Glare has long been recognised as a problem in street lighting. Glare from street lamps and vehicle headlamps can cause discomfort and a reduction in the conspicuity of objects for both motorists and pedestrians. There is some evidence that the current theory may not explain fully the changes in visual performance that relate to the size and the colour of the glare source. Theoretically the effects of scattering of light and aberrations in the eye have a major impact on retinal image quality. Scattering can cause a loss of visual performance due to discomfort, distraction and reduction in contrast sensitivity. In lighting design terms these effects are known as glare. The problem is usually subdivided into discomfort and disability glare.Recently it has become possible to assess scatter in the eye. The new technique involves direct estimates of light scatter in the eye using imaging techniques. It is both rapid and promises to be significantly more accurate than conventional techniques. This technique is critical to the further investigation of disability glare as it gives the researcher the ability to collect together a group of subjects for whom the veiling luminance in any give scene can be calculated precisely.fMRI is another new tool that has recently been developed to the point where it could be useful in the study of glare. Since its introduction, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has become a routine method for mapping neural activity in the human brain. Of key importance to this proposal is that previous fMRI studies have shown an increase in the activation levels within the visual cortex (area V1) with increasing stimulus luminance contrast . Areas V1 and V2/V3 have also been shown to respond reliably and strongly to changes in the luminance of uniform surfaces. These cortical areas are regarded as possible candidates for representing the dimension of perceived brightness.The project will address the following points in order to improve our understanding of the issues associated with glare:Light scatter within the eye is a good predictor of the change in visual performance when glare is present. This will be tested by assessing the light scattering properties of the eyes of a number of subjects in the laboratory and then taking the subjects to the open air test centre and giving them a series of tasks representative of those carried out by pedestrians and drivers at night under different levels of glare.Discomfort glare is a function of source size. This will be tested with a series of laboratory experiments to set the comfort/discomfort threshold for various light source colours, sizes and geometries, and by subjective assessment of different lighting schemes in the outdoor environment.Discomfort glare can reduce visual performance. It has been suggested that there is a relationship between discomfort glare and distraction; if this is the case then discomfort glare may disrupt the processing of complex visual tasks. To test this we will run a series of experiments in the laboratory where the subject has to perform a series of visual tasks that are each relatively easy to see but it is hard to do them all simultaneously. By using a series of different glare sources we will assess the impact of discomfort glare. This will be checked by doing facial recognition tasks in the PAMELA laboratory with different levels of discomfort glare carefully set up so that they provide similar levels of disability glare.Discomfort glare is a real phenomenon and can be detected in the brain. To test this idea we will select from our cohort of subjects a group with differing tolerance to glare. We will study the brain activity the group whilst they are given various visual tasks to do with different levels of discomfort glare. From the fMRI scans we hope to find certain patterns of brain activity that are associated with the sensation of glare.

Communications on the human body is a relatively unexplored commodity for the personal and mobile communications community. Up to now mobile phone technologies have allowed the user to talk anytime anywhere. But in the developed world this market is becoming saturated and so much has been invested into providing third generation phones with multimedia services. Cameras and low capacity MP3 players are now standard. What does the future hold? The big vision is of people wearing a multitude of sensors, processors, data storage for health or occupational or entertainment reasons and all of these being connected either by wireless or by wires in special clothing. These units may even be inside the body to provide medical solutions such as automatic drug metering and bladder control etc. The well known mobile phone with Bluetooth headset is an example of a wireless on-body link. The famous white iPod headset is perhaps an example of a wired system that needs to be replaced by wireless. Apple, the makers of the iPod, and Nike have recently agreed to collaborate on specially designed footwear that would allow the wearer to use their iPod to monitor time, calories burned and pace, and which uses a wireless communication link, between the iPod and the shoe. These examples show the way that technology is moving in the mass market. In addition, for some time now both the military and the special services, such as firefighters, have been using on-body systems to support their users in various hazardous environments and the use of wireless to remove or reduce the wiring harness is important. What is needed to make the big vision happen? Manufacturers will always simply use existing systems for new applications. The use of Bluetooth for the mobile phone headset is an example of this. It is a wireless system developed for another use, namely connection of peripherals to computers. But to optimise the operation, that is to improve the reliability and reduce battery consumption, requires a deeper understanding of both the radiowave propagation channel on the body and how to design the antennas. In a previous EPSRC grant the University of Birmingham and Queen Mary University of London, began this pioneering work of understanding the radio channel and identifying the factors important in antenna design. Much has been uncovered via extensive measurements of the way in which the channel and hence the received signal fades when the body moves have been made and the underlying statistics determined. However the research programme has only been working at the Bluetooth frequency, 2.45GHz, and mainly been characterising narrowband channels, but not the kinds of data rates needed in communications of live video. The proposed research is necessary to move the position forward to include more work on the design of optimised antennas both for this frequency and for others. For example, the best radiation pattern will be determined using statistical methods for a range of body types and body postures, and various frequencies, including much higher ones than examined so far. For example, operation at 40 or 60GHz would give the possibility of very high data rates and also very low interference between body networks close to each other, but will suffer from fading problems. Antenna diversity is a well known technique for fading reduction. Its use on the body will be investigated at various frequencies. The release of the spectrum from 3 to 10 GHz by the FCC has made ultra wideband systems a real possibility and its high capacity potential, low power and good anti-fading properties make it ideal for future on-body systems. However all of the antennas so far made are too big for realistic on-body use. Design of small wearable types will be investigated. Finally antennas for on body communications throw up immense challenges for computational methods and improved techniques will be investigated to support the whole research programme.

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Doctoral Training Partnerships: a range of postgraduate training is funded by the Research Councils. For information on current funding routes, see the common terminology at https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/how-we-fund-studentships/. Training grants may be to one organisation or to a consortia of research organisations. This portal will show the lead organisation only.

Doctoral Training Partnerships: a range of postgraduate training is funded by the Research Councils. For information on current funding routes, see the common terminology at https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/how-we-fund-studentships/. Training grants may be to one organisation or to a consortia of research organisations. This portal will show the lead organisation only.