Impact case study database

One of the key issues facing the renewables market, specifically design and installation of HRES has been the lack of consideration around end-user design and ultimately user requirements. Since 2016, Maheri has focussed on developing a user-centric design, which caters to the end user needs and takes into account the user’s financial constraints. MOHRES [2, 3], developed at the University of Aberdeen has underpinned the development of made-to-measure energy systems that are designed with direct input from the end user, ensuring that the resultant HRES can feasibly meet the demands and mitigate the cost for the customer.

At the system-design and supplier level, particularly in the renewables sector, this user-centric design acts as a crucial form of risk reduction, given that end-user demands are comprehensively addressed at the design phase. Maheri’s research has led to impact in the following ways:

• Addressing shortcomings of ‘traditional’ deterministic design methods across industry and differentiating the product offer

• Supporting growth of renewable energy companies in highly competitive markets such as Jordan and Sub-Saharan Africa

• Providing research and expertise to facilitate change in traditional industry practice in UK and Malaysia

• Improving the welfare of off-grid communities in Turkey, Malaysia, sub-Saharan Africa

Speaking the same language: MOHRES helps energy consultancies and providers gain the trust of current and new end users through intuitive design

In order to build awareness of MOHRES in the engineering community of the ‘plannable load’ algorithm, Maheri has actively demonstrated its capabilities at a series of workshops for industry in close collaboration with the University of Northumbria (September 2018, with another due to take place in March 2021). These workshops have enabled participants to see the tool ‘in action’ and have led to direct requests by companies to have access to the full version of the software for conducting comparative assessments. This has facilitated the wide adoption and deployment of MOHRES in UK, Malaysia, Turkey, Mauritius and Jordan.

At the workshop held on September 2018 in Rome [2], Jordanian-based energy company Al-Narjes Energy, requested access to MOHRES, which they have now utilised, for planning and delivering of 60 HRES projects with total capacity of 1.5 MW (as of April 2020) in Jordan for private clients [ text removed for publication], applying the approach to operations ranging from telecommuting, electricity and construction of roads. This has enabled the company to compete in Jordan, which is considered to be one of the most competitive investment environments in the renewables market and is ranked third by Bloomberg’s Climatescope [S1]. Al-Narjes Energy have confirmed that the new design methodology offers a cost-effective solution relative to current standard practice, noting that the tool had enabled “ *provision of high level of confidence in both customer satisfaction and reliability and subsequent increase in our customer base by 30% [equivalent of 12 projects].*” Since September 2018, several systems have been installed for commercial and residential projects, including places of worship, schools and private farms, introducing cost saving and reducing dependency on fossil fuels [S1].

Energy Renewable UK (Ltd), with whom Maheri has collaborated as part of [P1] since joining Aberdeen, have also adopted MOHRES in their configuration and size optimisation tool. The company have used it to deliver a number of projects towards decreasing the dependency of automated dairy industry to grid (UK) [5], and a cost-effective transition from a diesel-powered to a renewable-powered system in a rural off-grid crop processing community in Malaysia [3]. Energy Renewable UK have found the tool to be extremely effective in tailoring HRES based on customers’ needs, taking into account financial limitations and power supply requirements for off-grid communities and compatibility with productions line for industry stating:

‘Undoubtedly, we owe our success in expanding our business overseas, competing against prominent local companies, and the high success rate in our responses to tender to this collaboration (with Aberdeen).” [S2]

New reliability measures, enabled through MOHRES and employed by Energy Renewable UK, have been of particular interest to customers with limited financial resources and have introduced capacity for sustainable energy production in low- and middle-income countries. As a testament to their diverse portfolio, Energy Renewable UK (Ltd) has now employed the new reliability measures (load planning) to deliver a project for a remote off-grid community in Turkey (wind-PV-battery) [5]. The case study from this project shows how tolerability of a power cut with a maximum length and frequency can lead to significant cost saving (agreed as minimum requirements by the end users) and could be easily translated into new reliability measures. These measures, which are incorporated into the optimisation of the HRES, enable the company to find a solution which matches the end-user requirements and has a total lifespan cost only 55% of that of a system designed traditionally, leading to significant cost savings for the customer [5; S3].

