From PhD Research to Commercial Deployment: How TeraStream Became the First Completed National Industry PhD Project
The National Industry PhD (NIPhD) Program has reached a significant milestone with the completion of its first project, TeraStream: Analysing Network Traffic at Terabit Speed using Artificial Intelligence. Delivered through a partnership between the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Canopus Networks and PhD candidate Yifan Wang, the project demonstrates how industry and academia can work together to solve real-world problems while developing the next generation of research and technology leaders.
From the outset, the project was co-designed to address practical challenges faced by telecommunications providers and digital service operators. As video streaming, cloud gaming and AI-powered applications become increasingly important parts of everyday life, industry needs new ways to understand and improve the experience of users operating across complex networks. Working closely with Canopus Networks, Yifan focused his research on developing advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning methods capable of analysing network traffic at scale and providing actionable insights into service performance and user experience. The result was research that addressed recognised gaps in academic knowledge while simultaneously delivering solutions to pressing commercial challenges.
The outcomes have delivered significant value for Canopus Networks. Research developed through the project has been integrated directly into the company's commercial network observability platform, enabling the identification of video streaming platforms, classification of cloud gaming environments, monitoring of user experience in real time, and the creation of richer datasets to support network troubleshooting and optimisation. Industry Supervisor Maheesha Perera said the collaboration provided “world-class research expertise” while strengthening the company's innovation capability through the integration of “advanced research directly into product development and operational decision-making.”
A defining feature of the project was Yifan's ability to understand and navigate both academic and industry environments. Throughout his candidature, he worked alongside Canopus Networks engineers to understand operational requirements, deployment constraints and customer needs, ensuring his research remained scientifically rigorous while delivering practical value. Maheesha Perera noted that Yifan consistently translated “rigorous scientific work into solutions that deliver tangible commercial value” and demonstrated “an exceptional understanding of industry needs.”
Professor Vijay Sivaraman described the project as an outstanding example of research translation, noting that “Yifan has very successfully married his academic research with industry outcomes.” He highlighted the deployment of Yifan's cloud gaming monitoring technology across the NVIDIA GeForce NOW platform as “a spectacular achievement for PhD work.” The project generated four peer-reviewed publications and an international patent application while also delivering technologies now operating in commercial environments serving millions of users.
For Yifan, the project provided a transformative professional development opportunity. Through close collaboration with academic researchers and industry engineers, he gained hands-on experience with commercial-grade systems, large-scale telemetry datasets and the realities of taking research beyond the laboratory. Reflecting on his experience, Yifan said, “I have developed my ability to conduct scientific and rigorous academic research,” while also strengthening his ability to communicate and collaborate across diverse teams. Importantly, he gained “practical engineering skills required to translate small research prototypes to deployable commercial solutions,” giving him the rare capability to bridge academia and industry.
As the first completed NIPhD project, TeraStream stands as a compelling example of how co-designed university–industry research can create benefits far beyond the immediate participants. The technologies developed through the project are helping improve digital connectivity and online experiences for Australian consumers while strengthening national capability in advanced telecommunications, artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure. As Maheesha Perera concluded, the project demonstrates how university–industry partnerships can “generate impactful innovation while developing the next generation of industry researchers and technology leaders.”