UK university given £1m worth of test equipment

According to the university, the laboratory will enable it to play a leading role in the development of next generation wireless broadband networks and user equipment such as smartphones, tablet pcs and future mobile devices. The 4G cellular networks being developed are designed to offer dramatically higher download speeds than current wired or 3G wireless broadband services. Professor Garik Markarian, who is leading the research in the School of Computing and Communications at InfoLab21, said the university was grateful to Aeroflex for the donation. "The new Wireless Broadband Laboratory provides Lancaster University with a state of the art suite of test equipment to design, test and verify different protocols and algorithms for LTE Advanced 4G wireless devices and systems, giving us total flexibility to develop the best system." Said Markarian. "Our strong links with industry, including those with Aeroflex, have contributed to the University's worldwide reputation in this field, and the skills that they learn here mean that our graduates are very much in demand in their future careers." Dr Hayk Manukyan, technical product manager and head of collaborations with Universities at Aeroflex, added: "Aeroflex has a firm commitment to supporting academic research. This is the latest step in our ongoing programme of assisting universities who are at the forefront of wireless technology to help nurture the talented engineers that the industry will need to be competitive in the future. We are delighted to be able to assist Lancaster University, both by donating the equipment to the new laboratory and by sponsoring postgraduate students there, and we look forward to reaping the mutual benefits of this partnership in the future."