Impact case study database

I1. AccelerComm Ltd: The underpinning research (particularly [ 3.1, 3.6] and the corresponding Hardware Description Language (HDL) source code) led to the two patent applications on the hardware acceleration of channel decoding [ 5.1]. With the assistance of the University of Southampton incubator Future Worlds, Maunder and Dr Taihai Chen developed a pitch for this IP and was awarded GBP50,000 of SETsquared Innovation to Commercialisation of University Research (ICURe) funding in October 2015. This enabled them to meet and interview over 100 potential licensee companies and discuss their requirements from which they developed a business plan. They made a successful application for Innovate UK Aid for Startups funding G5 and incorporated AccelerComm Ltd in March 2016 [ 5.2] to which the IP was assigned. They raised GBP500,000 of seed funding from IP Group [ 5.3] in December 2016 and recruited four of the postdoctoral researchers and students from Maunder's research team into full-time engineering positions. The ongoing collaboration between AccelerComm and the University of Southampton has resulted in a further 35 patent applications across Europe, USA and China, with five granted so far. Since the initial seed funding, AccelerComm has attracted a further GBP2,500,000 of investment from IP Group and Bloc Ventures in December 2018, as well as a further GBP5,800,000 of investment from IP Group, Bloc Ventures and IQ Capital in September 2020, with the company now valued at over [text removed for publication] [ 5.3]. AccelerComm now employs 33 individuals in Southampton and has a sales office in the USA allowing it to address the world’s largest market for mobile communications. Dr Tom Cronk (former management board member at Arm Ltd) joined the company as full-time CEO in May 2017 and Maunder has been employed as CTO for 4 days per week since April 2018. AccelerComm now offers a diverse range of 27 IP products, across the encoders and decoders of turbo, polar and LDPC channel coding, for application in base-station and mobile devices, and with implementation in software, FPGA and ASIC [ 5.4]. In recognition of its progress, AccelerComm has been selected in the EE Times Silicon 100 list of emerging electronics and semiconductor startups to watch [ 5.5].

I2. Licensing and product innovation: In addition to royalty commitments that will be realised in future years, AccelerComm has generated [text removed for publication] of license sales bookings, comprising [text removed for publication], demonstrating exponential growth. This has been achieved through 58 licenses of IP products to [text removed for publication], including several household name companies [ 5.4]. This has generated business performance impacts for these customers through the introduction of new products and testing processes, including the following highlights:

• In January 2018, AccelerComm sold an IP research license to one of the world's leading smart phone manufacturers. This partner confirmed that the AccelerComm polar decoding ASIC IP offers a significantly superior hardware efficiency than their own research solution [ 5.4]. Based on information published publicly by this partner, AccelerComm estimates that a 40% improvement in hardware and energy efficiency was found. This partner subsequently adopted this result as a benchmark for their productised solution, which has been now been deployed in their first 5G smartphones launched in 2019 and sold around the world.

• In February 2018, the FPGA manufacturer, Achronix announced a partnership with AccelerComm to apply the IP in their products enabling them to address new opportunities with 5G base-station equipment manufacturers. “The ability to instantiate AccelerComm’s industry-leading Polar Code IP in our eFPGA allows Speedcore-enabled ASIC and SoCs to be updated to support new standards. We see that the ability to flexibly reprogram a hardware accelerator for new requirements and emerging standards is going to be fundamental for cost-effective 5G deployments.” (Mark Fitton, Achronix senior director [ 5.6]).

• In June 2018, AccelerComm sold an IP commercial license to National Instruments (NI) for FPGA firmware. NI Director of Marketing, RF and Communications, James Kimery stated “Our work with AccelerComm extends our platform toward 5G NR [3GPP New Radio] compliance which will enable researchers to build on 5G NR to explore application spaces critical to the 5G ecosystem” [ 5.7]. NI have integrated AccelerComm's 5G polar encoding and decoding IP with other FPGA firmware and software, in order to implement their [text removed for publication] product [ 5.7], exposing AccelerComm's 5G IP to NI's 35,000 customers world-wide. For example, NI's lead customer for this product, Spirent, have launched 5G test equipment incorporating the AccelerComm IP [ 5.7].

• In March 2019, AccelerComm sold an IP research license to one of the leading Mobile Network Operators in the USA. This customer is using this IP for FPGA polar coding to implement a test platform for the roll-out of their 5G network [ 5.4]. This is enabling them to evaluate and compare the performance of commercial base-stations offered by the leading equipment vendors, as well as supporting their contributions to the O-RAN standard of [ I3].

• In October 2019, AccelerComm partnered with Xilinx, the world's leading FPGA manufacturer to develop software and FPGA IP to enable 5G error correction on the Xilinx T1 FPGA board, using the BBDEV standard discussed in [ I3]. “AccelerComm’s channel coding IP is an important addition to the [Xilinx T1] Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC portfolio. This collaboration will help network equipment manufacturers get to market faster and deliver all-important latency and power consumption improvements in 5G networks” said Dan Mansur, vice president of marketing, Wired & Wireless Group, Xilinx [ 5.8]. AccelerComm is currently integrating this solution into the base-station equipment of a [text removed for publication] manufacturer.

• In October 2019, [text removed for publication] it was found that the AccelerComm software LDPC error correction IP is up to 3 times faster than the equivalent Intel IP for this purpose [text removed for publication] in the Intel FlexRAN software-defined basestation solution. By adopting AccelerComm's IP, Intel have been able to reduce the number of CPUs required to deploy FlexRAN [text removed for publication]. This reduces the costs of running a FlexRAN base-station [text removed for publication] as well as the environmental impact. Intel is now supplying and marketing the AccelerComm IP to its customers worldwide [ 5.9]. “Companies like AccelerComm who are using [Intel’s FlexRAN reference software] are creating new paths to quickly commercializing solutions for various types of RAN deployments”, said Cristina Rodriguez, VP and GM of Intel’s Wireless Access Network Division [ 5.9].

• In January 2020, AccelerComm sold an IP commercial license to [text removed for publication] 5G base-station manufacturer. By integrating AccelerComm LDPC FPGA IP into its [text removed for publication] base-station product, [text removed for publication] saved several person-years of design effort and benefitted from improved system performance and reduced time to market, having now launched their product in [text removed for publication] international markets [ 5.10].

• In May 2020, AccelerComm sold an IP commercial license to a satellite company [ 5.4]. This customer has adopted AccelerComm LDPC error correction IP for an ASIC, which they will deploy in [text removed for publication] satellites and in terrestrial equipment around the world. This customer could have adopted any proprietary error correction solution, but AccelerComm convinced them of the performance and standards compliance advantages of 5G LDPC coding.

I3. Global 5G standards: Global investment in implementing and deploying 5G has exceeded USD12bn so far and is expected to exceed USD800bn by 2025 [ 5.11]. The standardisation of 5G began in May 2016, under the umbrella of the 3GPP organisation, which brings together telecommunications companies from around the world. During this process, the research of [ 3.1] was used to compare different types of error correction codes, receiving 39 citations among technical contributions made by Orange, ZTE, Samsung, LG Electronics, Xilinx, Interdigital, Ericsson, ZTE, Samsung, NEC, Nokia, Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell, Verizon Wireless, Qualcomm and Huawei. Maunder presented 10 technical papers at the 3GPP meetings and led a consortium comprising AccelerComm, Ericsson, LG Electronics, Orange, NEC and Sony [ 5.12] presenting and defending way-forward proposals that drew upon [ 3.1] and [ 3.3]. These proposals recommended LDPC codes for channel coding in 5G, which was subsequently agreed in November 2016 and standardised across the global telecommunications industry [ 5.12]. This represents a very significant impact on 5G, because LDPC codes had not be used in any previous 3GPP standards and because channel coding is one of the most computationally complex components of 5G, which must be implemented in all compatible equipment and devices. The adoption of LDPC codes in 5G was also supported at 3GPP meetings by another consortium which included [text removed for publication], who were influenced by the findings of their collaboration with Hailes [ 3.3, 3.5]. In the first half of 2020, AccelerComm collaborated with [text removed for publication] to define a [text removed for publication] standard for [text removed for publication] communication. AccelerComm demonstrated that polar coding offers significantly superior error correction capability than the legacy codes previously used in these applications [ 5.13].

