UKCRIC - SuperPAMELA (PEARL)

SuperPAMELA (PEARL) includes a range of facilities within the facility:

1. A configurable platform, divisible into multiple spaces so that there is sufficient capacity to meet the requirements of the UKCRIC Collaboratorium (e.g. the 25% provision + more as required). The platform consists of modules, each of which will provide a range of interchangeable surface types (including concrete, wood, asphalt, resin, experimental materials, various paving formats), which can be raised, lowered or tilted in any direction.
2. An acoustic system, consisting of four isolatable ambisonic systems to create 3D ambient sound in each laboratory space, and locational speakers to provide physical sound sources at identifiable locations in the facility. The sound systems will be mixable, with a frequency range of 30-20,000Hz and be able to replicate sounds such as low-flying aircraft, trains, street scenes.
3. A configurable lighting system, which will provide full colour range (RGBAWW), programmable to provide colour temperatures according to prescribed light spectra and illuminance/luminance from 0 to >1,500lux measured at the floor surface. This system will also be configurable in terms of individual lamp units, linked together as required.
4. An olfaction system, which will allow the introduction of odour into the laboratory spaces under controlled conditions.
5. The separation between the laboratory spaces will be made using acoustically isolating units which can be varied for their acoustic properties. Thus the sound levels within each laboratory space will be able to reproduce quasi anechoic conditions up to a large reverberation (e.g. several seconds).
6. The facility will also construct, as required, elements of infrastructure, so that experiments can be conducted on a wide variety of infrastructure.
7. A pop-up seating arrangement to enable better dissemination of results, being able to demonstrate examples to over 500 people.

Each of these items will have to be designed from scratch, with the conditions of the building taken into account, and thus the figures contained in this proposal are budgets, not quotations. A full tendering process will be conducted to obtain the best value for money from designers/suppliers. Specifications are based on experience in the existing PAMELA facility.

We know, from our experience with PAMELA (it was one of the UCL Impact Case Studies in the 2014 REF), that there is huge interest from industry in this facility. We have delivered research which has changed the design of trains and stations, affected operations of aircraft handling, bus design, infrastructure design. This will be increased in the new facility, in volume and range, as the larger space availability will allow greater ad more realistic scenarios to be tested.