Wireless Innovation Laboratory
(WILAB)
The Wireless Innovation Laboratory (WILAB) will be an innovation platform with a focus on next generation wireless technologies, platforms, and solutions. Focusing on industrial challenges, WILAB will provide a co-creation ecosystem, combing industry experience with research expertise, critical research infrastructure and immersive opportunities within industry.
Working with a range of different partners, WILAB will have three major points of focus:
- Accelerated co-creation of innovative solutions through an innovation accelerator platform established with industry partners and key stakeholders, leveraging the university’s research competencies
- Lighthouse projects delivering sector-wide benefits in close collaboration with an ecosystem of stakeholders and multidisciplinary research teams to tackle key challenges to technology uptake
- Creating a digital talent pipeline with innovation skills and mindset and industry readiness through programs of innovation fellowships (internships), enhanced research higher degree training, and reskilling through Micro Certification.
WILAB is a new initiative that has formed to enable frontier technologies and develop a talent pipeline of graduates with an innovation mindset to accelerate the uptake of wireless communications in modern society.
Through its partnerships and research initiatives, WILAB is expected to rapidly grow and evolve to address current and future wireless communications needs.
WILAB is a multi-institutional collaboration involving the University of Melbourne and the RMIT University.
- The University of Melbourne
- RMIT University
Partners
WILAB will become an enduring activity, developing strong partnerships with a broad range of stakeholders in telecommunications and the broader wireless communications industry.
Situated at Melbourne Connect, WILAB will partner with network providers, technology suppliers, government, end-users and other stakeholders to co-create innovative solutions and build sovereign capability. It will foster an enduring relationship between the communications and innovation sectors, creating a unique constellation of cross-disciplinary researchers, network and technology specialists, sector representatives and government. Innovative technology creations will deliver substantive productivity improvements across key sectors including defence and national security, digital health, construction and infrastructure development, intelligent logistics, smart agriculture, food technologies, and digital mining by accelerating adoption of Industry 4.0.
Existing testbeds in key sectors will be leveraged to support innovation in a fail-safe environment. Flagship lighthouse projects will provide exemplars defining technology and business models to accelerate adoption and de-risk broader uptake of 5G.
WILAB is seeking industry partnerships involving co-investment to identify and accelerate innovation activities that will be leveraged through government investment.
Innovation
Society is becoming hyperconnected with an unprecedented need for connectivity. Ultrabroadband wireless communications and networking are key enablers of innovation across a range of sectors and bring exceptional economic value creation potential.
A new array of core technologies must be co-designed and integrated to create disruptive market-ready solutions to meet the evolving needs of specific sectors. There is an urgent need to create a pipeline of industry-ready engineers and digital professionals with an innovation mindset to develop digital technologies to fast-track uptake of next generation communications technologies. Delaying uptake of 5G will delay the societal benefits.
Outputs
The following outputs will be targeted through WILAB’s goal of delivering next generation enabling wireless communications:
- Direct and indirect jobs related to WILAB’s innovation accelerator projects
- Multidisciplinary internships in the communications sector through innovation fellowships
- PhD graduates who have developed an innovation mindset and capabilities in the use of frontier wireless technologies
- Micro certification to upskill the workforce to support the adoption of wireless innovative technologies
- Lighthouse projects that provide exemplars for the deployment of wireless technology in different sectors
WILAB is a multi-institutional collaboration between
the University of Melbourne and RMIT University.
WILAB’s core innovation enabler team comprises academic experts with a broad range of wireless technology expertise. It is responsible for engaging with industry to identify innovation opportunity to advance wireless technologies through education and research project.
- Professor Tansu Alpcan
Lead
University of Melbourne
- Professor Kandeepan Sithamparanathan
Deputy Lead
RMIT University
Steering committee
Professor Thas Nirmalathas, The University of Melbourne- Professor Kandeepan Sithamparanathan, RMIT University
Professor Chris Manzie, TheUniversity of Melbourne
Professor Jamie Evans, The University of Melbourne
Professor Len Sciacca, The University of Melbourne
Dr David Heath, The University of Melbourne
Dr Gerry Roe, RMIT University
Researchers
Across both institutions, researchers have access to state-of-the-art facilities for design, implementation, and testing wireless network solutions as well as experience and capabilities to develop software and applications.
The University of Melbourne researchers
Electronics & Electronic Engineering
Professor Marimuthu Palaniswami
Associate Professor Brian Krongold
Associate Professor Ranjith Unnithan
Computing and Information Systems
Agriculture
Digital Health
Associate Professor Jo-Anne Manski-Nankervis
Transport
Law
Economics
Mechanical Enginering
Finance
Infrastructure Engineering
RMIT University researchers
Electronics & Telecommunications Engineering
Professor Kandeepan Sithamparanathan
Download the WILAB presentation (PDF)
News and events
WILAB will be headquartered in the new Melbourne Connect building due to open in 2021. Located on the corner of Swanston and Grattan Streets in Parkville, Melbourne Connect is a purpose-built innovation precinct bringing together industry and researchers to develop solutions for our most pressing future challenges.
For enquiries regarding collaborative opportunities or for further information about WILAB, please contact:
Professor Tansu Alpcan
Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering
Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
The University of Melbourne
E: tansu.alpcan@unimelb.edu.au
T: (03) 8344 8145