Impact case study database

Globally, by 2100 climate change impacts on infrastructure are estimated to be US$4.2tn under a 2^oC scenario (i.e. if the Paris Agreement is met), and as much as US$13.8tn if not ( https://tinyurl.com/globinfra). The Global Commission on Adaptation calculate that investment in climate resilient infrastructure provides a benefit to cost ratio of about 4:1. Newcastle University’s research has been at the forefront of providing data, methods, and guidance that have enabled engineers and decision-makers to implement climate resilient infrastructure in practice.

4.1 Design guidance for future flooding

Flooding is the greatest climate risk to infrastructure, particularly flash floods. We worked with engineering consultants to translate our high-resolution climate information (Section 2.1) into design guidance for UK Water Industry Research (UKWIR): Rainfall Intensity for Sewer Design, Report 15/CL/10/16. Our work showed the previous assumption of a +20% allowance for future climate was insufficient and needed to account for regional variability e.g. guidance on additional design peak rainfall intensity from climate change is now +35% in East Scotland, and +55% in West Scotland. This work has provided ‘ a basis for the long-term planning and asset management of drainage and wastewater services across all Great Britain’ to manage the long-term risk of sewer flooding and pollution from sewer systems, comprising an annual spend of around £1bn [E1].

Our models of future extreme rainfall and flood frequency have also been used by Willis Towers Watson, the world’s third largest insurance broker (2019 revenue US$9bn). This includes stress testing insurance portfolios against climate risks in reporting to the Bank of England, and has allowed Willis to “ increase our climate service offerings to several of our UK insurance clients which are representing [the] majority of the UK insurance market” [E2].

4.2 Design of robust water resources management

After flooding, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) identified drought as the next most significant risk to the UK. Our stochastic rainfall model (Section 2.1, P2) has been used by Southern Water, water supplier to over 2.5 million people, to design their 2019 Water Resource Management Plan for infrastructure provision worth £1.8bn. Our approach is now standard across the UK water industry forming the basis of the new drought resilience framework for the Environment Agency, and has ‘ entirely changed the planning paradigm, and significantly enhanced the resilience of the water resource infrastructure of the most water stressed regions of the UK’ [E3].

4.3 Climate change adaptation strategies

Windstorms caused 20% of all electricity customer disruptions between 1995 and 2011. Our fragility models of electricity assets (Section 2.2), and high-resolution climate information (Section 2.1), were used to undertake a national scale risk assessment of the UK electricity transmission network to future climate, and to assess the vulnerability of 520,000 miles of overhead lines on the distribution network. This was used by energy regulator Ofgem, the National Grid, and all the Distribution Network Operators on the British mainland in their statutory 2016 Adaptation Reporting Power (ARP) submissions e.g. E4 and E5: “ helping the industry to understand the potential impacts of climate change on wind patterns” (SP Energy Networks Adaptation Report) and “ this work was subsequently used by all the other distribution network operators on the British mainland to inform their 2^nd round Climate change Adaptation Report submissions” (Western Power letter, E4a) to assess current and future impacts of climate change.

Combining the fragility functions and climate projections, the National Grid was able to identify high risk ‘hotspots’ for windstorm and flooding on their network, providing a basis to prioritise adaptation. This included advice on where to site £3m in demountable flood defences to achieve the greatest reduction in risk, whilst maintaining confidence in the resilience of power supply, thereby generating savings of £11m in wasted investment through asset depreciation [E4b].

Our research has also been applied to Highways England’s and Network Rail’s infrastructure networks which comprise around 50,000 and 200,000 geotechnical assets respectively (Section 2.2). Network Rail are investing £1.3bn in maintenance and renewal between 2019-2024. We have worked with Mott MacDonald for over 20 years, most recently to apply our detailed slope stability analyses under a range of future climate scenarios. This has enabled Motts to better “justify expenditure to regulatory bodies such as the Office of Rail and Road (ORR)”, saving the taxpayer significant amounts of money as “emergency repairs may cost 10 times planned works, which in turn may cost 10 times that of maintenance activities” [E6].

Prof. Dawson was appointed to the Adaptation Committee of the Climate Change Committee (CCC) in 2019. He has provided oral evidence direct to ministers on climate change adaptation [E7]. Moreover, the CCC’s advice on preparing for climate change is reflected in legislation and the government’s National Adaptation Plan which impacts upon every inhabitant of the UK.

4.4 National infrastructure assessment

Prof. Dawson led the Infrastructure section of the UK’s 2^nd Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) evidence report [E7]. This was used by government to directly inform the UK government’s National Adaptation Plan. Prof. Fowler is a contributing author to the 3^rd evidence report to be published in 2022, and a member of Network Rail’s Weather Action Task Force.

NISMOD-DB hosts several hundred national infrastructure network datasets, and manages information flows for infrastructure simulation, and enables visualisation of data and simulation results. This was used to provide the first national mapping of locations across England and Wales at risk of cascading failure from infrastructure interdependencies [P5]. This was crucial evidence on cross-sectoral infrastructure risks in the 2^nd CCRA evidence report (Ch4, p27). Furthermore, it enabled and underpinned the National Infrastructure Commission’s first National Infrastructure Assessment [E8], which included consideration of how climate change will impact upon the nation’s infrastructure. This proposed a pipeline of £895bn of infrastructure investment up to 2050 that the government have mostly committed to build in the National Infrastructure Strategy.

4.5 Valuing resilience in infrastructure investment decisions

We led the iBUILD research programme, in partnership with the Universities of Leeds and Birmingham. At the request of Infrastructure UK (now the Infrastructure and Projects Authority), a department in HM Treasury, iBUILD supported the development of supplementary guidance to the Green Book for infrastructure spend [E9]. The guidance drew from contributions across the iBUILD team, including Newcastle’s methods (Section 2.4) to value the benefits of resilient infrastructure. The Green Book is issued by HM Treasury and is used to appraise all government funded policies, programmes and projects. In recent years government infrastructure expenditure in the UK has been ~£20bn per year, but this is forecast to increase in the new National Infrastructure Strategy. The changes in the methods available to users of the Green Book enable government to derive additional value from infrastructure investments.

4.6 Influencing climate resilient infrastructure in policy and practice around the world

Our research has had significant impact internationally. As Coordinating Lead and Contributing Authors for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6^th Assessment Reports, Profs. Dawson and Fowler are providing advice to 187 governments on climate change adaptation.

