Systems Engineering Research Group (SERG)

Dr Alexandre Lassauniere with the teaching systems he created

Research overseen by Dr Giles Tewkesbury is investigating new systems for assisting in teaching, improving touch screen technology for laptop computers and signature capture and recognition, software agents and data mining.  Intelligent systems are being created to provide focused Internet access in schools and methods of integrating expert knowledge with teaching Interfaces are being investigated.  A first system called iLessons was released in January 2005 and a second system is being created that automatically infers learning style and enables students to collaborate using the Internet.  Other work is applying neural networks to novel applications such as signature capture and touch screen replacement.

Research led by Dr Boris Gremont has focused on the characterisation of terrestrial and satellite microwave radio communication channels in order to optimise the use of the radio spectrum, improve data throughput and extend understanding of the underlying physics of the propagation mechanisms. This has involved experimentation, simulation and digital signal processing.  Close collaboration exists with several academic, governmental and international organisations, both in the UK and the EU. Dr Mo Adda has been concentrating on Intelligent Agents applied to Ad hoc networks and network management.

Research led by Dr David Sanders TD is investigating novel technologies for retrofitted touch screens, and creating new pointing devices.  The use of tablet PCs and .Net technologies for the creation of new systems for student assessment and monitoring are being investigated. New database systems are being integrated with AI search engines to create Internet based search facilities for pre-patent disclosure. A new method for programming advanced production machinery has been created which allows a programmer to concentrate on the job of programming a task rather than on the specifics of a robot language and the structure of the manufacturing machinery.  Methods of integrating the advice from intelligent machines with an interactive design level are being investigated, along with new methods for capturing the knowledge of a designer. Some new work is investigating the collaborative effort of teams working over the WWW and of ways of creating and managing knowledge.

New research is investigating WWW Page design and internet use and other new research is investigating virtual teams (Motiontouch Ltd) and engineering governance (BVT Fleet).

This area is attracting the most external funding and is fast becoming the most active research area within the group.