The IEEE ComSoc provides the local ComSoc chapters to benefit from the distinguished lecturer (DL) program where the ComSoc pays for the travel expensed to enable high caliber researchers and academics to engage with different chapters across the world.
We at the Jordanian chapter took advantage of the DL program and invited several lecturers that deeply benefited our members by discussing cutting edge research on hot topics such as 6G, AI, Autonomous vehicles and Deep Learning. We list the DLs events in reverse chronological order.
Oct-2020
Driverless Cars: Alice or Bob?
Abstract:
You are driving with an expert passenger named Alice. She watches how you drive, and assesses your every move, reaction, or lack of reaction, patiently waiting to provide help. Bob, on the other hand, will be your chauffer, and you let him take over. This is the driverless car, and you are entirely reliant on Bob’s expertise. Whom do you choose, Alice or Bob?
The race to full autonomy is on, but smart infrastructure is needed for mass adoption. This requires resilient coordination, self-healing networks, learning, and rapid collaborative decision making with humans and machines. The problem difficulty is driven by environmental variation and complexity, tempo, and interaction between autonomous and human operation, while design is complicated by heterogeneity, scale, and communications rate.
Speaker: Brian Sadler
Brian M. Sadler (Fellow IEEE, Fellow ARL) is the Army Senior Scientist for Intelligent Systems at the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) in Adelphi, MD, and lectured at Johns Hopkins University in communications and signal processing for 15 years. He has been an Associate and Guest Editor for a variety of journals in communications, signal processing, and robotics, including the IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, and IEEE Transactions on Robotics, as well as IEEE JSTSP, IEEE SP Magazine, International Journal of Robotics Research, and Autonomous Robots. He received Best Paper Awards from the IEEE Signal Processing Society in 2006 and 2010, was a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE SPS Society in 2017-2018, and was General Co-Chair of the 2016 IEEE Global Conference on Signal and Information Processing (GlobalSIP’16). His research focuses on multi-disciplinary approaches to distributed intelligent systems, incorporating communications networking, distributed processing, learning, and control. This includes collaborative autonomy that blends resilient networking and processing, physical layer techniques for robust security and authentication, and new ways for using low-VHF communications in complex environments.
Sep-2020
Wireless Systems Design in the Beyond 5G Era: Promises of Deep Learning and Deep Reinforcement Learning
Abstract:
Optimal resource allocation is a fundamental challenge for dense and heterogeneous wireless networks with massive wireless connections. Because of the non-convex nature of the optimization problems, often it is computationally demanding to obtain the optimal resource allocation. Machine learning, especially Deep learning (DL), is a powerful tool where a multi-layer neural network can be trained to model a resource management algorithm using network data. Therefore, resource allocation decisions can be obtained without intensive online computations which would be required otherwise for the solution of resource allocation problems. Recently, deep reinforcement learning (DRL) has emerged as a promising technique in solving non-convex optimization problems. Unlike deep learning (DL), DRL does not require any optimal/near-optimal training dataset which is either unavailable or computationally expensive in generating synthetic data. In this talk, I shall present a novel centralized DRL-based downlink power allocation scheme for a multi-cell system intending to maximize the total network throughput. Specifically, I shall discuss a deep Q-learning (DQL) approach to achieve near-optimal power allocation policy. I shall present some simulation results to compare the proposed DRL-based power allocation scheme with the conventional schemes in a multi-cell scenario.
Speaker: Prof. Ekram Hossain
Ekram Hossain (F’15) is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of Manitoba, Canada. He is a Member (Class of 2016) of the College of the Royal Society of Canada. Also, he is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. Dr. Hossain’s current research interests include design, analysis, and optimization beyond 5G/6G cellular wireless networks. He was elevated to an IEEE Fellow “for contributions to spectrum management and resource allocation in cognitive and cellular radio networks”. To date, his research works have received 30,500+ citations (in Google Scholar, with h-index = 91). He received the 2017 IEEE ComSoc TCGCC (Technical Committee on Green Communications & Computing) Distinguished Technical Achievement Recognition Award “for outstanding technical leadership and achievement in green wireless communications and networking”. Dr. Hossain has won several research awards including the “2017 IEEE Communications Society Best Survey Paper Award” and the “2011 IEEE Communications Society Fred Ellersick Prize Paper Award”. He was listed as a Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher in Computer Science in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Currently he serves as the Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Press and an Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing. Previously, he served as the Editor-in-Chief for the IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials (2012-2016). He is a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Communications Society and the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society. Also, he is an elected member of the Board of Governors of the IEEE Communications Society for the term 2018-2020.