As co-authors of the Global Research and Action Agenda on Cities and Climate Change Science, our recommendations on adaptation of infrastructure and cities were approved by all 187 member states of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2018 [E10a]. ICLEI (an international body representing 1750 local governments in 84 countries) state this “ will strengthen evidence-based, science-driven action in cities” [E10a]. Further, our risk assessment model results have been used by the European Environment Agency to identify adaptation priorities for cities and infrastructure across Europe. [E10b]

Many of the organisations we have worked with [inc. E1, E2, E4, E6] operate internationally and have extended the reach of our research. For example, our research on characterising engineering performance has benefited consultants “ As a global company we are able to use this work to give us a competitive edge in our international consultancy work” [E5]. Furthermore, our work to quantify flood risk, and define ‘event windows’ for insurers has played “ a vital role in winning and retaining clients and maintaining a competitive edge…. driving revenue” for Willis Towers Watson who operate in over 100 countries with a revenue of US$9bn (2019) [E2].

Advances in non-physical measurements for fuel and energy management systems have led to the development of a hybrid hardware-software monitoring product to measure key performance indicators. The novelty of this product is in the software development allowing for ‘plug and play’ of the hardware interface with the system. This concept brought additional ability for on board data storage, transfer, analytical processing and manipulation.

The development of multi-featured engine i mark II has generated sales of £6m and is installed on 250 ships globally. The incorporation of this multi-featured product has led to a 3 to 10% reduction in fuel consumption and consequential reduction in harmful emissions over 12 months of operations. The research has allowed Royston to develop the engine i R&D department within the company to secure jobs as well as creating culture for further product development.

Economic Impact:

The route to market is based upon the existing enginei system which has grown from £2m sales in 2017; and now represents £6m export sales at year end February 2019 (27% of the business); and generates a gross margin of 40%. This growth has incorporated the setup of an international distributor base together with increased telemarketing and directly employed international sales support [E1].

The company relied on testing of engine i built products from an outside source prior to the Newcastle University collaboration. It now undertakes all build and test in-house, which provided savings of £30k by reducing dependency on outside expertise and the advancement of the engine i mark II product enabled more time-efficient operations, saving £5k in 2014 [E1].

Business structure overhaul:

As a result of the Knowledge Transfer Partnership commitment to engine i, the Group has evolved the engine i product specifically and is to focus in its current 5-year plan on the development of new products/services [E1]. This represents a step change in the business whereby it’s past, reactive service-oriented approach will change to a customer focussed solutions base of product and service offerings from a “suite” of functional approaches to a problem. The solutions orientated business approach will give Royston the opportunity to bid for higher value work as it becomes known for its technical approach to market issues.

Newcastle University research gave the necessary technological support to enable new export markets to be developed including Auto-Mode, Eco-Speed and Energy Mapping [E1].

Product and Knowledge development:

The improved data analytics have made it possible to address several research questions such as reduction of fuel consumption and carbon footprint for a given task and understanding the influence of external factors such as tide and wind on the fuel consumption for a ferry operating in the UK waters. This has led to a successful EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account [E7] to assess the impact of wind on a ferry operation.

User impact

The engine i system is in operation in 250 ships globally. The incorporation of this novel energy management system enables accurate fuel and emission monitoring. The system is installed on the fleets of tugs, Offshore Supply Vessels (OSV), ferries and tankers operating in an increasingly challenging economic environment and ever-tightening emissions regulations and has led to a reduction on fuel consumption of 3 to 10% and consequential reduction in harmful emissions over 12 months without affecting vessel operations. [E1, E5]

The incorporation of engine i solutions on 10 major passenger vessels operating in the sensitive maritime environment led to a significant improvement on the client's carbon footprint and bottom-line financial performance with an anticipated annual fuel savings of more than £450K and a reduction in CO₂ emissions of 1,800 tonnes [E5].

For example, Svitzer, has seen a 15% reduction in energy bills over the 7 years it has been utilising the system [E2]. That is, the system allowed the identification of the most fuel-efficient mode of engine & vessel operation for vessel transit which subsequently led to Svitzer installing permanent engine operating settings they dub “Eco-Speed” to make these fuel savings in the longer term [E2].

Environmental Policy Impact:

The data generated from this research and associated data analytics approach has led to the production of policy recommendations for the EU Commission [E4].

Furthermore, greater expansion of engine i on a modular basis enables flexibility to respond to environmental legislation in the Marine Industry or a customer’s needs. Specifically, data generated form the modularised engine i product on RV Princess Royal and associated analytical research on the generated data has led to the development of “A novel approach to Environmental assessment of ships”, which is used in the EU funded project “CLINSH” [E6, E8 & R6].

The Tritech MicronNav product, described in a REF2014 ICS, continued to sell, with 878 units sold between 2014 and 2020 with an approximate sales value of £2M [E9]. However the underpinning research above has created a new generation of UAC technology with superior specifications in data rate, range, positioning accuracy, power requirements and dimensions, at reduced cost. This has superseded the Tritech product in all markets. Throughout the EU CADDY project the Newcastle team worked closely with Blueprint Subsea, a UK manufacturer of subsea instruments, to produce near market prototypes. This led to them funding a technology transfer project and then signing a licence agreement in Nov 2014 to manufacture and sell the SeaTrac range of USBL acoustic positioning units, transponders and data modems (pictured) based on Newcastle’s circuit designs and software algorithms. Since then, these products have been widely taken up for underwater vehicle navigation, diver tracking/telemetry and AUV telemetry for oil/gas and scientific surveys. They have gained a large worldwide market share for in these applications selling 1329 units for a total sales value of >£3M between product launch in 2016 and the end of 2020, returning royalties of £207,000 to Newcastle University [E1,E8]. The SeaTrac devices are also a key component of Blueprint Subsea’s Artemis Pro and Artemis Elite diver navigation consoles (pictured) where they enable teams of divers to share information and their positions over distances up to 2km. These are in use by police search and rescue divers and Naval divers of several NATO nations e.g. 30 systems are in use by special forces of the UK Royal Navy [E7].

