The European project TERAPOD, focused on testing wireless solutions in data centres for the first time, has come to an end. The developed technologies can contribute to the more efficient management of said facilities.
Currently, data centres consisting of computers and storage machines are highly dependent on cable connections. According to Luís Pessoa, head of the TERAPOD project at INESC TEC and researcher at the Centre for Telecommunications and Multimedia (CTM), the use of these connections is so extensive that they create obstacles to the free air flow inside the centres, thus hindering the cooling process. Using wireless connections can help addressing this issue.
In this specific scenario, researchers turned to communications hardware beyond 5G.
“Concerning very high frequency bands, only a few technologies are suitable to operate efficiently, and the integration of optical and electronic technologies plays an instrumental role,” added Luís Pessoa.
All the goals proposed in 2017, at the beginning of the project, were accomplished. More specifically, INESC TEC excelled in terms of contributions that involved the production of high frequency antennas, and the transition of technologies in the same frequency range. These outputs were the result of a very close collaboration with the University College London and the University of Glasgow, in the United Kingdom, and the company ACST GmbH (Germany). The partnership with these institutions will continue after the end of the project, through joint work in the development of improved prototypes, scientific publications and the development of new project proposals.
The Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT), from Ireland, was the project’s coordinator, and the CTM researchers involved were Luís Pessoa, Henrique Salgado, José Machado da Silva and Nuno Teixeira de Almeida.
This project was funded under the H2020-EU programme.2.1.1. – INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP – Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies – Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), with a total financing of around €3.5M.
The INESC TEC researchers mentioned in this news piece are associated with INESC TEC and UP-FEUP.
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