EPSRC Reference: |
EP/C513703/1 |
Title: |
Spatially Embedded Complex Systems Engineering (SECSE) |
Principal Investigator: |
Batty, Professor M |
Other Investigators: |
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Researcher Co-Investigators: |
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Project Partners: |
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Department: |
Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis |
Organisation: |
UCL |
Scheme: |
Standard Research (Pre-FEC) |
Starts: |
01 April 2005 |
Ends: |
31 March 2009 |
Value (£): |
333,348
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EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
Networks & Distributed Systems |
New & Emerging Comp. Paradigms |
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EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications: |
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Related Grants: |
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Panel History: |
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
The key challenge facing modern IT is managing the network transition . from systems comprising many relatively isolated computational elements to large-scale, massively interconnected systems that are physically distributed and affected by local conditions yet must remain secure, robust, and efficient. We are already surrounded by systems that are attempting to achieve this transition: from e-government, the digital NHS and virtual universities, to peer-to-peer communities, grid computing and e-science. Traditional, centralised approaches do not scale to cope with these systems, and as yet we have no established design methodology capable of guiding this type of transition. Consequently, engineering large-scale IT systems can be a haphazard and wasteful enterprise. In this proposal, we take inspiration from natural systems that achieve fault-tolerant, flexible and efficient functionality, despite being distributed and unsupervised. We focus on the role of the spatial organisation of networks and the spatial processes within which they are embedded, factors that have often been neglected. We identify neural networks and geographic networks as key spatially embedded adaptive systems, and propose an interdisciplinary research programme to (i) explicate factors responsible for stability, flexibility, etc., in each case, and (ii) mobilise these insights as novel design rules for complex IT infrastructure and software.
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Key Findings |
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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Impacts |
Description |
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Summary |
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Date Materialised |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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Project URL: |
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Further Information: |
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Organisation Website: |
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