The objective of this SE action is the development of an innovative quantum random number generator (Q-RNG). This device will represent an important shift forward in the current panorama of physical RNG. In fact, it will meet simultaneously three requirements: being Ultra-Fast, Integrated, Certified Secure. The UFICS-QRNG will be developed with an SE action that will last 24 months. The researcher, that has matured a relevant expertise in the field of QRNGs, will join the Quantum Information Group at the Toshiba Research Laboratories (TREL) based in Cambridge, UK. These laboratories are worldwide known for cutting edge research in Quantum Optics and Quantum Information. The project starting point will be a fast QRNG prototype, recently developed by TREL. During the action, the researcher will develop a theoretical model to certify the randomness of the generator and will implement an integrated hardware. The UFICS-QRNG will be characterized by an unprecedented level of security. Besides the theoretical model, which will account for all the side information sources that might weaken the generator unpredictability, the device will feature a self-testing protocol, for the continuous monitoring of the entropy. The hardware will be designed to be compatible with other systems and the compliant with the standards. Security, generation rate at Gigabit/s and the possibility of integration in servers and computers, will make the UFICS-QRNG suitable for a variety of applications in Science and Information Technology, which range from experiments of fundamental physics to simulation and cryptographic applications. In the latter case, the UFICS-QRNG will represent the best answer to the lack of physical RNGs able to substitute the unsecure pseudo-RNGs. Given the peculiarity of TREL, an industrial institution that produces high impact scientific works, the researcher will benefit of a unique training, with the possibility to develop a professional profile at the highest levels.

Spin injection and transport in semiconductors is under intense investigation by physicists around the world, motivated by fascinating new insights into condensed matter, aware of considerable potential for novel devices and ensuing technologies. However, spin injection and its detection pose exceptional challenges. Much focus has been on technologically important materials: GaAs, where optical properties aid spin detection, and more recently Si for its long spin lifetimes. Here, we propose a new approach based on germanium. Ge is compatible with Si technology, has a longer spin life time than GaAs, a higher room temperature hole mobility than GaAs or Si, and better modulation properties than Si due to its higher spin-orbit coupling. SiGe heterostructure technology also has the potential to increase spin diffusion lengths by virtue of dramatic enhancements in carrier mobility. We recently carried out optical experiments that demonstrated RT spin transport and extraction through Ge for the first time, based on a structure consisting of Ge grown epitaxially on GaAs and an electrodeposited Ni/Ge Schottky contact [C. Shen et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 97, 162104 (2010)]. Here, we propose to build upon that work and use the Si-Ge system to its full extent, through delta doping and bandstructure-engineering to maximize spin transparency of the electrical contacts and using strain and low dimensionality to enhance coherent transport in the channel. The culmination of this project should be the exciting prospect of the elusive two-terminal semiconductor spin valve operating at room temperature and an early demonstration of spin modulation by a gate electrode in such a device. The programme will combine the complementary expertise of the partners: Warwick in SiGe epitaxy and in carrier transport, Southampton in Schottky barrier research, and Cambridge in semiconductor spin transport by optical and electrical means, together with the facilities of the Southampton Nanofabrication Centre and industrial support from Toshiba Europe Research Ltd.

Wireless communications have expanded enormously over the last decade. Indeed the latest prediction is that the growth will continue. Future wireless communication systems are expected to support high-speed and high-quality multimedia services. To increase the quality and capacity of wireless communications, Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems have been proposed already to exploit signals from multiple antennas at both the transmitter and receiver. Even as a relatively new technique, MIMO has already been employed by the 3rd generation (3G) wireless standards in the form of space-time coding, and it is regarded as an essential component of the 4th generation (4G) and other future systems. However, the performance of MIMO systems deteriorates severely in frequency-selective fading channels, caused by the multi-path delay of the signal. Therefore, effective solutions are required for this difficult problem. To provide a high quality service with increasing demands on data rates within a restricted frequency bandwidth is a major challege. This proposal offers a number of ideas for investigations, which have the potential to overcome the shortcoming mentioned above. Moreover this offers low-complexity, which is an important issue from the point of view of power consumption, as well as high-performance, which is desired by the customers. Single carrier frequency domain equalization (FDE) has been shown to be an effective solution for frequency selective fading channels. In this research, a novel adaptive iterative FDE architecture will be investigated for MIMO systems, to combat time-varying frequency selective fading channels. Iterative (Turbo) decoding will be incorporated with FDE to improve the system performance, where the soft information on the code bits is exchanged between the equalizer and decoder iteratively. Both the linear and nonlinear iterative MIMO FDE structures will be developed. Two types of adaptive algorithms will be investigated to track the channel variations. One is based on adaptive channel estimation, and the other requires no explicit channel estimation. In particular, an adaptive semi-blind iterative MIMO FDE structure will be proposed, which is an extremely novel and effective method to help save the valuable bandwidth and improve the performance. With the rapid growth of the wireless communications market, the high speed, high quality and low cost systems are desired by the wireless service providers. It is acknowledged that technological innovation will play a key role in underpinning this goal. The proposed adaptive Turbo-inspired iterative MIMO FDE system has the advantages of high speed, high performance, low cost and low complexity. It also allows a wide range of tradeoffs on performance, complexity and bandwidth efficiency. Based on intensive analytical and numerical results, the proposed research will be a promising solution for the future (such as 4G) wireless communications.

