CORDIS Archive

Research Areas

COST Telecommunications Actions involve over 2000 scientists from network operators, research institutes, universities and manufacturers from the 28 COST countries and from non-COST countries.

OPTICAL COMMUNICATIONS

The objective is to investigate the physical mechanisms underlying the performance of photonic components and of modern fibres, to improve ways for modelling and experimental characterisation, to design and simulate devices, sub-systems, systems and networks, and to study the reliability of fibres and related components. Actions create and disseminate information on:

• systems and networks designed for the transmission of very broadband signals and offering comprehensive access mechanisms,
• measurement techniques for the accurate determination of the key parameters for fibres and semiconductor devices,
• modelling methods for the simulation of the performance of components, systems and networks, and
• reliability aspects of fibres for telecommunications.

USER REQUIREMENTS, INCLUDING SPECIAL NEEDS

The objective of this area is to increase the accessibility of telecommunication services and equipment and to study different aspects of the residential telecom user's attitudes, behaviour and perception with regard to available and future telecom services and products. Actions collect and disseminate information to:

• identify the impact of technical, social and economic developments on users,
• define the needs of the target groups and alleviate their problems,
• improve knowledge about user behaviour and preferences to produce guidelines for meeting the needs of the target groups and influence the development of services and equipment,
• provide forums for the exchange and dissemination of results from research and specialist's experiences,
• perform studies to influence the technical development and the implementation of new telecom services, and
• influence standardisation, regulation and legislation to take into account users present and future needs.

SPEECH TECHNOLOGY

A tremendous amount of work on speech recognition issues has been performed in numerous research laboratories. Now, COST Actions in this area intend to:

• establish some unified language-independent speech recognition concept, and to integrate the efforts in signal processing, statistical modelling and linguistic processing,
• improve the speaker recognition technology, and
• improve the naturalness of computer-generated speech in the areas of sound quality and prosody.

MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATIONS

The objective is to perform research in multimedia techniques and to study their application to a distributed multimedia information service, based on available technology. This requires to:

• apply redundancy reduction techniques to the digital transmission and storage of video signals including HDTV signals, and stereoscopic video (3D-TV) signals,
• investigate coding techniques through non-real-time computer simulation, in conjunction with empirical hardware assessment, and
• implement and optimise experimental prototype equipment and obtain verification of their compatibility by field trials.

BROADBAND NETWORKING

The main objective is to improve the design of broadband multiservice network systems and architectures and to identify the potential impacts on network architecture and operation of different possible implementations of the new telecommunications services. Therefore, the area concentrates on:

• studying, from the theoretical and the experimental point of view, various possible network schemes with the aim of evaluating their respective technical potential;
• developing the models and software tools for analysing and comparing network elements and configurations. This includes straight waveguides, bent guides, couplers, power splitters, switches, lasers, optical amplifiers, detectors and combinations thereof;
• devising and implementing experimental techniques that offer the capability to measure with accuracy and reproducibility the properties and parameters of novel active and passive photonic components.

SPACE AND SATELLITE NETWORKS

Making satellite active and dynamic components of global networks providing transparent services for satellite and terrestrial interconnections is a major topic for research. This area aims at:

• focusing on the adaptability of the GSM standard (second generation mobile terrestrial system) to the Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) considering the future requirements of an integrated third generation system (UMTS).
• investigating the exploitation of the satellite component to provide services at rates higher (> 2 Mbit/s) than presently assumed in the UMTS.
• defining satellite system generic reference architectures and configurations, coping with private or access networking scenarios, and including constellations of multi non-geostationary satellites.
• enhancing existing tools as well as developing new ones supporting the modelling and simulation of advanced emerging terrestrial and satellite networks.
• interfacing space and terrestrial networks.
• performance of broadband multiservice networks, based, for example, on IP or ATM, and devising traffic engineering practices and evaluating traffic handling.

ANTENNAS, RADIOWAVES PROPAGATION AND SYSTEM ASPECTS

New mobile and hand-held communication terminals and new satellite payloads require to:

• Develop and validate theoretical and software models for smart antenna radiating elements, feeding circuits and active integrated components,
• Develop low cost high performance technology for printed integrated adaptive antenna front ends including multilayer and interconnected radiating, amplification and digital beam forming components, and
• Increase co-operation between users, industry and universities to improve speed and efficiency of related R&D.

Mobile and fixed communications systems, such as multimedia satellite services, mobile and personal communication systems and digital broadband radio applications require to:

• study the effect of atmospheric conditions on the channel, develop and propose improved propagation models, in particular for frequencies above 20 Ghz,
• investigate theoretical and practical aspects for a smooth integration of future mobile and fixed networks,
• investigate signal shadowing and multipath issues for mobile and hand-held terminals, and
• ensure that the best models are made available to the ITU-R, to ensure the most efficient use of limited spectrum.

MOBILE/WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS

Mobile communications are evolving from second generation incompatible systems to third generation ones that can accommodate a variety of services (from voice and data to video and multimedia) tailored to customers' needs.

Therefore, communications are becoming increasingly personalized, through the unique opportunities offered by the radio communication emerging technologies and the related advanced service provision capabilities. Research in this area concentrates on increasing the knowledge of radio systems aspects, developing new modeling techniques and planning tools, and guarantees the continuity and quality of services, delivered by widely different networks and structures.

TELECOMMUNICATION SOFTWARE AND USER INTERFACES

Modern communications systems and networks will be used for transferring large quantities of information for different categories of users. The principle objective is to improve the existing techniques in specifying, validating, and testing complex and concurrent software used in communications technologies. The methods used are:

• improving technical content of languages or formalisms used in formal specification and design,
• applying verification and similar analytical techniques to formal specifications for validating software designs and implementation,
• testing conformance and interoperability of communications protocols, and
• working on examples for the logical and performance simulation of concurrent industrial software on hardware and software systems.

ELECTROMAGNETIC IMPACT

The main objective of the area is to co-ordinate and advance European research into electromagnetic compatibility in electrical and electronic devices and systems, in particular carrying out research into various current and new fields of application, in order to:

• create European co-ordination for research in the area of electromagnetic fields (EMF) biomedical effects,
• co-ordinate and promote national research activities at the European level,
• stimulate multidisciplinary collaboration between experts in the fields of medicine, biology, electrical engineering, physics, etc.,
• establish a mechanism and a European network for continuously co-ordinated research in the area of biomedical effects of EMF and interactive repercussions on the corresponding standards, and
• ensure that new European standards relating to the protection of the general public and occupational exposed personnel against EMF exposure have sound scientific bases.