A decade of collaboration from the Arm-ECS Research Centre was marked at a special anniversary reception reuniting past and present researchers in Cambridge.

The award-winning Centre, based in the University of Southampton’s School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS), undertakes collaborative research with global technology giant Arm on future mobile and embedded systems.

Research partners shared highlights from the Centre’s 10-year history in the reception at Robinson College on Wednesday 19th September, which followed the conclusion of the Arm Research Summit.

The partnership, which is co-directed by ECS’s Professor Bashir Al-Hashimi CBE and Arm Director of Technology Professor David Flynn, requires input from both academics and industrialists on projects, with the nature of research steered by the expected needs and requirements of Arm.

The Centre has become one of Arm’s largest university research collaborations in the UK and contributed to Bashir’s recognition in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2018, awarded for his services to engineering and industry.

“Over the past decade Arm-ECS has become a model for successful industry-academic collaboration,â€? Bashir says. “I’m proud of what has been achieved through this partnership.â€?

The Arm-ECS Research Centre holds a particular focus on advanced design methods, architectures and their practical validations for energy-efficient and dependable single-core and multi-core processor systems.

To date, its projects have fabricated 12 new test chips, released three open source tools, collaborated on co-authoring 32 papers, graduated six co-supervised PhD students and completed 22 internships in Cambridge. The collaboration’s accomplishments have also been recognised with a University Research Group of the Year award from Techworks (formerly the National Microelectronics Institute) in 2015.

PhD research projects are a key aspect of the Arm-ECS relationship, with each early career researcher supported by one or more industrial mentors from Arm in addition to the academic supervision from ECS. This unique research experience includes the opportunity to intern with Arm in Cambridge.

“As Arm has grown, the relationship with ECS has grown with it,â€? Professor David Flynn says. “It’s exciting to think about the projects that will developed by its 20th anniversary in 2028.â€?

Electronic Engineering graduate Dylan Grey is using AI to help people find their perfect gift, as he pursues a startup idea he devised during his studies at the University of Southampton.

The student entrepreneur is preparing to launch BOON, an online service that uses cutting-edge machine learning algorithms to offer visitors personalised sets of gift recommendations.

He developed the new approach to online search with support from the University’s Future Worlds startup accelerator and will base his business in the programme’s new accelerator space when it opens this autumn.

“We all struggle to think of exciting gifts to get for our friends, acquaintances and loved ones,â€? Dylan explains. “It’s a frustrating and time consuming problem, but our new website BOON is here to help. We use a set of around 10 dynamically generated questions to understand the likes, dislikes and personality of the person you’re buying for. Behind the scenes all of this data allows our AI to select the most compelling set of 50 gifts for the recipient."

Dylan plans for the service to access a virtual catalogue of over 100 million products, including online marketplaces and high street brands. “That’s the beauty of BOON; instead of trawling through tens of websites, searching endlessly for the perfect gift, BOON does all this for you,â€? he adds.

The global online gift market is estimated to be worth more than £170 billion, with over 1,000 gifts bought every minute in the UK alone. BOON will enter this lucrative market by collecting commission on the sale of gifts it recommends.

“Our vision is that BOON will become a household name, used as a verb, known for helping people find exciting gifts, and enthralling their recipients,â€? Dylan says. “By offering this ability in a clean and elegant user interface, we will offer a service unlike anything currently available, allowing us to disrupt the gifting industry.â€?

Dylan completed his four-year MEng Electronic Engineering degree this summer and is now focussing on a first beta of his service, which he aims to have ready for testing and feedback in the coming months.

A striking monoprint portrait by a postgraduate researcher from the University of Southampton has featured in the Royal Academy of Arts 250th Summer Exhibition.

The print, known as Brutally Untitled, was selected from over 25,000 entries to join the prestigious collection of contemporary art in Piccadilly, London.

Hector Hamilton, from the Electrical Power Engineering research group, combined monoprint, engraving and torn paper techniques to create the unique composition of an imposing female figure.

The artistic success is the latest highlight in a series of extracurricular activities for the researcher, which has included leading a liquid rocket project with the Southampton University Spaceflight Society (SUSF) and creative experiments with the Southampton University Wireless Society (SUWS).

“The Royal Academy of Arts is home to the oldest open submission exhibition in the world, so I was thrilled to find out that my print would appear in such a significant anniversary year,â€? Hector explains. “This is the first time I’ve had a work of art exhibited anywhere.â€?

Grayson Perry RA and a committee of fellow artists handpicked 1,351 works across a variety of mediums for the exhibition.

“I wanted to create a naturalistic image with engraved lines that were emphasised with colour,â€? Hector adds. “Brutally Untitled's line-work, which was actually my first attempt at an engraved image, was done over a number of weekends.â€?

Hector made his print on an engraved intaglio copper plate and added uniqueness to his piece by planning distinctive rips into the paper. The figure depicted in the print is entirely imagined.

Hector completed his MEng Electronic Engineering with Nanotechnology degree at Southampton in 2016 and is set to start the second year of his PhD in the School of Electronics and Computer Science, which he supplements as a part-time laboratory demonstrator.

As a highly active member of SUSF, he has worked toward growing lettuce in a greenhouse on Mars as well as launching a can-shaped rocket capable of sending a live telemetry feed while protecting a hen’s egg. He has also built an ASCII space game using C++ programming skills learned in the first year of his undergraduate study, taken a modern American poetry course and offered alpha and beta testing for gaming software during his time in Southampton. “I’d encourage all students to look into cultivating other talents during their time at university,â€? he says. “For instance, starting out in drawing requires just a pad and a set of pencils.â€?