I4. Facilitating 5G deployment: While the 3GPP standards for 5G global telecommunications precisely define what 5G base-stations and mobile devices must do in order to communicate with each other, the standards do not provide any detail on how to do it. In order to educate the global telecommunications industry about how to implement the error correction codes of these standards, Maunder has published the corresponding research conducted at the University of Southampton (exemplified by [ 3.1, 3.3, 3.6]) in the form of open source simulation models [ 5.14]. These open-source models have been adopted by 175 researchers and industry experts around the world, in order to form the basis of their own simulation models and to confirm the standards compliance of their products. These models have contributed to the OpenAirInterface, which is providing an open-source reference solution for complete base-stations and mobile devices. Furthermore, AccelerComm has contributed to the standardisation of the O-RAN Alliance, Data Plane Development Kit and [text removed for publication] interfaces between hardware and software base-station components, and has adopted these standards so that AccelerComm products can be integrated into customer products within one day of design effort [ 5.8, 5.9].

I5. Influence on Government Policy Debate: Based on his experience of 5G standardisation and his research on Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) [ 3.6], Maunder advised the UK government's Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Office of Communication (OfCom) on 5G roll-out as part of an academic panel in November 2017 and individually in March 2018. More specifically, Maunder's advice contributed to the Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review policy paper [ 5.15], which sets the target of providing 5G coverage to the majority of the UK population by 2027. In particular, Maunder highlighted the challenges of and potential solutions for motivating Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to invest in deploying the road-side infrastructure required to provide the underpinning URLLC access for CAVs throughout the UK. This contributed to the recommendation of introducing light-licensing models to encourage co-operation between MNOs, as detailed in paragraph 221 of [ 5.15].

4.1 Innovative fish passage and screening in Europe, South America and Asia

4.1.1 The UK national hydrometry network comprises over 1500 gauging weirs. The EA faces the conflicting challenge of maintaining flow monitoring capability while improving ecological status of rivers degraded by this infrastructure which disrupts fluvial connectivity. In 2018, the EA adopted the Cylindrical Bristle Cluster fish pass developed by UoS as best practice for a low-cost mitigation option for gauging weirs and their preferred “technology of choice” when ameliorating the impact of gauging weirs on fish movement. Since 2018, the low-cost design has been installed by several conservation groups, including the Ouse and Adur Rivers Trust [ 5.1], who have fitted the fish pass on multiple weirs to open up several kilometres of previously inaccessible river. Dr Peri Karageorgopoulos from the EA states that, “ It is simple to design and quick to fit. As a result the cost per site can be as little as [GBP5,000]. The alternative solution which requires a bypass of the structure can easily cost [GBP200,000-GBP500,000]. As a result we are not only making tremendous savings but we are also planning to install many more bristle passes than we could ever deliver as bypasses…… the University of Southampton have created a novel, cost effective and efficient fish pass which will help improve fish populations worldwide” [ 5.2].

4.1.2 The Fish Migration River is the first large-scale innovative fish pass of its type under construction in the Netherlands. Funded by Nieuwe Afsluitdijk, a consortium of five regional authorities, this is the largest hydraulic engineering project undertaken in the Netherlands in the 20th Century and will set a global precedent by reconnecting the Ijsselmeer and Wadden Sea, cut-off by the 32.5 km long Afsluitdijk dam as part of the Zuiderzee Works since 1927. Since 2014, UoS has been a key participant, providing expert advice based on research experience since the early phases of the design, and ensuring that several modifications have been made to accommodate fish behaviour during the design phase. Erik Bruins Slot, the hydraulic engineering lead for the Province of Fryslân, estimates that the advice provided by UoS has saved the project between EUR5,000,000 and EUR10,000,000 and enabled planning consent to be achieved. He states “ The advice provided by the University of Southampton allowed the designs to be modified and optimised based on expert knowledge of fish behaviour. This input was essential in enabling the project to go-ahead and for appropriate funding to be secured because we could show that the design was state-of-the-art and based on sound scientific understanding” [ 5.3].

4.1.3 In May 2017, the integrated hydrodynamic ABM to predict eel movements at power stations was validated at a hydropower site on the Motala ström, Norrköping in Sweden, enabling energy company RWE to meet regulatory requirements and continue their operations. Since then it has been used to inform planning and operation of RWE Generation plants at Tilbury and Pembroke, respectively. Dr Waygood from RWE said, “ Based on the potential shown [in relation to the Swedish project] , RWE Generation UK engaged with the Southampton team to further develop the ABM to predict the potential for fish to encounter intake screens on the tidal Thames” [ 5.4].

4.1.4 Based on experiments conducted at UoS, fundamental information on threshold and behavioural response of eel to electric fields has been used by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) to develop behavioural deterrents to facilitate safe downstream passage at hydropower dams for American eel on the St Lawrence River since 2017. This has enabled the industry to demonstrate compliance with regulatory requirements. Results of experiments conducted at UoS were published in an EPRI Technical Report in 2018 [ 5.5]. Paul Jacobson (EPRI) states that, “ The results are also applicable on other rivers throughout the geographic range of the American eel and the European eel, potentially saving facility owners substantial sums of money where electrical deterrence is not appropriate (more than $1.5M for field scale experimentation in the case of the St. Lawrence River) and identifying environmental settings for which further investigation is warranted” [ 5.6].

4.1.5 As part of Cemig’s (responsible for 12% of Brazil’s generation and distribution of electricity) Peixe Vivo (Fish for Life) programme, measures to protect fish at South American hydropower plants have been advanced, and engagement with regulators and the public achieved. UoS was responsible for the transfer of knowledge related to the effects of turbine passage on fish and the mitigation of these since 2007, which has continued until today. Funded by the British Council, researchers and students from the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Infrastructure Systems (CDT-SIS) collaborated with Brazilian partners to investigate the impacts of barotrauma on commercially important fisheries. The results helped Cemig plan the operation regimes of its plants to minimise negative environmental impacts (individual fish mortality events can be measured in several thousand tons and result in fines of up to 50 million Brazilian Real [GBP9,750,000]). This project won the 2017 Brazilian National Odebrecht Award for Sustainable Development and Kemp gave the keynote address at a special session on dam decommissioning at the 10^th Anniversary conference to celebrate the achievements of Peixe Vivo in 2018.

4.1.6 Building on the EU Keepfish project, UoS has developed strong links with the Chilean hydropower industry, e.g. Colbun. Student exchange, including group projects conducted by those on the EPSRC funded CDT-SIS programme in 2017, enabled the development of novel fish passage technology to protect threatened native fish species seldom previously studied. As a result, new fish passage technology has been implemented in Chile. In collaboration with Fishtek Consulting Ltd., in 2015 UoS helped design a unique fish pass installed at the Xayaburi Dam (Mekong River in Laos) that enables a high degree of flexibility to provide alternative routes for the widest variety of species. The development of a methodology for assessing fish swimming capability represented an important transfer of knowledge to initiate an ongoing programme of research that would enable the dam owners to alter the operation of the fish pass to enhance efficiency. Dr Toby Coe (Fishtek), stated that, “ The fish pass design was updated dramatically following your input into the project. It has gone from a relatively small vertical slot pass up to a very large vertical slot pass that takes fish up to a huge double fish lock/lift. …. The information gleaned for the fish swimming trials developed was used to inform the fish pass design” [ 5.7].

