European Commission Framework Programme 7 (FP7) has a tottal budget of over €53.6Bn. Some of this tax payers hard-earned cash will be distributed to ICT projects in Future Networks. Information Day and workshops on Future Networks will be held in Warsaw, Poland on the 15-17 June 2011 (Future Networks and Mobile Summit 2011).
Objective ICT-2011.1.1 Future Networks
Target Outcomes
The target is the development of energy-efficient future network infrastructures that support the convergence and interoperability of heterogeneous mobile, wired and wireless broadband network technologies as enablers of the future Internet. This includes ubiquitous fast broadband access and ultra high speed end-to-end connectivity, with optimised protocols, addressing and routing capabilities, supporting open generic services and applications.
“Clean-slate” and evolutionary approaches to network architecture are equally valid. Userdriven research is a priority.
a) Wireless and mobile broadband systems
– LTE-Advanced and post-LTE systems; with focus on medium term evolution of LTE
systems towards higher rate LTE-Advanced with support to standardisation; in the longerterm, R&D targeting new radio transmission paradigms and system designs taking into account the need for radical cost and energy per bit reduction and lower electromagnetic field exposure.
– Enabling technologies for flexible spectrum usage for mobile broadband, including new
ambitious approaches to cognitive radio as well as proof-of-concept reference
implementations, taking into account commercial and regulatory constraints and
opportunities.
– Novel radio network topologies, taking into account the need for autonomy, energy
efficiency, high capacity backhaul, low EMF radio exposure, and smaller low power base
stations, mixed analogue-digital RF design, and novel signal processing methods.
– Integration of radio technologies with optical fibre networks, for consolidation of
mobile and wireless networks into integrated communication systems (using e.g. femtocells) which can deliver ultra high speed wireless access in the home, the street or in the enterprise.
b) High capacity end-to-end infrastructure technologies
– Ubiquitous fast broadband access: convergence and interoperability of dynamic
heterogeneous broadband and mobile network technologies; robust and reliable broadband networks with optimised interconnection of heterogeneous core, metro and edge networks, wired and wireless, including hybrid optical-coaxial and radio/copper/fibre access, in multiple operator and service provider domains; seamless transparent end-to-end connectivity using optimised protocols and routing for energy efficiency and cost reduction.
– Ultra high capacity all-optical networks supporting ever-increasing service bandwidth
demands: including network virtualisation; reducing the need for electronic-optical
conversion, to solve the problem of the unsustainable growth of power consumption of
electronic routers; targeting WDM technologies enabling transportation of 160
wavelengths at 40-100 Gb/s and higher, in combination with enabling technologies such
as coherent transmission, complex formats, OFDM; solutions beyond 100G Ethernet.
– An efficient functional split between optics and electronics and between circuit, flow and packet switching as well as integration with packet transport in the data, control and
management planes should be addressed.
– The work on optical core and access networks provides the system perspective to the
development of the necessary photonic components and sub-systems undertaken in
Objective 3.5
c) Novel Internet architectures, management and operation frameworks
– Future Internet architectures that are resilient, trustworthy and energy-efficient and
designed to support open access, increasing heterogeneity of end-points (multimode
devices, people, things) and networks (ad-hoc networks, opportunistic networks, networks
of networks), with the need of a seamless and generalised handover, in support of the
complete range of services and applications. Networks should sustain a large number of
devices, many orders of magnitude higher than the current Internet, handle the large
irregular information flows, and be compatible with ultra high capacity end-to-end
connectivity.
– Visionary and “clean-slate” multi-disciplinary research on new architectures is
encouraged, consisting of iterative cycles of research, design and large-scale
experimentation of innovative architectures for the Future Internet from an overall system
perspective.
– Network management and operation frameworks to support generic service platforms,
information exchange, addressing and naming, personal networks, scalability issues, agile
connectivity, and the explosion of traffic and endpoints. Work should also address
Internet mobility, virtualization, and backward compatibility strategies with the current
Internet. Self- or distributed management approaches should lead to a better control of
new heterogeneous networks. Optimisation of control and management may also address
tighter integration between network functionalities and overlay service functionalities and
optimise integration of services provided by data centres and server farms with the
network capabilities.
d) Flexible, resilient, broadband and integrated satellite communication
– Innovative system architectures and technologies making possible the advent of ultra
high capacity satellite communication systems, radically lowered transmission cost,
broadband end-to-end connectivity one order of magnitude higher than that of current
operational systems, seamless integration capabilities with Future Internet terrestrial based networks, mobile and fixed, notably through capability of dynamic joint reconfiguration of satellite-terrestrial protocols and integrated network management..
– Novel technologies and architectures for resilient and flexible networks enabling
global, multi service, secure and dependable communication (including mobility), for
institutional missions. It requires network availability and efficiency, fast information
processing and reaction, and interoperability with terrestrial public safety networks, and
integration with navigation systems and sensor networks.
e) Coordination and Support Actions and Networks of Excellence
– Coordination and support for European network/service requirement definition,
exploitation of results and (pre)standardisation.
– Definition of a joint policy framework fostering the development and integration of
terrestrial mobile, fixed and satellite communications to achieve broadband for all and
serve the institutional/public service demand.
– Support to concrete initiatives/projects for international cooperation, notably with USA
and Japan, in identified priority topics such as cognitive radio.
– Networks of Excellence should be tightly focussed on a critical mass of researchers and
actors in new and emerging key topics for the Future Network development, in particular
acting as a bridge between academic research and industrial exploitation.
Expected Impact
• Strengthened positioning of European industry in the fields of Future Internet
technologies, mobile and wireless broadband systems, optical networks, and network
management technologies.
• Developing the technology for the future generations of the European high-speed
broadband and mobile network infrastructure.
• Increased economic and energy efficiency of access/transport infrastructures (cost/bit).
• Contributions to standards and regulation as well as the related IPRs, with a predominant role for Europe in standardization bodies and fora.
• Industry adoption of integrated all optical networks and of spectral-efficient broadband
wireless systems, novel Internet architectures and technologies
Funding Schemes:
a), b), c), d): IP, STREP
e): NoE, CSA
Indicative budget distribution11:
– IP/STREP: EUR 152 million, of which a minimum of 50% allocated to IPs and 30% to
STREPs
– NoE: EUR 6 million; CSA: EUR 2 million
Call: FP7-ICT-2011-8
If you are interested in applying for FP7 funding, do not hesitate to get in touch by using the form below.
