The Digital Signal Processing Centre of Excellence (DSP Centre)

Digital Signal Processing (DSP) is a vital enabling technology in the modern world that has vast uses across key sectors, including healthcare, defence and security, transport and the environment.  

Our vision is to work with partners across the world in order to develop DSP-based technologies that deliver benefits for individuals, communities and businesses across North Wales, and beyond. We believe in making digital communication systems more accessible, more convenient and more secure, so that all individuals and communities can benefit. 

Our long-term vision is to develop into a Welsh and UK Government-backed National Centre for DSP Technology, which will have greatly expanded research activities, technology commercialisation activities and DSP skills training at various levels. Thus, ultimately our ambitions are to contribute significantly to the growth of the technology industry in Wales, leading to an increase in high-tech jobs in Wales, attracting companies to the region, developing supply chains and offering high-tech careers to Wales’ young up-and-coming researchers and engineers.

The DSP Centre of Excellence was established in 2019, with £3.9 million investment from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) awarded by the Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO).  The DSP Centre builds upon the research into digital communications within the University, began in 2006 by the Optical Communications and Research Group (OCRG). 

The overall goal of the DSP Centre is to collaborate with academic and industrial partners on research, development and innovation (RD&I) projects in the DSP field.  During the WEFO funding period, we led six projects focussing on:  

• DSP algorithm design, optimisation and implementation. 
• Flexible transceivers and networking devices. 
• Optical and wireless transmission system convergence. 
• Cloud network architecture. 
• Software defined networking (SDN)-based network control.  
• 5G and beyond testbed establishment and field trials. 

In 2022, we were awarded an additional £3 million funding from the North Wales Growth Deal (NWGD), through Ambition North Wales, Welsh Government and UK Government. This funding is designed to help build upon and enhance the research we've carried out so far, through the purchase of state-of-the-art telecommunications equipment. Our specific objectives for the NWGD funding are to: 

• Encourage innovation and commercialisation through knowledge transfer from the DSP Centre to the wider economy, by working on 70 collaborative projects/ collaborations. 
• Establish the DSP Centre as a recognised centre, by 2031, contributing to UK Government objectives for 5G roll out.
• Directly create 10 sustainable, high-value jobs in the digital sector through research excellence and indirectly support 30 jobs.
• Increase GVA by £11 million - £13 million.
• Leverage £12.5m further investment through grant capture and private sector contributions.

Now, we have successfully captured additional funding from various private and public funding schemes, including UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) and the Local Broadband Fund (LBF). Each of our newly-captured projects aspire to meet the objectives above of the NWGD project above, and will allow us to expand our research activities and turn our focus to exploring how we move our research and technologies market, to fully harness the commercial and societal benefits of DSP-enabled technologies. You can find more about these in the 'Projects' section below.

We collaborate with academics, research institutions and industry experts around the world, to carry out research projects and develop technologies. We have established a strong partner base consisting of local and global telecommunications organisations with expertise covering the whole ICT value chain. At present, we have over 50 partners engaged in joint research projects. 

Our partners include:

The DSP Centre is located within the School of Computer Science & Electronic Engineering.  We have four office rooms, a conference room, common room and kitchen, as well as several technical laboratories to conduct our research. 

Our labs host a suite of cutting-edge specialist equipment worth £3.5 million (which will increase beyond £5.5 million in 2024), including four pairs of high-speed Arbitrary Waveform Generators (AWGs), Digital Storage Oscilloscopes (DSOs), state-of-the-art augmented and virtual reality head-mounted displays, as well as a vast range of other components and supplies that facilitate our research. This high-speed equipment enables us to have full capacity of developing:

• >40GHz bandwidth dual-polarisation coherent optical transmission systems
• >10GHz bandwidth real-time optical communication systems
• >40GHz point-to-point/multi-point IMDD metro/access optical networks
• Gigahertz bandwidth 5G/6G millimeter-wave wireless communication systems
• >25GHz optical wireless communication systems
• physical layer secure optical communication systems 
• fibre optic sensing systems
• data-driven, immersive visualisation experiences

We are in the process of developing our state-of-the-art 5G Medical Innovation Lab, ready for 2024, which will house a unique 5G testbed facility with a >40km optical fibre-based metro network. The Innovation Lab will act as a base for collaboration and innovation activity with our partners to explore and field trial market applications of our technologies. Our goal is that the Lab will help to grow the local digital economy, through the transfer of our breakthrough technologies into industry products and services.

Digital Signal Processing (DSP) refers various software-based techniques for improving the accuracy and performance of digital communications..  This includes complex operations including filtering, equalization, compression and modulation to generate, or detect, a signal of superior quality.

So many of the devices we use in our daily lives are powered by DSP technologies. From mobile phones, smart watches, headphones, smart assistants like Alexa, to hearing aids, MRIs and X-rays, DSP technology is all around us.  And it often goes unnoticed as it helps our lives run more seamlessly, with little impact.  

Key features & benefits

DSP is used extensively in communication networks, because of its inherent advantages. Current communication networks (including 3G and 4G) are struggling to meet the needs of new services and technologies in the modern world, such as high-definition video, streaming, gaming, remote working, as well as Virtual Reality.  In addition, network traffic continues to grow exponentially, and customers' demands for super-fast, stable and secure connection are increasing.  