4.2 Preventing spread of invasive fish

4.2.1 Sea lamprey, a parasitic fish native to the Atlantic Ocean, was introduced to the Laurentian Great Lakes system in the 1830s as a result of the construction on locks and shipping canals. The impact of this parasite on Great Lake fisheries, currently worth more than $7 billion annually and supporting around 75,000 jobs, as a result of damage and mortality was immense, resulting in significant declines in several stocks. As part of the lamprey control programme, UoS has worked closely with the Great Lake Fisheries Commission (GLFC) since 2016 to design a new “selective bi-directional” fish pass and research facility that will allow the movement of desirable fish species from the lakes into the tributary streams where they spawn, while at the same time blocking and potentially trapping the unwanted lamprey. In conjunction with this, and based on experience of running a world-class ecohydraulics laboratory, UoS has worked with the GLFC to develop a multipurpose laboratory and visitor centre (total project cost approx. $20 million) on the Boardman River in Traverse City, Michigan, with the capability to develop and test prototype fish passes and educate the public. Kemp is a member of the expert panel tasked with advising on the co-ordination of these initiatives. Andrew Muir, the Science Director of the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission states that, “ The advice provided by the University of Southampton helped inform the design criteria of FishPass based on expert knowledge of fish behavior. This input, founded on sound scientific understanding, was essential to receiving appropriate funding to complete the engineering design in 2019 and start construction in 2020” [ 5.8].

4.2.2 In Malawi, the planned Shire Valley Irrigation Project (SVIP) is designed to provide irrigation services to 42,000ha. As part of this scheme, the main feeder canal is designed to abstract up to 50m³s^-1 of water from the Shire River and convey it via gravity to agricultural fields. SVIP will be implemented by the Government of Malawi, with external funding from the World Bank, African Development Bank, and other sources. UoS provided expert advice on methods to prevent the movement of fish from two distinct assemblages naturally separated by the 75m high Kapichira Falls. Of particular concern is the spread of Tigerfish from the Lower Shire-Zambezi ecoregion (below the falls) to globally significant and unique Lake Malawi ecosystem, with many hundreds of fish species found nowhere else. As a voracious predator, introduction of the Tigerfish could have very severe ecological consequences, including potentially the global extinction of numerous fish species endemic to Lake Malawi. Since 2017, Kemp was recruited as a member of the expert panel convened by the World Bank based on his experience with fish passage engineering. He was tasked with advising on potential options to prevent introduction of invasive species, such as the Tigerfish. Pieter Wallewijn from the World Bank stated that, “ Professor Kemp reviewed the design and made recommendations for improvements based on expertise on how different fish species are capable of movement within irrigation canal systems and crossing various types of physical barriers. While the design process is still ongoing, these insights have contributed greatly to improving the efficacy of the design for this critical issue. His advice was of high quality, very timely and provided constructive practical guidance to the designers” [ 5.9].

4.3 Dam decommissioning

4.3.1 Working through the EU H2020 AMBER and the Brazilian FAPEMIG programmes, UoS has been a key participant in quantifying the abundance of river barriers in Europe, and weir and dam removal feasibility projects in the UK and Europe (e.g. Bossington weir), Brazil (e.g. Pandeiros Dam) and Canada (e.g. Mactaquac Dam). In AMBER, the UoS developed and applied a rapid barrier assessment tool that provided and validated data on which the European Atlas of River Barriers was based, and helped prioritise restoration actions, including dam decommissioning, by the most cost-effective means while providing the greatest gains for biodiversity. The project identified more than one million barriers in Europe’s rivers, a result that fed directly into the EU 2030 Biodiversity Strategy setting a target of reconnecting at least 25,000 km of Europe’s rivers by 2030. In the UK, expert advice has been provided to the EA since 2014 in relation to weir removals on the River Test in Southern England. In addition, the UoS provided one of the few long-term assessments of physical, chemical and ecological response to weir removal in the UK.

4.3.2 In association with the Peixe Vivo programme and the University of Kent, the UoS developed an optimisation-based decision support planning tool that was shared with the Cemig in 2018. The outputs of the model were used to evaluate plans for developing the São Francisco River through simultaneously combining the information on proposed new build sites and potential for decommissioning existing infrastructure. As a result, a decision was made to remove the Pandeiros Dam, which if sanctioned will be the first dam removal in South America. A cohort of students enrolled on the CDT-SIS programme investigated the potential impact of removal and associated sediment release on the downstream geomorphology of the river, including on a wetland of high conservation significance. The results were fed back to the project managers who incorporated the findings of the studies into their overall hydropower planning strategy. Rafael Fiorine from Cemig states that, “ The contributions from the University of Southampton professionals were crucial for the advance of the Pandeiros’ Dam Decommissioning Project… Additionally, the sediment dynamic model built was a major support for requesting a legal authorization for the second stage of the decommissioning viability study. We estimate that Cemig would save a minimum of GBP17,453,334 in the period of ten years following dam removal as a result of the reduced maintenance costs related to the safety of the dam structure” [ 5.10].

4.3.3 Since 2014, a similar feasibility assessment of dam removal was conducted for the Mactaquac dam, Canada, in collaboration with Canadian Rivers and New Brunswick Power. UoS researchers joined international collaborators at the University of New Brunswick to use innovative modelling techniques to predict the effect of dam removal on stored reservoir sediments and identify potential environmental and economic impacts. New Brunswick Power used the information to identify that dam removal was not the most sustainable option, opting instead for more environmentally friendly turbine units. Prof. Katy Haralampides, the Mactaquac Project leader representing Canadian Rivers at the University of New Brunswick, said, “ … the impact that you and your research have had on our project has been substantial. It is difficult to quantify, but convincing NB Power to consider an Alden turbine will have lasting positive environmental effects for generations. Our research focus has changed as a result of your input, and we have successfully received additional funding from the industry partner to continue the projects. We are awaiting word from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council about our ~[USD2,000,000] proposal for matching funding” [ 5.11].

Cleaner - Reduced CO2 emissions

I1 Since 2014, Shell Shipping and Maritime (SSM), one of the largest liquified natural gas (LNG) carrier operators in the world, have made over GBP3,000,000 in internal investment to adopt methods developed in R1 and R2, including sponsorship of a chair in Ship Safety and Efficiency at UoS. In 2014, SSM piloted the trim and draft optimisation measures based on the modelling in R1 on their operational fleet, and have to date (up to 31 July 2020) deployed the method to more than 70 in-service vessels. This has achieved a cumulative fuel saving of GBP30,000,000 and 200,000Mt reduction in CO2 emission by SSM that would not have otherwise been possible [ 5.1]. The innovation manager at SSM states “ UoS … addresses fundamental research questions that are very relevant to Maritime. Their programme has a major impact on our company and the UK economy at large” [ 5.1]. The modelling in R1 has had impact beyond SSM in 2020 through an Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Partnership led by Silverstream Technologies, who are leveraging the combined physics-based and data driven modelling to optimise ship efficiency gains using their proprietary air lubrication technology [ 5.2].

I2 In 2018, CJR propulsion Ltd., a Southampton propeller manufacturer, adopted CFD design methods of R2 as part of a GBP4,000,000 investment in manufacturing facilities. This led to the launch of a rapid design and production service to deliver bespoke ISO 484/2-1981 Class S certified propellers in just 2 weeks, more than 6 weeks faster than the industry standard. The managing director (MD) states they can now offer “ an unrivalled solution to replace damaged propellers” and can “fix issues in a timeframe that the owner is likely to accept”. Delivering this unique service has secured “ hundreds of thousands of pounds in charter revenue” for CJR customers. The MD concludes “ we would not be able to guarantee this two-week design and production service if it was not for the advanced, in house CFD capability developed at UOS” [ 5.3].

Safer – Guidance, regulations and operating practices

I3 In 2014, Lloyd’s Register (LR), a classification society regulating more than 21% of global ship construction (by tonnage), changed their Rules & Regulations for the Classification of Ships (Part 3 Ch. 16 Section 5 and Part 4, Ch. 8 Section 14) to account for wave-induced 3D bending, or whipping, loads based on the modelling results of R3. According to the Technical Director, Marine & Offshore at LR, the rule change has “ directly impact(ed) approximately 160 ships”. LR’s adoption of the methods in R3 led to the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) modifying their Unified Requirement S11A in 2016, requiring their members to account for whipping in container ships. LR’s Technical Director explains that the modelling work has now impacted the structural design and safety of “more than 900 new container ships *(internationally)*” [ 5.4].

