Join KTN’s new Innovation Network.

What makes our modern lives relatively easy, interconnected and seamless is a seldomly thought of, but very vital soft infrastructure – the electromagnetic spectrum.

KTN – the company which is also a delivery partner for KTP, via its national network of 31 Knowledge Transfer Advisers – has set up an Electromagnetic Spectrum Innovation Network to advise Ofcom on the issues and opportunities surrounding the allocation of spectrum for various applications. The spectrum is a finite resource and its efficient management will help the UK economy to grow. 

However, many businesses may not fully appreciate that the spectrum is a key component in their value chains. Many people are becoming aware of the Internet of Things (IoT), from consumer goods to manufacturing where opportunities are expected to arise from analysing the data from a large variety of sensors. This is a function of the ubiquity of wifi, broadband and a variety of connection protocols. 

Getting the sensor data to where it can be processed, will use some part of the spectrum if a fixed line is not viable. Similarly getting the information to a user might also need to make use of the spectrum. All of this has to be achieved without affecting the traditional users of the spectrum, such as broadcasters 

In addition, some of these devices will be very simple, making them very insecure. This means as the technology evolves, so will potential threats. Therefore, there is also an overlap with the cybersecurity domain which needs to be understood. 

CURRENT MEMBERS

KTN has assembled a number of strategic stakeholders in this group, which includes:

Jo O’ Riodan – Tech UK Spectrum Policy Forum 

Luis Lopez-Bracey – UKRI EPSRC 

John Mettrop – CAA Policy Specialist Spectrum 

Chris Swinerd – Defence Science Technology Laboratories (Dstl) 

Ed Freeman Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) 

Graham Warren – Ofcom Director of Spectrum 

Dr Anil Shukla – National Spectrum Centre

AN INVITATION TO YOU:

The Electromagnetic Spectrum Innovation Network is looking to engage with academics and SMEs who are working on applications that make use of the spectrum to enter a dialogue that will help inform this community. 

Please register your interest via this sign up form.

Find out more here.