The annual workshop of the High Quality Networked Services in a Mobile World (HITS) project was held on 14–15 May. The workshop provides an opportunity for project participants from industry and the academy to meet, present ongoing work and discuss future collaborations and opportunities.
In the HITS research profile, Computer Science at Karlstad University collaborates with four companies with Swedish operations to develop new improved networked services that meet the demands of our increasingly mobile world. The aim of the collaboration is also to enhance the competitiveness of Swedish industry together. At the moment, Clavister, Ericsson, Icomera and Sandvine are the companies participating in the project.
“There was a good mix of discussions, status reports and inspirational lectures,” says Stefan Lindskog, coordinator of HITS at Karlstad University. “The workshop is a good opportunity for in-depth discussions of your own subproject, while also getting more insight into the other subprojects in the research profile.”
The agenda included technical presentations, status reports from the four different working areas and three inspirational lectures by actors outside of the project. One of the lecturers was Göran Hall, networking expert at Ericsson. His presentation was on autonomous vehicles in 5G systems and the challenges faced by the sector.
“One of the research challenges, as I see it, concerns predicting the quality if our network connection at the next moment,” says Göran Hall. “If autonomous vehicles are to be connected to the 5G network, we need to know if the connection will also be good enough after the next curve. Another interesting question is how you could use information on large events like football matches or festivals to redirect autonomous busses onto alternative routes to where the people are at the moment.”
Possible extension
HITS started in 2014 and is funded by the Knowledge Foundation. Next year is the final project year, but it is possible to apply for an extension.
“Our collaboration with the companies is well established and works very well. We have started to discuss possible areas of development and specialisation, and our ambition is to submit an application for extension to the Knowledge Foundation next year,” says Stefan Lindskog.
HITS concentrates on four areas: Scalable Signalling Support, Service Optimisation, Trustworthy System Operations, and Measurements & Evaluation Tools.
