HUT-ICCE 2008: Second International Conference on Communications and Electronics

:: Key Notes

Pathways towards Next Generation Network

By Prof. Dr. Phuoc TRAN-GIA,
University of Wuerzburg , Germany

Abstract

Currently, we are witnessing fast-moving activities towards next generation network. On the one hand, a transition from multi-service networks to multi-network services can be observed, together with the move of the service creation process and content location to the edge of the network. Unlike classical services, which are designed and deployed by network providers, edge-based services are created by the users, where numbers of users rapidly increase, force the network to react (Skype, Youtube, Myspace,…) and emerge to business-cases. Contents of such content delivery platforms are rather created by the user than offered by the network provider. These issues have to be properly considered in the design of Next Generation Internet. The talk will address the issues of interaction between network design and service evolution, which emerge to the concept of Quality of Experience, opening a fast-growing research field. The talk will also highlight research initiative in the US , in Europe as well as in Asia towards Future Internet.
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About speaker

Phuoc Tran-Gia is professor and director of the Institute of Computer Science , and currently Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, the University of Wuerzburg , Germany . He is also Chairman of the Advisory Board of Infosim. Previously he was at academia in Stuttgart , Siegen ( Germany ) as well as industries at Alcatel (software development System 12), IBM Zurich Research Laboratory ( Zurich , Switzerland , architecture and performance evaluation of communication networks).

Professor Tran-Gia was chairperson of the management committee of the COST 257 action of the European Union entitled "Impact of new services on the performance and architecture of broadband networks". He is also founding director of the multi-university Nortel's " Center of Network Optimization ". He is consultant and cooperation project leader with Siemens ( Munich , Berlin ), Nortel ( Texas ), T-Mobile International ( Bonn ), France Telecom ( Belfort ), Bosch ( Stuttgart ).

Prof. Tran-Gia published 2 books and around 100 papers in international journals, seminars and workshops. His current research areas include architecture and performance analysis of communication systems, and planning and optimization of communication networks.

Phuoc Tran-Gia is also founder Infosim ( Würzburg , Germany ) and Codirector of Infosim Asia Pacific ( Singapore ), which is specialized in IP network management products and services. He currently works with the European Union authorities and the German Ministry of Research and Education on funding strategies and initiatives towards Next Generation Internet.

Advances in Broadband Access Communications

By Prof. Tho Le-Ngoc,
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of McGill University, Canada

Abstract

Broadband access communications have been continuously developed with many advances in response to increasing demands of multimedia services and applications. Broadband communications systems are generally power- and bandwidth-limited while the communications channels are characterized by their frequency-selective fading and the presence of noise and interference. Due to the dynamic nature of both transmission media and multimedia traffic, re-configurable and adaptive schemes are of particular interest. Furthermore, in most broadband communications systems, interference is the major performance-limiting factor and interference mitigation can be more efficiently done by coordination of the transmission and resource allocation between users to minimize mutual interference in a collaborative manner. The talk will provide an overview of new developments/deployments in broadband access communications, and highlight technical issues in dynamic resource allocation and intelligent multi-dimensional signal processing and the evolution from competition, to cooperation and cognition in communications.
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About speaker

Tho Le-Ngoc obtained his B.Eng. (with Distinction) in Electrical Engineering in 1976, his M.Eng. in Microprocessor Applications in 1978 from McGill University, Montreal, and his Ph.D. in Digital Communications 1983 from the University of Ottawa, Canada.
During 1977-1982, he was with Spar Aerospace Limited as a Design Engineer and then a Senior Design Engineer, involved in the development and design of the microprocessor-based controller of Canadarm (of the Space Shuttle), and SCPC/FM, SCPC/PSK, TDMA satellite communications systems.
During 1982-1985, he was an Engineering Manager of the Radio Group in the Department of Development Engineering of SRTelecom Inc., developed the new point-to-multipoint DA-TDMA/TDM Subscriber Radio System SR500. He was the System Architect of this first digital point-to-multipoint wireless TDMA system.
During 1985-2000, he was a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of Concordia University.
Since 2000, he has been a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of McGill University.
His research interest is in the area of broadband digital communications.
Since 2004, he has been Scientific Director of the Center for Advanced Systems and Technologies in Communications (SYTACom), including 5 universities in Quebec.
He is a Senior Member of the Ordre des Ingénieur du Quebec, a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC), and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE).
He is the recipient of the 2004 Canadian Award in Telecommunications Research, and recipient of the IEEE Canada Fessenden Award 2005.
He holds a Canada Research Chair (Tier I) on Broadband Access Communications, and a Bell Canada/NSERC Industrial Research Chair on Performance & Resource Management In Broadband xDSL Access Networks.
Since 1985, he has been a consultant, Technical Advisor, Chief Architect, Chief Scientist to several companies in communications.

