Global impact
As an industry-funded research unit, the TRU exists to support the research, education and workforce development needs of telecommunications organisations.
While our current partners are located in Australia, our research has significant potential for global application. If your organisation is seeking novel solutions to domestic or international telecommunications challenges, we encourage you to get in touch.
To find out more about partnering with TRU, please email us at tru@uts.edu.au.
Meet our partners
NBN Co Limited
Advancing STEM, Technology, Research, Innovation and Deployment (ASTRID)
Duration: 5 years
Launch date: August 2023
Funding: $6 million
NBN Co’s purpose is to lift Australia’s digital capability through the delivery of fast, resilient and secure broadband services. Research innovation will be key to achieving this goal. Through the Australian-first ASTRID partnership, NBN Co and TRU students, academics and industry experts are working together to strengthen NBN’s early-stage research and development activities. Together, they will produce new insights, technologies and deployable solutions to transform Australia’s broadband network.
The partnership will be delivered across three research streams:
Stream 1: Build Technology: Research in this stream will deliver new broadband technologies and applications that can strengthen NBN services.
Stream 2: Traffic Insights and Forecasting: Researchers will investigate the customer experience, drawing on broadband usage and network telemetry data to better understand end-user needs.
Stream 3: Broadband Technology Insights: With a focus on fibre-based networks, this stream will investigate opportunities to reduce the financial, environmental and consumer impacts of large-scale network infrastructure.
Building the telecoms workforce of the future
Empowering the students of today to become the telecommunications leaders of tomorrow is a central focus of the ASTRID initiative. Engineering internships are baked into every ASTRID project, giving UTS students real-world experience and NBN-specific expertise that will support the company’s future workforce growth.
Amplitel Australia
Systematic Measurement and Remediation Techniques for Enhanced Tower Reliability (SMaRTER)
Duration: 4.5 years
Launch date: December 2024
Funding: $2.1 million
Amplitel Australia is a leading provider of telecommunications infrastructure. Maintaining the integrity of their 8000+ towers is critical to ensuring reliable service for customers across Australia. Over 4.5 years, TRU researchers will deliver a novel program of work to overcome the challenge of corrosion and other structural defects through the use of established and emerging technologies.
The project will be delivered in four parts:
Milestone 1: Creating a ‘fingerprint’ model. Based on towers’ historical, operational and environmental data, this model will reveal the condition of each individual structure and pave the way towards more rapid defect identification and rectification.
Milestone 2: AI-enhanced monitoring and maintenance. Drawing on the outcomes of the fingerprint model, the team will use advanced analytics and predictive models to create an optimised, cost-effective maintenance schedule to maintain tower stability and performance.
Milestone 3: Smart towers of the future. Researchers will equip the towers with sensors and cameras that can stream real-time health metrics for each individual structure. This data will enable faster response to emerging critical issues and better prioritisation of routine maintenance.
Milestone 4: Autonomous inspection and remediation robots. Currently, tower maintenance inevitably involves risk to human workers. The design and deployment of novel robotics technologies will reduce this risk and enable further automation of this critical activity.
TBC
Dynamic AI Real-time Twin (Project DART)
Duration: 3 years
Launch date: TBC
Funding: $2.1 million
Project DART will produce an AI-enhanced knowledge graph and digital twin of one of Australia’s leading mobile network operators’ (MNO) physical production network. Unlike existing digital twins, the DART technology will use AI and machine learning to harness real-time network data and guide the network’s executive decision-making functions. The result will be a real-time, self-updating digital system that can improve the MNO’s strategic capital allocation and network operations. This partnership supports the company’s vision of an autonomous network by 2030.
The project will be delivered in four stages:
Milestone 1: Construction. Identifying, acquiring and integrating network data sources. Mapping, developing and prototyping the real-time knowledge graph twin.
Milestone 2: Maintenance. Connecting the twin to real-time network data. Monitoring consistency, feature engineering, scalability and dynamic updates.
Milestone 3: Usage. Testing the twin’s machine learning, reasoning and inference, and querying and retrieval capabilities in real-world scenarios.
Milestone 4: Recommendations. Formulating, validating, and executing network optimization strategies. Transforming the DTN into an active decision-maker through autonomous actions and human interactions.
Developing diverse engineering talent
This multidisciplinary project combines TRU’s world-class software and telecommunications engineering expertise to future-proof the MNO's network against technological, physical and regulatory impacts. A structured internship program will build a talent pool of skilled graduates with MNO-specific expertise.