End user centered design - support for small industries in energy transition

In 2019, Maheri was awarded an Innovation Voucher [P2] as part of a start-up venture with UK-based oil & gas manufacturing company Aashraya Ltd and provider of components to the oil & gas sector. In 2020, and as a result of the collaboration, Aashraya Ltd entered the renewables market in sub-Saharan Africa and India, one which is dominated by non-renewable energy sources such as diesel, particularly in remote, low-income communities. By working with the company to integrate MOHRES into their current systems, Maheri has supported Aashraya Ltd in bringing their first prototype system with load-planning capabilities to market trial. The system developed, a solar-powered water-maker, is cheaper than diesel-based systems (currently dominating the market). The lower total lifespan cost of the prototype gives the company a marketable advantage over potential renewable-powered competitors [S4].

In conjunction with the company’s own in-house expertise, MOHRES has facilitated the design of a portable, renewable-powered (PV-battery) system that operates optimally in different geographical sites with variable water demand, complex weather and variable solar resources, in direct contrast to systems that are designed to operate optimally in one site and hence are inefficient or unadaptable to sites with complex demands (e.g. variable weather systems). By using the ‘plannable load’ algorithm implemented in MOHRES, the company have been able to identify the best operation time throughout the day to produce the targeted amount of water whilst minimising the operational hours of the water-maker to maximise the lifespan of the system. The reported case study in [5] is based on Aashraya Ltd water-makers, showing 29% and 49% longer lifespans for the water maker unit and the battery bank when the load planning algorithm in MOHRES is used [S4].

Wind energy is expected to be the primary source of electrical energy by 2027, necessitating an increase in the pace of the renewable energy buildout. Considering the expected cost, in excess of GBP100,000,000 per gigawatt (GW) DC/DC converter, development of these technologies relies on scaled-down hardware prototypes, and simulation on full-power test cases and Benchmark models agreed with all stakeholders. Upscaling of these prototypes requires a long lead time and considerable investment. Research carried out at the University of Aberdeen has yielded important new evidence demonstrating the potential role for DC/DC converters in future offshore DC transmission grids.

The acceptance of new technologies is conditional on studies and consensus in international working groups, largely in the CIGRE community. CIGRE is the most influential international professional organisation in the power transmission industry, bringing together global expertise (manufacturers, grid operators, and developers) and is the authoritative source of power system technical reference documents. CIGRE activities (WG meetings, brochures, articles, conferences, green books) have substantial weight in the professional community in defining best practice, professional methods, in system planning and policy making, while brochures serve as de-facto standards.

Informing best practice and building confidence in the technology

Within the current REF period, Jovcic was an invited member of and representative of the UK in CIGRE WG (Working Group) B4.58, “Control Methodologies for Direct Voltage and Power Flow in a Meshed HVDC Grid” from 2013-2017. The findings, resulting from Aberdeen research on DC/DC converters were used as technical background for Chapter 5 of brochure 699 (B4.58) [S1] and were also employed as test cases based on research projects [P1, P2, P3] and results in [1-5]. This technical brochure represents an important attempt to provide international consensus on the requirements, classification and description of methodologies for direct voltage control and power flow control in a meshed HVDC grid. The working group affirmed that DC grids are feasible, enabling planning to move to the next stage, including more detailed component and system studies.

Jovcic, as WG B4.58 representative, participated in the development of a CIGRE DC grid benchmark test system, supported by two CIGRE working groups (B4.57 and B4.58), which is based on topology and parameters agreed by wider industry in CIGRE. In this regard, a DC grid benchmark model can provide a common reference and study platform for researchers to compare the performance and characteristics of different DC control functions and protection strategies [S2]. This model has become the primary DC grid test system, providing a common reference platform employed in most EU Horizon2020 research/demonstration projects on DC power transmission grids, allowing researchers to compare the performance and characteristics of a DC grid with different DC control functions and protection strategies. Major operators have used the model including SINTEF, the Norwegian grid operator [S8i] and the State Grid Corporation of China, which is the largest utility company in the world [S8ii]. EU projects that have used the model to address research challenges include Best Paths (2014-2018), which used the model to analyse the impact of various conditions on the degree of coupling of different subsystems in an interconnected AC/MT-HVDC system ( http://www.bestpaths-project.eu/) and MEDOW (Multi-terminal DC grid for offshore wind; 2013-2017) to demonstrate a scaling method, which has potential for further development in order to achieve uniform dynamic responses between experimental test rig and HVDC system. ( https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/317221, http://sites.cardiff.ac.uk/medow/) [S9].

