The Centre for Broadband Networks and Applications is an interdisciplinary research hub focused on advanced networking systems, emphasising industrial relevance. This Centre fosters collaboration among research groups from the Department of Electrical Engineering (in the Faculty of Engineering and the Build Environment), the Department of Computer Science (in the Faculty of Science), and the Division of Biomedical Engineering (in the Faculty of Health Science).
Key contributors to the Centre's research program include the Communications Research Group (CRG) from the Department of Electrical Engineering, the Telecommunications for Development (T4D) group from the Department of Computer Science, and the Telemedicine and Connected Care Group (TCC) from the Division of Biomedical Engineering.
The Centre serves as a bridge between the mobile communications industry and academia, aiming to identify and foster future collaborations between these sectors. It addresses critical questions related to the challenges shaping the Internet of the Future, enabling future wireless networks, and optimizing network planning in light of new technological advancements.
The programme is sponsored by Telkom SA
Research Focus
Over the years, software has become the core value provider in the telecommunications industry. Driven by continuous innovation and the stringent requirements of new services, network softwarization is currently transforming the telecommunications and networking industries. This transformation brings several opportunities while also presenting new challenges from both conceptual and operational perspectives.
Softwarization of Networks, Clouds, and the Internet of Things (IoT) represents emerging approaches and technical solutions for dealing with future softwarised networks, clouds, and IoT infrastructures. Technologies such as software-defined networks (SDN), network function virtualization (NFV), and SDN-based cloud computing (SDNCC) are various expressions of software-defined infrastructures (SDI). This trend is profoundly influencing the telecommunications and ICT industries, optimizing costs and processes, and adding new value to infrastructures across multiple sectors.
The softwarization of networks leverages cloud principles to create flexible, virtualized service platforms and networks, known as NFV. This involves deploying these platforms on distributed data centers, creating scalable and efficient network and service infrastructures. Additionally, edge computing extends cloud computing to the network's edge, enhancing the operation of compute, storage, and networking services between end devices and cloud data centers.
The increasing communication among machines and the programmability of cyber-physical systems have led to unified M2M communication and IoT platforms. The Industrial IoT domain is particularly crucial in the context of digital transformation, with Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing being key industrial sectors.
The fifth generation of mobile communications (5G) is built on these pillars and is considered the ultimate programmable network platform for enabling smart cities and digital societies. Based on NFV and edge computing principles, 5G supports extended multimedia broadband, mission-critical low-latency communications, and massive machine-type traffic. This technology enables various vertical domains and business models through network slicing and private networking.
Numerous new applications, including M2M communications, mobile broadband, and virtual and augmented reality, demonstrate the vast potential of 5G wireless communications. As the world moves towards the sixth generation of mobile communications (6G), emerging applications such as precision agriculture, healthcare, autonomous cars, advanced telemedicine, and smart city infrastructures will dictate the research agenda, focusing on global connectivity and meeting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 6G research will also address challenges such as seamless interoperability of disaggregated network components, optimizing cloud-native deployments, developing AI/ML algorithms for real-time data processing and security enhancement, and exploring the integration of quantum communication technologies.