I4 The UoS developed codebase implementing the modelling method of R3 was adopted by the China Ship Scientific Research Center (CSSRC) in 2011, who built on the code to create their own hydroelasticity programme. This led to the China Classification Society (CCS), the largest ship classification society in China accounting for approximately 8% of global tonnage transported by sea, making the first ever guidance note in China on the springing and whipping of ships in 2018, with the corresponding rule change (Section 7.2.6.3; Whipping) in 2019 [ 5.5].

I5 UoS maritime engineering expertise has had impact on the Solent region’s local economy through LR’s decision to invest in a new global technology centre on the UoS campus. LR’s relocation in November 2014 was driven by the recognition that “ co-location with a research-intensive university would enable collaboration at a greater scale, essential in a rapidly changing world”, citing the unique influence and leadership of the UoS Southampton Marine & Maritime Institute in the sector. The decision led to LR investing more than GBP25,000,000 in offices and facilities between 2014 and 2020, bringing “ 400 professional salaries into the local economy” and generating GBP180,000,000 of gross value added income to the region [ 5.4].

I6 The composite modelling methods in R4 have led to a life extension program across the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) all-weather composite rescue lifeboat fleet that would not have otherwise been possible. The RNLI operates more than 80 composite rescue lifeboats that were originally developed in partnership with the UoS and introduced to the RNLI fleet in 1996. The exceptional safety track record of these lifeboats and development of principled methods for assessing, documenting and evidencing damage progression and structural impacts in aging marine composites ( R4) led to a key decision by the RNLI in 2014 to inspect and where appropriate extend the life of their composite fleet by 25 years using the evidence generated using the methods developed in R4. The Principal Naval Architect at RNLI states “ The Severn life extension programme will allow the RNLI to retain existing vessels, avoiding in the region of an GBP80,000,000 spend when compared with building new tonnage”, going on to say they “expect that the entire fleet will be life extended … the significant saving would (not be) possible had it not been for the rigorous, high quality, collaborative work with the University of Southampton” [ 5.6].

I7 In November 2018 the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) adopted the Wolfson Stability Guidance method of R5 in “Marine Guidance Note 526 (F)” as UK-wide capsize assessment policy regarding capsizing for all vessels under 15m in length [ 5.7]. The guidelines apply to more than 6000 UK vessels. According to MAIB reports, prior to its introduction there were an average of 3.7 fishing vessel capsize incidents per year between 2000 to 2018, but only 1 UK-registered fishing vessel capsize incident has been reported since the method’s introduction. Corresponding MAIB reports since have instructed “ all existing vessels of under 15m to be marked using the Wolfson Method” (2016/130 [ 5.8]), and that shipyards “ Amend … construction standards to include a requirement for new fishing vessels and vessels joining the UK fishing vessel register to be fitted with a Wolfson freeboard mark.” (2016/132 [ 5.8]), and “ encourage owners of fishing vessels of under 15m … engaged in trawling, scalloping and bulk fishing to affix a Wolfson Mark to their vessels and operate them in accordance with the stability guidance provided” (2016/134 [ 5.8]).

Smarter – autonomy in extreme environments

I8 UoS visual mapping and data interpretation methods ( R6) were adopted by [text removed for publication] who conducted three dedicated robotic seafloor mineral surveys in the high-seas, outside of national jurisdiction and exclusive economic zones. [text removed for publication]

I9 The methods in R6 were applied during the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s #Adaptive Robotics ocean survey expedition that took place off the coast of Oregon USA in July 2018. The philanthropic organisation (founder Eric Schmidt, former CEO Google LLC) dedicated a 17 day expedition on their Research Vessel Falkor to support the initiative. During the expedition, multiple AUVs were deployed to generate the largest ever continuous visual maps of the seafloor, which covered more than 17.8 hectares at sub-centimeter resolution [ 5.10]. R6 technology was also used by Team KUROSHIO, Japan’s 2018 entry to the USD7m International Shell Ocean Discovery Xprize competition, where visual data was used to progress to the final where the team placed second, receiving a USD1.1m prize and an award from Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2019 [ 5.11].

I10 In 2019, the BioCam mapping instrument developed in R6 was used to survey the Darwin Mounds UK Marine Protected Area (MPA), together with UK government’s Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC). The data collected by BioCam led to the discovery of a whale carcass and plastic litter in the MPA and was covered by the BBC and Times [ 5.12, 5.13]. The data obtained showed for the first time, the hectare-scale distribution of live cold-water coral, a UNESCO approved essential ocean variable, and their impact on the distribution of Xenophayaphorea, a large single cell organism recognised as a Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem indicator species, where understanding the distribution of these protected species is critical to monitoring the MPA’s ecosystem health. The Marine Monitoring Evidence Manager at JNCC stated to the press that the methods developed at UoS, “the data BioCam collects could support marine conservation by providing vital evidence at a large scale about how effective measures like marine protected areas are at conserving our environment, especially in fragile, complex habitats that can’t be physically sampled” [ 5.13]. In 2019, BioCam was integrated in the UK National Marine Technology Roadmap as a unique capability for UK marine science [ 5.14].

ORC research underpinned the formation of UoS spin out company Covesion and, over the REF 2021 impact period, has been integral to both the optimisation of the company’s MgO PPLN crystals and the creation of new PPLN products. Covesion offers volume manufacture of bespoke crystals for Original Equipment Manufacturer systems; its PPLN devices allow customers to reach wavelengths that cannot be achieved with conventional solid state or diode lasers. The company’s customers include world-leading companies and prestigious research institutes spanning the areas of defence, communications, laser manufacturing and medicine. Specific applications include: microscopy imaging, laser-based missile countermeasure systems, trace gas detection, LIDAR, precision navigation systems, seabed surveying, environmental monitoring and remote sensing.

There are three strands to the economic impact arising from ORC’s underpinning research: direct impact on Covesion’s commercial growth over the impact period; wider economic impact generated through sales, by Covesion customers, of systems reliant on Covesion’s PPLN devices; commercial income unlocked for UK industry through the award of Innovate UK programmes that revolve around Covesion’s technology.

Economic impact via the commercial growth of a university spinout company

ORC research underpins Covesion’s two main products: MgO PPLN crystals and MgO PPLN packaged waveguides. These patented, market-leading technologies have resulted in Covesion securing customers that include major corporations [text removed for publication], government labs (e.g. NASA, US Naval Observatory, Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology) and the majority of the world’s leading universities (e.g. Harvard, Stanford, Caltech) [ 5.1, 5.2].

Over the impact period, Covesion has almost tripled its annual turnover [text removed for publication]; 95% of sales constituted overseas exports, benefitting the UK economy [ 5.2, 5.3]. The new PPLN waveguide devices launched in June 2019 accounted for 25% of commercial income as of December 2020; this is expected to rise to more than 50% by 2023 [ 5.2]. The company has more than doubled its workforce from 5 to 11 people, creating six high-skilled roles [ 5.2]. It has been able to plan strategically for annual growth of 30% for the period 2021-2024. This is demonstrated through its formal [text removed for publication] commitment, made in December 2020, to move to a larger high-value manufacturing facility at Adanac Park, Southampton to accommodate planned growth [ 5.2].