More recently, commercialisation of the Nanomodem (NM) technology has opened up applications that were previously too cost sensitive for underwater acoustic communications to be feasible. WSENSE are an Italian company who licenced the circuit designs and firmware for NM v3 in May 2019 and have incorporated the technology in Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT) solutions used in aquaculture, defence, energy and environment applications. [ redacted text] WSENSE sold 136 NM v3 equipped devices during 2020 and are ramping up for high volume production to meet demand from this industry [E3,E10].

Succorfish Ltd are a manufacturer of asset and personnel tracking systems who took a strong interest in the NM technology from the beginning of development and licenced early designs in Feb 2017. The latest NM design is now used in the SC4X underwater messaging system (pictured) for naval/professional divers and a low cost safety product for recreational divers providing remote tank pressure monitoring, emergency messaging and depth/location [E2].

Due to their low cost, size and power, NM devices were found by Ecosub Robotics to be the only viable technology for integration in their miniature AUV products (pictured). Through an Innovate UK project, Newcastle and licensees supplied NM to provide communication and cooperative navigation to a swarm of vehicles spanning several km, enabling large areas to be systems and greatly strengthening Ecosub’s product offering [E6].

150 devices were supplied to the University of Zagreb, Croatia for use in the H2020 Subcultron project enabling a large network of underwater robots to monitor water quality in Venice Lagoon [E4, E5]. Another 30 were supplied to the University of Washington, US to enable 3D current mapping using small, inexpensive “microfloats” for tidal energy projects near Seattle. The technology is also contributing to positive impacts on the marine environment through a major project with marine scientists, net manufacturers and the fishing industry. The EU NetTag project has demonstrated how NM devices can be used to provide cost effective tagging of fishing gear (nets and traps) to enable lost gear to be located and recovered, reducing one of the largest and most damaging forms of marine plastic pollution.

Newcastle’s world leading research in UAC and its successful use by naval divers led to their participation in a working group on UAC run by UK DSTL/MoD. Newcastle were then selected to lead a team with Sonardyne to develop and validate a UK led UAC standard for NATO forces known as Phorcys [E7]. To meet a very demanding specification, an advanced spread spectrum waveform has been developed and tested by the team, drawing upon much of the underpinning research described above, to achieve reliable and secure communications in the most hostile channels in excess of 20km range. The standard was delivered in 2020 and Phorcys compliance will be promoted to equipment manufacturers supplying NATO nations.

Newcastle has led on designing, implementing, monitoring and analysing Runoff Attenuation Features (RAFs) in rural catchments. Through workshops, media, journal papers, collaboration with industry and national policy makers our research has:

1. Provided rigorous data from observations and modelling that RAFs are a proven, localised, cost-effective innovation to slow and store fast runoff that can contribute to floods.

2. Demonstrated catchment scale reduction in flood flows in Belford and other sites across the North of England and shown additional co-benefits for water quality and carbon accumulation.

3. Played a central role in shaping national-level policy and informing future investment priorities (Quinn was a Special Advisor to the EFRA Committee).

4. Shown that NFM can provide greater benefits by implementing RAFs in larger catchments.

5. Led to national and international recognition and uptake.

Consequently, RAFs are now a significant part of natural flood management (NFM) in the UK. The 2021 Environment Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Flooding report states that “The Government needs to explain how it will ensure a catchment-based approach to incentivising natural flood management (NFM)” and that “ Working with natural processes is an important part of a holistic approach to flood risk management”.

1. The RAF. A typical RAF is a ‘soft engineered’ structure (e.g. a bund or swale) costing between £1,000-5,000 to build, using locally sourced materials. The Belford scheme included the invention and trial of a series of RAF designs, as a cost-effective and widely cited approach to flood management [E1, E2, E3]. It has demonstrated how to control discharge rates that can reduce a flood peak by working with farmers and the local community. RAFs are popular on intensive farms as they do not affect production and can be ‘hidden’ within the landscape. RAFs are now being constructed across the UK and are part of the NFM and nature-based solutions supported by many NGOs and government authorities [E2 contains a catalogue of case studies: the prevalence of RAF concepts and leaky dams are clear].

2. The Belford Catchment NFM Project was the first example of a catchment scale NFM scheme to gain evidence of both observational and modelled flood impacts. Belford had flooded 7 times in 8 years and the RAFs we designed and implemented generated a saving of £1.9 million over a hard engineering proposal, with the full support of local farmers. Consequently, the town has not flooded since 2010, despite many high river flow events. Over 2,000 visitors have and continue to visit the Belford site and Newcastle team, to replicate the design and to gain the confidence to build their own schemes. The project was awarded the Institute of Civil Engineering North East, Robert Stephenson Prize 2015, with our partners the EA (funders) and AMCO (civil engineering contractors), for excellence in innovation and collaboration in civil engineering.

Across England – Northumberland River Trust worked with us to deploy the Newcastle NFM design, in other villages such as Netherton. Similarly, based on our advice the Tyne Rivers Trust 4 RAF ponds and a ‘Ker-Plunk’ RAF (as seen on BBC Weather Watch ), and specifically designed to trap debris and mange flows in forested catchments) were installed to protect Haltwhistle [P3]. In partnership with the National Trust at Wallington Estate (near Morpeth, Northumberland) we have demonstrated how flooding, poor water quality and carbon accumulation can be tackled simultaneously, using large-scale RAFs.

These successes have resulted in Newcastle providing advice, evidence and design guidance for NFM schemes across the UK, resulting in a rapid growth in the deployment and uptake of similar schemes across the country. One such example is in Greater Manchester, led by Dr David Brown, EA Senior Scientific Officer. David has studied the Newcastle approach and sums up the role and impact the Newcastle team’s work has had over time and how it has influenced work in his area [E8]: “ Paul’s advice significantly modified at least four of the projects and suggested focusing more on storage capacity to provide contingency for the ‘really large’ floods, and his input brought more attenuation storage, and resilience to large storm impacts, to those projects.”

3. Special Advisor to EFRA Committee

In January 2016, Quinn was appointed as special advisor to the EFRA Select Committee, providing research and evidence for their ‘Future Flood Prevention’ report [E1]. This formed the basis of several recommendations on NFM and the catchment-based approach. The review concluded that as part of a new model for managing flood risk “ The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) should commission by July 2017 a large-catchment trial of the effectiveness of natural flood risk management approaches such as installation of leaky dams, tree planting and improved soil management, alongside other measures”.