Establishing and chairing B4.76 CIGRE working group

Jovcic recognised early on that there would be a necessity for DC-DC converters, which do not currently exist at transmission level, in order to build the safe, flexible and economical offshore DC transmission systems necessary for integration of 100s of GW of offshore energy in projects [P1-P5]. By 2017, the research and development of GW-scale DC/DC converters had advanced to a point where it was considered technically feasible but coordinated work across the professional community was needed for the acceptance of this new technology. To meet this need, in 2017 Jovcic submitted a proposal to establish a new Working Group on DC/DC converters in the CIGRE B4 study committee, which was approved under the title: B4.76, “DC-DC converters in HVDC Grids and for connections to HVDC systems” and Prof Jovcic was appointed WG chairman [S3].

CIGRE working group B4.76, consisting of 15 members and 5 corresponding members from 7 countries, provided the initial recommendation for high power test DC-DC converter based on non-isolated approach. While worldwide manufacturers have their own preferred topology for non-isolated DC-DC, commonly IP protected and only some reported in public, the developed test case is vendor-neutral but represents functionalities and performance acceptable for all vendors (manufacturers members of B4.76 included ABB, Siemens and Mitsubishi). In June 2019, Jovcic and members of the B4.76 working group (including representatives from ABB and Supergrid Institute) presented a CIGRE paper [S10] outlining the topology, test system parameters, performance and models for the CIGRE DC-DC test converter. The DC-DC test case enables DC grid developers to perform studies on a single DC-DC model, with the understanding that conclusions will be largely valid for DC-DC supplied by various vendors. The design study in [S10] further illustrates CIGRE expert consensus that the non-isolated DC/DC converter will have an overall semiconductor count comparable to an AC/DC converter of similar rating, which provides the first credible estimates for the system costs, size and weight and therefore reduces concerns relating to cost-effectiveness.

This case study forms a basis of technical work in B4.76, which includes a further isolated DC-DC test case developed on similar principles. The working group completed work in 2020 and a technical brochure 827 [S4] was released in March, 2021. This technical brochure includes a comprehensive survey of all worldwide DC-DC manufacturers, conducted in 2019 (5 responses were received). The responses present manufacturers views on the expected application areas, deployment, functionalities, technologies and readiness level, and these responses are provided in full in the Appendix of the brochure. They give first-hand information to DC grid developers and planners on the technologies under development.

Influencing decision making and strategic objectives of EU grid operator

As part of their 2017-2020 R&D programme, RTE indicated that their Research and Development (R&D) activities had oriented towards ‘improving performance and securing its technical choices, including increasing the transmission capacity of cables, qualifying new technologies to master their impacts before deploying them on an industrial scale’. Towards meeting these objectives, RTE initiated a project that incorporated the Aberdeen DC/DC converter [P4] into a European laboratory DC grid prototype project at École Centrale de Lille, financed and operated by RTE [S7]. In 2017, in collaboration with Jovcic and Hajian, Spanish university UPC (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, BarcelonaTech) was contracted by RTE to build the 10-kW Aberdeen converter under a license agreement. The confirmation of performance and benefits of this demonstrator have been shared in a 2017 publication [S5].

Research carried out by Akisanya and Neilson has led directly to commercial impacts through the licensing and international (e.g., Russia, Norway, North Sea UK [S1-S4]) adoption of POS-GRIP^® technology.

The successful completion of the first KTP (2006-2008, [2, 3]) between the University of Aberdeen and Plexus enabled the use of POS-GRIP^® technology to be extended from the short-term exploration well market into the long-term production market with the development of a new wellhead product line, which makes use of the optimised POS-GRIP^® design to create a weld quality gas tight metal-to-metal connection that is reversible and adjustable. The development of this product line enabled access to contracts that were previously inaccessible to the company, [S2-S4] and reduced the overall cost of oil and gas production by eliminating the need to repair or frequently replace previously used short-term casing hangers. This access to new markets contributed to POSGRIP^® having one-third share of the most common sizes of wellhead casing hangers in operation in 2015 with each wellhead costing between USD150,000 and USD350,000 depending on the pressure rating. Over the past decade, several major contracts have been secured by Plexus partly as a result of the research from the University of Aberdeen, for example, GBP1,000,000 contract from Premier Oil Norge (Norway) in 2015 for a 18 ¾” POS-GRIP^® surface wellhead [S2], GBP3,300,000 contract from Total EP (UK) in 2015 for 18 ¾” POS-GRIP^® Jack-up drilling system [S3], and a contract from Centrica (now Spirit Energy) in 2017 for the supply of POS-GRIP wellhead for production wells.