Economic impact via the sale of laser systems reliant on Covesion products

Global sales of laser and quantum technology systems have been enabled specifically through the incorporation of Covesion PPLN crystals. [text removed for publication]

Companies choose Covesion materials for a set of technical reasons and a range of commercial reasons that provide their OEM systems with a competitive advantage [ 5.2]. The former includes high laser damage thresholds (>500kW/cm2 for 2000 hours), nonlinearity of 16pm/V, dimension control (+/- 50 microns) and poling fidelity – all of which lead to reliable operation within design tolerances. The latter reasons for choosing to purchase from Covesion includes price, reliability of supply, delivery time, quality control and after-sales technical support [ 5.2]. Many of these features originate directly from ORC research into poling technology (specifically the development of MgO:PPLN poling), which provides very high poling fidelity, reliable yield (which is important to meet tight delivery schedules) and optimum nonlinearity [ 5.2]. Covesion’s large volume manufacturing capabilities are key to offering its customers a significant price advantage [ 5.2]. When customers purchase crystals, they place orders via tenders or large call-off orders, which allows Covesion to reduce the prices of their crystals by increasing manufacturing volumes. [text removed for publication]

Covesion sells its products into laser systems that retail for anywhere between 40 and 1,000 times the value of the Covesion product; it is common for a pulsed laser system to sell for at least GBP100,000 [ 5.2]. [text removed for publication]

Taking the above details into account, Covesion can produce a quantitative estimate of the global economic impact arising from OEM product sales that rely upon the nonlinear properties of the company’s PPLN crystals and waveguides: an average of GBP60,000,000 per year (cumulatively, GBP420,000,000) over the impact period. Covesion’s CEO wrote [ 5.2]: ‘ Based on our direct sales figures and what we know of the retail value of the laser systems in which our products form an integral part, we can provide a confident, yet conservative, economic impact estimate of £60m per year as an average over the impact period. This relates to the sale of systems that would otherwise not be possible without our devices.’ There is also a wider societal impact in that anti-missile laser systems protect commercial, military and peace-keeping aircraft from attack.

Economic impact via direct income to UK industry through the UK Government National Quantum Technology Programme

In 2014, the UK Government announced its intention to develop a GBP1bn industry based on the commercialisation of quantum technologies. The UK National Quantum Technologies Programme was further expanded in 2018 when the Government announced it was one of 15 key areas for the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. UoS research into the development of PPLN waveguides [ P2, 3.3- 3.6] has been a key enabling element of several Innovate UK grants that have provided direct income to not only Covesion but multiple UK companies, and have supported the development of the UK’s sovereign capability in this area [ 5.2, 5.5].

Covesion has been awarded over GBP1,000,000 in direct income from five Innovate UK projects over the impact period [ 5.5]. These include the Cold Atoms Space Payload (CASPA) project, which sought to develop a small satellite payload to generate cold atoms in space; it was highlighted by the Government as one of three case studies in its investment announcement in 2018 [ 5.6]. UoS and Covesion PPLN waveguide technology unlocked income for a range of UK companies or subsidiaries, many of which are start-ups and SMEs, from three Innovate UK projects: CASPA; QT Assemble, which is increasing the reliability and reducing the size and cost of laser components and systems; and MIRUS, which aims to develop and deliver a mid-infrared single-photon detector demonstrator system (for LIDAR and telecommunications systems) [ 5.5]. These have resulted in the awarding of GBP5,480,000 in direct income for companies that include BAE Systems, Edinburgh start-up Photon Force Limited, University of Sheffield spinout AegiQ and Newcastle-based naontechnology firm Inex [ 5.5]. UoS and Covesion technology was integral to the award of these projects [ 5.2, 5.7]. For example, in QT Assemble, Covesion’s PPLN waveguide technology is fundamental to the delivery of all the project’s technical work packages [ 5.7]. As further evidence of the research supporting the UK’s sovereign capability, the work of Covesion is cited twice in DSTL’s 2020 report: Quantum Information Processing Landscape 2020: Prospects for UK Defence and Security [ 5.8]. The report’s purpose was to encourage and guide MOD investment in quantum technologies.

ORC research into the development of a new generation of highly efficient, smart HPFLs is directly responsible for the significant growth and commercial success over the impact period of SPI Lasers Ltd. The processing applications offered by SPI’s HPFL technology platform have directly benefitted the company’s customers across a broad range of industry sectors in 130 countries; welding, cutting, marking and micro-machining operations can be carried out faster and more accurately for better reliability, less waste and higher productivity.

Commercial benefits to SPI Lasers Ltd – and the wider economic impact

Early ORC research [ 3.1, 3.2] formed the foundation of the fibre laser technology platform that SPI exclusively licenses from UoS. This platform underpins all of SPI’s lasers, comprising two product ranges that are unique to the market: redENERGY® Pulsed Fibre Lasers and redPOWER® CW Fibre Lasers [ 5.1]. The former constitutes 20W-250W nanosecond pulsed fibre lasers, which offer flexibility and speed for laser marking and pulsed micro-machining; the latter is a range of continuous wave (CW) lasers that provide high levels of power and control while cutting, welding and drilling. Fundamental research within ALL to optimise the performance of HPFLs has developed in parallel with new market opportunities identified by SPI, facilitating rapid adoption of the underpinning science and technology by SPI’s R&D team [ 5.1].

This research output has resulted in a number of key technological breakthroughs that have further enhanced the SPI product portfolio throughout the impact period and added unique selling points to existing products. These include [ 5.1]:

• GTWave^TM pumping technology: unique cladding pumping technology, separating and “isolating” pump and signal paths and resulting in increased pump and fibre laser lifetime.

• Photo-darkening free active fibres without laser output power decay: increases pump and fibre laser lifetime.

• Pulse-shaping using semi-conductor seed laser-based nanosecond pulsed MOPA lasers, enabling a very broad operating range of pulse widths and pulse shapes, providing customers with class-leading results.

• Pulsed laser seed Stimulated Brillouin Scattering mitigating technique: extends operation parameter space of pulsed lasers and ensuring very high reliability for large-scale deployments.

• In-fibre beam shaping technology: variMODE^TM beam shaper, enabling high-quality cutting of thin and thick mild-steel sheets with lower power at higher speeds.

8 patents have been filed by the ORC during this period and licensed to SPI. This includes the research breakthroughs described in 2.1-2.3 [ 3.3- 3.6], which were transferred to SPI under exclusive licenses in the period 2014 to 2018 [ 5.1]. The optical-to-optical conversion efficiency increases, secured through 2.1, 2.3 and 2.4 [ 3.3, 3.4, 3.6 and 3.7], has allowed use of lower-cost, lower-brightness pump laser sources and resulted in a cumulative ~28% reduction in required pump power in the period 2014 to 2018. Introduced to the HPFL manufacturing process, this resulted in a ~75% cost saving of pumping for SPI, which in monetary terms equates to GBP7500/kW and will equate to GBP5-10m saving in 2020 [ 5.1]. The increased levels of efficiency have resulted in substantially lower heating of the fibre and other critical components, facilitating power scaling of single laser units in excess of 2kW in 2018 from 0.5kW in 2013, and beam combined multi-kW laser sources to 20kW in 2018 from 3kW in 2013 [ 5.1].

The new fully automated splicing techniques introduced in SPI’s production line, enabled by research described in 2.1 and P1, along with high-yield special fibres enabled through 2.3 ( 3.6), resulted in a new range of 50W-300W high-power pulsed lasers of which SPI has shipped more than 10,000 units. These have enabled new micro-processing applications in consumer electronics manufacturing, battery cell manufacturing and solar cell manufacturing [ 5.1]. These new applications allowed SPI to transition from best-in-class laser marking to best-in-class pulsed welding and cutting from 2014 onwards [ 5.1]. The innovations in 2.1-2.4 ( 3.3- 3.7) also led to a new production line of low cost, multi-kW fibre lasers for materials processing, targeting the extremely price-sensitive East Asia market, with a dedicated applications and sales centre established in Shenzhen, China in 2016. SPI expanded its main UK manufacturing facility in the Southampton area by nearly double in 2018 [ 5.2]. The technological breakthrough in 2.2 ( 3.5, P2) was transferred exclusively to SPI and formed a new range of HPFLs under the variMODE^TM trademark, launched at the Laser World of Photonics show in Munich in 2019 [ 5.3].

Confirming the direct relationship between UoS research and the growth and commercial success of SPI as a whole over the impact period, SPI CEO’s said: “ University of Southampton research, both in the early to mid-2000s and since the establishment of our collaborative Advanced Laser Lab at the University in 2011, has been fundamental to the significant revenue and profit growth that the company has achieved between 2013 and 2020; without these technological breakthroughs this level of growth and commercial performance simply would not have been possible” [ 5.1] . As a result, there is a direct link between ORC research and the following indicators of commercial and wider economic impact. SPI’s cumulative revenues over the impact period were GBP436,000,000; annual revenues increased from GBP35,300,000 in 2013 (as of June 30 - the closest available records to the beginning of the impact period) to a peak of GBP78,700,000 in 2018. Its gross profits totalled GBP109,800,000; annual profits increased from GBP7,600,000 in 2013 to a peak of GBP23,500,000 in 2018 [ 5.4]. As of 2019, the company supports 303 jobs across its facilities in Southampton and Rugby, 36% of which are ‘high-skilled’. In June 2013, 256 people were employed by the company, meaning 47 new jobs were created over the impact period [ 5.4]. SPI has directly invested GBP1,787,000 in UoS research within ALL over the impact period [ 5.1].

‘Downstream’ commercial benefits to SPI Ltd.’s customers, and the wider societal impact

SPI’s customers span 130 countries and multiple industries including the aerospace, automotive, electronics health, sensor, energy and jewellery sectors. SPI’s CEO summarises the overarching benefit to the company’s customers as ‘ having a volume-deployable laser technology that is cost-effective and operates repeatably and reliably, replacing traditional cutting and joining methods’ [ 5.1]. In addition to substantially improving the quality, reliability and productivity of established processes, SPI’s new generation of smart lasers require less total energy through allowing laser power to be correctly and efficiently deployed. This has resulted in a ~28% reduction in electricity running costs for the company’s customers, which equates to a monetary annual saving of GBP1,400 for a 4kW laser UK user (based on average UK industrial electricity tariffs) [ 5.1]. SPI can achieve similar cut speed and quality with a smart 2kW fibre laser as can be achieved with a conventional 4kW fibre laser. In this case the electricity bill savings increase to GBP3,000. Similar gains are achieved in additive manufacturing, welding, ablation and micro-hole drilling, which when combined they result in a total reduction in running costs of 50% for the company’s customers, equating to an annular saving of GBP2,000 over other laser technologies [ 5.1].

A series of case studies on SPI’s website provides an overview of how their smart HPFLs are deployed by their customers [ 5.5]. For example, in the aerospace sector SPI’s lasers are used in laser metal deposition to repair aeroplane engine blades, in additive manufacturing to produce lighter aircraft parts and in laser engraving of aerospace parts. In the automotive sector they are deployed to enhance the precision and efficiency of battery production for electric vehicles. In the health sector they are used to coat dental implants, to 3D-print teeth and spinal implants, and in the welding of medical devices. They are used in the manufacture of photovoltaic cells and in bespoke jewellery design. SPI pulsed and continuous wave smart fibre lasers offer technological advantages, including wavelength agility as well as extended stability and reliability, in applications such as print roll engraving [ 5.6]. Pulsed nanosecond fibre lasers have been used for marking and micromachining an extensive range of materials, uniquely offering pulse duration selection to enable a broad range of processes to be performed with a single laser, wide pulse frequency range allowing the selection of the optimum combination of average power, peak power and pulse energy, a variety of spatial profiles to further optimise the process and advanced control to allow sophisticated integration into processes and systems [ 5.7].

Environmental benefits

The increase in laser efficiency through the optimisation of the HPFL technology has minimised electrical power consumption and increased manufacturing speed and quality. The overall SPI laser wall-plug efficiency has increased from ~25% to ~35% over the impact period. This equates to a 28% reduction in electricity requirements [ 5.1], which in the case of SPI’s heavy-duty industrial lasers translates into a reduction of 10,500-17,000 tonnes per year of CO₂ emissions. The lower limit is based on UK government greenhouse gas reporting conversion factors (0.37kgCO₂e/kWh [ 5.8]), averaged over the case study period. The upper limit reflects fibre laser world-wide usage in countries with higher conversion factors (0.6kgCO₂e/kWh).

Over the last two decades the ORC has spun out several successful companies based on its world-leading research into novel optical fibres. In keeping with this established track record, Lumenisity Ltd was founded by Professors Richardson, Poletti and Petrovich, and Dr David Parker, ex-CEO of SPI Lasers, a global leader in fibre lasers. Formally incorporated in January 2016, the company set out an ambitious vision: to revolutionise telecommunications nearly 50 years after the development of ultra-low-loss solid glass optical fibres [ 5.1]. By commercialising HCF technology, Lumenisity’s aim is to develop advanced fibre optic cable solutions to address the ‘bandwidth crunch’ and increase network performance in high data capacity communication systems.

Economic and commercial impact through rapid growth of a university spinout company

Lumenisity was formed solely on the basis of a portfolio of IP and know-how in HCF that had been developed within the ORC between 2010 and 2016 [ G1- G3; P1- P2; 3.1- 3.5]. The company licensed the original body of IP and, with Richardson assuming the role of the Chief Scientific Officer, funded the ORC to further develop this IP in close partnership, as well as actively collaborating with the Lightpipe [ G4] and Airguide Photonics [ G5] programmes [ 5.1]. This led to the creation of multiple classes of IP that were subsequently licensed by Lumenisity. By the end of the impact period, Lumenisity has licensed 8 distinct patent families covering HCFs in terms of their design, fabrication and application (comprising 55 individual granted national patents (including UK, US, Europe, Japan, China, Hong Kong and Singapore) with [text removed for publication] applications currently under examination) [ 5.2]. The development of Lumenisity’s IP portfolio has been ‘fundamental’ to the company’s fast growth [ 5.1].

Lumenisity has made significant advances both technologically and commercially and has established itself as the global leader in HCF cables for telecommunications. It is currently the only fibre supplier capable of producing and cabling HCFs of low enough loss for telecommunications over >10km distance scales [ 5.1, 5.3]. This has enabled Lumenisity to raise first and second round funding totalling [text removed for publication] over the impact period, 50% of which constituted foreign direct investment (FDI) into the UK [ 5.1, 5.4]. This level of external investment allowed the company to invest [text removed for publication] in [text removed for publication] R&D, manufacturing and office facilities in the Southampton area and to create >50 high-skilled manufacturing and research engineering jobs [ 5.1, 5.5].

Lumenisity has developed several cable product lines based on different forms of HCF and cable structure, which have been customised for particular applications and environments, and has developed key deployment technology, IP and know how. The initial target markets are in financial services where the advantages of reduced latency for algorithmic trading are well known [ 5.8-5.9]. The ultimate goal is to connect high-capacity datacentres together at greater separation by extending the latency envelope (for which low cable attenuation is critical). This will have significant economic and environmental impact. The company is approaching [text removed for publication] in sales since its founding and is expecting very strong growth in future years. The company has engaged with a number of carriers and Hyperscale data centre operators to undertake substantial proof-of-concept deployments over the next [text removed for publication]. The collaborative R&D between the company and the ORC has been essential in securing these deployments and will continue to be essential moving forward to realise the ultimate goals. [ 5.1].

Technical and commercial advantages for Lumenisity’s customers within the telecommunications sector

From 2018, Lumenisity’s key customers have deployed the HCF products within their global telecommunications networks, benefitting both technically and commercially through significantly reduced latency in specific sections of their network. As the technology develops, enabling longer transmission distances and greater strand count, these applications will grow. [ 5.6]

A key factor in all applications is the “latency envelope”. This limits the maximum physical separation of network assets. The reduction in latency in HCF increases the usable geographic footprint of any data centre, or 5G backhaul network, by a factor of 2.25 over conventional fibres, offering significant reductions in cost and environmental impact. [ 5.7]

Influencing business priorities and strategic direction of wider industry by demonstrating the commercial viability of HCF technology

The breakthroughs in HCF technology described in papers [ 3.6, 3.7] provided wider industry with confidence in the practicality and deployability of HCFs. In demonstrating losses below 1dB/km for the first time [ 3.6], the ORC team overcame a psychological limit that many had thought impossible to break [ 5.10]. The further attenuation record [ 3.7] significantly narrowed the performance gap between HCF and mainstream optical fibre technology (to within a factor of 2). As a result, and with Lumenisity’s forecast that the global HCF cable market will be worth £100’s of millions over the next five years, there is clear evidence that leaders in the telecommunications sector have directed business investment and strategic initiatives towards the commercial exploitation of HCF technology [ 5.8, 5.9]. The economic impact is also very great within the operating and end user community, possibly 10x this value. In some key markets such as autonomous vehicles and real time augmented reality, the benefits could be transformational.

