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To view the past meetings, please click on the desired year: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005

 

 

Satellite IoT: Architectures, Technologies, and Systems

SPEAKER: Prof. Giovanni Giambene", University of Siena, Italy
DATE: Wednesday, December 15, 2023
TIME: Webinar: 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m., EDT
PLACE: Webinar via link: https://utoronto.zoom.us/j/81539340227  (Meeting ID: 815 3934 0227)    
REGISTRATION
: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/event/register/387093
ADMISSION: Free, but the registration in advance is required by 15 December 2023 10:00 AM.
For any additional information please contact: Eman Hammad or Wahab Almuhtadi.
ORGANIZED & HOSTED BY: IEEE Toronto Section Chapter, Ottawa Section Jt. Chapter, Montreal Section Chapter, IT12/COM19, Toronto Chp, VT/CIS/IT12/UFFC/OE22/CS/GRS/ITS/BIO.

Abstract
5G and 6G mobile communication systems will encompass a Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) that will include different satellite systems (LEO including cubesats/MEO/GEO) as well as High-Altitude Platform Stations (HAPS) in the stratosphere and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to cover remote areas that otherwise could not have access to the Internet. IoT via NTN is very important for a wide range of applications such as Earth monitoring, smart agriculture, pollution control, sea monitoring, and disaster management. In a first part, this seminar will investigate various architectural and networking options for collecting IoT data via satellite. Moreover, a second part of the seminar will address and compare two important technologies NB-IoT (part of 5G NTN specification according to 3GPP Release 17) and LoRa/LoRaWAN (including the LR-FHSS alternative for satellite systems). Finally, a review of current satellite IoT systems supporting NB-IoT or LoRa/LR-FHSS will be provided.

Bio

Dr. Giovanni Giambene received a Dr. Ing. degree in Electronics in 1993 and a Ph.D. in Telecommunications and Informatics in 1997, both from the University of Florence, Italy. From 1994 to 1997, he was with the Electronic Engineering Department of the University of Florence, Italy. He was the Technical External Secretary of the European Community COST 227 Action ("Integrated Space/Terrestrial Mobile Networks"). He also contributed to the SAINT Project ("Satellite Integration in the Future Mobile Network," RACE 2117). From 1997 to 1998, he worked on a GSM development program with OTE (Marconi Group) in Florence, Italy. In 1999, he joined the Department of Information Engineering and Mathematical Sciences of the University of Siena, Italy. Currently, he is an associate professor, teaching the first-level course on Fundamentals on Telecommunications and the advanced course on Networking at the University of Siena. He was vice-Chair of the COST 290 Action (2004-2008), entitled "Traffic and QoS Management in Wireless Multimedia Networks" (Wi-QoST). He participated in the projects: (i) the SatNEx I & II network of excellence (EU FP6, 2004-2009) and SatNEx III&IV (ESA 2010-2018) as work package leader on radio access techniques, cross-layer air interface design, and network coding techniques for satellite systems; (ii) the EU FP7 Coordination Action "Road mapping technology for enhancing security to protect medical & genetic data" (RADICAL) as work package leader on security and privacy; (iii) the COST Action IC0906 (2010-2014) "Wireless Networking for Moving Objects" (WiNeMO) as national representative; (iv) the EU FP7 Coordination Action RESPONSIBILITY coordination action. At present, he is involved in the ESA SatNEX V project. Giambene is IEEE senior member and has been nominated IEEE Comsoc distinguished lecturer for 2021-2023. Since 2015, he has been an IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology editor. Since 2019, he has been an editor of IEEE Wireless Communications Magazine.

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OpenPMU, PTP, and Time Synchronised Sampled Values

SPEAKER: Prof. David Laverty of Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland
DATE: Wednesday, December 13, 2023
TIME: Webinar: 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., EDT
PLACE: Webinar via link: https://uqo.zoom.us/j/83023795902?pwd=aHhRdWUrVkNwelNPUENkT08xYkd1QT09  (Meeting ID: 830 2379 5902 , Password: 843163)   
REGISTRATION
: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/event/register/387093
ADMISSION: Free, but the registration in advance is required by Dec. 13, 2023 @ 6:45 pm.
For any additional information please contact: branislav@ieee.org or Wahab Almuhtadi.
ORGANIZED & HOSTED BY: IEEE Ottawa Section Instrumentation & Measurement Society (IMS) Chapter, Power & Energy Society (PES) Chapter, Reliability Society and Power Electronics Society Joint Chapter (RS/PELS), Communications Society, