The "LINK" scheme encourages collaborative research projects between UK companies and universities. Within the LINK scheme there are about 35 "Programmes" covering different subjects.

The LINK Personal Communications Programme is one of these. It started in 1988, and about 30 projects have been approved for funding.

"Personal Communication" here refers to radio-based telecommunications which allow the individual to make and receive calls irrespective of location. This includes for example present-day cellular radio systems, but also future developments already being planned, which will bring integration of cellular, cordless, paging, and satellite systems.

Government grants are awarded to partners in the projects, up to a maximum of 50% of the total project costs. The industrial partners (in this case Orange and Portset) receive funding from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the university research is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

Despite the immense capabilities of modern communication systems, the special needs of deaf people have not generally been specifically catered for. An example is the text adaptors ("Minicoms") used by deaf people in conjunction with a telephone, to communicate with other deaf people and with public organisations (police, utilities, DSS etc). These adaptors are needed because the ordinary telephone system was not designed for this purpose.

However, some more recent systems do include features and services that can be used to meet such needs. This is particularly true of modern digital radio-based systems such as the one operated by Orange, and for this reason, the Orange system is being used in the project as the basis of user trials. It has the capability to provide a "short message service" whereby a text message can be sent to another user, for immediate or later delivery, without the need to set up a call.

Orange's Head of Research & Technology, Ed Candy said " We are pleased to be involved in this project which will extend the concept of individual communication to customers who traditionally would not have considered using mobile telephony "

- PORTSET SYSTEMS Ltd., a small Southampton-based company with long experience of designing and manufacturing specialised products such as text-to-speech equipment for blind and partially-sighted people. They are managing the project, and will be concerned with the development of text-to-speech and speech-to-text interfaces to enable deaf people to communicate directly with the hearing world.

- BRISTOL University, which has unique credentials for research in this area - having both a very strong telecommunications department (The Centre for Communications Research); and the renowned Centre for Deaf Studies. The telecommunications research will include the interfacing of miniature ("palmtop") computers to radio-based telephones, in order to facilitate text communication modes. An associated project is to be conducted into the feasibility of the video transmission of sign-language using portable equipment. The role of the Centre for Deaf Studies will be to conduct research into the human interface. They will be responsible for organising user trials by deaf people of the experimental systems and services being developed in the project.

- DUNDEE University are to provide support to the project based on their own research, conducted over several years into the use of wired telecommunications by people with special needs.

Project Manager: Graham Thomas, Portset Systems
Telephone: 01489-893919, Fax: 01489-893320, Email: GThomas@portset.co.uk

LINK Personal Communications Programme Co-ordinator: Barry West
Telephone/fax: 01279-816293 Email: bgwest@cix.compulink.co.uk

Orange Contact: Mark Humphrey, Head of Public Relations, Orange Personal Communications Services Ltd. Telephone: 01992 502652 Fax: 01992 502141.

University of Bristol Contacts
Prof. Andy Bateman, Centre for Telecommunications Research,
Telephone: 0117 928 7728 Fax: 0117 9255265 Email A.Bateman@bristol.ac.uk
Dr Jim Kyle, Centre for Deaf Studies,
Telephone: 0117 9288080 Fax: 0117 9257875 Email: edjgk@ssa.bris.ac.uk

University of Dundee Contact Dr Nick Hine, Centre for Micro Electronics,
Telephone: 01382 344711 Fax: 01382 345509 Email: nhine@mcs.dundee.ac.uk

Portset Homepage For more information contact tcall@portset.co.uk