The test rig and methodology developed by Akisanya and Neilson and their team for the assessment of POS-GRIP^® fretting behaviour has been adopted and incorporated into Plexus’ design approach to friction-grip technology. Nearly 1,000 individual tests using the test rig have been carried out between 2013 and 2019. Similarly, the methodology developed for finite element analysis has been retained as the standard approach for assessing POS-GRIP^® technology and is still in extensive use for the design and analysis of new variations of the POS-GRIP^® system. During the current REF period (2013-2020), over 25 variations of the POS-GRIP^® system have been analysed using this methodology.

The main outcome of the second KTP (2009-2011, [4, 5]) was the development of a written POS-GRIP^® design standard; [S5] prior to the KTP, no POS-GRIP^® design standard was available to the company. POS-GRIP^® is a unique technology that requires specific critical considerations in its design (e.g. friction grip surface profile geometry, external activation load, material properties, and operating pressure and temperature). If POS-GRIP^® products are to be designed by a broad, worldwide base of engineers, then robust controls need to be instated to ensure that all unique considerations are accounted for. Without a design standard in place, there is an increased possibility of a licensee designing a POS-GRIP^® system incorrectly and risking a failure that leads to an oil or gas leak. With the POS-GRIP^® design standard produced as part of the work carried out at the University of Aberdeen, Plexus was able to cede design control of POS-GRIP^® products to individual licensees. For example, Plexus licensed a Russian partner (Gazprom) to manufacture and sell POS-GRIP^® products in 2016 [S6]. The design standard and guidelines developed by the University of Aberdeen [S5], were a key contribution to the technical package used by Plexus to support the case for the sale in 2017 of the exclusive use of POS-GRIP^® for jack-up exploration drilling worldwide to a major international wellhead manufacturer (TechnipFMC) for GBP42,500,000 [S7]. POS-GRIP^® system has been used in more than 300 wells worldwide [S8].

The reliability analysis conducted by Akisanya and Neilson provided a robust method for demonstrating that the test matrix was sufficient to achieve confidence in a given result. This method was applied to the full set of results achieved from testing with the experimental rig mentioned above. Several sets of test data were found to be short of the target confidence level and were re-tested between August and December 2013 to determine the grip coefficient after changing the configuration of the friction grip surface profile and the activation load, thereby ensuring the wellhead design functioned at a high level of reliability, reducing the likelihood of incurring future costs due to potential product failures and serving to potentially reduce customer concerns about using a novel wellhead technology.

Plexus was awarded the Northern Star Business Award (Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce) for Commitment to Innovative Use of Research and Development in 2014 and was nominated as a finalist in the Outstanding Contribution to the Energy Sector category in recognition of its pioneering, safer and technically superior wellhead, based on proprietary POS-GRIP^® technology. [S9]. The Northern Star award is in recognition of a company in North East Scotland that has demonstrated an innovative use of research and development to create commercial growth and gain competitive advantage. This award recognised Plexus’ overall commitment to research and development, which included the collaborations with the University of Aberdeen.

The Decommissioning sector is in a state of flux, with challenges such as cost and lack of capacity and the drive towards net-zero. Through the NDC and significant investment from industry and the Scottish and UK governments, Aberdeen research is enhancing capability in the sector, through establishment of the centre itself, as well as setting the decommissioning agenda and delivering industry-led programmes to address key gaps in the sector as follows:

Establishment of the National Decommissioning Centre (NDC)

Led by Professor Neilson as Director, the NDC aims to reduce the cost of decommissioning through innovative, inter-disciplinary and industry-led work programmes. The centre is funded through investment of GBP12,700,000 (GBP2,313,523 spent by 2020) from OGTC as part of the Aberdeen City Regional Deal with the University co-funding GBP5,800,000. The NDC attracts matched funding from project partners, industry and other investors demonstrating its crucial role for the sector.

Setting the Decommissioning Technology Agenda

The NDC is cited within Action 3 of the Government Response to the Call for Evidence on

“Strengthening the UK’s offshore oil and gas decommissioning industry”, published in December 2020 [S1]. This states:

“The Decommissioning Task Force, Oil and Gas Technology Centre (OGTC) and National Decommissioning Centre (NDC) to develop a plan with regulators and industry to encourage the trialling, adoption and deployment of new technology and data solutions for decommissioning projects on the UKCS, especially where there is scope for cost reduction.”

