About DRIVE

The digitalisation that we are seeing today cuts across all areas of our society and fills an important role in our aim to create a more sustainable society with less waste of resources. Mobile networks and the services that they provide speed up the digitalisation process in several areas of society, such as healthcare, manufacturing, media, energy, logistics and education, with promises of energy-efficient communication solutions that deliver high-quality services to the end-user.

Latency is the delay in digital services that occur when they are connected online. Digital meetings with sound and video is fairly manageable, but more advanced services require that latency is kept to a minimum. Many digital services perform calculations in order to deliver a result. These calculations can occur in many places, such as in a mobile phone, in a node at the edge of the network or cloud. The amount of energy required depends on where the calculation is done.

The project DRIVE (Data-driven latency-sensitive mobile services for a digitalised society) looks at how mobile services can be applied in the most optimised and energy-efficient way possible. The Knowledge Foundation has granted the DRIVE project 48 million SEK, and the project will continue for the next eight years. 7 participating partner companies contribute with co-financing of at least the equivalent amount, and the project is also co-financed by Karlstad University.

DRIVE wants to contribute to the development of secure latency-sensitive mobile services for the upcoming releases of 5G and the 6G network of the future. DRIVE is also expected to broaden our research to new research areas with great impact on current challenges within research and the business sector, for example, the development towards fully autonomously orchestrated networks where data-driven artificial intelligence and machine learning make use of previous experiences from so-called observable networks and their applications, as well as the trend we are seeing towards programmable, disaggregated networks.

DRIVE is based on previous and current research at the subject of Computer Science; one of the prioritised research environments at Karlstad University. DRIVE also connects closely to current international as well as national and regional projects and collaborations; most notably, Region Värmland’s regional research and innovation strategy for smart specialisation. In addition, DRIVE has a strategic connection to a recently established research centre at the university, DAMI4.0, and the university’s ongoing research within Industry 4.0.

DRIVE is based on a close collaboration between Karlstad University and 7 partner companies that contribute with supplementary expertise and perspectives. Together, they form a mix of companies with which Karlstad University has a well-developed and established relationship from previous projects, as well as new collaboration partners.

DRIVE connects well with the broadening range of courses and programmes offered by the subject of Computer Science and contributes to the development of a Master’s programme in network communications and cyber security, as well as the development of continuing professional development courses in computer science for advanced-level professionals.