March 7, 2007

WATERLOO RECEIVES MORE THAN $5 MILLION FOR RESEARCH

Through the Research Excellence program of the Ontario Research Fund (ORF), the McGuinty government provides research institutions with funding to undertake major research projects, hire research teams and cover other operational costs. This first round of funding under the Research Excellence program will invest $5,748,000 to support two projects at the University of Waterloo. Funding will be matched by four industry partners.

Projects

Intelligent Multiple Antenna Structures for Adaptive Wireless Systems

Expanding Ontario’s wireless capacity through antenna research

Lead institution: University of Waterloo
Lead researcher: Dr. Amir K. Khandani
Total project cost: $13,332,999
Provincial funding: $4,348,000

Wireless telephone and computer communications are experiencing explosive global growth. The faster the technology grows, the greater the limitations imposed by battery life and an increasingly crowded radio frequency spectrum. Projected needs for wireless capacity over the next decade far surpass the reach of the current technology. A research consortium led by Dr. Amir K. Khandani of the University of Waterloo and his research team are exploring the creation of new multiple antenna systems that can deliver great improvements in the power and bandwidth efficiency of wireless systems and so expand wireless capacity at an affordable cost. The researchers will focus on several areas, including the development of a networked multiple-antenna system where multiple wireless devices can simultaneously communicate sharing the same spectrum. The research team relies on a multidisciplinary approach for the joint design of multiple antennas transmitters/receivers, base-band algorithms/network, and underlying circuits.

Major industry and other partners:
Bell Mobility, Nortel, Research In Motion.

Managing Ontario's Energy Systems: Developing Risk and Probability-based Tools

Getting the most out of Ontario’s electricity system

Lead institution: University of Waterloo
Lead researchers: Dr. Mahesh D. Pandey and Dr. Jin Jiang
Total project cost: $4,260,000
Provincial funding: $1,400,000

Getting the best value possible out of the Ontario’s electricity generating and distributing systems is important to Ontario’s economic well-being. New engineering studies will be conducted to help assure that such value is realized. Led by Dr. Mahesh D. Pandey of the University of Waterloo and Dr. Jin Jiang of The University of Western Ontario, civil and electrical engineering researchers are creating new analysis and decision-making tools to help officials determine how to assess risk to aging systems, maximize their useful lives and guide strategic investment in old and new infrastructure.

Major industry and other partners:
University Network of Excellence in Nuclear Engineering.

For more information about the Ontario Research Fund, please visit www.ontario.ca/innovation.