The University of Southampton

Published: 9 November 2012

ECS researchers are developing a smartphone app that will be able to help conservationists discover if a highly endangered insect has become extinct or not.

The New Forest cicada (Cicadetta Montana) is native to Britain but has not been spotted or heard from for more than a decade.

But Dr Alex Rogers, from the Agents, Interaction and Complexity research group, is hoping the new software he and his team are developing can help in the scientific hunt for the insect.

“The cicada has a distinctive high-pitched song that is on the very upper limit of an adult’s hearing range. It is so high pitched that you are never quite sure you are hearing it but the average smartphone is quite capable of picking up such frequencies,” said Alex.

Visitors to the New Forest will be able to download the app, turning their mobile into a portable cicada detector. They will then be able to use their phones to scour the area in search of the elusive creatures.

“If a potential song is detected the app gives immediate feedback that it thinks a cicada has been heard. It will then ask permission to upload the recording to a server so it can be analysed in more detail. We’d then contact them off-line and investigate the sighting, revisiting the site to get more recordings,” added Alex.

The app could also be used to detect a number of other insect species such as Roesel’s bush crickets, wood crickets and the common grasshopper, and Davide Zilli, a PhD student in the team, is currently working on automatic ways to detect and classify these different insects.

He said: “We also want users to report back to us that they have visited specific sites and heard nothing, so that we can build maps of areas that have been explored, and encourage others to investigate less well explored areas.”

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Published: 12 November 2012

Jan Sykulski, a Professor of Applied Electromagnetics in ECS, has been awarded an honorary degree by a French university.

Jan has been a Visiting Professor at l’Unniversite d’Artois, in Arras, for the past eight years and his work has been recognised with the bestowing of the degree of doctor honoris causa.

The award is one of only two honorary degrees being made as part of the University’s 20th anniversary celebrations.

“I am thrilled and proud to receive this award. It is not every day that you receive a letter from the rector of a foreign university with such news and it is a mark of recognition and a source of inspiration,” said Jan.

“I have been a Visiting Professor at the University since 2004 and have collaborated in research and given lectures twice a year to undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as research seminars to staff,” he added.

Jan was given the honorary degree at a special ceremony at the University in November.

Jan came to the University of Southampton in 1980 as a British Council Research Fellow. Since then he has been a lecturer and also held the prestigious post of Chair in Distribution Engineering supported by the Royal Academy of Engineering.

His research specialises in the development of fundamental methods of computational electromagnetic, power applications of high temperature superconductivity, simulation of coupled field systems, and the design and optimisation of electromechanical devices.

He is founding Secretary of the International Compumag Society, a Visiting Professor at universities in Canada, France, Italy, Poland and China, Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, Fellow of the Institute of Physics, Fellow of the British Computer Society, Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (USA) and has been awarded the honorary title of Professor by the President of Poland.

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Published: 13 November 2012

Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) has launched a new, unique, multi-disciplinary Web Science undergraduate degree that is the first of its kind in the UK.

The BSc in Web Science is a pioneering course run by ECS and Social Sciences and aims to provide students with a thorough understanding of the technical underpinnings of the Web as well as the social processes that have shaped its evolution and its impact on society.

Students can choose to follow one of two pathways – Web Science (Social Sciences) or Web Science (Computer Science). They will take a shared core curriculum as well as specialist modules in their chosen pathway.

The three-year degree is based on world-leading research and postgraduate education and adds to Southampton’s role as a key player in the future development of the Web and Web Science.

ECS already offers Web Science at postgraduate and research level; is home to the Web Science Doctoral Training Centre; and has created the Web and Internet Science Research Group (WAIS) that is carrying out research to better understand the origin, evolution and growth of the Web and how it is transforming society.

Many of ECS’ academics were involved in developing the Web including Professor Dame Wendy Hall, Professor Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Professor Nigel Shadbolt. All are very influential and key players in the continued research and development of the Web and Web Science.

Dr Mark Weal, from ECS, said: “The Web is transforming the world in ways that could never be imagined. Only by understanding the Web will we be in a position to positively impact on its continued evolution.”

Professor Susan Halford, from Social Sciences, added: “The Web is the largest human information infrastructure in history. Our unique course will help you understand how it works and how it is changing and shaping the everyday lives of billions of people across the planet from their business and social lives to political organisation.”

The BSc in Web Science will start from October 2013. For further information go to www.webscience.ecs.soton.ac.uk

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Published: 15 November 2012

Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) has launched a new degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE).

ECS has long experience in teaching excellent electrical engineering and electronic engineering programmes and is now launching this central unifying degree in EEE.

Students will get the opportunity to study many of the technologies that are key to the 21st Century requirements of energy efficient power transmission, smart grids, mobile phone electronics, communications, robotics, power electronics, and energy aware electronics and computing.

They will gain a broad spectrum of knowledge and skills that will allow them to work in a wide range of industry sectors.

The BEng and MEng in Electrical and Electronic Engineering will start in 2013. Subject to approval, the first two years of the MEng progamme will also be available at the University of Southampton’s new Malaysia Campus.

Professor Neil White, Head of ECS, said: “In ECS our interests and research span the whole range of EEE from nano-scale devices up to grid level high voltage engineering. The breadth and scale of activity is unique in the UK. We have a long history and in-depth knowledge across the spectrum of electronic and electrical engineering and are delighted to be integrating them to offer students a combined subject for the very first time.

“Our students will be able to investigate the whole area of electronics and electrical engineering from the electronics and chip design behind smartphones to the energy requirements of power transmission.”

To find out more about the EEE degree in Southampton go to www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/undergraduate/find_a_programme

To find out more about our Malaysia Campus go to www.southampton.ac.uk/my

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Published: 16 November 2012
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ECS is holding an Alumni Reception in Southampton next week (Wednesday 21 November), which brings together alumni from the city and region, as well as members of the ECS Business and Careers Networks.