Ubiquitous Communications: The Next Wireless Frontier

Khaled Ben Letaief
Chair Professor and Head, Electronic and Computer Eng. Department
Director, Hong Kong Telecom Institute of Information Technology
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Email: eekhaled@ece.ust.hk . Internet: http://www.ece.ust.hk/~eekhaled

Abstract

Over the past decade, wireless communications has seen an exponential growth and will certainly continue to witness spectacular developments due to the emergence of new interactive multimedia applications and highly integrated systems driven by the rapid growth in information services and microelectronic devices. So far, most of the current mobile systems are mainly targeted to voice communications with low transmission rates. In the near future, however, broadband data access at high transmission rates will be needed to provide users packet-based connectivity to a plethora of services. It is also almost certain that the neXt Generation (XG) wireless systems will consist of complementary systems with a set of different standards and technologies along with different requirements and complementary capabilities that will offer users ubiquitous wireless connectivity between mobile and desktop computers, machines, game systems, cellular phones, consumer electronic products, and other hand-held devices. A key requirement in future wireless systems is their ability to provide broadband connectivity with end-to-end Quality of Service (QoS), a high network capacity, and throughput at a low cost.

This talk will present an overview of the most recent trends along with the evolution of cellular systems to 4G and the emergence of long range Wider-Fi networks such as WiMAX. It will also describe and discuss the challenges facing the XG broadband systems with a special interest on cognitive ubiquitous communications networks, dynamic resource allocation, especially for MIMO and OFDM along with cross-layer design and optimization.

About speaker

Professor Letaief received the Ph.D. Degrees in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University, USA in 1990. From 1990 to 1993, he was a faculty member at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Since 1993, he has been with HKUST where he is a Chair Professor and Head of the Electronic and Computer Engineering Department.

Dr. Letaief is an acknowledged authority in the area of wireless and mobile communications. He served as consultants for different organizations and he is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the prestigious IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications. He also served on the editorial board of other journals including the IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications-Wireless Series (as Editor-in-Chief). Professor Letaief has been involved in organizing a number of major international conferences and events, including the General Co-Chair of the 2007 IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference, WCNC’07; as well as the Technical Program Co-Chair of the 2008 IEEE International Conference on Communication, ICC’08. He also served as the Chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on Personal Communications.

In addition to his active research activities, Professor Letaief has also been a dedicated teacher committed to excellence in teaching and scholarship. He received the Mangoon Teaching Award from Purdue University in 1990; the Teaching Excellence Appreciation Award by the School of Engineering at HKUST (4 times); and the Michael G. Gale Medal for Distinguished Teaching (Highest university-wide teaching award).

He is a Fellow of IEEE, an elected member of the IEEE Communications Society Board of Governors, and an IEEE Distinguished lecturer. He is also the recipient of the 2007 IEEE Communications Society Publications Exemplary Service Award

3G – leading the mobile broadband evolution

Keith Hong - Technical marketing manager at QUALCOMM Incorporated

Abstract

Global demand for mobile broadband is growing significantly and continues to outpace availability. Strong, sustained consumer demand for mobile voice services has created an enormously successful global ecosystem, with numerous operators providing services and vendors delivering products. With significant scale and maturity, the 3G industry is well-positioned to deliver mobile broadband to an enormous installed base of customers, while reaching out to new ones. 3G’s growing scale is leading to more-affordable, more-capable devices across all market segments. This fact, in conjunction with growing global coverage, increases the likelihood that 3G devices will maintain an advantage over other technologies. The versatility of 3G systems to support all IP-based applications with robust QoS is enabling operators to bring to market a wide range of creative VoIP and data services. While 3G systems give the best mobile broadband experience today, it is also likely that they will continue to do so as their evolutions introduce class-leading MIMO & advanced receivers solutions. The talk will give an overview of the 3G roadmap, its evolution path & features, and its services & applications. It will highlight the fact that 3G is, and will continue to be the best mobile broadband technology.

About speaker

Keith Hong is a technical marketing manager at QUALCOMM Incorporated. Keith’s primary responsibility is to support 3G-related technical marketing & engineering activities in Southeast Asia.

Keith has worked in the telecommunications industry for more than 10 years and has gained extensive experience in a wide spectrum of companies across the value chain. He started his career as a telecom application programmer, then spent five years working for mobile carriers, managing their mobile applications & services businesses. Following this, Keith worked as a product manager at Ericsson and helped the company to promote 3G application platforms & service networks to carriers in HK/Macau.

Keith earned a bachelor degree in computer science and a master degree in business administration, both from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.