCNC) Conference which took place early January 2008 in Las Vegas.
  
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• I was part of the team that defined the Mobile Information Device Profile in a pretty intensive campaign in the Autumn of 2000 in Austin, TX.  MIDP was the first step along the road to the true smartphone.  It'll be a bit of a weak epitaph that geek-in-joke term LCDUI was, I'm slightly embarassed to say, mine.
  
  
• Together with Stan Moyer, I instigated the IEEE Communications Magazine Home Networking / Networked Appliance series.  I guess we kicked off the whole Internet of Things vibe before it was fashionable, back in about 2002.
  
  
• I am a fellow of the OSGi The Open Services Gateway Initiative. In days past I was also its Executive Director and a board member.
  
  
• I was Chief Architect of the Global System for Telematics (GST) Creating standards for the information systems of the cars of the future. This program completed in February 2007.
  
  
• We've been playing around a lot with Networked Appliances to allow your household items to talk to each other. Telcordias' work for the IETF in this space is available here.
  
  
• SIP is a really cool set of protocols for communications over IP networks.
  
  
• I am a member of FORCES The Forum for the Creation and Engineering of Services.
  
  
• I worked on Innovative approaches to Peer to Peer Digital Rights Management that balance the rights of both the producer and the consumer.
  
  
• I also did some work on Service Fundementals. The 'glue' that makes next generation services work in mobile, heterogeneous, dynamic environments.

Other Junk

• A while back I was playing with Intel SS-4200 servers. Some information on configuring them for Ubuntu can be found here.
  

• The English National Ice Hockey Assocation is responsible for Ice Hockey administration in the UK.
  
  
• Lotus 7 mailing list, for cars that go fast enough to kill you completely dead, but leave you smiling while you do it.
  
  
• National Field Archery Society if you like the idea of bows, don't like shooting live things, and find round targets boring.
  
  
• I am eternally grateful to the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 who, many many years ago, provided the funding for me to go back to University to do my Ph.D....if you're interested in doing that, feel free to contact me for more information.