To support this, the Scottish Government’s Decommissioning Challenge Fund has provided GBP4,000,000 in the NDC to underpin technology development for the industry including:

• GBP2,360,000 allocated for a test facility allowing developers to qualify new, cost saving, well plugging and abandonment (P&A) technologies before being deployed offshore. The test facility will help deliver the 50% cost reduction target for well P&A set by the OGA in 2017.

• GBP500,000 contribution to a GBP1,320,000 real-time, real-physics marine simulator supplied by the Offshore Simulator Centre, allowing virtual deployment of new decommissioning technologies before their use and facilitating basin-wide decision making.

• GBP550,000 towards a 15kW laser for trials of the underwater laser-cutting tool being developed by the NDC in conjunction with Claxton and OGTC, as noted in section 2.

Setting the Decommissioning Environmental and Monitoring Agenda

The NDC is driving the agenda around environmental and monitoring issues related to decommissioning evidenced through two examples of industrial partnerships:

Working with Chevron, three PhD students and a Post-Doc across Engineering and SBS are developing techniques to assess longevity and fate of structures left in place, acoustics to monitor fish and quantitative risk assessment of mercury in aquatic environments. While Chevron no longer operates in the North Sea, the projects are relevant to their assets in Thailand and Australia as well as to other operators in the North Sea. A Senior Staff Environmental Scientist at Chevron, said: " For Chevron, the partnership was timely and offers a range of advantages including the opportunity to tap into world class research into relevant topics (longevity of structures, metals speciation/bioavailability and fish tracking/monitoring techniques and technologies), specific to our business need and at an established centre” [S2].

Working with Shell, a team is assessing post decommissioning monitoring and producing guidelines for the sector. The guidance will help Shell and other operators and inform the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED) on cost effective monitoring, for structural collapse and environmental protection [S3].

Complementary studies with groups in Chulalongkorn University, Thailand and Curtin University, Australia are looking at the safe handling, removal and disposal of contaminants during decommissioning. In the collaboration with Chulalongkorn University and United Waste Management Co., Ltd, staff from Engineering developed a research roadmap reflecting industry needs in the area of waste management from offshore decommissioning, specifically the mitigation of mercury contamination [S6, 7].

Implementation of Decision-making Tools for Windfarm Decommissioning

The first version of the Decommissioning Decision Support System (DSS) was developed by Maheri as part of the INTERREG project (WP4), designed in line with the stakeholders’ requirements for example, service providers, windfarm owners and port authorities, to ensure its impact on the industry. The tool is now available to stakeholders and employs detailed cost models developed by Maheri’s team. Cost models take into account a vast number of influencing factors to ensure accurate estimation and address a capability gap of current assessment tools. Its unique design allows generating undocumented and innovative removal scenarios with the purpose of defining reutilisation and repowering scenarios, hence further reduction of Cost, Reliability and Environmental impact (CRE) measures [S5].

Informing environmental assessments of biofouling in the UKCS

Gormley delivered a scoping study to test the use of an automated image analysis software on images of marine growth, collected from offshore platforms on the UKCS, which was adopted by Marine Scotland Science. The software performed well for classification of the primary fouling species:

“ The results and outcomes of Dr Gormley’s image analysis project were used to develop the SAMS & Marine Scotland Science NorthSea 3D project, which was awarded funding [GBP700,000] under the NERC INSITE [INfluence of man-made Structures In The Ecosystem] Phase 2 programme. The aim of the NorthSea 3D project is to estimate the mass and volume of marine growth on offshore energy structures using standard underwater imagery. The mass and volume estimates will support engineering decisions and assessments of the environmental consequences of deploying and decommissioning offshore structures.” [S4]

As part of the NorthSea 3D project, the Scottish Association for Marine Scotland (SAMS) are now training machine-learning algorithms to automatically identify North Sea epifaunal species within video footage. By combining auto-ID with 3D imaging techniques, rapid generation of accurate, high-resolution automated faunal identification has enabled the development of a new monitoring tool for industry.

Influencing attitudes on Liability in Perpetuity

Paterson’s work on Liability in Perpetuity [4] has been reported widely through the media, influencing debate and attitudes amongst the industry, regulators and Government. Set up by the Oil and Gas Authority, the Decommissioning Task Force (now the Decommissioning and Re-purposing Taskforce work stream on Liability in perpetuity) is tasked with reviewing the issues and assess if there is a more cost-efficient way to manage post decommissioning liability. Paterson is an invited member of the group and the research is referenced to inform the review of the current position “ Residual liability remains with the Owners in perpetuity” [S8].

