REF 2014 - Summary of Impact for our Five Case Studies

Case 1 - Efficient and Economical Plant Management via Model Predictive Control

Model Predictive Control (MPC) is a controller design methodology involving on-line dynamic optimisation of a user-defined objective. The research of Professor D.Q. Mayne and his colleagues at Imperial College has resulted in the first MPC algorithms capable of dealing with both linear and nonlinear systems and hard constraints on controls and states, thus making MPC a viable technique for industrial applications. His research in linear and nonlinear MPC has been exploited by multinational companies such as Honeywell and ABB. Evidence of impact is found in:

  1. Ethylene production by Basell Polyolefins GmbH resulting in economic benefits in millions of dollars annually;
  2. Sinopec’s JinShan power plant efficiency, reducing fuel consumptions of 500 tons of coal and 1,700 tons of coke per annum;
  3. Automotive powertrain design creating new business for Honeywell (based on OnRAMP design suite);
  4. ABB’s cpmPlus Expert Optimizer tools used for cement manufacturing, affecting companies such as Untervaz (Switzerland), Lägerdorf (Germany) and Buzzi (Italy);
  5. ABB’s BoilerMaz system for optimising boiler start-up mechanism resulting in energy savings per start-up of around 15%.

Case 2 - Device Applications of 3D Silicon Microstructures

The Optical and Semiconductor Devices group led by Professor Richard Syms has been a major innovator in fabrication methods for 3D silicon microstructures, and has developed a wide range of novel devices and techniques based on these innovations. The impact of their research has been to:

  1. Bring the power of mass spectrometry to individual chemists’ lab benches and fume hoods, raising their effectiveness and productivity through the launch in 2011 of the world’s first commercial desk-top mass spectrometer by Microsaic Systems plc, a start-up company founded by members of the group;
  2. Create a second start-up company, Nexeon Ltd, to manufacture nanostructured silicon anode materials, resulting in reduced battery size and weight for electric vehicles and portable electronics;
  3. Add to mankind’s journey of discovery in space with NASA’s Phoenix Mars Mission in 2008, as part of the Atomic Force Microscope team, helping to investigate the presence of liquid water on the surface of Mars.

Case 3 – Ultra-Low-Power Electronics for Healthcare Applications

Professor Chris Toumazou and his team at Imperial College have developed biomedical technologies based on ultra-low-power CMOS and ISFET electronics to provide the medical community with the means to rapidly diagnose, monitor, and treat diseases with confidence and at low cost. Since 2008, the impact of this research has been to:

  1. Spinout a start-up company DNA Electronics (DNAe) to deliver point-of-care products to quickly recognize genetic diseases and identify potential poor drug interactions;
  2. Enable Life Technologies (formerly Ion Torrent) to develop the Personal Genome Machine (PGM) that have generated $100m in sales (in the 18 months since its launch) using DNAe’s core semiconductor sequencing IP;
  3. Save lives by using the PGM in clinical and public health applications;
  4. Spinout a second start-up company (Toumaz) that has released SensiumVitals®, a FDA-approved and CE-marked ultra-low power system for wireless monitoring of patient vital signs;
  5. Provide early warning of adverse physiological events in clinical settings using the SensiumVitals® platform resulting in improved quality of patient care and reduced demand on intensive care provision in hospitals internationally.

Case 4 - Reconfigurable Computing for High Performance Applications

In the last 20 years, reconfigurable technology has transformed High-Performance Computing and Embedded Systems Design. Research of the Custom Computing and Reconfigurable Systems teams at Imperial led by Professors Peter Cheung and Wayne Luk made pivotal contributions to this transformation, targeting particularly Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology. Since 2008, the impact of this research has been to:

  1. Underpin design flow for partial run-time reconfigurable designs for Xilinx FPGA devices;
  2. Contribute to the start-up company Maxeler, pioneering reconfigurable computing systems and cloud services for high-performance computing in the financial and other sectors;
  3. Enable near real-time risk analysis for JP Morgan’s global portfolio to analyse and manage risk much faster than previously possible;
  4. Achieve about 250 times speedup for Chevron’s seismic modelling for oil and gas exploration, compared to the alternative use of CPU-based machines;
  5. Accelerate a financial market integrity platform for BlueBee and HL Steam in hardware.

Case 5 - Design and optimisation methods for power networks impacting industrial strategies and government policies

The Power Systems research team at Imperial led by Professors Goran Strbac and Tim Green made pivotal contributions in the design of power transmission networks, the equipment within these networks, and non-conventional electricity systems. Since 2008, the impact of their research has been to:

  1. Influence government policies by contributing to House of Common Select Committee (2010);
  2. Support the Fundamental Review of Supply Quality and Security Standards;
  3. Assist National Grid in defining new investment affecting £3bn worth of network assets now approved by the regulator (2013);
  4. Provide tools to develop the first offshore networks design standards in 2008, saving an estimated £500m by 2013 to date and a projected overall saving of £1-2bn by 2020;
  5. Advance Alstom’s design concept for next generation HVDC converter stations for offshore wind connection from TRL 1 in 2009 to TRL 4 in 2013 supported by 3 new patents;
  6. Enable UK Power Network to plan network investment of £1.18bn and make savings of £130m (2013) through applying new technologies and demand response;
  7. Facilitate a scheme for off-grid energy kiosks for electrification in rural Africa yielding social gains and a business opportunity.