This is where DSP-comes in. DSP algorithms are the brain of mobile networks, such as 5G and beyond. They make these networks: 

• superfast 
• intelligent
• highly reliable
• highly secure
• low energy consumption
• low cost
• able to support a high number of devices at the same time.

Overall, DSP-based technologies have inherent advantages over analog-based technologies, meaning they are able to support communication demands.

Real-life applications

However, DSP is not just used in communications systems. Because of its key features, DSP is a versatile technology that permeates numerous other domains, including:

• Health and Social care (e.g. remote GP appointments and x-rays)
• Transport and Logistics (e.g. traffic monitoring and road maintenance)
• Environment and Energy (e.g. monitoring air-quality and undersea disturbances)
• Housing (e.g. low carbon materials and low energy devices)
• Defence and Security (e.g. ultra-secure encryption)

Wider socioeconomic and wellbeing impacts

DSP technologies also play a key role in supporting the socioeconomic and wellbeing agendas, by promoting:

• Digital inclusion and connectivity (by ensuring equality of access to broadband and services now moving online, such as education, access to government departments and democratic participation) 
• Town and city centre regeneration and renewal (by helping to create connected and 'smart' cities)

We research and develop Digital Signal Processing (DSP)-based technologies and optical communication systems.

The focus of our research is on DSP-based techniques for 5G (and beyond) mobile networks and their ecosystems. We explore techniques to drastically improve their functionalities, such as signal transmission and bandwidth, that are designed to meet the demands from both the user and operator's perspective. Some of the essential new features we are researching include:

• Dynamic network reconfigurability and convergence
• Adaptability for optimum transmission and network performance
• Security of information transmission and network infrastructure
• Additional functionalities based on data-carrying signal sensing
• Dynamic bandwidth allocation with fine granularity to support a wide diversity of traffic types
• Network slice-ability to create independent logical networks on a common physical infrastructure
• Backwards compatibility for ease of technology migration
• Energy aware systems.

We also conduct research into other cutting-edge DSP-based techniques, and are currently focussing on:

1. Distributed Fibre Optic Sensing (DFOS) 
2. Physical Layer Security Optical Networks (PLSON) 
3. 5G-based Data Visualisation and Virtual, Augmented and xReality (VR/AR/XR)  
4. High Speed Visible Light Communications (VLC/Li-Fi) 

We have developed four portable, experimental demonstrators for the above technologies, located in our DSP Centre Innovation Laboratory, that allow for real-time viewing of these pioneering techniques. We are currently working on integrating these four prototypes, to produce a unique, upgradeable, integrated network platform capable of supporting multiple 5G/6G use cases.

Our DSP technologies not only have high academic value, but also huge commercial potential. As a result of their innovative features, they have significant potential applications across a wide range of sectors.

We have invented a now globally-accepted DSP-based signal transmission concept, termed 'adaptively modulated Optical Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OOFDM)', achieving a series of 12 ground-breaking experimental demonstrations of real-time high-speed OOFDM transceivers. These real-time demonstrations are enabled by a number of DSP-based symbol synchronisation and clock signal generation techniques, also invented by our researchers. This pioneering work resulted in Fujitsu’s commercialisation of the OOFDM technique for data centres. OFDM as a key technical enabler is currently being used in 4G/5G and Wi-Fi and would also be indispensable for realising future 'Green' Air-Space-Ground Integrated Networks.

We are currently exploring opportunities to take the techniques we've developed and transform them into real-life products and services on the market, so that the benefits are available to all sections of our community in North Wales, and beyond. To do this, we work with industry partners to increase the Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) of our technologies, working together to move our research, to proof of concept and field trials, to fully commercial products available for consumers. 

We have a range of ongoing collaborations with industry experts in communications, environment, and defence and security, including: 

• ADRA Low Carbon Hub - to explore use of of our optical sensing technology for use in environmental monitoring applications. See more here. 
• Compound Semiconductor Centre and Comtek - to explore the creation of a 'Made in Wales' supply chain capability for digital devices to ensure that the socioeconomic benefits of digital research in Wales remain within communities in Wales. 
• National Grid - to explore our optic sensing technology for use in power cable security cable monitoring.
• Offshore Catapult - to explore our optic sensing technology for use in undersea cable monitoring.
• Defence organisations - to explore use of our physical layer security and optical wireless communications/LiFi to detect cyber attacks.

We host and deliver skills training courses to students and technology companies, to share our expertise in digital signal processing (DSP).

Our aim is to develop digital training courses ranging from L4 to L7 to students, researchers and technology companies in North Wales. This will contribute significantly to the growth of the technology industry in Wales, leading to an increase in high-tech jobs, attracting companies to the region, support companies to bring their products to market and offering careers to Wales’ young up-and-coming researchers and engineers.

See our News & Events section for more information on past and upcoming training events. 