Aligning the Maximising Economic Recovery (MER) UK Strategy with Net Zero targets

In May 2020, the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) opened consultation on proposals to revise the MER UK Strategy [S9]. Kemp submitted a memorandum, which supported OGA’s proposal that key objectives should be modified to include commitment of the UK and Scottish Governments to Net Zero emissions and encouragement of investment in projects, which advance the Energy Transition. In December 2020, the OGA published their response to the consultation, taking into account Kemp’s proposals, including commitment of the UK and Scottish Governments to Net Zero emissions and encouragement of investment in projects which advance the Energy Transition [S9].

The IETF is the primary Internet Standards Development Organisation (SDO). Its mission is to make the Internet work better by producing high quality relevant technical documents that influence the way people design, use, and manage the Internet. An open standards policy combines contributions from industry (such as Apple, Microsoft, Google, Ericsson), network operators (such as BT, Google, Akamai), leading research institutions (as in this case study) and other stakeholders, to provide the technical and operational expertise required to develop standards and industry Best Current Practice (BCP). BCP documents are published in the Request For Comments (RFC) series and can be accessed online from www.ietf.org/standards/rfcs. Fairhurst chairs the Transport area working group (TSVWG) and has co-authored 11 RFCs across the Internet and Transport areas since 2014 (total 273 pages), totalling 28 since 2002 (with 183 citations in other RFCs) [$2].

RFC specifications are crucial to the day-to-day running and expansion of the Internet. Although the commercial gain yielded by such open standards is not measurable, these standards are widely used at all stages in Internet service delivery: by networking equipment designers, by network and service operators, in data centres and as a basis for enterprise. RFCs are also used as the basis for government procurement of equipment and services, and underpin other standardisation, including cellular mobile standards for 5G technology.

Evolving the Internet Transport System and defining a new Transport Interface [P3] [P4]

Specifications: RFC8095; RFC8304.

Research by Fairhurst directly contributed to formation of the IETF Transport and Services (TAPS) standards working group in 2014 [$6]. Work contributed by NEAT [P3] underpinned standards work that unifies the interface between the Internet transport system and applications [$7]. In 2015, Fairhurst and Welzl (University of Oslo) were invited to present this work at the Internet Architecture Board SEMI Workshop, which set future directions for a series of IETF standards. Fairhurst’s research provided an “ important first step” [$6] and has continued to be a “ key contributor” to the TAPS architectural framework [$7] (as a contributor to the first 3 published documents and a co-author of RFC8095 and RFC8304). He is a co-author of two further working group standardisation documents [$6].

Operating system developers, such as Apple Computer, [$7] can immediately benefit from the new TAPS specifications. An Internet Technologies Engineer at Apple stated, “ In 2018, Apple released Network.framework at the World Wide Developer Conference… The architecture produced by the TAPS working group deeply informed the development of this framework. Since its release, many applications have adopted this framework on iOS and macOS” [$7]. This has provided developers with a common secure framework across different platforms, enabling each application to automatically tune the transport system to the current network conditions. The new interface also simplifies development of applications and products. In another example, Celerway Communications is using the automated methods defined by TAPS to enhance the proxy functionality in its software to boost the throughput of mobile applications [$4].

Reducing End-to-End Internet Latency across the Internet Path [P2]

Specifications: RFC7567; RFC8087; RFC8511.

Research led by Fairhurst and Secchi in AQM techniques [P2] underpinned an Internet BCP in 2015, RFC7567, co-authored by F. Baker (Cisco) and Fairhurst. [$3] Operators are benefitting from this BCP when configuring AQM routers to meet the demands of new low-latency Internet applications. This was followed by RFC8087, identifying the additional benefits of using ECN with AQM (co-authored by Fairhurst and Welzl). Both AQM and ECN techniques are important in reaching the demanding latency targets of 5G mobile networks, which the GSM Association predicts will be up to 50 times lower than networks using 4G.

Fairhurst and his research team collaborated with the University of Oslo and Netflix to develop a standard based on their ABE method, [4] published as RFC8511 [$2]. In 2018, Fairhurst and Secchi continued to contribute to the next generation ECN techniques being standardized in the IETF as L4S (Low Latency, Low Loss, Scalable Throughput) [$9]. Fairhurst also served on the scientific advisory board of the Swedish READY (Research Environment for Advancing Low Latency Internet) Project, which applied Internet techniques (including ECN) to a range of industry problems.

