The Centre for Telecommunications Value-Chain-Driven Research (CTVR) is focused on applying a value-chain perspective to research aimed at realizing the next generation of telecommunications networks.

Value Chain Optimisation (VCO) is about decision making at all stages and levels of the system that delivers value to an end-user. Within the telecommunications sector, VCO spans issues from how to maximize functionality of a physical telecommunications network through to how telecommunications products should be produced, tested, maintained, and recycled and whether a new technology is economically feasible. To make these decisions requires complex reasoning and planning: understanding of the factors relevant to a decision, assessment of the combinatorics of interdependent factors and decisions, coping with uncertain and changing situations, and having to coordinate with other, self-motivated, decision makers. Constraint optimisation technology is well placed to address such challenging decisions. It has shown a number of real-world successes in dealing with the core combinatorial nature of decision-making. This project will use the specific problems of the telecommunications value chain to drive the breakthroughs in optimisation science required to address distributed decision making in ill-specified, uncertain, and dynamic environments.