As a direct consequence, the EA funded new national NFM Trials worth £15 million [E9]. Neil Parish MP (Chair of the EFRA Committee) summarises the input of Quinn’s work [E9]: “ I would thank Paul for his valuable work in support of the Committee and the added impact his input had on the Future Flood Prevention Report. This will have helped to shape recent change in policy with the EA to adopt NFM methods.”

4. Using RAFs to Scale-up NFM in Larger Catchments

The successful implementation of our RAFs in Belford led to us working in partnership with Arup, the EA, Stockton Council and several NGOs to expand their scale. In Lustrum Beck (sub-catchment 17km²) we advised on the design of a series of RAF storage ponds in Coatham Woods [E10] as part of a £5 million flood alleviation scheme in Stockton. The scheme, now fully operational, has been entered for The Robert Stephenson ICE Prize in 2021.

The largest of the EA national NFM Trials (see above), was in Weardale, targeting a 100km² catchment area. The NFM scheme was co-designed with partners Arup, and will be dominated by large-scale RAFs. Contracts worth £150,000-£200,000 have been released to construct over 100 of these in Middlehope and Killhope Burns in Weardale [E10].

The EA, Arup and the NFU are working on a smaller NFM trial in Kentmere (20km²) upstream of Kendal. This uses large-scale RAFs, implemented across agricultural land, using networks of bunds and drains. This work was featured on the BBC’s ‘ Costing the Earth’ which focuses on the scaling-up potential of RAFs supported by Newcastle.

Existing collaboration with Arup’s water team was accelerated in 2015 by Quinn being awarded a 6-month NERC industrial fellowship to address ‘The uptake of NFM by Industry’. Newcastle design and principles are now used across Arup schemes nationally and internationally, including contributions to the award-winning Arup WATERUP project [E4]. Dr Alex Nicholson, senior consultant, sums up the partnership as: “ Newcastle University research into natural flood management (NFM), specifically runoff attenuation features (RAFs), has enabled Arup (and the wider industry) to incorporate NFM into standard flood risk management projects” such that it has “ enabled [a] step-change [in] the current engineering practice behind flood risk management”. [E10]

5. Promotion of RAF Impacts Nationally and Internationally

Nationally – In addition to an ICE 2015 Prize, the Newcastle RAF study sites are cited as evidence of good practice in numerous documents in the UK [E5–E8]. Newcastle schemes have appeared on several news items, including BBC and ITV news, The One Show (BBC1, 5 Feb 2014), and a feature length film entitled ‘ High Water - Common Ground’ aimed at schools and catchment communities.

The work underpins much of the evidence base in the EA document ‘ Working with Natural Processes Report’ (WWNP) [E2], which is used to guide EA policy on NFM uptake. Belford and several other Newcastle projects appear as case studies in this document. Two decision support tools, the FARM (Flood and Agricultural Risk Matrix [P6], funded originally by the EA) tool and the NFM tool (a RAF network impact calculator developed by Newcastle and Nicholson at Arup [published in P2 as the Pond Network Model]) are also included in the WWNP report. This tool was used by the EA on the Lustrum Beck and Weardale projects. ‘ The NFM Handbook’ produced by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) in 2015 [E3] also included RAFs, Belford and the FARM tool. The work has been reported in numerous publications including The Institute of Civil Engineers, Royal Institute for Chartered Surveyors, Chartered Institute for Water Management, The NERC Magazine and NGO’s such as the River Restoration Centre and The Green Alliance.

Internationally – Our work has been transferred internationally. For example, €1.5 million RAF features designed by Newcastle have been built by the EPA (Environment Protection Agency) and the Office of Public Works (OPW) and fully instrumented in Wexford and Cork [E6] leading to new Teagasc funding for the construction of more RAF features. Natural Water Retention Measures (NWRM) form part of a major EU project [E5]. Belford is listed in several places as an example of good practice. The US Corps of Engineers have visited Belford and list it in its ‘ World Atlas of Engineering with Nature’ [E4] as an example of “ advancing worldwide progress” in the integration of natural and human systems. In Sweden [E7] Belford and Wallington are highlighted as exemplars that have informed their approach. The Flow Partnership and Arup’s award winning WaterUp project used the Belford approach in India and Colombia. Furthermore, we were invited to join The Flow Partnership, led by Stockholm Water Prize winner Rajendra Singh, to disseminate best practice internationally.

Health, economic and commercial benefits have occurred at a regional, national and global level. This case study details examples with corroborated impact from the UK, Europe, South America and within the International Transport Forum (ITF).

Impact in North Yorkshire (NY)

Following Newcastle University (NU) RAPTOR research in 2016, North Yorkshire Police (NYP) expanded their fleet of safety camera vans to further reduce the number of collisions, deaths, and serious injuries on the region’s roads [E1]. “…independent research by academics at Newcastle University shows an estimated 20% reduction in casualties owing specifically to the presence of mobile safety camera vans…In 2017 six new, more agile vehicles were introduced by the police…” - NY Police & Crime Commissioner [E2].

3-year “before and after” analyses either side of the 2017 £107k fleet expansion, demonstrates the following benefits [E3]:

• a 24% reduction in casualties at 22 specific locations;

• a significant contribution to estimated accident prevention savings of £22.5M p/annum across the whole North Yorkshire region.

North Yorkshire police state: “Since 2017, the augmented fleet has enabled greater presence on more high-risk routes to influence speeding and anti-social road use. It has also allowed us to provide visibility and reassurance to many communities which had not previously had a safety camera presence.” and “The Newcastle research was significant in clarifying the rationale for the expansion of SCVs (Safety Camera Vehicles) and therefore in contributing to a reduction in the annual number of KSI [Killed or Seriously Injured] incidents. This has reduced on average from 514 casualties per annum to 436, bringing an estimated accident prevention saving of £22.5M p/annum and significant societal health and economic benefits.” [E3].

Impact in Northumberland and Tyne & Wear

NU’s RAPTOR software is used by the Northumbria Safer Roads Initiative (NSRI).

“Since 2018 we have applied RAPTOR to identify traffic collision hotspots in the Northumbria Police Force area (Northumberland and Tyne & Wear) and guide the allocation of enforcement resources. RAPTOR is a key component of traffic strategy and operations and is now an established part of our year-on-year decision-making process” – Senior Transport Planner, NSRI [E4].