Determining Appropriate Sending Behaviour for Internet Datagrams [P1-P4] [P6-P7]

Specifications: RFC8085; RFC8084; RFC8899.

Internet Engineering research resulted in new transport methods and guidelines for Internet Best Current Practice for application and protocol designers. This includes co-authoring guidelines for using UDP as an Internet Transport, RFC8085. This is BCP148 (replacing RFC5405, its predecessor, also co-authored by Fairhurst and cited by 59 RFCs [$2]).

There is a growing volume of encrypted UDP Internet traffic, as a result of increased concern about privacy and a desire for a faster pace of protocol evolution. This has required the Internet community to consider the implications of pervasive encryption. Fairhurst (with a team from ETH, Zurich and Vijay Gurbani, USA) organised an industry summit to bring together key researchers, Internet engineers and network equipment vendors from across the world, to examine how to meet the challenges posed by encrypted traffic, resulting in an industry whitepaper [$1]. Current IETF standards work (co-authored by Fairhurst) will articulate these challenges in an informational document [$9] describing Transport Header Confidentiality, Network Operations, and the Evolution of Internet Transport Protocols [$2].

Research results by Fairhurst and his team provided “ careful and insightful input” in the standardization of RFC8210, a core IPv6 specification. [$8] The research provided a “ key input to the development” [$7] of a new standard: DPLPMTUD, RFC8899. This makes a significant design change that allows developers of transport systems to avoid reliance on network-layer fragmentation and enables an application to safely increase the size of packets that it sends [$8]. Development within the FreeBSD Project [$10] added DPLPMTUD to the Stream Control Transport Protocol (SCTP), a core transport protocol used in cellular mobile Internet [$5].

Based on research [P3] and [P6], Fairhurst worked within the standards process to contribute to the design for IETF QUIC, and proposed and analysed extensions [P7] to the standard. The IETF QUIC standard includes DPLPMTUD, normatively referencing RFC8899 [$5]. QUIC is expected to have significant take-up by companies, and is already 35% of Google's traffic in April 2020, and a growing component of total Internet traffic (about 7%), expected to increase as companies add support to their products after IETF standardisation in 2021.

Intelligent mobility has the potential to transform the ways we move people and goods. Research at the University of Aberdeen has shed new light on the development and provision of new transport services, particularly in relation to rural communities and passenger experience. This research has informed digital infrastructure requirements in the UK, raised awareness of innovation in transport services, secured investment from the Scottish government to pilot new services, and enabled operators and industries to rationalise the transition to IM.

Creating an evidence base for national digital policy decisions

Through research on Internet access and use in rural and urban areas in the UK [3], CTR has raised awareness of the impact of low-speed broadband connection on people’s use of the internet, highlighting the implications for availability of IM to both policymakers and industry in collaboration with the University of Oxford Internet Institute (OxIS), which releases a biannual survey of internet use. The portion of the OxIS 2011 sample that falls within areas defined by UK, Scottish and Welsh administrations as being in some degree ‘rural’ or ‘remote rural’ is about 200 individuals - insufficient to provide a sound basis for large-scale generalisations about rural Internet use and the effect on the potential for Digital Economy in rural Britain.

CTR collaborated with OxIS to release the 2013 Oxford Internet Survey, which directly engaged with users by conducting interviews with a representative sample of 800 rural residents across Britain, ensuring robust analysis of the data generated in order to gain better understanding of barriers to Internet use related to, for example, age, income, education, and location-specific technology limitations [3]. The survey was launched following a workshop in October 2013, where findings were discussed with speakers from Ofcom and the Scottish Government. In 2019, Oxford Internet Survey released a follow-up survey supported by the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Google Inc. and BT, stating that ‘ the oversample (from the 2013 survey) was critical since there are a relatively small proportion of deep rural households in Britain’ [S1].