Journal papers

2023

• I. N. O. Osahon et al., ‘Experimental Demonstration of 38 Gbps over 2.5 m OWC Systems with Eye-safe 850 nm SM-VCSELs’, Photonics Technology Letters, doi: 10.1109/LPT.2023.3337943.
• O. F. A. Gonem, R. P. Giddings, and J. Tang, “Experimental Demonstration of Soft-ROADMs with Dual-Arm Drop Elements for Future Optical-Wireless Converged Access Networks,” Journal of Lightwave Technology, Oct. 2023, doi: 10.1109/JLT.2023.3328771.
• A. Batch, S. Shin, J. Liu, P. Butcher, P. D. Ritsos, and N. Elmqvist, “Evaluating View Management for Situated Visualization in Web‐based Handheld AR,” Computer Graphics Forum, vol. 42, no. 3, pp. 349–360, Jun. 2023, doi: 10.1111/cgf.14835.
• L. Vallejo et al., “Demonstration of M-QAM OFDM bidirectional 60/25 GHz transmission over 10 km Fiber, 100 m FSO and 2 m radio seamless heterogeneous fronthaul link,” Optical Fiber Technology, vol. 77, p. 103161, May 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.yofte.2022.103161.
• L. Vallejo, J. Bohata, J. F. Mora, S. Zvánovec, and B. Ortega, “Remote mmW photonic local oscillator delivery for uplink down-conversion in DML-based optical hybrid C-RAN fronthaul,” Journal of Optical Communications and Networking, vol. 15, no. 6, p. 357, May 2023, doi: 10.1364/jocn.482085.
• M. Hao, X. Jiang, X. Xiong, R. P. Giddings, W. He, and J. Tang, “Low-Complexity Modulation Format Identification Based on Amplitude Histogram Distributions for Digital Coherent Receivers,” Photonics, vol. 10, no. 4, p. 472, Apr. 2023, doi: 10.3390/photonics10040472.
• T. Tyagi, R. P. Giddings, and J. Tang, “Real-Time Demonstration of Concurrent Upstream and Inter-ONU Communications in Hybrid OFDM DFMA PONs,” IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 148–151, Feb. 2023, doi: 10.1109/lpt.2022.3227369.
• S. Shin, A. Batch, P. Butcher, P. D. Ritsos, and N. Elmqvist, “The Reality of the Situation: A Survey of Situated Analytics,” IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, pp. 1–19, Jun. 2023, doi: 10.1109/tvcg.2023.3285546.
• L. Chen, W. Jin, J. He, R. P. Giddings, Y. Huang, and J. Tang, “A Point-to-multipoint Flexible Transceiver for Inherently Hub-and-Spoke IMDD Optical Access Networks,” Journal of Lightwave Technology, pp. 1–12, Jan. 2023, doi: 10.1109/jlt.2023.3249406.
• S. Hu et al., “Adaptive Hybrid Iterative Linearization Algorithms for IM/DD Optical Transmission Systems,” Journal of Lightwave Technology, pp. 1–7, Jan. 2023, doi: 10.1109/jlt.2023.3243917.

2022

• J. Zhang et al., “Capacity and flexibility improvement of traffic aggregation for fixed 5G: Key enabling technologies, challenges and trends,” China Communications, vol. 19, no. 12, pp. 1–13, Dec. 2022, doi: 10.23919/jcc.2022.12.001.
• T. Tyagi, R. Giddings, and J. Tang, “Real-time experimental demonstration of a computationally efficient hybrid OFDM DFMA PON,” Optical Fiber Technology, vol. 74, p. 103106, Dec. 2022, doi: 10.1016/j.yofte.2022.103106.
• J. He, R. P. Giddings, W. Jin, and J. Tang, “DSP-Based Physical Layer Security for Coherent Optical Communication Systems,” IEEE Photonics Journal, vol. 14, no. 5, pp. 1–11, Oct. 2022, doi: 10.1109/jphot.2022.3202433.
• F. M. Alsalami, O. C. L. Haas, A. Al-Kinani, C.-X. Wang, Z. Ahmad, and S. Rajbhandari, “Impact of Dynamic Traffic on Vehicle-to-Vehicle Visible Light Communication Systems,” IEEE Systems Journal, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 3512–3521, Sep. 2022, doi: 10.1109/jsyst.2021.3100257.
• X. Jin et al., “Error-Controlled Iterative Algorithms for Digital Linearization of IMDD-Based Optical Fibre Transmission Systems,” Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol. 40, no. 18, pp. 6158–6167, Sep. 2022, doi: 10.1109/jlt.2022.3191415.
• H. Jiang, N. He, X. Liao, W. O. Popoola, and S. Rajbhandari, “The BER Performance of the LDPC-Coded MPPM over Turbulence UWOC Channels,” Photonics, vol. 9, no. 5, p. 349, May 2022, doi: 10.3390/photonics9050349.
• S. Hu et al., “Multi-constraint Gerchberg-Saxton iteration algorithms for linearizing IM/DD transmission systems,” Optics Express, vol. 30, no. 6, p. 10019, Mar. 2022, doi: 10.1364/oe.448826.
• H. Jiang, H. Qiu, N. He, W. O. Popoola, Z. Ahmad, and S. Rajbhandari, “Ergodic capacity and error performance of spatial diversity UWOC systems over generalized gamma turbulence channels,” Optics Communications, vol. 505, p. 127476, Feb. 2022, doi: 10.1016/j.optcom.2021.127476.
• W. Jin et al., “Rectangular Orthogonal Digital Filter Banks Based on Extended Gaussian Functions,” Journal of Lightwave Technology, p. 1, Jan. 2022, doi: 10.1109/jlt.2022.3153589.

