CORDIS Archive
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Introduction Interactive Multimedia Services Photonic Technologies High-Speed Networking Mobile and Personal Communications Networks Intelligence in Networks and Service Engineering Quality, Security and Safety of Communications Services and Systems Useful WWW links INTRODUCTION Communication is central to everything we do. Cost effective and efficient communications make a vital contribution to economic performance and are therefore crucial to the economic and social development of Europe. In the next millennium we still have to face major social challenges in the areas of employment, regional competitiveness and cohesion, as membership of the European Union continues to grow. Advanced communications will provide the basic infrastructure to enable us to improve our economic and competitive strength. This is the reason why mastery of advanced communications is one of the key responses to the challenge of increasing the levels of employment and cohesion in Europe. The ACTS Programme was established under the Fourth Framework for EU research, technology development and demonstrations (1994-1998). It provides the incentive for industry, operators, research and educational institutions, and major users of communications to work together in new technologies and services. This will ensure that Europe enters the 21st century at the forefront of the revolution in communications, and achieves the greatest benefits for our society. Work in ACTS stimulates the development and initial deployment of integrated broadband communications in Europe. Everyday communications can be supported by specific combinations of high quality sound, still pictures and video images, data and text. This will open up new areas of business and new services and, as a result, will lead to more employment opportunities. People will be able to communicate more easily and more often than ever before, and from wherever they happen to be. An increase in casual, cross-border communications will broaden and enrich our social lives, as we share experiences with friends and "neighbours" in other countries, discuss topics of common interest or simply chat. It is such regular, day-to-day contact that breeds a greater understanding and ultimately, greater cohesion. The ACTS-Programme covers the following areas of technology development:
back INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA SERVICES Multimedia systems will soon support widespread integration of data, moving images and sound, irrespective of the application. The familiar but distinct television, computer and telephone networks will merge into a single web of communications links and services which will collect, distribute and exchange all forms of information, even to the remotest of places in Europe. Information processing and coding will not happen at the level of characters and pixels. Instead technology will support the manipulation of information #objects' making it easy to incorporate multimedia in all forms of information transmission, presentation and storage. The way information is transported and presented can be adapted easily and flexibly to suit the characteristic of the transmission link and terminal equipment available to any given user. Multimedia technologies will also help end users and service providers to express themselves more easily. Requests for, and offers of, information will use tools and human interfaces which present them in multimedia form. Such user- friendly presentation and support software (such as 'intelligent agents'), together with systems for service brokerage and application management, will become important elements for unlocking the full potential of an Information Society. This will create those sought after opportunities for growth, competitiveness and employment. Multimedia related ACTS Domain back PHOTONIC TECHNOLOGIES Photonic technologies use light as their basic communications medium. The transmission capacity realised by optical fibres has already revolutionised the long-distance trunk networks interconnecting most countries of the world. Using state of the art technology, a single fibre has the capacity to carry the equivalent of the entire world's telephony traffic. The total capacity of all installed fibres will rapidly be filled by an explosion in traffic in multimedia documents, using video, text and images as well as voice. This is to some extent already apparent in the growth in expectations and demand for applications based on the Internet. The photonic future ' however goes beyond mere trunk ' transmission: it reaches into all our homes. Ongoing research is exploring all-optical solutions for providing a broadband network access to every household, and for the high-speed switching necessary for the multimedia broadband services that will soon be in demand. The need to drive down the costs to make broadband solutions economically available is the key motivator for research in opto-electronic devices, packaging, and network systems alike. Photonic technologies related ACTS Domain back HIGH-SPEED NETWORKING Increasingly, communications depends on the inter-operation of separately owned networks, each serving different communities or geographic regions of the world. The realisation of high-speed communications requires that optimum levels of interworking be achieved between newly installed high-technology networks, and the rather varied technology of existing networks that will remain in service for many years to come. A key theme in this area is to support effective interoperability at all levels of networking. This ranges from basic bearer and signalling compatibility, through the realisation of an open platform for service provision irrespective of differing network technologies, to the management and accounting procedures necessary to administer interconnected network. Trials and experimentation will validate the technologies used, the acceptability of performance levels achieved, the new quality of service concepts and compliance with emerging standards and regulations. In practical terms, it is in this area of ACTS research where future aspirations and architectures have to meet and face up to present day realities and constraints, and where realistic evolutionary 'roadmaps' have to be identified. High-speed networking related ACTS Domain back MOBILE AND PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS Europe continues to lead the world in developing and implementing mobile and personal communications systems. Work in the ACTS Programme represents a major European effort to develop a third generation of mobile systems and services that will integrate the service capabilities of both fixed and mobile networks as never before. Over the past few years, few markets have grown as rapidly in Europe as mobile communications, but the era of true mobility in communications is in fact still in its infancy. Personal communications will enable people to keep in touch wherever they happen to be, just as if they were in their own office or home. While mobile communications will provide greater capabilities when people are on the move, a greater integration with the fixed or 'wired' network will dramatically increase the scope of 'normal' services available to anyone when away from his or her usual location. Communication will truly be possible anywhere, anytime. Mobile and personal communications networks related ACTS Domain back INTELLIGENCE IN NETWORKS AND SERVICE ENGINEERING Advances in technology make it increasingly difficult to distinguish computers (or intelligence) from networks. Indeed all modern networks have computer-based platforms at the core of their design. Research in ACTS is exploring the best way for this inherent intelligence in networks to be employed to provide flexibility and open competition in the provision of services, and the means for managing and administering end-to-end communication systems which span many independent network operators and service providers. The emphasis is on applying the best techniques for system specification and corresponding software development, as a basis for the creation of open platforms and subsequent standardisation. The challenges are enormous and often not very well understood except by the specialists directly engaged in the field. However, meeting these challenges is key to the successful deployment of advanced communications in the deregulated and highly competitive environment that will underpin an Information Society. Service engineering related ACTS Domain back QUALITY, SECURITY AND SAFETY OF COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES AND SYSTEMS These elements are just as vital ' in communications as in all mass market products and services. With hundreds of millions of individual users sharing networked resources, it is vital that the integrity of each and every communisation is maintained. People and businesses alike must be assured that any confidential material they transmit is not seen by uninvited parties, interfered with, or used for unintended purposes. Measuring quality of service and finding the means to guarantee security and safety are central themes for the research undertaken by ACTS in this field. Quality security and safety of communications services and systems related ACTS Domain back HORIZONTAL ACTIONS Horizontal actions traverse the six main areas of ACTS research and ensure that these relate effectively to continuing developments outside the programme. Some projects are focused on the synthesis of programme-level results, which are developed as guidelines for appropriate organisations or industry sectors outside the programme itself. Others undertake analyses of such things as socio-economic or usability issues pertinent to the research being undertaken, and serve as a bidirectional channel for information to and from ACTS-related projects. A third group of projects are more outward facing- 'reaching out' to particular industries or economic sectors - and help to broaden awareness of the potential of advanced communications and the impact of specific programme results. Organisations from 38 different countries participate in ACTS. This provides a sound base for active contributions to international co-operation initiatives, and for encouraging a convergence of views with those emerging from related research programmes in Eastern Europe, North America and Asia. Horizontal actions related ACTS Domain back | ||||||
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