GENERAL: Presentation

 WHO ARE WE?

The Network Planning and Mobile Communications Laboratory, which belongs to the Communications Engineering department at the University of Cantabria has a twofold objective:

• On the one hand, it aims at ensuring the excellence of the teaching activities it is in charge of, especially within the Telecommunications Engineering (5y) degree, in which the Group is the main responsible of the Telematics (Computer Networks) related speciality as well as within the Technical Telecommunication Engineering (3y) degree (speciality in Electronic Systems).
• This excellence can not be reached without the second main track of the Group, being its intense activity on research, innovation and development, embracing a number of fields which complement each other on a natural way, and contributing, on a relevant way, to the value of chain which characterizes the information technology and communication field.

The Group was funded at the beginning of the 90s, at the same time when the Telecommunications Engineering degree was deployed within the University of Cantabria. At the moment the staff comprises: 1 Full Professor, 1 Professor (P.R.O.P.I.O. programme), 4 Associate Professors, 2 Ph.D. Assistant Professors and 1 Assistant Professor; in addition, ten stable research fellows, many of whom are also pursuing their PhD. In addition, around 8 student cooperate each year with the Group while finalizing their Master degree Thesis, which is usually related with some of the research activities that the Group is taking at that moment.

As it was said before, the teaching activities of the Group is mainly focused around the two degrees in which it has some degree of responsibility, although it also actively participates on different post graduate programmes, among which it is worth highlighting an inter-university Master Programme on Information Technologies, with a quality mention from the Spanish Education Ministry. On the other hand, and starting on the 2008/2009 year, the Group will start its participation on the teaching activities of the Computer Engineering degree, deployed in the University of Cantabria in 2005.

Needless to say, taking into consideration the almost continuous evolution of the fields in which the Group carries out its research activities, it exists a constant change within these fields, so that there is the need for an adaptation to the quick changing pace. Traditionally, there have been two main lines:

• The first one focuses on advanced data transmission techniques and wireless networks technologies, in which several techniques, algorithms and protocols have been designed and developed.
• The second track is mainly devoted to network dimensioning techniques, by means of techniques and algorithms which have been adapted to the particular characteristics of different networks.

The relevance of the research activities of the Group is supported by the intense and successful participation in different research programmes, both with public (national and international scope) and private funding, bringing about the establishment of a number of collaborations with the industry, fostering the university-industry couple, key factor to reach the quality within the R&D/Innovation activities.

One additional parameter which somehow prove the relevance of the research activities within the Group is the participation of its members in different publications, of recognized international prestige, as well as part of Technical Programme Committees, for both conferences and magazines.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that some of the Group members have contributed to the start-up of SMEs, closing the circle of what it is considered as a teaching and research activities that pave the way of the future.