Nov-2019
A Key 6G Challenge and Opportunity — Connecting the Remaining 4 Billions
Abstract:
The role of Internet and Communication Technology (ICT) in bringing about a revolution in almost all aspects of human life needs no introduction. It is indeed a well-known fact that the transmission of the information at a rapid pace has transformed all spheres of human life such as education, health, and economy to name a few. In addition, with the advent in Electronics and Photonics Technology (EPT), we have observed sustained growth and expansion in computation and display technology. From user demography perspective, urbanized population are the major beneficiary of such advances. Therefore, the benefits of ICT and EPT are yet to be experienced by almost 4 billion people in the world who are still “unconnected or under-connected” and suffer as such from the “digital divide,” a term coined in order to emphasize the lack of ICT infrastructure in many parts of the world.
Major challenges for widespread adoption of ICT and EPT in these areas are related to cost, lack of power supply, and complexities associated with learning and usage. However, if we can categorically overcome these challenges, then these technologies can be used for food, water, shelter, energy, environment, education, healthcare, and security. In addition, the wide-spread availability of these technologies will lead to smart suburbs, smart towns, smart villages, etc., without the need to necessarily live in smart cities. This would reverse the trend and allow a more sustainable world with a more balanced distribution of the population density. In this context, this talk will present recently proposed solutions to provide high-speed connectivity in rural areas along progress in affordable electronics to serve and contribute to the development of far-flung regions.
In particular, new solutions for both: (i) integrated satellite-airborne-ground networks providing global coverage and connectivity and (ii) terrestrial mesh/multi-hop directive networks connecting underserved areas will be discussed.
Speaker: Prof. Mohamed-Slim Alouini
Mohamed-Slim Alouini was born in Tunis, Tunisia. He received her “Diplôme d’Ingénieur ” and “Diplôme d’Etudes Approfondies” (DEA) in Electronics with Highest Honors, both in September1993 from the Ecole Nat. Superieure Telecom. (TELECOM Paris-Tech), Paris, France, and the University Pierre & Marie Curie (Sorbonne University), Paris, France, respectively. He then received his Master degree in Electrical Engineering in September 1995 from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), Atlanta, Georgia, USA before earning his PhD in Electrical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, California, in 1998. He also received the Habilitation degree from the Université Pierre & Marie Curie (Sorbonne University), Paris, France, in 2003. Dr. Alouini served as a faculty member from 1998 to 2004 in the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, then from 2004 to 2009 in the Texas A&M University at Qatar, Education City, Doha, Qatar before joining King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Makkah Province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a Professor of Electrical Engineering (EE) in 2009, with courtesy appointments in the Applied Mathematics and Computational Sciences (AMCS) as well as Statistics (STAT) programs.
Dr. Alouini is a world renowned expert in the area of wireless communication and networking and his current research interests include design and performance analysis of diversity combining techniques, MIMO techniques, multi-hop/cooperative communications systems, optical wireless communication systems, cognitive radio systems, wireless data center communications, UAV communications, and multi-resolution, hierarchical and adaptive modulation schemes.
Dr. Alouini has published more than 500 journal papers on the above subjects and he is the co-author of the best-selling textbook Digital Communication over Fading Channels published by Wiley. The impact of his work has continued to grow as evidenced by the enormous number of citations to his publications. It was not surprising that he was elected to the Fellow grade of the IEEE in 2009, rather early in his career. With more than 46,000 citations, and an h-index of 78 by Google Scholar, it is not surprising that Dr. Alouini was been selected several times by the Thomson ISI Web of Knowledge as a Highly Cited Researcher. The nominee has had sustained remarkable contributions to wireless communications theory, practice, mentorship of students, and academic and professional service and leadership. He has been serving as an editor in three major IEEE journals (IEEE Transactions on Communications, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, and IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing).