Trials and proof-of-concept deployments are underway or planned with the major players in the Hyperscale environment, leading operators [text removed for publication], major carriers and world-leading network equipment manufacturers [ 5.1].

The demonstration of the commercial viability of HCFs has led to their application in other sectors beyond telecommunications, particularly in high power, short pulse laser delivery and gyroscopic navigation systems [ 5.10, 5.11]. This has resulted in HCFs being used in manufacturing to produce consumer and specialist goods at lower costs and to demonstrate ultraprecise positional measurements for the benefit of wider society.

University of Southampton research into the engineering of transport infrastructure has underpinned changes to policy and practice that have facilitated the construction of key civil engineering projects in the UK and overseas, and delivered significant economic benefit.

**Groundwater and pore pressure, retaining walls and temporary supports: Enabling construction and reducing the cost of major UK and overseas civil engineering projects

Effective control of groundwater for deeper excavations and tunnels is crucial for reducing costs and protecting the environment and adjacent infrastructure. Vacuum dewatering techniques developed through Southampton’s research [e.g. 3.1] for the control of pore pressures in low permeability deposits and more permeable strata shaped new design guidance on groundwater control published by the Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA) in 2016 [ 5.1, 5.3]. Powrie co-authored CIRIA C750 Groundwater Control: Design and Practice, which the construction industry ‘ relies on … as a best practice guide to underpin the design, specification and implementation of dewatering schemes’ [ 5.1]; Powrie co-led a series of workshops in Australia and New Zealand (2017) and Canada (2019) to present the C750 guide to industry overseas [ 5.1]. UK-based WJ Groundwater Ltd, a specialist in dewatering for deep excavations and tunnels, applied the techniques developed with Southampton to its work on Crossrail, HS2, the new River Humber gas pipeline and the Thames Tideway Super Sewer. The research contributed to an increase in WJ’s annual turnover from GBP10,000,000 to GBP28,000,000 over the impact period, much of this achieved by expansion in the UAE, Qatar, Israel, Poland and Canada [ 5.1].

Southampton’s research data on installation effects of and long-term lateral stresses on embedded retaining walls [e.g. 3.2] underpins and informs CIRIA C760 Guidance on embedded retaining wall design (co-authored by Powrie), published 2017. Southampton methods for quantifying the effects of earth berms in limit equilibrium calculations also underpin the associated C760 guidance and have become the de facto industry standard approach [ 5.2, 5.3]. The recommendations allow lighter retaining walls with shorter embedded lengths, saving money, carbon and time [ 5.2]. An Arup director, who is HS2 southern section civil works design leader, describes the research as ‘ critically important’ to the adoption of C760, which is followed globally and ‘ used on many projects involving underground engineering’ [ 5.2]; C760 is frequently CIRIA’s most downloaded guide [ 5.3].

**Performance of railway track systems: Supporting design for increased traffic, improved reliability and predictable, reduced costs, and influencing major policy decisions

Southampton research [e.g. 3.3] has solved persistent, localised maintenance problems on HS1 where, for example, a single, targeted intervention to install under-sleeper pads along 5m of track saved GBP100,000 in maintenance costs between 2015 and 2020 for an investment of GBP15,000 [ 5.4]: other sites have been similarly treated. Findings were translated into the University’s 2016 publication A Guide to Track Stiffness (ISBN: 9780854329946), distributed to 900 users including 500 NR [ 5.5] and 80 Transport for London (TfL) technical staff, supported by Southampton-led workshops. The guide was published online by the Permanent Way Institution and the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) and is ‘ used extensively by track engineers in Network Rail and its suppliers in the maintenance, refurbishment and renewal of track’ [ 5.5].

As a result of his “extensive research record in the areas of railway earthworks and retaining walls”, Powrie was invited to chair 12 design workshops for HS2 with a view to ensuring HS2 and its supply chain benefited from the latest research findings, resulting in savings of GBP100,000,000 [ 5.6]. With McNaughton, Powrie is an adviser to the Chairman of HS2, who wrote in 2019: ‘I will continue to use Professor Andrew McNaughton [Southampton], Lord Mair and Professor William Powrie [Southampton] to work with the HS2 Ltd Chief Engineer to examine the engineering assumptions behind existing designs.’ [ 5.7]

**Railway noise and vibration: Ensuring economic design of noise mitigation measures, supporting UK industry and contributing to international design standards

The noise from slab tracks was widely believed to be greater than from conventional ballasted tracks. Southampton research [e.g. 3.4] demonstrated that the difference was smaller than previously understood. As a result, the requirement for additional noise mitigation measures on HS2 was rescinded, reducing Phase 1 costs by GBP65,000,000, delivering a ‘ significant’ reduction in noise barrier costs for Phase 2a and reducing the risk of delay to the HS2 programme [ 5.6].

As a result of this research strand, Pandrol, a global manufacturer of rail fastenings, gained increased understanding of the noise behaviour of their slab track rail fasteners. This led them to change their emphasis from single to double layer fastening systems, which is beneficial for noise. The company attributed ‘ significant advantages to Pandrol in this competitive market sector’ to Southampton’s research contribution [ 5.8]. In collaboration with Deutsche Bahn, the Southampton group applied their research to develop a cost-efficient alternative to field tests for testing rail dampers. This ‘reduced costs by about 90%’ (from up to 100k euros to 10k euros) and the time required for the procedure from six months to one week [ 5.9]. This opened the market to SMEs and removed the need for lengthy traffic restrictions resulting from installing dampers for testing [ 5.9]. Southampton’s collaborative research with SNCF on wheel roughness led directly to the revision (in 2019) of the European Standard for Rail Roughness Measurement (EN 15610) to extend its scope to wheel roughness measurements [ 5.10].

**Railway overhead line equipment (OLE): **Developing efficient design standards and new techniques to support the affordable decarbonisation of transport

Southampton research [e.g. 3.5] allowed the rail industry to adopt a method for specifying OLE foundations that was significantly more cost-efficient than standard practice (which the research showed to be overly conservative), enabling large savings in material cost, programme time and carbon. The method was translated into a new NR specification, Design and Installation of Overhead Line Foundations, published in December 2017 and made mandatory for use on all NR projects from March 2018 [ 5.11]. Southampton researchers explained its use in two NR staff workshops.

The beneficiaries are the Department for Transport and NR. UK railway electrification became a sensitive political issue when the Great Western Electrification Project (GWEP) suffered projected cost over-runs of the order of GBP1.9bn [ 3.5]. The scheme was cut back, other schemes were delayed or axed, and the government sought alternatives such as bi-mode trains that were less effective in terms of reliability, cost and carbon. The new design standard has significantly cut costs and reduced embedded and emitted carbon [ 5.13]. It informed a report commissioned from McNaughton (then an independent consultant prior to joining Southampton) by the Secretary of State for Transport into the future costs of electrification [ 5.12] and was reported in the Railway Industry Association’s (RIA) Electrification Cost Challenge. The two reports contributed materially to the decision to restart the suspended electrification programme [ 5.13]. The Technical Director of RIA, who was the author of the Cost Challenge report, estimates savings to the UK economy of GBP600,000,000 in the three years to Dec 2020 from this Southampton research and GBP50,000,000 from its associated research on reducing clearances to high voltage equipment [ 5.13]. He also wrote: ‘ In terms of opportunity cost, without the research it is unlikely that the GWEP and MML [Midland Main Line] projects would have been completed, at a cost to the economy which I estimate with reference to the MML business case of being in excess of £5.5bn.’

