Networked and Ubiquitous Systems Engineering (NUSE)
Established in 2019, the group has built a global reputation for leading research in distributed systems, security and game engineering.
Cutting-edge research
NUSE group members specialise in cutting-edge research across:
- distributed systems
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Internet of Things (IoT)
- edge cloud computing
- distributed machine learning
- game engineering
- security
The group combines expertise in these interconnected fields, developing efficient and secure technologies. This enables intelligent devices and systems to collaborate seamlessly across different environments.
The group also addresses critical challenges in safeguarding distributed systems:
- Edge AI
- IoT
- federated learning
The group develops robust solutions for securing data and AI models against adversarial attacks.
Through the EPSRC, National Edge AI Hub and Centre for AI Safety, the group also leads research on:
- AI robustness
- ethical safety
- resilience against cyber threats across sectors
This makes significant contributions to dependable and secure intelligent systems.
Game engineering
Game engineering focuses on the foundational technologies in game engineering. It also explores the application of real-time simulation across various disciplines. Core technologies encompass:
- multi-core programming
- advanced graphical techniques
- distributed physics simulation
- streamed or multi-user simulations
Applications of real-time simulation extend to virtual and augmented reality, gesture and motion analysis. There are also interactive solutions in:
- health
- education
- engineering
- societal impact
Additionally, the lab explores the use of serious games for diverse, impactful purposes. The group carried out over 15 industry-based projects a year on commercial games that have generated £5B revenue.
National Edge AI Hub
NUSE is a home to the prestigious EPSRC National Edge AI Hub, UK.
National Edge AI Hub delivers world class fundamental research. This is co-created with stakeholders from other disciplines and regions. They protect the quality of data learning associated with AI algorithms when subjected to cyber-attacks in edge computing environments.
National Edge AI Hub also has exclusive research network of 75+ industry partners and 12 leading UK universities. The hub leverages cutting-edge infrastructure, including:
- state-of-the-art server rooms
- high-performance computing tailored for advanced research
- ground-breaking research on premier testbeds
One such test bed is the Newcastle Urban Observatory. It is the UK’s largest urban sensing network, perfect for real-time edge computing projects. Moreover, the hub is also home to the Centre for AI Safety, a ground-breaking new research centre.
It will help to ensure AI systems operate safely, ethically, and reliably across all sectors of society.
Research projects
National Edge AI Hub for Real Data: Edge Intelligence for Cyber-disturbances and Data Quality
Researcher(s): PI: Raj. RanjanCo-I: O. Rana, T. Shah, C. Maple, J. McCann, G. Morgan, V. Ojha, B. Wei, P. James, et al.
Funder: EPSRC
Funding amount: £15,000,000 GBP - FEC (including contributions from industry partners)
Duration: February 2024-January 2029
Australian Research Council Hub for Future Digital Manufacturing
Researcher(s): PI: D. Georgakopoulos Co-I: P. P. Jayaraman, Raj. Ranjan (International Partner Investigator), et al.
Funder: ARC
Funding amount: £5,500,000 GBP – FEC (including contributions from industry partners and universities)
Duration: 2024-2028
UK-Australia Centre in a Secure Internet of Energy: Supporting Electric Vehicle Infrastructure at the 'Edge' of the Grid
Researcher(s): PI: Raj. Ranjan Co-I: O. Rana, G. Morgan, J. Liang, et al.
Funder: EPSRC
Funding amount: £3,000,000 GBP – FEC (including contributions from industry partners)
Duration: July 2022-June 2025
Scalable Circular Supply Chains for the Built Environment
Researcher(s): PI: Raj. Ranjan Co-I: G. Morgan, A van Moorsel, E. Solaiman
Funder: EPSRC
Funding amount: £453,561 GBP – FEC
Duration: January 2022-December 2024
Sustainable urban power supply through intelligent control and enhanced restoration of AC/DC networks
Researcher(s): PI: J. Liang (Cardiff PI), Raj. Ranjan (Newcastle PI) Co-I: O. Rana, L. Cipcigan, et al.