All 130 mobile safety camera locations within the region have been assessed by RAPTOR for continuing enforcement. There is an estimated collision event reduction of 38 over a two-year period for the whole of the region since RAPTOR analysis began. Newcastle research has made a significant contribution to estimated collision reduction savings of approximately £4M for the years 2018 and 2019. NSRI also use RAPTOR to evaluate the effect of road safety interventions. Pre- and post-analyses of three-year durations either side of the RAPTOR-driven safety camera redeployment demonstrates a significant decrease in casualties of 33% at four sample locations, resulting in estimated accident prevention savings of £235K over a three-year period for these sample sites [E4].

Impact in Lisbon

In 2018, the Municipality of Lisbon, Portugal and NU agreed a memorandum of understanding to use the Newcastle team’s methods to develop and improve road safety in Lisbon. The research team undertook an analysis to assess the effects of road safety cameras on casualty reduction within the city. Subsequently, the team used their statistical method, now embedded in PTV’s VISUM Safety software, to predict the safety impacts (“what-if scenarios”) of a proposed low emission zone in the Baixa-Chiado district. “The results from the assessment impacted upon the design of the scheme. The Low Emission Zone was presented by the Mayor in January 2020, but unfortunately had to be temporarily suspended due to the (Covid-19) pandemic situation. The Newcastle research methodology has been playing a role in the design of a safer Lisbon…” Deputy Mayor of Mobility, Safety, Economy and Innovation in Lisbon [E5]. It is expected that benefits from the scheme would now have been evident without the outbreak of Covid-19.

Impact in Bolivia

In 2016, Thorpe delivered a series of invited lectures on the team’s methods for analysing collision data, the rationale behind the Newcastle research and a demonstration of the software solutions as part of a road safety workshop in Santa Cruz. This highlighted the benefits of collision prediction and scheme evaluation from the appropriate interrogation of collision data. One of the significant outputs from the event was a Road Safety Charter signed by all participants calling for increased investment in road safety in Bolivia. Based on this Road Safety Charter, which included specific NU research, the Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) provided the CAF bank a grant of US$200,000 to enhance the development of road safety strategies in four cities in Bolivia: Santa Cruz, Tarija, La Paz and El Alto [E6].

*“An understanding of the Newcastle research, specifically i) the methodology for the accurate analysis of collision and casualty data to identify collision hotspots and ii) the evaluation of road safety schemes such as speed cameras, has enabled the cities to develop a system of self-funding road safety strategies.*” – Road Safety Advisor, GRSF/CAF [E6].

Global Commercial Impact

Corroborated international impact is demonstrated through collaborations with the PTV Group, a global company based in Germany specialising in software solutions for traffic and mobility. Since 2017, the statistics-based algorithms used within RAPTOR have been embedded in PTV’s VISUM Safety package. This is a commercial software product used by city planners and road authorities worldwide, that allows collision data analysts and road safety engineers to assess the impacts of hypothetical land-use and transport planning scenarios on the future number and location of collisions [E7, E8]. “Algorithms developed by Newcastle University have been integrated within our VISUM safety software from 2017 through to the latest edition VISUM Safety 21 , http://vision-traffic.ptvgroup.com/en-uk/products/ptvvisum-safety/ , which is licensed currently to 140 organizations in 40 different countries, with a total of 3700 licenses so far.” “…Newcastle University research has helped us to achieve estimated license sales of our VISUM Safety Module at an estimated License value of approximately €1,1M”– Vice-President Business Development & New Mobility, PTV Group [E9].

Global Policy Impact

The International Transport Forum (ITF) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), is an intergovernmental organisation with 61 member countries. The ITF acts as a platform for discussion and pre-negotiation of policy issues across all transport modes at a global level. Newcastle University’s collision prediction research is detailed in the section on ‘proactive network management’ within the ITF policy document, “New Directions for Data Driven Transport Safety” published in 2019 [E10]. Subsequently the research is used by global member countries of ITF to influence future transport policies and the effective use of data to drive safety decision making e.g. in Portugal (Lisbon).

Changing global policy, enabling impact

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a threat to public health and has become a policy priority across the globe. Our work has shown the breadth of AMR spread through the environment and its negative impact to global human and veterinary health. Importantly, our research highlights environmental AMR is everywhere, but the primary driver of AMR spread differs from place to place. These findings are critical to ensure effective local mitigation strategies to combat a global threat. The research detailed above demonstrated that water and environmental pollution were major causes of AMR spread in the developing world. By proving this, Newcastle’s research is allowing low-income countries to prioritise small-scale, low-cost, yet high impact solutions that benefit local populations and facilitate AMR reductions globally.

Newcastle researchers have led and continue to lead efforts to push these findings into policy globally, changing perceptions at the UN, WHO and major global organisations, persuading them to expand recommended interventions away from just the clinic, but also away from large-scale expensive infrastructure investments and towards low-cost, easily deployed, yet higher impact solutions. Incorporation of the research is included in the International Environmental AMR Forum white paper “Initiatives for Addressing Antimicrobial Resistance in the Environment: Current Situation and Challenges”, hosted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the UK Science & Innovation Network, and the Wellcome Trust in April 2018 [E1]. The report acts as a guide for stakeholders, to improve national and international understanding on how to best evaluate and address antimicrobial-resistant microbes in the environment. Specifically, Graham contributed two major chapters on the need for tiered waste management strategies for reducing AMR and a primer for AMR in hospital wastes [E2].

Graham co-authored the 2020 WHO/FAO/OIE Technical brief on water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH) and wastewater management to prevent infections and reduce the spread of antimicrobial resistance [E3]. This brief emphatically states that WASH and wastewater considerations must be included in multi-sectoral AMR national action plans. It includes a summary of evidence and the co-benefits rationale for action in each sector. In parallel to identifying the different global AMR pathways, NCL has produced the toolkits and cost-benefit analyses that are utilised by developing countries to address AMR in a country specific context. These methodologies are embedded within the WHO and UN.

