Dr Simon Kent
Honorary Reader

Research area(s)

My current research interests are in Digital Education and Analytics,

I have also worked in high-performance computing, distributed computing (cloud computing), and machine learning.

Project details

Here is a list of the wide variety of past projects I have been involved in:

Image Processing for Biology

I have been involved in the use of image processing techniques to improve the analysis of cell images in cancer research.

Distributed Order Matching Engine Feasibility Study

I secured funding for and built a distributed order matching engine in collaboration with Sucden UK, a large commodity trader based at London Bridge. This software has subsequently been used for coursework in an Enterprise Computing module.

Mobile Phone Based Reward Driven Remote Monitoring of Diabetic Teenagers

I have worked with colleagues at Brunel and at Hillingdon Hospital on an approach to train Diabetic Teenagers to better manage their blood sugar levels. I developed a prototype application which was used as the basis of a submission for funding form Diabetes UK.

VidGrid – Distributed Scene Rendering using Jini

This project was in collaboration with the National Centre for Computer Animation. We developed a prototype distributed rendering system in pursuit of a goal of achieving real-time scene rendering using Jini as an enabling technology.

 “Evolutionary Approaches to Robot Path Planning”

The research that I undertook for my PhD was primarily focussed on Artificial Intelligence (AI) applied to Robot Path Planning

 “Investigation into Proximity Fuze Delay Algorithms” (DERA Contract)

I applied Genetic Programming techniques to a military application to determine the optimal time to detonate a warhead on a missile. The research output was a feasibility report presented to The Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA).

Oral Cancer Diagnosis using Genetic Programming

In collaboration with the Eastman’s Dental Institute, I applied Genetic Programming to the problem of classifying the risk of patients suffering from oral cancer given data about their lifestyle.

Distributed (Cloud) Computing Architectures

Distributed pipeline execution framework

I am researching techniques that allow software to be run on large numbers of computers which manage themselves autonomously to reduce susceptibility to failure when unreliable network connections break down.

Internet of Things

Home Automation and Energy Saving

Investigating how appliances within a home, and homes within a locality can collaborate to schedule themselves to make optimal use of the locally generated, renewable electricity.