Research

Research Interests

My PhD was on the topic of broadband switch design for telecommunications applications. I have retained my interest in switching, although these days my focus is on data centre networks.

I have been investigating energy-efficient networking (in projects funded via Framework Programme 7 and Horizon 2020) for many years.

I have managed research projects on the design of wireless sensor networks and their security, and this is one of the strands leading to the establishment of the Entwine research centre on Internet of Things infrastructure.

I have had a long standing interest in network routing protocols. This motivated my interest in programmable networks, a concept which has recently achieved widespread industry acceptance, in the shape of Software-Defined Networking and Network Function Virtualisation.

My interest in programmable hardware for implementing custom protocols in wired networks is also long standing. My laboratory currently uses NetFPGA boards (in both 1G and 10G variants) to try out our ideas in a testbed, rather than merely via computer simulation.

Current Funded Projects

I am currently (2015-2017) a work package leader in the INPUT project. This is addressing the design of personal cloud services using SDN and NFV.

Recent Projects

A selected list of past projects is below.

Year(s)	Funding Source	Description
2013-2016	IRC Enterprise Partnership Scheme (with IBM)	Data Centre Network Design
2008-2012	Framework Programme Seven	ECONET - Energy Efficient Networking

Laboratory

My laboratory is the Switching and Systems Laboratory, whose web page is not as up-to-the-minute as the research conducted therein. We’ll update it when time permits.