In 2013, CTR was invited to submit written evidence to a small-scale enquiry led by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) titled ‘Rural Broadband and digital-only services’, the outcome of which was to ensure the ‘hardest to reach’ would be given priority access to broadband [S2]. The inquiry was updated and broadened (2017-2019), concluding that current Government policy had failed to reduce the digital divide between urban and rural areas. The report drew on Aberdeen research to highlight digital public services such as farm governance activities as being one of the areas being affected by lack of digital infrastructure [S3; 60, p15] to underpin recommendation 7 [S3; ‘ future digital services policies should reflect “needs not numbers” to ensure that the rural minority had the same digital opportunities as the urban majority‘. [S3; 73, p16] In March 2020, the UK Government issued an official response to the committee’s findings agreeing that ‘Government must actively monitor, encourage, and where appropriate, intervene to ensure that rural areas are not left behind and that any ‘digital’ divide between rural and urban areas can be closed’, confirming that in response to recommendation 7, that the development team ‘is already undertaking user research with farmers with no internet connection and poor mobile phone connectivity’ [S4].

CTR (Cottrill) was a key contributor to the underpinning evidence-based study that underpins the Transport Systems Catapult 2016 report, ‘Intelligent Mobility Skills Strategy’ (https://ts.catapult.org.uk/imskills/\), which was cited in Parliament in 2017, with Dr Yolande Herbath, the Catapult’s strategic lead, informing debate and the government round table on future skills. The University of Aberdeen’s Centre for Transport Research (CTR) was involved with the Transport Systems Catapult (TSC) under the University Partner Programme (UPP) from 2014 to 2017 [P3]. During this time, CTR undertook a significant range of activities with the Catapult and external partners, including organising and leading knowledge exchange activities and facilitating connections with partners in Scotland. These activities drew upon findings from research conducted by CTR with core relevance to intelligent mobility and contributed to activities undertaken by TSC.

As a direct impact of the IM Skills Strategy, the Department for Transport commissioned the Connected Places Catapult (the TSC’s successor organisation) to undertake a study on foresighting the Future of Transport Skills, the outcomes of which will be published in Spring, 2021 (https://bit.ly/3eozqyr\). The Automotive Council’s Skills Working Group revisited its governance arrangements (2020) reflecting shifting their focus from short-term solutions to plug gaps and address immediate stressors to the longer term horizon [S5].

In 2018, Cottrill was commissioned by the UK government’s Foresight Future of Mobility Project to prepare a report titled, ‘Data and Digital Systems for UK Transport: Change and its Implications’ [S6], which is cited as commissioned work, underpinning the report titled, ‘A time of unprecedented change in the transport system: The Future of Mobility’ (2019) prepared by the office of Sir Patrick Vallance (Government Chief Scientific Advisor since 2018) [S7] to ‘inform the UK’s response to a range of challenges and opportunities’.

Securing government investment to pilot Mobility as a Service (MaaS)

Aberdeen CTR has adopted an interdisciplinary approach in line with MaaS Scotland (Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Alliance Scotland), which is a network of 75 public and private organisations operating across the MaaS supply chain in Scotland. MaaS Scotland is a partnership between Technology Scotland and ScotlandIS and brings together businesses in the transport sector to share knowledge and develop joint projects to demonstrate the commercial, environmental and social advantages of MaaS. MaaS Scotland therefore plays a major role in the evolving development of IM, based on research findings that incorporate improved information systems and better integration of transport supply and demand.

In 2018, MaaS Scotland submitted a paper to the Scottish Government calling for investment to support MaaS pilot projects throughout Scotland. As a result of the research, the Scottish Government made an investment of GBP2,000,000 in 2019, administered through Transport Scotland, to support the development of these pilot projects. Alongside the fund, a Scottish Government working group was established to develop and scope how the investment should be spent, which included identifying thematic areas, refining evaluation criteria, and ensuring maximum engagement from industry partners. CTR, through one of its PhD students, provided an important voice to this group, helping to create a programme that looks set to significantly advance MaaS development and deployment in Scotland. According to the Chief Executive Officer for Technology Scotland:

‘*CTR has been central to the creation of a separate working group on rural MaaS. This is a hugely important subject, particularly in Scotland where the rural economy plays such an important role.*’ [S8]

Enabling operators and industry to rationalise the transition to IM

Central to the IM concept is journey planning, which includes the need to integrate existing data sources and formats. Nelson, Cottrill and colleagues worked with FirstGroup plc, the leading provider of transport services in the UK and North America, to develop a social media strategy to provide journey disruption alerts. FirstGroup have confirmed that CTR’s research has influenced both their engagement with research and helped to provide a roadmap for market readiness, stating that CTR ‘ have assisted First in its understanding of the scope for, and application, of innovative public transport solutions in real world scenarios. These form part of our wider objective, to achieve growth in use of and modal shift to public transport’ [S9].