“Graham personally finished drafting the brief for the WHO, contributing 60% of its core content. Importantly three of the six recommended Action Areas incorporated Newcastle University research (i.e., community waste management, addressing hospital wastes and future priorities for AMR research). The Newcastle incremental intervention approach to AMR mitigation was promoted, which nicely paralleled costing work by the World Bank on the value of WASH implementation to prevent infectious disease.” [E2]

The global shift in AMR policy options is already having a tangible real-world affect. Specific projects include the monitoring of water quality and environmental AMR in the Akaki River catchment in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, home to 5 million people. Here NCL research has underpinned local staff training in the Addis Ababa Water and Sewerage Authority (AAWSA), and the collaboration resulted in an affordable suitcase laboratory for molecular water microbiology in low-income countries. A co-authored publication attests to the co-creation of this research impact [P6 above]. This has then led to World Bank investment into AAWSA facilities for further analysis of wastewater in the region [E4]. Equally local staff training in Thailand enabled surveyance in Bangkok’s periurban aquaculture region and showed how inadequately managed urban wastewater is the main local driver for environmental AMR.

The WHO, evidenced by Prof Peter Collignon (WHO Advisory Group on Food Safety), highlights the importance of both policy and resulting action driven by NCL research:

“My work in medicine and at the WHO has convinced me that a major proportion of the antibiotic resistance in emerging and developing countries is due to exposure to poor quality water. Work at Newcastle University has not only been fundamental in confirming this realization, but their research is now providing the tools and mitigation strategies that will help us achieve global solutions”

He further recognised the importance of NCL work:

“his [Graham’s] research on quantifying environmental links between water- and food-borne resistance sources and potential health consequences has been indispensable, especially if we want to reduce superbug spread across the global community.” [E5].

Highlighting the global threat and driver action

NCL’s research on waterborne AMR in India was “headline news” around the world, receiving international coverage on BBC World News and across media [E6]. In 2014, Graham was invited to meet with Dame Sally Davies (Chief Medical Officer; 07/07/14) to report on Indian findings, as they impact both UK policy and role in curbing international AMR. Based on the work in India, Graham was acted as an Advisor to the US Presidential Council on Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria, including presenting to the Council in Washington DC in 2016 on how the drivers of environmental AMR spread differ in developed versus developing countries.

Beyond wider policy influence, a "popular science" book was published in October 2017 on the Ganges entitled "River of Life, River of Death: The Ganges and India's Future", written by Victor Mallet. This book includes a chapter on NCL’s work on the river, including superbug spread due to limited waste management. At the time, Victor Mallet was Asia News Editor for The Financial Times. Graham worked closely with Mallet on revisions in the chapter and is a highlighted contributor [E7].

Graham has actively engaged with a variety of stakeholders ensuring widespread global communication of the NCL research and methodologies. Graham was a key member of the “Integrated Discussion Group on the Use of Antibiotics in Animal Food Production” convened by the New York Academy of Sciences. The Group published a series of reviews on the problem of AMR, including complexity of problem – a review on which Graham was lead author [E8]. From this, Graham was invited to be a Keynote Speaker at the 55th National Meeting on Poultry Health, Processing and Live Production in 2019 in the USA. Dr Donald Ritter then acting Chairman of the Poultry Health & Welfare for the US-based Demarva Chicken Association notes:

“he [Graham] provided understandable invaluable presentation that placed antibiotic resistance within my industry into a global context, which strongly influenced members of my organisation.

Research at Newcastle University is clearly world-leading on an academic level, but it also has practical value at the “coal face” in different discipline among practitioners like myself.” [E8]

Research recognition, COVID-19 wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE)

Our research on understanding and mitigating the global spread of AMR was short-listed in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Research of the Year category in the UK THE (Times Higher Education) Awards 2020 [E9]. This and other recognition led us to be called upon by the UK Strategic Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) to join WBE efforts on SARS-CoV-2 (the COVID-19 virus) detection, spread, and epidemiology, performing core WBE research and government advisory work in the UK and around the world [E10]. Our work on WBE related to the Covid-19 pandemic has been highly influential, including work with Northumbrian Water, the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC), and Defra. Quintela-Baluja and Graham are now UK “methods experts” and both are on multiple government advisory teams.

Through this period, Graham co-authored “Monitoring the presence and infection risk of SARS-CoV-2 in the environment: approaches, limitations and interpretation” for SAGE, as a member of the Expert Team on the Transmission of Covid-19 in the Wider Environment Group (TWEG). Graham had been invited to join TWEG to provide guidance on the risk of SAR-CoV-2 spread via water and wastewater systems, Graham and Quintela-Baluja continue to formally advise the JBC on SARS-CoV-2 detection methods in wastewater samples and WBE modelling. Finally, Graham and Quintela-Baluja are the Scientific Advisors for NE England on the massive Core Cities project, which is quantifying relationships between sewage SARS-CoV-2 levels and Covid-19 cases major UK cities.

Newcastle University’s Electrical Power group has a substantial history of research collaborations with manufacturers of consumer products, including Black and Decker and LG. The group has had a fruitful research relationship with Dyson spanning 15 years. Dyson have incorporated many of the group’s innovations into their products and their use of a specific, novel sensorless control scheme is the topic of this case study. Because of the need to protect commercially sensitive intellectual property the Dyson information contained here is necessarily limited. Key elements of the sensorless control work were subject to April 2012 patent applications [ E1, E2] which have yet to come into the public domain.

Dyson decided to implement the sensorless control system in their hair dryer because the design offered the following benefits [E4]:

• Lower manufacturing costs and improved sales margins, “ The sensor-less designs will yield annual production cost savings of approximately £7-10 million”

• Ergonomic benefits of flexibility and simplicity in product realisation, particularly in small machines, because there is no longer any need to incorporate a position sensor.

• Reduced complexity in the production line, leading to increased production rates and reduced costs.

• Less variation in performance within a production run and across the entire population of drive systems manufactured.

• Reduced weight of final product

Through the elimination of the position sensor the sensorless design allows for the control electronics and motor to be separated, allowing for ergonomic flexibility in designing the product’s external envelope. Dyson is noted for the ergonomic design of its machines and the new control system contributes to cost savings by allowing reductions in component count and assembly complexity. Dyson say the V9 motor used within the hairdryers is “uniquely positioned in the handle,[and] the 27mm Dyson digital motor spins, on average, 6 times faster than other hair dryer motors with one inaudible frequency – yet is a third of the weight” [E3]. Integration of the motor in this manner is greatly eased by the sensorless system.

