In space imaging, enhanced image quality is key to the detection and characterisation of difficult and transient targets. For example, accurate evaluation of the sea surface conditions can help with the detection and characterisation of ship wakes. These provide key information for tracking (illegal) vessels and are also useful in classifying the characteristics of the wake generating vessel. Until recently, one of the main factors hampering research into sea surface modelling was the lack of sufficient data of high enough quality, able to accurately describe the sea surface. Remote-sensing technologies have however shown remarkable progress in recent years and the availability of remotely sensed data of the Earth and sea surface is continuously growing. Several European missions (e.g., the Italian COSMO/SkyMed or the German TerraSAR-X) have developed a new generation of satellites exploiting synthetic aperture radar (SAR) to provide spatial resolutions previously unavailable from space-borne remote sensing. The UK is currently developing the first of a constellation of four satellites that will constitute the NovaSAR mission. This represents a milestone for Earth-observation capabilities but also requires the development of novel image modelling, analysis, and processing techniques, able to cope with this new generation of data and to optimally exploit them for information-extraction purposes. Indeed, the mathematical modelling and understanding of wakes and other sea surface signatures can be greatly enhanced through image analysis and information extraction from SAR imagery. Hence, this project is concerned not only with the development and validation of new sea surface models, but also with the design of very advanced methods for enhancing SAR image quality and for subsequent information extraction. The results of this project will be important in the detection and tracking of illegal vessels involved in smuggling goods or humans. They will also be indicative in terms of understanding and classifying the characteristics of the wake generating vessel. As a consequence, the work will directly benefit the design of stealthy vessels that can avoid such detections, reducing the risk to naval operations.

The main objective of the proposed research is to transfer to British Industry advanced technologies in making metal mirrors - both existing methods in which the University of Huddersfield has considerable experience, and improvements to be developed during the project. The idea of making mirrors out of metal goes right back to Sir Isaac Newton's reflecting telescope, which he built in 1668 as a way to overcome the colour fringe problem with the simple glass lenses available at that time. His chosen alloy - speculum - was hard and easy to polish, but tarnished quickly, and the ability to reflect light effectively, was not good by modern standards. Aluminium alloys have superseded Speculum, due to aluminium's availability at low cost in large sizes, and because of its superior reflection properties and durability. Whilst it expands and contracts much more than glass with changing temperature, it settles down much more quickly because it conducts heat very well. Moreover, you can drop it or shake it and it will not break! However, aluminium has a distinct disadvantage - it is soft and difficult to polish. For this reason, aluminium mirrors have normally been made in modest sizes by turning using a very high-precision lathe and diamond tools. Unfortunately, diamond-turning inevitably leaves characteristic features on surfaces, which make the mirrors not very good for imaging in 'visible' light. Instead, they are usually used in the more-tolerant infrared (e.g. for night-vision goggles). In metre sizes, aluminium mirrors have normally been machined traditionally, then nickel-plated, as this is easier to polish. But nickel has inferior reflection properties to aluminium, so back to square-1! Worse, the nickel expands differently from aluminium, and the whole mirror can distort with temperature changes. With that background, the project concerns two main avenues of investigation. The first tackles removing the features on diamond-turned mirrors, using computer-controlled polishing machines and robot platforms. The diamond turning will be performed using machines on-campus, with specialised diamond tools provided by the partner CFT Ltd. Then, polishing will proceed in Huddersfield's new laboratory at the STFC-Daresbury site, using highly specialised abrasive slurries from the partner company Kemet Ltd. The technology developed will be transferred to a defence company making optics, QioptiQ Ltd. The second avenue is to develop methods to make bare aluminium mirrors in metre sizes, as needed by partner TMF Ltd. The idea is then to position Kemet as a potential supplier, by transferring technology and so upgrading their lapping and polishing facility. In both cases, a key aspect missing from previous research is investigating the detailed interactions between process steps. The best surface in terms of the heights of errors, may not be best for polishing, because of how those errors are distributed over the surface. We believe the project will break new ground in considering this type of approach for both avenues above.

We propose a Centre for Doctoral Training in Integrative Sensing and Measurement that addresses the unmet UK need for specialist training in innovative sensing and measurement systems identified by EPSRC priorities the TSB and EPOSS . The proposed CDT will benefit from the strategic, targeted investment of >£20M by the partners in enhancing sensing and measurement research capability and by alignment with the complementary, industry-focused Innovation Centre in Sensor and Imaging Systems (CENSIS). This investment provides both the breadth and depth required to provide high quality cohort-based training in sensing across the sciences, medicine and engineering and into the myriad of sensing applications, whilst ensuring PhD supervision by well-resourced internationally leading academics with a passion for sensor science and technology. The synergistic partnership of GU and UoE with their active sensors-related research collaborations with over 160 companies provides a unique research excellence and capability to provide a dynamic and innovative research programme in sensing and measurement to fuel the development pipeline from initial concept to industrial exploitation.