Following the successful Alumni Reception held in London earlier this year, ECS is holding a Reception at the University's Highfield Campus from 6 pm to 8 pm on Wednesday 21 November. This event is aimed principally at alumni who live in Southampton and surrounding counties, but all members of the ECS Alumni community are welcome to attend. For further information contact alumni@soton.ac.uk or email Joyce Lewis.

This is an informal networking event which also includes key contacts from the ECS Careers and Business Networks. Staff and student alumni from ECS will also be present, including PhD students from the Doctoral Training Centres in Web Science and Complex Systems Simulation, who will exhibit posters, entrepreneurial students from ECS, including Don Ndiweni who runs Urban Expert, and two new activities will be launched: our new consultancy service, Complexity Solutions, based in the Institute for Complex Systems Simulation, and the Electronic Design Initiative. Members of DevECS, a development activity led by ECS undergradate students, will also be at the event.

The event runs in the Garden Court area of the Staff Social Centre from 6 pm to 8 pm and all alumni are welcome to be there.

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Published: 19 November 2012

University of Southampton in the UK and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in Germany come together to launch SoFWIRed, a new collaborative venture in Web and Internet Science.

Two of the world’s leading institutions at the forefront of Web and Internet Science have announced a major collaborative project, which will help shape the future of the World Wide Web and associated smart services and technologies.

Researchers from the University of Southampton and Germany’s Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft will set the agenda of the digital age for decades through a series of activities that will lead to the development of comprehensive, interoperable platforms for data and knowledge-driven processing of open data. The project will also investigate aspects of collective intelligence through social collaboration and crowd sourcing, dynamic web objects and internet services.

One of the principal aims of the collaboration will be to develop the concept of a ‘Web Observatory’ to enable researchers to share data about how the Web and society evolve over time, analyse how it impacts on business activity and develop mechanisms and tools to enable further interpretation and analysis.

The project will be headed by Southampton’s Dean of Physical and Applied Sciences, Professor Dame Wendy Hall and Professor Nigel Shadbolt from University of Southampton and the two ITC Fraunhofer Institutes for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems IAIS (Sankt Augustin) and for Open Communication Systems FOKUS (Berlin).

Southampton is renowned for making the breakthrough in developing the low-loss optical fibres which now ‘drive’ the internet and continues to lead applied research into the power of the information that the Web holds and the ways it continues to transform our lives.

Fraunhofer is Europe’s largest application oriented research organisation whose research has formed the basis of a wide range of technologies for industry and products in everyday use, such as the MP3 player and apps for mobile phones.

“The World Wide Web has had profound effects on society with each emerging wave creating both new challenges and new opportunities available to wider sectors of the population than ever before,” says Professor Dame Wendy Hall. “Working in unison, the University of Southampton and Fraunhofer are perfectly poised to make the breakthroughs that will produce the enabling technologies of the future as well as our understanding of how best to exploit these technologies for the benefit of all in society.”

Professor Dr. Ulrich Buller, Senior Vice President Research Planning of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and Director of Fraunhofer UK Research Limited, says: “It is foreseen that the cooperation between University of Southampton as the world leading institution in the field of web and internet research and the two Fraunhofer-Institutes IAIS and FOKUS as extensive experts in development of intelligent information and communication systems would open new dimensions in the area of ICT at large.”

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Published: 20 November 2012
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Warren East, CEO of ARM, one of the world’s leading technology companies, will give a Distinguished Lecture at the University on Monday 3 December, hosted by the Faculty of Physical and Applied Sciences.

Beginning with a very brief introduction to ARM technology and the ARM business model, Warren East will review the evolution of mobile technology over the last 10 years and assess likely demands over the next decade. Highlighting some of the main technical challenges and the approaches ARM and the industry is adopting to address these, he will consider how mobile technology can be applied to address key societal challenges through use in other applications, creating a smarter future.

Warren East joined ARM in 1994 to set up its consulting business. Vice-President Business Operations from 1998, he was appointed to the Board in 2000 and became Chief Executive Officer in 2001. He is a member of the UKTI Board for Technology, responsible for driving the UK’s trade and investment objectives in the telecoms and IT sectors.

Founded in 1990, and with over 20 billion ARM-based chips shipped to date, ARM is the world’s leading semiconductor IP supplier, and remains central to the global development of digital electronic products. The company headquarters are in Cambridge UK.

The ARM-ECS Research Centre in Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) was established in 2008 in recognition of the synergies between ARM’s goals and ECS research initiatives. Professor Bashir Al-Hashimi, Associate Dean (Research), Faculty of Physical and Applied Sciences, commented: “It is a great honour to welcome Warren East to the Faculty and University to give this distinguished lecture. Over the years many ECS graduates have chosen to work for ARM, drawn by the innovative nature of the business and its continuing impact on global technological development. I am delighted to say that today our mutual research interests are enabling us to develop a new generation of low-power chips.”

The Centre is co-directed by Professor Al-Hashimi and Dr David Flynn (ARM Fellow and Visiting Professor at ECS), and focuses on leading-edge research on advanced design methods, architectures and their practical validations for energy-efficient and dependable single-core and multi-core processor systems.

The Lecture, ‘Enabling a Smarter Future’, takes place at 6 pm on Monday 3 December in Physics Lecture Theatre (46/3001). Refreshments will be available in the Physics Building Foyer from 5.30 pm. The lecture will be chaired by Professor Phil Nelson, Pro Vice-Chancellor of the University. Tickets are not required and all are welcome.

For further information on this event, contact Joyce Lewis.

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