2021

• A. A. Mahmoud et al., “Vehicular Visible Light Positioning Using Receiver Diversity with Machine Learning,” Electronics, vol. 10, no. 23, p. 3023, Dec. 2021, doi: 10.3390/electronics10233023.
• O. F. A. Gonem, R. P. Giddings, and J. Tang, “Timing Jitter Analysis and Mitigation in Hybrid OFDM-DFMA PONs,” IEEE Photonics Journal, vol. 13, no. 6, pp. 1–13, Dec. 2021, doi: 10.1109/jphot.2021.3121168.
• W. Jin et al., “Experimental demonstrations of DSP-enabled flexibility, adaptability and elasticity of multi-channel >72Gb/s over 25 km IMDD transmission systems,” Optics Express, vol. 29, no. 25, p. 41363, Nov. 2021, doi: 10.1364/oe.440115.
• S. J. Yoo, S. L. Cotton, L. Zhang, M. G. Doone, J.-K. Song, and S. Rajbhandari, “Evaluation of a Switched Combining Based Distributed Antenna System (DAS) for Pedestrian-to-Vehicle Communications,” IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 70, no. 10, pp. 11005–11010, Oct. 2021, doi: 10.1109/tvt.2021.3102700.
• A. Sankoh et al., “DFT-Spread Spectrally Overlapped Hybrid OFDM–Digital Filter Multiple Access IMDD PONs,” Sensors, vol. 21, no. 17, p. 5903, Sep. 2021, doi: 10.3390/s21175903.
• P. Butcher, N. W. John, and P. D. Ritsos, “VRIA: A Web-Based Framework for Creating Immersive Analytics Experiences,” IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, vol. 27, no. 7, pp. 3213–3225, Jul. 2021, doi: 10.1109/tvcg.2020.2965109.
• Z.-Q. Zhong et al., “Intermittent dynamical state switching in discrete-mode semiconductor lasers subject to optical feedback,” Photonics Research, vol. 9, no. 7, p. 1336, Jun. 2021, doi: 10.1364/prj.427458.
• S. Hu, J. Zhang, J. Tang, W. Jin, R. P. Giddings, and K. Qiu, “Data-Aided Iterative Algorithms for Linearizing IM/DD Optical Transmission Systems,” Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol. 39, no. 9, pp. 2864–2872, May 2021, doi: 10.1109/jlt.2021.3063689.
• Z.-Q. Zhong et al., “Experimental Demonstrations of Matching Filter-Free Digital Filter Multiplexed SSB OFDM IMDD Transmission Systems,” IEEE Photonics Journal, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 1–12, Apr. 2021, doi: 10.1109/jphot.2021.3064997.
• Z.-Q. Zhong et al., “Concurrent Inter-ONU Communications for Next Generation Mobile Fronthauls based on IMDD Hybrid SSB OFDM-DFMA PONs,” Journal of Lightwave Technology, p. 1, Jan. 2021, doi: 10.1109/jlt.2021.3115573.

2020

• D.-W. Chang, Z.-Q. Zhong, J. Tang, P. S. Spencer, and Y. Hong, “Flat broadband chaos generation in a discrete-mode laser subject to optical feedback,” Optics Express, vol. 28, no. 26, p. 39076, Dec. 2020, doi: 10.1364/oe.413674.
• M. Hulea, Z. Ghassemlooy, S. Rajbhandari, O. I. Younus, and A. Barleanu, “Optical axons for electro-optical neural networks,” Sensors, vol. 20, no. 21, p. 6119, Oct. 2020, doi: 10.3390/s20216119.
• A. Sankoh et al., “Hybrid OFDM-Digital Filter Multiple Access PONs Utilizing Spectrally Overlapped Digital Orthogonal Filtering,” IEEE Photonics Journal, vol. 12, no. 5, pp. 1–11, Oct. 2020, doi: 10.1109/jphot.2020.3018863.
• J. Zhang et al., “A Clock-Gating-Based Energy-Efficient Scheme for ONUs in Real-Time IMDD OFDM-PONs,” Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol. 38, no. 14, pp. 3573–3583, Jul. 2020, doi: 10.1109/jlt.2020.2977053.
• W. Jin et al., “Hybrid SSB OFDM-Digital Filter Multiple Access PONS,” Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol. 38, no. 8, pp. 2095–2105, Apr. 2020, doi: 10.1109/jlt.2020.2966287.
• C. Xue et al., “Characteristics of microwave photonic signal generation using vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers with optical injection and feedback,” Journal of the Optical Society of America B-optical Physics, vol. 37, no. 5, p. 1394, Apr. 2020, doi: 10.1364/josab.389890.
• W. Jin et al., “Experimental Demonstrations of Hybrid OFDM-Digital Filter Multiple Access PONS,” IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, p. 1, Jan. 2020, doi: 10.1109/lpt.2020.2995072.

