Three-year research agreement

National ICT Australia (NICTA) and Ericsson have announced a three-year umbrella agreement for research into next-generation mobile networks to develop technology that will optimise connectivity for the user. The agreement is with Ericsson's global research arm and is initially valued at AU$2.7 million with scope for expansion.

The first project signed under the agreement will investigate advanced mobility support for next-generation networks.

Ericsson and NICTA plan to research mobility in the convergence of wireless and wired networks such as 3G to WLAN/LAN, WiMAX to Satellite. The project will be led in Australia by Professor Aruna Seneviratne, research laboratory director of NICTA's Australian Technology Park Laboratory.

Eight researchers from Ericsson and NICTA will collaborate on the mobility management project. Deliverables will include operations testbeds, reports describing application scenarios and proof-of-concept implementations.

A second project under the agreement will research secure real-time operating systems. It will explore the use of NICTA's microkernel-based operating system and virtualisation technology and formal-verification research to greatly enhance the security of data and communications on mobile-phone handsets. This project will be lead by Professor Gernot Heiser, who heads the Embedded, Real-Time and Operating Systems research program at NICTA's Neville Roach Laboratory.

"Mobile telecommunications is constantly evolving and developing new standards, devices and choices for consumers. Through good basic research and a successful research partnership, this research aims to enable devices such as mobile phones to be able to identify the best connection at the lowest cost, whether that be WiFi, LAN, 3G or Bluetooth," Seveniratne said.

Further investing in local research, Ericsson will also sponsor a three-year PhD scholarship in Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications at the University of New South Wales, a NICTA member.