Joint and Virtual Labs

A very important opportunity within this NoE is related to sharing of laboratories and testbeds. Some of the partners involved in e-Photon/ONe+ have larger and better equipped labs for the testing of optical devices and optical networking systems than others. It is well known that the set up of a lab in this area is a very expensive and time consuming task and many research groups may not have the resources to do this. The limited resources available to implement experimental activities in most universities significantly reduce the European academic scope with respect to e.g. USAand Japan.

e-Photon/ONe+ offers the opportunity to share the existing facilities within a larger community, by supporting researchers mobility; personnel of the institution that do not have lab facility are allowed to visit the institutions with lab facilities, understand the problems and requirements and perform experiments on their specific research activities. This fosters the sharing of knowledge, but also stimulate the creation of testbeds that integrate a wider range of expertise. This process was already successfully started in e-Photon/ONe, with an inventory of existing lab infrastructures, with the definition of plans for commonly executed lab experiments, and with significant mobility actions to enable joint lab usage.

In the medium to long term (hopefully in the prosecution of the project after the initial Commission funding), it will be possible to create a virtual lab environment, where researchers will be able to perform experiments on common testbeds remotely.

 Descriprion of work

The WP-L 'Joint and virtual laboratories' relies on a steering committee established by the Integrating Activities Board (IA-B) of the JPA Committee. This steering committee is responsible for decisions regarding the planning an execution of experimental work, and for decisions regarding allocation of resources.

This work package aims at developing integration between experimental activities conducted in the partner laboratories.

The primary mechanism to allow such integration is researcher exchanges dedicated to joint experimental activities. Such exchanges offer the possibility for partners owning large and well-equipped experimental facilities to make these facilities available for use by other e-Photon/ONe members. This can prevent costly duplication of resources. Contact between researchers in the laboratory environment will lead to valuable cross-fertilisation of ideas. Knowledge regarding experimental and laboratory procedures can be transferred between researchers. New and novel devices and techniques developed by NoE partners can be more widely exploited. Collaborative development of experimental procedures will lead to results which can be more readily compared being produced in different laboratories.

Activity with the work package are focused on the facilitation, planning and execution of joint experiments. These are laboratory activities with a specific technical aim. It is envisaged that joint experiments will be closely linked to activities within the Virtual Departments and Joint Projects comprising the NoE. When appropriate, the use of internet technologies to enable remote control of equipment, and hence the carrying out of joint experiments without researcher mobility, will be considered.

Examples of possible joint experiments are:

• Characterisation of optical pulse sources, and optical modulators (pulse shape and chirp).
• Characterisation of the dynamics of the gain and phase response of non-linear optical devices.
• Evaluation of devices for 3-R regeneration and wavelength conversion in a 10Gbit/s testbed allowing subjective and objective measurements of quality of service.

The procedures to be used for the planning and execution of joint experiments was defined by the steering committee at the start of the NoE period and published. Forms to be used to propose joint experiments, and to gather activities from joint experiments, were also be published. An area on the NoE web-site for publication of information concerning proposed and current joint experiments, as well as feedback and results from past joint experiments, will be developed. Publication of this information within NoE will allow more partners to become involved in experimental activities as they progress. Information concerning facilities and resources which the partners involved in the work package can make available for use in joint experiments will be collected and published on web pages. These web pages, which will be based on those developed for e-Photon/One, will be maintained for the duration of the NoE.

 Public Deliverables

D.L.2 [T0+6] Plan for joint experiments

D.L.3 [T0+12] First report on Integrated Laboratories Activities

D.L.4 [T0+13] Updated plan for joint experiments

D.L.5 [T0+24] Second report on Integrated Laboratories Activities

 Contacts

Alwyn Seeds
University College London (UCL)
Email: a.seeds@ee.ucl.ac.uk