Funding for Research on Resilient Robotic Teleoperation over Open RAN
The University of Glasgow (UofG) and UCD are pleased to announce the successful funding of their new collaborative research project, “Resilient Robotic Teleoperation over O-RAN for Safety-Critical Environments,” supported by the Glasgow Global Partnership Fund (GGPF).
Led by Dr Burak Kizilkaya (UofG, School of Computing Science) and Dr Nima Afraz (Lead PI at (opens in a new window)UCD Network Intelligence and Automation Lab), with Co-Investigator Dr Shuja Ansari (Uof G, School of Engineering), the project brings together complementary expertise in robotics, teleoperation, Open RAN, AI-driven network optimisation, and next-generation communication systems. The collaboration aims to address a critical global challenge: ensuring that remotely controlled robots operating in hazardous or safety-critical environments can rely on ultra-reliable, low-latency wireless connectivity.
Robotic control tasks, such as emergency response, nuclear-site inspection, and remote healthcare, depend on highly stable communication networks. Within disaggregated Open RAN systems, these performance guarantees can be threatened by interactions between multiple vendor xApps managing radio resources. The project will design, model, and experimentally validate mechanisms to detect and mitigate such conflicts, ultimately enabling safer and more resilient teleoperation.
Through a series of reciprocal research visits in Dublin and Glasgow from late 2025 to mid-2026, the project teams will jointly develop simulation frameworks, create new xApps (including a Latency Guard, Conflict Detector, and Task-Aware Scheduler), and integrate findings with physical robotic testbeds.
The project also supports the GGPF’s mission by deepening institutional collaboration and contributing to innovative research with meaningful societal and industrial impact. As part of the programme, the team will document its progress through public-facing materials, photography, and outreach activities illustrating how advanced networks can enhance the safety and reliability of robotic systems worldwide.
The (opens in a new window)Network Intelligence and Automation Lab (NIA) at University College Dublin conducts research in intelligent, autonomous, and data driven network systems. The lab focuses on developing future communication infrastructures that operate adaptively, securely, and efficiently, with core expertise in Open RAN conflict mitigation, autonomous resource sharing for satellite and non terrestrial networks, and blockchain assisted decision automation. NIA collaborates with academic, industry, and government partners, and its work is supported by major national and European research programmes.
NIA contributes to international and national research projects including the National Space Subsystems and Payloads Initiative (NSSPI) project (€7.9M, Enterprise Ireland/DTIF), co-coordinates RE-ROUTE (€671.6K, European Commission), and Data-driven xApps Conflict Management in Open RAN funded by Research Ireland CONNECT Centre.
The kick-off meeting for the project took place on 19 November 2025.
For more information, please contact:
Dr Burak Kizilkaya – (opens in a new window)burak.kizilkaya@glasgow.ac.uk
Dr Nima Afraz – (opens in a new window)nima.afraz@ucd.ie
Dr Shuja Ansari – (opens in a new window)shuja.ansari@glasgow.ac.uk
Published 27 Nov 2025