Dr. Alouini has also won several awards in his career. For instance, he recently received the 2016 Recognition Award of the IEEE Communication Society Wireless Technical Committee, the 2016 Abdul Hameed Shoman Award for Arab Researchers in Engineering Sciences, and the Inaugural Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Science & Technology Achievement Award in Engineering Sciences in 2017. Other recognitions include his selection as (i) Fellow of the African Academy of Science in 2018 and Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2019, (ii) IEEE Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Communication Society and IEE Vehicular Technology Society, (iii) member for three times in the annual Thomson ISI Web of Knowledge list of Highly Cited Researchers as well as the Shanghai Ranking/Elsevier list of Most Cited Researchers, and (iv) a co-recipient of best paper awards in eleven IEEE conferences (including ICC, GLOBECOM, VTC, PIMRC, ISWCS, and DySPAN).
It should be noted that several of his group members (MS graduates, PhD graduates, and Postdocs) were very successful, and went for PhD (for MS graduates) or Post-Doctoral (for PhD graduates) studies in top world-class universities such as Harvard, Caltech, UT Austin, U Southern California, U Michigan, U of Illinois, U British Columbia, Mc-Gill University, Imperial College, TU Berlin, Univ of Sydney, etc.. or secured faculty positions in the west or in top universities in their home countries such as Korea University (South Korea), Hanyang University (South Korea), New Jersey Institute of Technology (USA), University of Victoria (Canada), York University (Canada), University of Glasgow (UK), University of Qatar (Qatar), Yildiz Technical University (Turkey), INPT-Rabat (Morocco), ITU-Lahore (Pakistan), IIIT-Delhi (India), King Fahd University of Petroluem and Minerals (KFUPM), Effat University (Saudi Arabia), Al-Faisal University (Saudi Arabia), etc.. In addition, many of his students and post-doctoral fellows received prestigious awards during their studies or tenure in his research group. For instance, his recent December 2018 PhD graduate Qurrat-Ul-Ain Nadeem was selected in September 2018 as one of the 2018 Marconi Society Paul Baran Young Scholars (first time occurring from a developing country), which is viewed by many as the most prestigious award for researchers in Telecommunications under the age of 28. In addition, last year, his post-doctoral fellow Dr. Ahmed Bader won in March 2017 the IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc) Young Professionals (YPs) Best Innovation Award at the Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC’2017), San Francisco, USA. Recently, his post-doctoral fellow Dr. Abderrahman Trichili was selected to attend the 69th Lindau Nobel Meeting in June 2019.
Nov-2018
INTEGRATED TERRESTRIAL/NON-TERRESTRIAL 6G NETWORKS FOR UBIQUITOUS 3D SUPER-CONNECTIVITY
Abstract:
Since the development of the 4G LTE standards around 2010, the research communities both in academia and industry have been brainstorming to predict the use cases and scenarios of 2020s, to determine the corresponding technical requirements, and to develop the enabling technologies, protocols, and network architectures towards the next-generation (5G) wireless standardization. This exploratory phase is winding down as the 5G standards are currently being developed with a scheduled completion date of late-2019; the 5G wireless networks are expected to be deployed globally throughout 2020s. As such, it is time to reinitiate a similar brainstorming endeavour followed by the technical groundwork towards the subsequent generation (6G) wireless networks of 2030s.
One reasonable starting point in this new 6G discussion is to reflect on the possible shortcomings of the 5G networks to-be-deployed. 5G promises to provide connectivity for a broad range of use-cases in a variety of vertical industries; after all, this rich set of scenarios is indeed what distinguishes 5G from the previous four generations. Many of the envisioned 5G use-cases require challenging target values for one or more of the key QoS elements, such as high rate, high reliability, low latency, and high energy efficiency; we refer to the presence of such demanding links as the super-connectivity.