The proposal will develop one of the three UK energy materials hubs, which will carry out cutting edge research in close collaboration with industry in the development of materials up to demonstrator level (pre-commercial) devices. The hub will also have a major role in networking, training, educating in energy materials and devices across UK groups and industry, and will link-up and compliment existing energy related networks and groups to benefit the UK. The "JUICED" Hub [Joint University-Industry Consortium for Energy (Materials) and Devices Hub] will focus its research on nano-enabled energy materials (ceramic materials on a scale of a billionth of a meter wide). Energy materials will be made and developed in applications, such as high performance batteries and similar energy storage devices for automotive, grid or consumer device applications, low cost materials for electrolysers (which use electrical energy to split water into oxygen and hydrogen fuel), fuel cells [devices which take chemical energy and can (sometimes) reversibly convert it to electrical energy]. Other energy materials of interest are materials which can scavenge low grade heat or energy and convert it into electrical energy or materials which can help store, transfer or regulate thermal energy. The novelty in the hub's approach is that it will be able to considerably accelerate the development of new sustainable materials ; (i) Use high throughput synthesis (making a large number of samples quickly in parallel or in series) and in many cases, computational methods (use of computers to simulate and understand and predict materials properties) and appropriate (rapid) screening of materials properties, which will identify lead materials in each application area (ii) Laboratory-scale synthesis of the highest performing samples from above and testing to identify materials for larger scale syntheses (iii) pilot scale syntheses and tests on samples on pre-commercial demonstrator devices, (in collaboration with industry or end users with a strong emphasis on replacing precious or unsustainable metals such as Pt, Ir, Ru, Pb, etc.). How the research aligns with the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund objectives; The proposed energy hub aligns well to the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund objectives as follows; the interactions with the industrial consortium in the hub will work with UK industry and accelerate discoveries of new advanced functional materials which will increase UK businesses' investment in R&D and improved R&D capability and capacity. The research in the hub, which covers aspects of materials, testing and characterisation as well as scale-up will lead to an increase multi- and interdisciplinary research around the challenge area of "clean and flexible energy", particularly in the design, development and manufacture of energy storage devices (batteries or similar devices) for the electrification of vehicles to support the business opportunities presented by the low carbon economy and tackle air pollution (e.g. new sustainable catalysts for oxygen evolution and reduction which can also be used in next generation batteries). Other areas that the hub covers that are which are linked to the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund include "Manufacturing and Materials of the Future" (develop new, affordable, materials for advanced manufacturing sectors). Some of these materials are important components in devices which have applications also in Satellites and space technologies. The JUICED hub includes a number of scale-up and demonstrator activities and therefore this will lead to increased business-academic engagement on innovation activities relating to the same aforementioned challenge areas. The JUICED energy hub will include a number of larger and smaller companies and it will reach out to even more potential companies in the UK (SMEs and larger companies) with its workshops which will publicise capabilities.

Optical metrology plays a vital role in an astonishing array of important research areas and applications, from basic science discovery to material processing, medicine, healthcare, energy, manufacturing and engineering. Optical metrology instruments are normally large, heavy structures that require a well-stabilised environment to maintain accuracy, stability and functionality. These physical and functional features prevent optical metrology from moving into future smart and autonomous applications across many sectors. The proposed programme aims to challenge fundamental barriers to the use of optical measurement techniques in highly integrated, smart and autonomous 'Industry 4.0' metrology applications and emerging nanotechnologies, by establishing a unique, world-leading research collaboration in the UK that brings together advanced metrology and nanotechnology. It will translate the latest advances in nanophotonics, plasmonics and metamaterials research, in which the UK has played an internationally-leading role, into metrological applications. This will have a transformational impact on optical metrology by enabling cheaper, smarter and much more compact solutions. Research will be channelled through three complementary streams: 1. Nanophotonics-enabled components for metrology. This strand of the programme will draw on the wealth of recent fundamental developments in nanophotonics, for example, the fact that surfaces patterned with subwavelength-sized features can offer exquisite control over the wavefront of propagating light. Replacing one (or several) bulky element(s) with a single surface that carries out the same (combined) function offers hugely significant savings in size and weight, complexity and robustness (e.g. against misalignment), and opportunity to develop new measurement functionalities and instrumental configurations that are not otherwise possible. 2. Novel metrology concepts for nanotechnology. We will develop two ground-breaking ideas for metrological technologies: (1) The "optical ruler", which allows for non-contact displacement measurements with potentially sub-nm resolution using a sensor that could ultimately be manufactured on the tip of an optical fibre; (2) An approach to dynamic "nano-motion imaging" based upon the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) platform, to spatially map high-frequency nano- to picometre amplitude movement. 3. Novel metrology tools for manufacturing and nanotechnology. Using the nanophotonic components and concepts described above, we will develop novel metrology tools and measurement techniques to perform in real-world, as opposed to laboratory, conditions. Target applications will include, for example, surface/geometric metrologies compatible with manufacturing tools such as diamond turning machines and multi-axis (sub-) nanometric displacement encoding for translation stages. This programme will bring together the expertise of world-leading research groups in metrology and nanophotonics, with key industrial project partners including Renishaw and Taylor Hobson. Together, we aim to address long-standing challenges for optical metrology and to develop new, disruptive metrological technologies. These advances will be vital to support the high-value manufacturing sector in the UK. The impact of this work, however, will be felt across a far broader range of disciplines, as size and weight are significant issues in, for example, instrumentation for space science, optical instrumentation for surgical applications, and robotic arm-mounted instruments.