Dyson’s Senior Director of Technology makes clear the exclusive and fundamental nature of his Company’s relationship with Newcastle University in this field and the scale of products impacted by that relationship, stating:

“One highlight has been the patented sensor-less control technology that has been implemented in our personal care products, with a retail value of about £1.5Bn. The technology has been further developed at Dyson into a second-generation version and integrated into more motor types for our stick vacuum cleaners. This will reach the market later this year in some products but will then roll out into next generation designs over the next 2- 3years.It is anticipated that annual sales of these machines will then rise to approximately 15-20 million units per annum, with a retail sales value of £5-8Bn. The sensor-less designs will yield annual production cost savings of approximately £7-10 million. On a more general note, the Company has benefited from its relationship with Newcastle University via the transfer of ideas and realisations as well as the transfer of personnel. We collaborate exclusively with Prof Mecrow’s group in this field and the core of our Motors and Power Systems team continues to be recruited from within the Newcastle research group.” [ E4]

As much of the underpinning research in this case study has been funded by the Low Carbon Networks Fund (and ultimately the UK taxpayer), all Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) in Great Britain are contractually obliged to incorporate the ‘best practice’ developed through the CLNR into their own investment plans. Outputs arising from the CLNR provided a justification to invest in smart grid technologies now, in anticipation for a greater uptake in low carbon technologies in the future. As a result, Newcastle University research underpins around £17bn of DNO investment to renew, maintain and operate electricity networks (through the RIIO-ED1 2015 to 2023 period) with CLNR directly influencing the £476m currently being spent on ‘smart and innovative solutions’ [S2,S7]. Northern Powergrid (the DNO for the North East and Yorkshire with 8 million customers) state that the CLNR research “has resulted in a rich body of knowledge completed at end December 2014 with net benefits estimated in the range £5bn to £26bn in the period 2020 to 2050” [S1: page 2,S2]. Northern Powergrid has created a ‘smarter powergrid’ plan to allocate £139m to new technologies and upgrades, which include CNLR trial technologies such as real-time thermal rating and voltage control [S2, S3, S4].

Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) court case

As natural monopolies, DNOs have price controls imposed on them by the government regulator Ofgem, which is tasked to ensure DNOs earn a fair return on their activities while controlling the cost to end users. In 2015, Ofgem imposed strict price controls based on assumptions that the benefits from a bespoke smart grid technique in one area could be extrapolated out to the whole country, significantly overestimating the savings that could be made by DNOs and causing regulatory constraints based on unrealistic savings. Northern Powergrid appealed the decision to the CMA and, as a direct result of CLNR research showing that smart grids need context-specific solutions, was successful. This was the first time a DNO has successfully appealed a judgement by Ofgem. As a result, Northern Powergrid’s cost allowance for the 2015 to 2023 period was increased by £32m, with the allowable revenue increasing by around £11m [S2,S8].

Products

Two sets of products have arisen from the CLNR project. First is the creation of ‘solution templates’ that could be incorporated into EA Technology’s Transform Model software [S5a]. The Transform Model is a tool used by network operators, Ofgem, DECC and organisations internationally to optimise investments in smart grid technologies. The software produces a variety of ‘what if’ scenarios for low carbon technology uptake and assesses the consequential network investment. Importantly, the quality of the model’s outputs is dependent upon the quality of the solution templates used to create the scenarios, with CLNR work providing real-world data on low carbon costs and benefits. The modelling identified that CLNR smart solutions provided over 70% of the financial benefits where the model deemed that a smart solution was more appropriate than a traditional reinforcement option [S1: page 119]. The model is used by Ofgem and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for evaluation[S5b]. It is also used by DNOs in New Zealand and Northern Ireland.

Second, the CLNR project led to the creation of the ‘Grand Unified Scheme’ control software, which has been further developed by Siemens as an extension of ‘Spectrum Power’, and applied within the Western Power Distribution ‘Equilibrium’ project [S6]. Siemens Microgrid Management System and Microgrid Controller were also influenced by the work completed on CLNR. Siemens are now applying the findings, methods, and approach of CLNR to their flagship Smart Energy Network Demonstrator project at Keele University [S6], which encourages co-optimisation of electricity, heat, gas and transport.

Regulatory Changes

The CLNR project has directly led to changes in the regulations governing electricity systems within Great Britain, with some laws dating back to the 1950s and 1960s when electricity provision was expanded considerably to meet the UK’s growing demand.

Changes include updated guidance on ACE 49 (covering how the industry categorises customers) and ETR 130 (providing guidance on how to assess the capability of a network containing distributed generation) [R4, S11], P2/7 (Security of supply) [S9], P5 (Design methods for LV underground networks) [S10], and Engineering Recommendation G59 (to include electrical energy storage technologies in guidance on connecting generating plants to distribution systems) [S11]. These changes are designed to encourage the deployment of low carbon technologies, which the previous regulations would have prohibited, highlighting the need to respond at the planning and design stage with revised standards.

The impact addresses two groups: the partnership which commercialised the prosthesis, and the patients who received prostheses. The impact was made possible by two linked areas of research: (i) development of the Newcastle Shoulder Model (NSM), and (ii) the use of the model in developing the VAIOS® implant.

The eventual outcome, the VAIOS® shoulder prosthesis, was developed using the NSM to model loaded and unloaded areas, therefore predicting where material should be removed to minimise impingement. NUH provided clinical experience in terms of the required ease and speed of insertion of the implant, inserted the implant into patients and reported on the clinical outcomes of surgery. JRI have licensed the patent [E1] from Newcastle University and NUH and manufacture the VAIOS® implant, and the implant has now also been patented in New Zealand and Australia, with further patent applications being pursued in Europe, the USA and Canada. Over 17,300 prostheses have been sold (~300 in the period 2010 to 2013, and over 17,000 in the period from 2014 to 2020, [E2]) and the prostheses have been implanted in the UK, Germany, Norway, Brazil, Italy, Poland and Australia.

The first set of beneficiaries are the collaborative group that produced the implant. The VAIOS® accounted for £4.3million of sales as of September 2020 [E2]. The implant has been awarded two high profile industry prizes [E3 & E4] and has gained high profile media coverage [E5].