2019

• N. Jiang, A. Zhao, Y. Wang, S. Liu, J. Tang, and K. Qiu, “Security-enhanced chaotic communications with optical temporal encryption based on phase modulation and phase-to-intensity conversion,” OSA Continuum, vol. 2, no. 12, p. 3422, Nov. 2019, doi: 10.1364/osac.2.003422.
• E. Al-Rawachy, R. P. Giddings, and J. Tang, “Experimental Demonstration of a Real-Time Digital Filter Multiple Access PON With Low Complexity DSP-Based Interference Cancellation,” Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol. 37, no. 17, pp. 4315–4329, Sep. 2019, doi: 10.1109/jlt.2019.2923546.

Conference papers & poster presentations 

2023

• O.F.A. Gonem, R. P. Giddings, and J. Tang, “Experimental Demonstration of a Dual-Arm Drop Element-based Soft-ROADM for Future Optical-Wireless Converged Access Networks”, to be presented at the Asia Communications and Photonics Conference (ACP) / The International Photonics and OptoElectronics Meetings (POEM) (ACPPOEM2023), Wuhan, China, 4-7 November 2023.
• O.F.A. Gonem, “Experimental Demonstration of Soft-ROADMs with Drop Signal Phase Independent Performance for PTMP 5G Fronthauls”, to be presented at the International Conference on Photonics in Switching and Computing (PSC2023), Virtual event, 26-29 September 2023. 
• O. F. A. Gonem, R. P. Giddings, and J. Tang, “Drop Signal Phase Offset Independent Soft-ROADMs for Point-to-Multipoint 5G Fronthauls”, presented at the 28th Optoelectronics and Communications Conference (OECC), Shanghai, China, 2-6 July 2023.
• L. Chen, W. Jin, J. He, R. P. Giddings, Y. Huang, and J. Tang, “A Point-to-multipoint Flexible Transceiver for Inherently Hub-and-Spoke IMDD Optical Access Networks”, presented at the 28th Optoelectronics and Communications Conference (OECC), Shanghai, China, 2-6 July 2023.
• A. Batch, S. Shin, J. Liu, P. W. S. Butcher, P. D. Ritsos and N. Elmqvist, “Evaluating View Management for Situated Visualization in Web-based Handheld AR”, presented at the 25th Eurographics Conference on Visualisation (EuroVis), Leipzig, Germany, 12-16 June 2023.
• M. Botella-Campos, J. Bohata , L. Vallejo, J. Mora, S. Zvanovec, and B. Ortega, “Phase Modulation-based Fronthaul Network for 5G mmWave FR-2 Signal Transmission over Hybrid Links”, presented at the 2023 European Conference on Networks and Communications & 6G summit (EuCNC/6G Summit), Gothenburg, Sweden, 6-9 June 2023.
• I. Osahon, S. Rajbhandari, A. Ihsan, J. Tang and W. Popoola, “Multilevel PAM with ANN equalization for an RC-LED SI-POF system,” presented at the IEEE Consumer Communications & Networking Conference (IEEE CCNC), Las Vegas, NV, USA, 8–11 January 2023.

2022

• X. Jin, W. Jin, Z. Zhong, S. Jiang, S. Rajbhandari, Y. Hong, R. Giddings, and J. Tang, “Improvement in Convergence Rate and Power Penalty with an Error-Controlled Iterative Algorithm in IMDD Systems”, presented at the Optica Advanced Photonics Congress, Maastricht, Netherlands, 24-28 July 2022.
• S. Jiang, Z.  Zhong, W. Jin, J. He, R. Giddings and J. Tang, “Improved Sensitivity of Distributed Fibre Optical Sensing Using Structured Sampling”, presented at the OSA Imaging and Applied Optics Congress , Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 11-15 July 2022.
• S. Hu et al., “112-Gb/s PAM-4 IM/DD Optical Transmission over 100-km Single Mode Fiber with Linear Equalizer,” presented at the Optical Fibre Communication Conference (OFC), San Diego, California, USA, 6-10 March 2022.
• O. Gonem, R.P. Giddings, and J.M. Tang, “Inter-ONU Sample Timing Offset Estimation and Compensation for Spectrally Overlapped Orthogonal Channels in Hybrid OFDM-DFMA PONs”, presented at the Telecommunications, Optics & Photonics Conference (TOP Conference), London, UK,  14-15 February 2022.
• T. Tyagi, R.P. Giddings, and J.M. Tang, “Real-time experimental demonstration of computationally efficient a hybrid OFDM DFMA-PON”,  presented at the Telecommunications, Optics & Photonics Conference (TOP Conference), London, UK,  14-15 February 2022.

