This review paper provides a recent overview of current international research that is being conducted into the functional properties of cellulose as a nanomaterial. A particular emphasis is placed on fundamental and applied research that is being undertaken to generate applications, which are now becoming a real prospect given the developments in the field over the last 20 years. A short introduction covers the context of the work, and definitions of the different forms of cellulose nanomaterials (CNMs) that are most widely studied. We also address the terminology used for CNMs, suggesting a standard way to classify these materials. The reviews are separated out into theme areas, namely healthcare, water purification, biocomposites, and energy. Each section contains a short review of the field within the theme and summarizes recent work being undertaken by the groups represented. Topics that are covered include cellulose nanocrystals for directed growth of tissues, bacterial cellulose in healthcare, nanocellulose for drug delivery, nanocellulose for water purification, nanocellulose for thermoplastic composites, nanocellulose for structurally colored materials, transparent wood biocomposites, supercapacitors and batteries.

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In a Cloud Radio Access Network (C-RAN) architecture, different baseband processing functions (BPFs) splits options are available on the interface between the central unit (CU) and the radio units (RUs) [1]. A lower layer split, e.g., low-physical (PHY), can support advanced radio coordination techniques, for example Joint Reception (JR) Coordinated MultiPoint (JR-CoMP) [2]. However, the interface between low-PHY and the rest of the BPF chain (i.e., referred to as enhanced Common Public Radio Interface-eCPRI [3]) requires a high-capacity transport. With a higher layer split, e.g., between the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) and the Radio Link Control layer (RLC), the transport capacity required on the interface between RLC and PDCP (i.e., referred to as F1 [1][4]) is lower than for eCPRI. However, with this split it is difficult to implement advanced radio coordination functions. The choice of BPF split and consequently the transport capacity requirements are determined by the RUs' radio coordination needs [1][5]. Another crucial aspect to consider is the physical location of the BPFs. The closer BPFs are to RUs, the lower is the number of eCPRI flows to be accommodated by the transport network. On the other hand, tight radio coordination schemes require joint processing of eCPRI flows from all the RUs involved (i.e., high level of BPFs aggregation). A C-RAN architecture is not able to capture this trade-off. All the BPFs reside in the CU (regardless of the actual radio coordination needs), resulting in high transport resource requirements, regardless of the actual radio network needs. This talk presents a new RAN concept referred to as Flexible RAN (F-RAN). In F-RAN, BPFs are strategically distributed within the RAN in order to optimize the trade-off between radio performance maximization and transport capacity requirement minimization. In the use case examined in this talk, tight radio coordination management schemes are used to manage radio interference. The F-RAN concept is applied to a radio network using a Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) centric transport [6]. Two variants of F-RAN are proposed, i.e., Partially Centralized F-RAN (PCF-RAN), and Fully Distributed F-RAN (FDF-RAN). The performance evaluation of both PCF-RAN and FDF-RAN confirm that by applying the F-RAN concept it is possible to achieve a better utilization of transport resources compared to conventional C-RAN.