The second group of beneficiaries are the patients whose shoulder pain can be relieved by the implant. Shoulder pain is a frequent occurrence (with some conditions having a prevalence of 54% in the over 60s [E6]), has a high recurrence and shows poor response to treatment. Patients who received the VAIOS® report an overall decrease in pain, greater mobility and independence. A study of 100 patients who received a reverse prosthesis over a ten-year period investigated two factors; acromio-humeral distance (AHD, associated with deltoid muscle weakness) and notching. The VAIOS® (fitted in 26 patients) showed less scapular notching than more established prostheses and AHD was not significantly different [E7]. A second study focused on 102 patients who received the VAIOS® over a 15-month period [E8]. Patients were assessed in terms of Oxford and Constant Scores, two questionnaires based on activities of daily living including work, sleep patterns and functional assessment including range of motion and strength measures. Both scores were significantly higher after the implant was fitted, indicating that patients’ quality of life was greatly improved by the implant. These positive outcomes are now benefitting the recipients of the 17,000 prostheses implanted from 2014-2020 [E2].

The VAIOS® implant continues to be implanted and has demonstrated excellent performance in service, gaining a rating of 5A from the UK Orthopaedic Data Evaluation Panel (ODEP) in recognition of its clinical performance [E9, E10].

Researchers from Newcastle University’s School of Engineering and School of Computing have developed new concepts, software and technologies that support the design and delivery of more reliable and efficient asynchronous systems. Their research has been incorporated into a visual toolset known as Workcraft.

Workcraft has been used by companies including electronic chip manufacturer Dialog Semiconductors, which paid for a bespoke version of the toolset to enhance the power conversion capabilities of its chips. Dialog’s principal client – Apple Corporation – invested US$600million in October 2018 to license some of Dialog’s power management technologies, acquire staff and assets, and support future research and development [E3].

The Workcraft toolset is an open-source project that is available publicly at workcraft.org. Additionally, after the initial stages of the R&D and impact creation in EPSRC project A4A (2014- 2017), the project’s industrial partner Dialog Semiconductor supported R&D with their direct funding. Under this project besides open-source software some novel bespoke functionality has been developed exclusively for Dialog Semiconductor. As a whole Workcraft was then used by the company to significantly enhance the power conversion capabilities of its chips. Dialog Semiconductor PLC is a multi-national company which develops highly integrated mixed-signal products for consumer electronics. It has approximately 1800 employees and offices in Europe, Asia and the USA [E1]. Its number one product is Power Management ICs. Its RapidCharge solutions for power adaptors boasted a 60% share of the rapid charge adapter market for smartphones at the end of 2017 [E4].

The A4A project developed a novel design flow for the systematic development of asynchronous controllers for analogue-mixed-signal (AMS) systems, which has since been used in Dialog production chips [E2]. Newcastle University and Dialog co-authored three papers in 2015 [R2], 2017 [R1] and 2019 [R4], demonstrating the advantages of asynchronous design methodology for AMS control. Simulation results indicated improved reaction time, voltage ripple, peak current, and inductor losses, resulting in a higher efficiency of power conversion. These results meant that the size of coils could be reduced, a sizeable benefit for businesses such as mobile phone manufacturers, who see compact components and increased battery life and reliability as huge market drivers. For example, it was reported at DATE 2017 [R3, E2] that for a 6μ load, an asynchronous control mentions peak current below 300mA using 1.8μH inductors. A synchronous control requires 10μH coils at 100MHz, 6.8μH at 333MHz, or 3.1μH at 666MHz [E2].

Dialog extended its collaboration with Newcastle University following the end of the A4A project, providing an R&D project of over £500,000 to fund the further extension of Workcraft with new capabilities. Besides that, to date University has provided Workcraft tutorials to approximately 100 Dialog employees a year (see: https://workcraft.org/training/start\).

In October 2018, Dialog announced that it had agreed a US$600million deal with Apple Corporation. The deal was the largest of its kind by Apple. Apple agreed to pay US$300million in cash to license certain power management technologies from Dialog, as well as to receive certain assets and over 300 employees to aid with chip research and development. The company also pre-paid US$300million for Dialog products that would be delivered over the next three years. Dialog announced that it would continue to sell current and future generations of power management integrated circuits to Apple. Apple accounted for 75% of Dialog's total revenues this year, but the company expects that to drop to 35-40% by 2022 [E3].In third quarter figures announced at the end of October 2018, Dialog announced record quarter revenue of US$384million, including a 3% year-on-year revenue rise in its Advanced Mixed Signal business. These results were collated before the Apple deal [E4]. In January 2019, it announced that its unaudited preliminary revenue for the full 2018 year was approximately US$1,442million [E5].

Since 2017 a series of industrial track papers were produced in collaboration with Dialog Semiconductor for International Symposium on Asynchronous Circuits and Systems (ASYNC). These papers are co-authored with David Lloyd, who is a Senior Member of the Technical Staff at Dialog Semiconductor. Being research papers, they have a strong practical focus on the design aspects that are especially relevant to industry [E7, E8, E9]. The latter for example, is aimed to help engineers to perform automatic verification of their asynchronous handshake circuits with a generic usage, going beyond power-management circuits.

Notably, as a further illustration of the impact generated by Newcastle research, in December 2020, Danil Sokolov was hired as a full-time employee by Dialog to continue integrating Workcraft into the company’s R&D process (Sokolov is remaining a Visiting Fellow at Newcastle University).

While Dialog is the main beneficiary of paid extensions to Workcraft functionality, a version of the toolset is available for free download. This makes advanced formal design techniques more accessible to industrial developers, rather than restricted to experts in the domain. Since 2014, there were 32 public releases of Workcraft that were downloaded 20K times from 4.7K unique IPs (data sampled on 23.01.2021). The availability of Workcraft attracts other companies and is increasingly featuring in the teachings of the future generation of engineers in this field.

• Other companies that have evaluated integration of Workcraft in their design flows, invested in training of engineers and, are able to use it in the design of products include: Analog Devices (evaluated in 2018, last training in 2019), Nordic Semiconductor (since 2015, last training in 2019) [E10].

• Universities that use Workcraft toolset in the learning process: Newcastle University (CSC3324, EEE8043, EEE8087, EEE8124) (see https://www.ncl.ac.uk/module\- catalogue), Technical University of Denmark (02204: (http://www2.compute.dtu.dk/courses/02204\), Southampton University (ELEC6233 - https://www.southampton.ac.uk/courses/modules/elec6233)