**Infrastructure systems modelling: Underpinning the UK National Infrastructure Assessment

The seven-university Infrastructure Transitions Research Consortium (ITRC) has developed an integrated interdependent national infrastructure systems model (NISMOD). ITRC is a consortium led by the University of Oxford, with Southampton responsible for transport [e.g. 3.6] and waste. NISMOD was used extensively by the National Infrastructure Commission in modelling work which underpinned the first ever National Infrastructure Assessment for the UK, published in 2018 [ 5.14]. This document made recommendations for how the identified infrastructure needs and priorities of the country should be addressed, and the Government was required to respond formally to the recommendations. Southampton’s research provided long term demand forecasts over a range of scenarios, which influenced the strategic planning of future infrastructure provision. NISMOD was used by the Institution of Civil Engineers to support its National Needs Assessment for UK Infrastructure (published in 2016 [ 5.15]) which David Gauke, Chief Secretary of the Treasury, said was ‘ a prime example of the exceptional quality of research in this country’. It was used to produce evidence for the Government Office for Science’s 2017 study into the Future of Mobility [ 5.16].

The research was commercialised in 2004 following the launch of spinout company Perpetuum Ltd [ 5.1] and has since attracted over GBP15m in venture capital. The impacts detailed below include, growth in the business in the impact period, contributions to product innovation, plus reductions in rail maintenance costs for train operators and improved train reliability and safety.

Perpetuum’s energy harvesting generators, based on the original Southampton research, has enabled them to develop a self-powered system for real time monitoring of bearings and wheel health on rolling stock that has been widely adopted by the rail industry worldwide. The energy harvesting component supplies sufficient energy to power the sensors, signal processing and wireless communications enabling the system to be a maintenance free, retrofittable solution. This application has been the commercial break though for Perpetuum’s vibration energy harvesting technology. The use of batteries or modifying existing wiring looms under trains is not an acceptable approach for the industry, and energy harvesting overcomes these constraints thereby enabling a revolution in condition monitoring on trains. Perpetuum’s system is a real example of IoT, where autonomous sensor nodes monitor individual bearings and wheels, and wirelessly transmit the data to a data concentrator located centrally on the train [ 5.2]. The collected data is then transmitted via GSM and stored in the cloud enabling a summary of fleet condition to be available live on the internet with alerts being sent via email or SMS. The wireless nature of the system enables it to be easily retrofitted to existing rolling stock.

The underpinning energy harvesting research is the key enabling technology that makes the Perpetuum system economically and practically viable leading to substantial economic growth in the company. The [text removed for publication] workforce has grown from 10 at the end of the last REF period to over 70 people, the majority being PhD and graduate level electronic and mechanical engineers, plus further jobs in the supply chain [5.2]. This has enabled Perpetuum to develop a proven system employing a state-of-the-art energy harvester, optimised system electronics and bespoke wireless protocols. Product sales have increased dramatically with the number of deployments increasing from hundreds of trains in 2012 to tens of thousands of wireless sensor nodes across 9 countries (Australia, China, France, Germany, India, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, UK and USA) [ 5.2].

Major example contracts include Sweden’s SJ rail who, following the success of the initial 18-month trial deployment on 80 wheels, awarded Perpetuum a contract to monitor its entire fleet of high speed X2000’s including a 10-year data service agreement [ 5.3]. Great Northern has fitted sensors to both wheel bearings and gearboxes across its entire fleet of Class 365 trains that run between Cambridge, Peterborough and London King’s Cross. Great Northern highlight the improvements to passenger service through reduced breakdowns “This significant investment in state-of-the-art technology will improve the reliability of trains on the route, giving our passengers better journeys. Problems will be highlighted months in advance before these vital components have a chance to break down, avoiding further damage and delays” [ 5.4]. Melbourne Metro has placed a [text removed for publication] order across its Alstom X’Trapolis trainsets following a successful pilot in 2015 [ 5.5]. The partnership with Perpetuum is part of Metro’s rolling stock condition monitoring strategy: “The success of the sensor trials will enable Metro to realise changes in maintenance, which will be driven by quantitative fact. Ultimately, this will lead to significant financial savings in the maintenance of wheel sets and bearing components” [ 5.6].

Further evidence of how Perpetuum’s system has revolutionised the maintenance of rail components for rail operators is provided by Southeastern Rail [ 5.7 and 5.8]. Train bearings are designed to last for around 1.4 million miles but in practice early-life failures can begin to occur at around 500,000 miles because of the harsh environment below the train. Southeastern Railway’s previous approach to maintenance was to scrap all 64 bearing on each train across its entire 148-train fleet at 480,000 miles. This is because the consequence of failure was so significant as highlighted by Mark Johnson, Engineering Director at Southeastern: “But there may be one bearing that will fail around the 500,000 mile mark. If that bearing fails at the wrong time in the wrong place it has the potential to cause significant disruption or even a possible derailment. Therefore we had to limit our maintenance optimisation due to the potential safety implications” [ 5.8]. Even with this maintenance schedule, every year Southeastern could expect four or five bearings to fail causing trains to be removed from service with passenger journeys interrupted and trains cancelled. There have been no in-service bearing failures since the installation of the Perpetuum system across its fleet. Southeastern are also benefiting from major cost savings, Mark Johnson: “The cost of replacing one bearing against the cost of replacing 64 bearings is significant” [ 5.8]. A similar maintenance schedule was employed by Scotrail who replaced their bearings every 600,000 miles irrespective of condition. The original deployment of Perpetuum’s system was expected to deliver a 25% increase in bearing lifespans due to timely fault identification and monitoring [ 5.9] and its success is demonstrated by the announcement in September 2019 of the instrumentation of a third Scotrail fleet [ 5.10]. The impact of the system on reliability is replicated across all deployments: Perpetuum systems have covered over eleven billion miles and no monitored component has caused a train to fail while in service [ 5.10]. [text removed for publication]

The research team has continued to work with Perpetuum on Innovate UK projects. The results from these projects have fed directly into the latest product lines offered by the company. In particular, research results from the Energyman project on the efficiency of the power conditioning circuit have trebled the energy captured from the existing harvester. The WARNSS project investigated the harvester design resulting in a new [text removed for publication] smaller harvester. Together, these improvements have enabled a smaller harvester with sufficient power output to be developed that can be mounted on a wider range of under train equipment. This has enabled the first deployment with a UK freight operator via a Innovate UK funded project which involves the installation of wireless wheelset condition monitoring system on a freight locomotive for the first time [ 5.11]. The smaller harvester is also of benefit when the system is deployed on poor quality rail networks where the high magnitude of impact and shock loads make mounting the original, larger mass harvester, impractical [ 5.2]. The results from the MONAXLE project are currently being implemented on a trial deployment in partnership with Hitachi Rail, Eversholt and the First Group as part of a Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) rail demonstrations: first of a kind 2020 project (TAMON) [ 5.12]. This will expand Perpetuum’s monitoring system to include train axles.

A further innovation using advanced data analysis has enabled the self-powered system to also monitor the condition of the track allowing the rail infrastructure operator (e.g. Network Rail) to target their maintenance work more effectively. The vibration data collected contains information regarding the condition of the track and combining this with GPS location provides a real time insight into the condition of the network. The benefits have been recognised by Network rail who have stated “Enabling service trains to report ‘live’ information back to the maintainer about changes in the [track] condition will provide the necessary time to mitigate delays, limit the dependency on measurement trains and increase the safety for track inspection teams. Real time condition monitoring of the track would also enable a fundamental change in the way the whole system interfaces are managed between operators and infrastructure managers” [ 5.8]. This, along with the train data itself, has enabled Perpetuum to move towards a Software as a Service (SaaS) business model [text removed for publication].

The impact from Perpetuum’s exploitation of the technology in the rail sector has been recognised by the European Railway Clusters Initiative (ERCI) who represent more than 1000 rail companies from across Europe. The ERCI Innovation awards are judged on criteria including innovation, the economic and social benefits for the railway sector and integration of new digital technologies and Perpetuum was awarded the ERCI Innovation Award 2018 for “Best SME” [ 5.13].

Perpetuum’s successful application of Southampton’s vibration energy harvesting technology in self powered condition monitoring for the rail industry has culminated the company being acquired by Hitachi Rail in August 2020. This is part of Hitachi’s strategy to “advance and digitise its global train maintenance programme” and Perpetuum, including all staff, will “be integrated within Hitachi’s railway business of more than 12,000 employees across 38 countries” [ 5.14]