The idea is to design a "dialogue system" interface to existing databases of the arguments surrounding controversial topics such as "Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union?" or "Should all humans be vegan?". In particular, a user can have a "Moral Maze" style chat with the dialogue system. "Moral Maze" is a longrunning popular BBC 4 Radio programme in which a panel discusses a controversial topic with the help of witnesses and a host who chairs the conversation. The dialogue system consists of a panel of Argumentation Bots (ArguBots) who present arguments for or against the topic under discussion (the pro and con ArguBots), a host ArguBot and a witness ArguBot (that can provide detailed evidence). The user is invited to join the panel and voice their views on the topic under discussion. Thus the user can explore what they thought and what others thought about the controversial topic. An important part of the projects will be to evaluate the effects on people's appreciation of the complexity of debate and attendant ability to comprehend the world from other people's point of view or perspective.

The Internet of Things (IoT) has digitally transformed our everyday life with exciting applications such as smart home, connected healthcare, smart cities, manufacturing automation, relying on billions of devices that have become connected over the past decade. Ofcom estimated that the number of IoT devices in the UK will soar from 13 million in 2016 to 156 million in 2024. Low power wide area networks (LPWANs) are new IoT systems with features of low power and wide coverage (over several kilometres). LPWAN accounts one-fourth of the number of IoT devices and the market. Digital Catapult is building the national LPWAN to improve the qualities of our lives and boost the UK economy using LoRaWAN, NB-IoT, and SigFox technologies. Vodafone and Three UK are piloting NB-IoT for a nationwide cellular-based LPWAN. However, this digital revolution can only be viable if we can provide secure wireless connections. A pair of keys should be established between legitimate devices for encryption and decryption prior to transmissions. Although conventional key distribution schemes, e.g., elliptic curve Diffie Hellman (ECDH) algorithm, are quite mature, they tend to be less suitable for lightweight IoT applications owing to their high complexity. In practice, the pre-shared key (PSK) is often used, which may never refresh the key after its initial configuration. This obviously presents security risks since the key can be revealed, e.g. by side channel attacks. What is worse, many users lack awareness. The UK's first cyber survey in 2019 by the National Cyber Security Centre revealed numerous weak passwords, e.g., 23.2 million victims worldwide used 123456 as their passwords. The vulnerabilities of IoT have resulted in numerous grave security attacks, which have compromised user privacy, adversely affected the economy and undermined the trust in the society. Gartner reported the information security market exceeded $124 billion in 2019. Indeed, conceiving secure yet low-complexity key distribution for low-cost IoT devices is challenging. It becomes even more difficult and cumbersome if key refreshing is needed, such as in LPWAN where IoT devices are located in a far-flung environment over several kilometres radius and may not be attended. This open challenge can be tackled with a radical and completely different approach, namely key generation from wireless channels, which automatically generates cryptographic keys from unpredictable characteristics of the wireless channel, and thus avoids the conventional key distribution. While key generation has been demonstrated to work well with short-range communications such as WiFi, its exploration with LPWAN technologies such as LoRa and NB-IoT is rather limited, due to the more complicated radio propagation conditions and the affected channel reciprocity. This project hence will bridge this gap by designing scalable, automatic, and lightweight key generation solutions for LPWAN. This project will be the first systematic study for LPWAN-based key generation. A synergistic approach will be adopted which involves theoretical modelling, algorithm design and experimental validation. The core aspects of this project will include novel mathematical channel correlation models and channel decomposition algorithms as well as new key generation protocols tuned and optimised for LPWAN. Extensive field-measurements will be carried out to evaluate our algorithms. A unique feature of this project will be the creation of viable security solutions for IoT validated by extensive measurements and proof-of-concept prototypes.