UCC researchers in bid to create longer-lasting phone batteries
The Boolean algebra that forms the basis of digital computing systems in smartphones and computers is named after George Boole, who headed the maths department at what was then Queen’s College from 1849.
But over a century-and-a-half later, the same principles are to be used by a team of UCC researchers in a joint European project to develop low-powered electronic chips. The aim is to create environmentally-friendly chips that will help mobile phones and commuting devices last substantially longer using the same battery.
The EU-funded project could even mean batteries may not need to be recharged at all for some applications, being replaced by a perennial energy harvester.
Dr Emmanuel Popovici will lead the research at UCC, being carried out in collaboration with teams in France, the Netherlands, Romania and Serbia.
“We are proud to be part of this major project which seeks to expand the logic theory for future generations’ digital integrated circuits, particularly as we work in the institution where George Boole was the first professor of mathematics,” he said.
The research consortium that includes UCC’s department of electrical and electronic engineering has received €1.6 million under the latest phase of the EU’s FP7 research programme.
A key focus is on one of the critical challenges of next-generation electronic circuit design, to develop innovative solutions which allow reliable circuits to be designed from low-powered components.
The project will also be largely focused on the theories of Claude Shannon, the mathematician, engineer and cryptographer considered the father of modern communication systems and information theory through his pioneering works in the area of secure communications and computing.
