• CRC made presentations to several foreign delegations from Australia, Chile, China, Japan, India, Korea, Spain, Thailand and other countries, as well as to private companies from Canada and abroad.
  
• Two students from the Technical University of Catalonia met with CRC's Broadband and Optical Networks team in March 2004 to discuss how CRC's network control strategy, developed with the University of Ottawa under CANARIE' program, could be adapted to manage the network elements of Spain's optical network testbed, i2CAT (UCLP Project).

Wireless Systems

• Spectrum - New research investigated adaptive approaches for spectrum use, particularly at frequencies below 1 GHz. The concept involves the use of non-contiguous unoccupied radio channels in which signal waveforms adapt to the propagation and interference environment. CRC researchers developed a flexible OFDM waveform concept that is highly suited to non-contiguous variable bandwidth operation.

Network Security

• Research Network Systems (RNS) Prototype Network Analysis and Monitoring - CRC continued to modify and enhance this monitoring tool, in partnership with the Defence R&D Canada Information Operations Section. Research on active and passive monitoring focused on the use of the passive network monitoring tools together with intrusion detection systems to obtain a real-time picture of network status under the threat of a cyber attack.

Photonics Technologies

• Bragg Gratings - CRC developed a new process to fabricate high-quality Bragg gratings in optical fibres and crystals. The technique does not require the target material to be photosensitive in the traditional sense, making it useful for high temperature sensor applications. The work resulted in five publications in international peer-reviewed journals, three international peer-reviewed conference publications, the formal filing of one U.S. patent, a filing of a continuation in part on that patent, and the provisional filing of a third U.S.

The past year has brought a flurry of technical achievements, recognition of the innovative talent of our staff and many positive changes for the Communications Research Centre Canada (CRC).