Research Centre
CONNECT is the Science Foundation Ireland research centre for communications networking, services, applications and technologies. Its mission is to research, develop and innovate solutions to the communications challenges facing society. New broadband architectures, new cellular technologies and the Internet of Things is at the centre of its work.
Many of the challenges it aims to address are related to ageing societies, the environment, energy and pollution, the intensification of agriculture, and mass entertainment.
Whether it’s connecting small simple Things or big complex Things, we need new ways of rolling out responsive and flexible networks. CONNECT exists to develop these new connections.
TSSG’s team of 15 researchers working within the CONNECT centre are developing solutions for resource allocation in vehicular networks, Network Functions Virtualisation, management of Internet of Things services, and nanoscale networks.




Research Areas
- Future networks, including wireless and optical technologies
- Network-aware services and service-aware networks
- Responsive Things (key components of the Internet of Things)
- Testbed-based experimentation and iterative development
Research Programmes
CONNECT’s circa 200 researchers tackle both significant long-term challenges and nearer-term problems of interest to industry. Their work includes the development of:
- Energy-efficient ultra-low power smart sensors
- Programmable network substrates for multi-stakeholder ecosystems
- Extreme-sharing systems for Cloud-RAN architectures
- Network-aware reconfigurable multiband/multimode transceiver architectures
- Resource Allocation Solutions for vehicular networks
Industry and Commercialisation
CONNECT works with its industry partners on targeted projects in the areas of Internet of Things, future cellular (5G and beyond), next-generation broadband, software-defined networks and cloud-based services. CONNECT addresses their research needs in a timely and effective manner.
Facilities
Ireland’s largest public data centre Pan-Ireland network connecting research partners Indoor/outdoor wireless testbeds for cellular, Cloud-RAN and SDR Internet of Things testbeds. Operations the Pervasive Nation Internet of Things Testbed (http://pervasivenation.ie).
Industry Partners
Aeronet Global, Alcatel Lucent (Bell Labs), Analog Devices, Ampleon, Arris, Benetel, Cisco, Cork City Council, Dublin City Council, ESB, Google, Huawei, IBM, InnaLabs, Intel, MACOM, Nonlinear Systems, Rambus, RCNx, Real Wireless, Rivada Networks, S3, Synopsys, Taoglas, UTRC, Xilinx