2021

• X. Wu, A. Nag and X. Jin, ‘On Adaptive Network Deployment for Visible Light Communications’, presented at the IEEE Conference on Computer and Communications (ICCC), Chengdu, China, 10-13 December 2021. .
• Y. Hong, D. Chang, Z. Zhong and W. Jin, “Nonlinear dynamics of discrete-mode lasers and their applications,” presented at International Symposium on Physics and Applications of Laser Dynamics (IS-PALD), Virtual event, 16-18 November 2021.
• M. Hulea, O. I. Younus, Z. Ghassemlooy and S. Rajbhandari, "Influence of optical axons on the synaptic weights," presented at the 17th International Symposium on Wireless Communication Systems (ISWCS), Berlin, Germany, 6-9 September 2021.
• O.Gonem, R.Giddings and J.Tang, “DSP-based Reduction of the Impact of White ADC Timing Jitter on Hybrid OFDM-DFMA PONs,“ presented at the OSA Advanced Photonics Congress, 26-29 July 2021.
• Z. Zhong et al., “Experimental Demonstrations of Concurrent Adaptive Inter-ONU and Upstream Communications in IMDD Hybrid SSB OFDM-DFMA PONs”, presented at the Optical Fibre Communication Conference (OFC), California, USA, 6-10 June 2021.
• Z. Zhong, D. Chang, W. Jin, M. W. Lee, J. Tang, and Y. Hong, “Intermittent dynamics switching in discrete-mode semiconductor lasers with long external cavity optical feedback”, presented at the Semiconductor and Integrated Optoelectronics (SIOE) Conference, Cardiff, Wales, 30 March-1 April 2021.

2020

• S. Hu, J. Tang, J. Zhang, K. Qiu, “Linearization of Optical IMDD Transmission Systems Using Accelerated Iterative Algorithms”, presented at the European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC), Virtual Event, 6-10 Dec 2020.
• R. L. Williams, D. Farmer, J. C. Roberts, and P. D. Ritsos, “Immersive visualisation of COVID-19 UK travel and US happiness data,” presented at the IEEE Conference on Visualization (IEEE VIS), Virtual Event, 25-30 October 2020.
• W. Jin et al, “Experimental Demonstration of Hybrid OFDM-Digital Filter Multiple Access PONs for 5G and Beyond Networks”, presented at the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO), California, USA, 11-15 May 2020.

Professor Jianming Tang

Operation Director

Professor Jianming Tang is the Director of the DSP Centre and head of the optical communications research group in the School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering (CSEE), with expertise in optical communications systems, data networks and ultrafast nonlinearities of semiconductor optical devices. He has published approximately 300 papers and filed 8 patent portfolios. Over the past ten years, he has captured and managed >30 research grants with a total project budget of approximately £6m. In particular, he has co-ordinated a €3.6m EC/TSB Piano+ OCEAN project involving six academic and industrial partners, and acted as PI for a €12m EC FP7 ALPHA project with 17 academic and industrial partners involved, and Bangor’s ALPHA project budget share was approximately €1m.

   j.tang@bangor.ac.uk

Dr Roger Giddings

Deputy Operation Director

Dr Roger Giddings is a Senior Lecturer in Optical Communications and DSP in the School of CSEE, specialising in DSP-enabled optical communication systems to achieve dynamically reconfigurable optical networks that seamlessly converge metro, access and 4G/5G mobile fronthaul/backhaul. He has expertise in the real-time implementation of advanced DSP algorithms, RF/Microwave circuits, embedded systems and optical communications systems. He has 17-years R&D experience in the telecommunications industry, working for Nokia Networks, Nokia Research Centre and Nokia Ventures in both the UK and Finland. In 2007 he joined Bangor University and experimentally demonstrated the world’s first real-time Optical OFDM transmission system. He has published over 100 papers in refereed journals, including an invited tutorial paper in IEEE Journal of Lightwave Technology. He has acted as Co-Investigator for many EU and Welsh Government funded projects, acts as a reviewer for several leading journals, has given many invited talks, has acted as program chair and a TPC member for the Signal Processing in Photonics Communications (SPPCom) conference, was recently a guest editor for a special issue of the Future Internet journal and is a member of the EPSRC Peer Review Associate College.

   r.p.giddings@bangor.ac.uk

Dr Md Saifuddin Faruk

Senior Lecturer

Dr Md Saifuddin Faruk is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Computer Science and Engineering. He has expertise in the DSP algorithms for coherent transceivers, high-speed optical access networks and machine learning applications for optical fibre communications. Previously, he worked as a senior research associate at the University of Cambridge, UK (2019-2023), a faculty member at DUET, Bangladesh (2004-2019) and a Marie Curie Research Fellow at the University College London (UCL) and the University of Cambridge, UK (2015-2017). He was also a short-term visiting researcher at Telekom Malaysia (TM) R&D, Malaysia, VPIphotonics GmbH, Germany, and Orange Polska, Poland. Dr Faruk has published over 50 papers in renowned journals and international conferences with several invited articles and talks. He has served as a TPC member in several IEEE/OPTICA conferences including subcommittee member of OFC-2024. He is a senior member of IEEE.  

   m.faruk@bangor.ac.uk 

Elaine Shuttleworth

Operation Manager

Elaine manages the Centre’s portfolio of projects and operations ensuring full compliance with Bangor University processes and procedures and the regulations and rules of various funding bodies. Elaine has extensive demonstrable experience in both project, programme and operation management including: proposal writing; delivery management plans; benefit framework strategies; stakeholder relationship building; budget management; all procurement activity from creating invitation to tender documents to leading tender scoring panels; report writing; risk, issue and dependency management; activity monitoring against plans; managing non-financial indicators of funded projects; and leading external evaluations. She is the Cross Cutting Themes Champion for the Centre, ensuring that themes such as equal opportunities, sustainable development, and tackling poverty and social exclusion are integrated into all activities. Elaine graduated from Bangor University’s School of Business and Regional Development in 2002 with an Upper Second-Class Honours in Business Studies and Marketing.