Funder: EPSRC-NSFC Call in Sustainable Power Supply
Funding amount: Combined Value across UK and Chinese Consortium - £1,100,000+ GBP - FEC
Duration: 2019-2022
Centre for Digital Citizens – Next Stage Digital Economy Centre
Researcher(s): PI: D. Kirk Co-I: SW Lawson, AC Durrant (Co-I), P James (Co-I), Raj. Ranjan (Co-I)
Funder: EPSRC
Funding amount: Combined Value across UK Consortium - £4,700,000+ GBP - FEC
Duration: 2020-2025
Air Quality Modelling Toolkit in the Cloud-Edge Setting
Researcher(s): PI: Raj. Ranjan Co-I: Z Wen, G. Morgan
Funder: Research Impact Fund
Funding amount: £15,000 GBP
Duration: 2021
A Semantic Approach to Health Data Governance for Privacy, Accountability, Confidence and Transparency
Researcher(s): PI: Raj. Ranjan Co-I: G. Morgan
Funder: Research Impact Fund
Funding amount: £20,000 GBP
Duration: 2020
Osmotic MindSphere: Multi-Resolution Air Quality Modelling across Cloud and Edge
Researcher(s): PI: Raj. Ranjan Co-I: Z Wen
Funder: Pitch-In: Connecting capabilities for the Internet of Things, Research England
Funding amount: £254,648.14 GBP – Full Economic Cost
Duration: 2019-2021
IoTSim-Edge: Simulation and Modelling infrastructure for Edge Applications
Researcher(s): PI: Raj. Ranjan
Funder: Research Impact Fund
Funding amount: £15,000 GBP
Duration: Unknown
PACE: Privacy-Aware Cloud Ecosystems
Researcher(s): PI: Raj. Ranjan Co-I: S. Papagiannidis
Funder: EPSRC – EP/R033293/1
Funding amount: £400,000 GBP - Full Economic Cost
Duration: 2018-2021
Flood-PREPARED: Predicting Rainfall Events by Physical Analytics of Realtime Data
Researcher(s): PI: S. Barr Co-I: Raj. Ranjan (Co-Investigator), et al.
Funder: NERC - NE/P017134/1
Funding amount: $3,600,000 AUD (£1,800,000 GBP – Full Economic Cost)
Duration: 2017-2021
Landslide Multi-Hazard Risk Assessment, Preparedness and Early Warning in South Asia: Integrating Meteorology, Landscape, and Society
Researcher(s): PI: B. Malamud (KCL) Co-I: Raj. Ranjan (Newcastle PI), et al.
Funder: NERC - NE/P000681/1
Funding amount: $4,000,000 AUD (£2,000,000 GBP - Full Economic Cost includes funding awarded to British Geological Survey)
Duration: 2016-2020
Real-Time Threat Detection and Mitigation for Smart Home Devices
Researcher(s): PI: Dr Dev Jha
Funder: Northern Accelerator/Higher Education Innovation Fund.
Funding amount: £23,622
Duration: 2025
6G Driven Smart Robots in Disaster Management Scenarios
Researcher(s): PI: Dr Tomasz Szydlo
Funder: 6G-PATH – Open Call #1, Track B
Funding amount: 60,000 EUR
Duration: 2025-2026
Cryptocurrency Fraud
Researcher(s): PI: Aydin Abadi Co-I: Steven Murdoch
Funder: REPHRAIN
Funding amount: £120,000
Duration: 2023-2024
AgriTrust: Trust Assurance in Autonomous Cyber Physical Agriculture Farms of Future
Researchers: PI: Professor Shishir Nagaraja, Co-I: Dr. Mujeeb Ahmed
Funder: UKRI
Funding amount: £146,000
Duration: 2021-2023
Robustness‑as‑traceability (R‑as‑T), UK National Centre on IoT Cybersecurity (PETRAS)
Researchers: PI: Professor Shishir Nagaraja Co-I: Dr. Mujeeb Ahmed
Funder: PETRAS
Funding amount: £255,000
Privacy at‑Ransom Testbed, UK National Centre for Privacy and Protection of Citizens Online
Researcher(s): Dr. Mujeeb Ahmed
Funder: REPHRAIN
Funding amount: £90,000
Duration: 2021-2023
Human-Computer Interaction
Researchers: Dr. Giacomo Bergami
Funder: FNC
Duration: 2023-2024
Collaborators
The group works with Newcastle University’s Urban Observatory co-located in the Urban Science Building (USB). They made significant advancements in open source technologies:
- IoTSim-Edge
- IoTSim-Stream
- BigDataSDNSim
- IoTSim-Osmosis
This enabled the creation, simulation and testing of scalable computing environments. It also supported the rapid development of IoT and Big Data analytics applications.
IoTSim-X technologies leverage CloudSim as the baseline simulation framework. This is one of the world’s most adopted cloud computing simulators used by academic institutions and industry labs. CloudSim has become a foundational tool for modelling and simulating cloud infrastructure and services.
With over 6,000 citations, this work has made a lasting impact on the research and development of cloud computing systems. It has helped developers and researchers design more efficient and scalable solutions.
National Edge AI at NUSE has exclusive research network of 75+ industry partners from across the UK:
- Wales (Swansea, Cardiff)
- England (Durham, Southampton, Lancaster, Newcastle, Imperial)
- Scotland (St. Andrews, UWS)
- Northern Ireland (Queen’s University Belfast)
The industry partners come from a variety of sectors from around the world, reflecting the diversity of industry uses for Edge AI. These sectors include:
- environmental monitoring
- digital media and marketing
- healthcare and medicine
- technology and IT solutions
- vehicle engineering