Modern society is critically dependent on the availability of good quality fixed and mobile telecommunications systems. Todays networks could not have been built without significant advances in specific technology areas such as radio and optical transmission, software and network protocols. This technology does not become available to all at an affordable price without the application of state-of-the-art manufacturing techniques and processes. These techniques and processes allow the production of highly complex devices such as mobile phones, base-stations and high-speed optical backbone networks at prices that would not have seemed feasible 5 years before.

Looking to the future, the successful networks of tomorrow will be shaped not just by advances in radio, optical and network control technologies, but also by our ability to manufacture and construct these networks at affordable cost. Attention to reliability is critical so that the networks can continue to operate at minimum cost over their projected lifetime. This affordable cost can only be achieved by the application of scientific analysis, modeling and decision support techniques right through the entire value chain beginning from architectural design, through component realization to reliable network operation.

CTVR brings together the expertise of scientists, who are excellent in the many disciplines that are required to solve this problem. Network architects will work together with specialists in optical and wireless component technologies to design the next generation wireless network. Uniquely, this centre will couple the technology specialists with experts in constraint-based programming, modelling and optimisation techniques that will moderate each and every design decision. Using an in-depth understanding of the existing value chain, candidate technologies and architectures can be tested, analysed and optimised. Promising architectures can be modelled to determine whether they can in fact be realized in the cost-effective manner that will be crucial to their success. Innovations in radio and optical components will be proceeded with or discarded based on their manufacturability, testability, reliability and contribution to overall system cost.

The centre will make significant scientific advances in a number of areas including:

• The development of a range of architectures and architectural principles for future telecommunications systems integrating optical core, cellular edge and wireless ad-hoc networks.

• New techniques enabling the realization of general purpose optical modules that have reliability and self-test designed in from the beginning and can be realized with supply chains that are highly optimised for cost and other.

• New designs and techniques in radio frequency components and systems to enable reconfigurable radio systems for cellular and ad-hoc operation.

• The integration of many disparate strands of the science of reliability and test that will lead to a body of theory that can be applied in many different industry sectors. Associated with this theory will be a set of methodologies, tools and best practices that greatly enhance the reliability and reduce the testing costs of hardware and software systems.

• Advances in requirements capture and modelling of the value chain at an abstract level. The development of new optimisation techniques that cope with uncertainty and hierarchy which will provide decision support for researchers and designers as well as logistics, manufacturing and product specialists.

What is unique to this centre is the potential for new insights that can only be gained through the combination of the disparate disciplines involved. 

The expertise developed within the centre will be directly applicable to both large multinational companies and Irish SMEs engaged in the design, manufacture and operation of any highly refined product in the ICT space, but in particular those that will make up the next generation of fixed and wireless networks. We anticipate the formation of spin-off companies exploiting new techniques in Design for Manufacturing and process optimisation as well as in the provision of advanced network elements that will collectively comprise the fixed and wireless networks of the future. 

The centres outreach programme will ensure that the work of the centre influences the wider community, in particular the schools sector. We have planned activities in outreach that will ensure that the media are engaged to excite school children about the connected future that lies ahead of them and the science and engineering technology that is used to realize this.

We have assembled an unparalleled team of Irish researchers and a set of Bell Labs collaborators that are world leaders in their fields. The team has a clear mission that is of huge strategic importance to Ireland and we look forward to  carrying out this mission.

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The term Value Chain was first introduced by Porter in 1985 [1]. He defines it as a "tool for diagnosing competitive advantage" and states that a Value Chain "divides a firm into the discrete activities it performs in designing, producing, marketing, and distributing its product".

More information:

• Definition on Wikipedia
• Entry on Marketingteacher.com which shows Porter's graphical depiction of the Value Chain

[1] Porter, M.E., Competitive Advantage : Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance, The Free Press, New York, 1985

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