  elaine.shuttleworth@bangor.ac.uk

Bethan Lewis

Operations, Marketing & Events Officer

Bethan provides  operational support to the DSP management, academic and research teams, helping to ensure the smooth-running of the Centre. Responsibilities include arranging travel and hospitality for events, processing finances, maintaining project documentation, organising events and managing the team’s Twitter and LinkedIn accounts. Bethan has previously worked as a Project Manager in local government and the General Medical Council, leading several major projects in the UK Government’s reform of medical regulation. She has held discretionary roles on various staff networks, promoting and encouraging initiatives on topics including mental health, continuous improvement and empowerment at all levels. She is a certified PRINCE2 practitioner with an interest in public protection and making a difference in local communities.   Bethan graduated with a First Class Honours with Distinction in French from the University of Sheffield in 2018, during which she spent a year abroad teaching English to primary school pupils in Montpellier, France. Interests outside of work include cooking, netball, Formula 1, and seeking out the best coffee spots…If you know any, get in touch!

  bethan.lewis@bangor.ac.uk

Dr Wei Jin

Lecturer

I am Wei Jin and was born in Feb. 1989. My hometown is Henan in the central part of China. It is a birthplace of Chinese civilization with > 3000 years of recorded history. I have a big family with 8 cousins but I am the only child of my parents. In 2007, I became an undergraduate student and came to Chengdu, a beautiful capital city of the Sichuan province in Southwest China. It is well known for its spicy cuisine such as hotpot, this is my favourite food. I had lived in Chengdu for more than 10 years. In 2017, I received my Ph.D degree in Optical Engineering from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. For my Ph.D. thesis, I worked on DSP-enabled future elastic cloud access networks. I joined Bangor University as a postdoctoral researcher in Feb. 2019 and then was appointed as a lecturer in April 2021. From 2019 to the present, I work on a compelling 5G Fronthaul & Backhaul solution termed hybrid OFDM-digital filter multiple access passive optical networks. My research interests include high speed optical transmission systems, low cost optical access networks, seamless optical metro-access network convergence, reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers and advanced DSP algorithms.

   wei.jin@bangor.ac.uk 

Dr Grahame Guilford

Technology Exploitation Manager

Grahame's overall responsibility is to capture R&D funding from public and private sources to increase the technology readiness levels (TRLs) of the DSP Centre-developed technologies. In addition, Grahame works closely with colleagues across the University, as well as the Centre’s industrial partners and other relevant companies to explore opportunities for commercialisation. 

   g.guilford@bangor.ac.uk

Dr Peter Butcher

Lecturer - Human Computer Interaction

Dr Peter Butcher is a Lecturer in Human Computer Interaction in the School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering at Bangor University. He obtained his BSc and MSc in Computer Science from Bangor and his PhD from the University of Chester. His research is focused on Web-based immersive data visualization and visual analytics in augmented and virtual reality. Recently he has contributed to collaborative projects involving applications for human-computer interaction and situated analytics. By applying visualization techniques, he has been able to create visual analytics tools for projects in other disciplines including law, lexicography, tourism, heritage, and natural sciences. Peter previously worked at the DSP Centre as a post-doctoral research officer in Visualization, where he focussed on developing applications for immersive and visual analytics, acting as use-cases to demonstrate the capabilities of high-performance.

   p.butcher@bangor.ac.uk

Mr. Omaro Gonem

Research Project Support Officer

Mr. Omaro Gonem received the B.Sc degree from the Department of Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Benghazi University, Benghazi, Libya in 2007 and the M.Sc degree in Broadband and Optical Communications from the School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, Bangor University, Bangor, UK in 2018. Mr. Gonem is currently working towards the Ph.D. degree in the School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, Bangor University. Mr. Gonem is working on the timing aspects such as timing jitter and sampling frequency offset in hybrid OFDM-DFMA PONs. Mr. Gonem has a more than ten years professional experience in the telecommunication engineering sector. During 2008 – 2012, Mr. Gonem worked for Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd as a CS/PS Core Network Engineer.

  o.gonem@bangor.ac.uk

Miss Jiaxiang He

Research Project Support Officer

Jiaxiang received the degree of Bachelor of Science in Electronic Engineering from Bangor University, UK, in 2019. She is currently working towards her Ph.D. degree in Electronical Engineering in the DSP Centre of Excellence, Bangor University, UK. Her research interests include optical encryption schemes for securing optical network, passive optical network for 5G and beyond, and flexible transceivers. Her current research focuses on DSP-based physical secure communications.

