Research Themes

This will be increasingly underpinned by interconnected technology and sensing modalities, leveraging advances in autonomy, embedded systems, and AI. The family of interconnected technologies covered by SPADS, from sensing to knowledge and autonomous systems, spans the key tasks of sensing, processing and communications across both software/algorithms and hardware, covering both discovery and mission-inspired research.

Each component further subdivides into areas such as sensor hardware, fabrication and integration, machine learning (ML) and symbolic AI algorithms, sensory fusion architectures, autonomous agent design, human-machine cooperation techniques, low-power architectures, computing-at-the-edge, secure-by-design hardware, nanotechnology and emerging (beyond CMOS) electronics.

The SPADS theme structure is designed to:

• encourage interconnection and collaboration between themes.
• collectively form a complete basis for creating end-to-end AI-powered systems.

Ultimately, we want our students to collectively design cutting-edge, physically embodied systems (i.e. hardware-implemented) capable of simultaneously sensing and computing with: (i) smooth integration between sensing and computation, (ii) modular design principles, and (iii) a competitive edge in functionality, Size, Weight And Power (SWAP) or both when physically deployed in the field.

SPADS will provide world-class training for students with the breadth and depth of expertise needed to innovate generation-after-next technology crucial to these challenges, gain practical experience, and provide a skills-programmes to increase UK talent in critical areas.

Impact Beyond Defence 

While focused on national security, the technologies developed in SPADS have a substantial broader impact. These advances in low-power distributed sensing and autonomous applications are crucial for fields like environmental monitoring, emergency response, home health monitoring, and automated warehousing.