School of Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering

You have probably experienced how your mobile phone reception and transmission can vary from place to place but indoors is where there is the greatest inconsistency.
Our Wireless Communications Research Group (WiCR) is tackling the problems of propagating communication systems within buildings and one current innovation is the “smart brick”. The brick is designed to be incorporated into buildings just like other bricks but with one very special difference: its purpose is to improve the reception of mobile phone and wireless internet signals inside. The signs are good that it’s working. Train tunnels next?!
Read more about smart bricks here >>

Dolphins have evolved incredibly sophisticated processes to use sound to communicate, navigate and find food etc. Man-made hardware systems trying to accomplish the same often fall far short. Studying how dolphins do this teaches us about sending and receiving electrical signals in general but particularly underwater.. These research discoveries help us design our own systems and understand and protect dolphins in the marine environment.

Read more about dolphin research here >>

Many butterflies and other insects are fast food for birds and bats. To catch dinner they follow where dinner goes even if that takes them into the path of a turning wind turbine. Despite their phenomenal echolocation skills, bats aren't wired to understand the way turbines move. Studies by members of our Communications research group have shed new light on how bats 'see' turbines and may promise better methods of helping them to avoid their blades. Other results indicate that the most commonly used turbine colours, white and grey, actually attract flying insects which may explain why some bats stray too close to turning blades.
Read more about bats, butterflies and turbines here >>

We have all benefited from the miracle of anti-biotics. But what if this vital medicine ceases to be effective through overuse and developing resistance?
Plasma medicine sounds like a sci-fi dream but is currently a fast growing area exploiting near room-temperature gas plasmas for electrically triggered therapies which include wound healing and cleaning, the latter being a powerful counter-measure against bacterial infection – and a viable alternative to anti-biotics. Our research in this field could change your life (or save it).
Read more about plasma medicine here >>

You may have experienced the thrill of Oblivion at Alton Towers, the world's first vertical-drop roller coaster, without realising you were riding a complex system! One of the interesting aspects of systems engineering is learning to predict and control the emergent properties which pop up, sometimes unexpectedly, when you put everything together. In the case of Oblivion, the unexpected was a powercut!
Oblivion needs 1000amps to reach the apex of the route but when it drops 150 ft at 88.8° degrees reaching a maximum speed of 68 mph, it delivers 300 amps back to the national grid in one huge surge.
The result? It knocked out the local power supply and the ride had to close until this particular emergent property of the system was under control. How did engineers solve the problem? Become one and find out!

Systems engineering can be used to enhance many aspects of sport. Let’s put aside the controversy of things like the Umpire Decision Review System in cricket with it’s sophisticated raft of technical tools for the moment! (Though it’s worth pausing to consider the requirements of such a complex system sometime.)
Even the ‘simple’ things like marking out the lines on the pitch aren’t easy, especially where there are circles and semi circles needed, as for hockey and football.
Using a Systems Engineering design framework, we can create a system capable of automatically marking out a whole pitch with minimal human input, which significantly reduces the wobbly lines on a Saturday morning! How would you go about designing an automatic line-marking system? What would it have to be able to do? One of our undergraduate project groups is working that out.
And because Systems Engineering also studies the human behaviour in a system, it can also help us to design the best team for any situation – including a hockey game.

We throw millions away every day - but what a waste! The skins are packed with energy waiting to be unlocked. One of our former students found a way to produce ethanol from the waste banana products, particularly sub-standard or damaged fruit which could not be sold and would normally be left to rot.  As a result, a new power plant in St Lucia will now use banana waste to produce methane via anaerobic digestion. The methane will power the plant itself and also be used to produce the ethanol.
This project was an award winner in the 2009 IDEAS Energy Innovation Contest for improving energy efficiency and expanding access to renewable energy.
Read the story of banana energy here >>