  eeu970@bangor.ac.uk

Mr. Luis Vallejo

Post-Doctoral Research Officer

Mr. Luis Vallejo received the B. Sc and the M. Sc Degree in Telecommunication Engineering, communication engineering major, from Malaga University, Spain, in 2016 and 2017, respectively. During his Post-graduated Erasums program in 2017, he developed his Master Thesis, based on Low Noise Amplifiers, at Kassel University, Germany. From November 2017 to February 2018, he worked as a Test & Verification Engineer, in particular with GS-8800 and GS-9000 Test Systems and 2G/3G/A-GPS samples management, at Keysight Technologies, Málaga, Spain. In March 2018, he started his Ph.D. and joined to the Institute of Telecommunications and Multimedia Applications, Photonic Research Labs, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, Spain. His Ph. D, under the supervision of Prof. Beatriz Ortega, is focused on microwave photonics, mmW generation, RoF/FSO for 5G and beyond, and optical access networks. During his Ph. D, he collaborated and carried out experiments based on mmW signal generation and signal transmission at Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic. Since January 2022, he joined as he joined as a Postdoctoral researcher in the DSP Centre of Excellence, Bangor University, United Kindong, led by Prof. Jianming Tang. His current research focuses on mmW signal generation using free-running lasers and data transmission at mmW frequencies over hybrid optical (fiber/FSO) and electrical (wireless) links. He can be contacted at l.vallejocastro@bangor.ac.uk

  l.vallejocastro@bangor.ac.uk

Dr. Isaac N. O. Osahon

Post-Doctoral Research Officer

Dr. Isaac N. O. Osahon received a B.Eng. degree in electrical/electronic engineering (first class Hons.) from Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria, in 2012 and an M.Sc. degree in Internet Engineering from the University College, London, U.K., in 2015. He earned a PhD in Digital Communications Engineering at the Li-Fi Research & Development centre at the Institute of Digital Communications, University of Edinburgh. As a PhD student, he worked on non-linear equalisation techniques for plastic optical fibre and visible light communication (VLC). For his post-doctorate work, he explored the use of digital signal processing schemes for underwater optical communication. He currently joins Bangor University as a research officer in the school of Computer science and Electronic Engineering, where he explores advanced signal processing and artificial neural networks for MIMO-VLC. Hence, his research interests include the following:

• Optical Communications: Plastic Optical Fibre, Visible Light Communication, Underwater
• Digital Signal Processing: Multilevel modulation schemes and equalisation techniques
• Artificial Neural Networks and Machine Learning

  i.osahon@bangor.ac.uk

Dr Piotr Fratczak

Post-Doctoral Research Officer

Dr Piotr Fratczak obtained both his BSc and MSc in Automatic Control and Robotics from the West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin, Poland. His Master’s Thesis was focused on real-time control of humanoid robots via vision feedback.  He got his PhD from Loughborough University, where he used Virtual Reality to simulate the potential dangers of industrial Human-Robot Collaboration. During his PhD, he studied the possibility of using a robot’s post-accident control strategies to help people feel safer and more comfortable around the robot after the potentially threatening sudden movement.  Now, at Bangor University, Piotr is studying the use of Virtual Reality for Geographic Information Systems for Digital Twins, and their synergies with future network technologies. 

  p.fratczak@bangor.ac.uk

Mathew Purnell

Project Support Officer

Mathew completed a full-time summer placement with the DSP Centre in 2022 before successfully securing a fixed contract alongside his Master's degree. During his time at the DSP Centre, Mathew assisted our the research team to develop two of our portable demonstrator systems for our innovative technologies; "Physical Layer Secure Optical Network" and "Distributed Fibre Optic Sensing". Mathew's role involved tasks such as component selection, designing component layouts for enclosures, assembling demo systems, testing the demonstrator functionality and performance, and developing user instructions. He has also supported the realisation of our new demonstration room, by supporting our researchers to install and test our specialist equipment, and implement protective monitoring systems. 

Mathew completed a Master's in 'Control and Instrumentation Engineering' within the School of Computer Science & Electronic Engineering at the university, graduating with a 1st Class in 2023.  Mathew now works as the DSP Centre Project Support Officer, where is main responsibilities are to support the research team with the design and development of prototypes and field trials, operating and maintaining lab equipment, and assisting with the set-up and running of demonstrations at internal and external events. 

  mtp19jsh@bangor.ac.uk

Current students

Jasmine Parkes

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Master's student

Jasmine completed a Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) degree in Electronic Engineering at Bangor University, graduating in 2022 with a First-Class Honours. Jasmine successfully secured a HEFCW studentship with the DSP Centre in 2022, where she is now studying towards a Master of Science by Research (MScRes) degree in Sensing Optical Networks Integrated Communications (SONIC). She is focusing on the integration of real-time Distributed Fibre Optics Sensors (DFOS) with data transmission on the same wavelength.

  jsp19kcs@bangor.ac.uk

Previous students

David Batty

David completed a summer placement with the DSP Centre in 2022, working on Demonstrator System Development and Lab Measure Automation.

We are the only DSP Centre laboratory in the UK. Thanks to our state-of-the-art equipment, worth £3.5 million (increasing to £5.5m in 2024), our facilities offer a unique opportunity for students to gain valuable practical experimentation experience to support theoretical research activities. Keep an eye out for undergraduate student placements, MEng/PhD opportunities and well as academic roles in the News & Events section below.

If you are looking to pursue a PhD degree in a relevant area and have received funding to support this, please contact us using the details at the bottom of the page with your CV, research proposal, and confirmation of funding, and we will be happy to discuss further.