However, the very fundamental principles of digital and wireless communications reveal that the provision of ubiquitous super-connectivity in the global scale – i.e., beyond indoors, dense downtown or campus-type areas – is infeasible with the legacy terrestrial network architecture as this would require prohibitively expensive gross over-provisioning. The problem will only exacerbate with even more demanding 6G use-cases such as UAVs requiring connectivity (ex: delivery drones), thus the 3D super-connectivity.
In this lecture, we will present a 5-layer vertical architecture composed of fully integrated terrestrial and non-terrestrial layers for 6G networks of 2030s:
• Terrestrial HetNets with macro-, micro-, and pico-BSs
• Flying-BSs (aerial-/UAV-/drone-BSs); altitude: up to several 100 m
• High Altitude Platforms (HAPs) (floating-BSs); altitude: 20 km
• Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) satellites; altitude: 200-1,000 km
• Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellites; altitude: 35,786 km
In the absence of a clear technology roadmap for the 2030s, the lecture has, to a certain extent, an exploratory view point to stimulate further thinking and creativity. We are certainly at the dawn of a new era in wireless research and innovation; the next twenty years will be very interesting.
Speaker: Prof. Halim Yanikomeroglu
Halim Yanikomeroglu (FIEEE’17) was born in Giresun, Turkey, in 1968. He received the B.Sc. degree in electrical and electronics engineering from the Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, in 1990, and the M.A.Sc. degree in electrical engineering (now ECE) and the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Toronto, Canada, in 1992 and 1998, respectively.
During 1993–1994, he was with the R&D Group of Marconi Kominikasyon A.S., Ankara, Turkey. Since 1998 he has been with the Department of Systems and Computer Engineering at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, where he is now a Full Professor. His research interests cover many aspects of wireless technologies with a special emphasis on cellular networks. Dr. Yanikomeroglu has supervised 18 PhD and 28 MASc theses (all completed); several of his PhD students received the Carleton University Senate Medal for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis. He has coauthored 350 peer-reviewed research papers including about 115 in the IEEE journals; these publications have received 10,000+ citations (Google Scholar). He has given a high number of tutorials and invited seminars on wireless technologies in the leading international conferences (76 seminars/tutorials since 2012). In recent years, his research has been funded by Huawei, Telus, Allen Vanguard, Blackberry, Mapsted, Samsung, Communications Research Centre of Canada (CRC), DragonWave, and Nortel. This collaborative research resulted in 24 granted patents (plus about a dozen applied applied).
Dr. Yanikomeroglu is a Fellow of the IEEE with the citation “for contributions to wireless access architectures in cellular networks”. He is a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Communications Society (2015–2018) and a Distinguished Speaker for the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society (2014-2021) in 5G wireless technologies. He has been involved in the organization of the IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC) from its inception in 1998 in various capacities including serving as a Steering Committee member, Executive Committee member and the Technical Program Chair or Co-Chair of WCNC 2004 (Atlanta), WCNC 2008 (Las Vegas), and WCNC 2014 (Istanbul). He was the General Co-Chair of the IEEE 72nd Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC 2010-Fall) held in Ottawa, and the General Chair of the IEEE 86th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC 2017-Fall) held in Toronto. He has served in the editorial boards of the IEEE Transactions on Communications, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, and IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials. He was the Chair of the IEEE’s Technical Committee on Personal Communications (now called Wireless Technical Committee with 1,700+ members).
Dr. Yanikomeroglu is a recipient of the IEEE Ottawa Section Outstanding Educator Award in 2014, Carleton University Faculty Graduate Mentoring Award in 2010, the Carleton University Graduate Students Association Excellence Award in Graduate Teaching in 2010, and the Carleton University Research Achievement Award in 2009 and 2018. Dr. Yanikomeroglu spent the 2011–2012 academic year at TOBB University of Economics and Technology, Ankara, Turkey, as a Visiting Professor. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the province of Ontario, Canada.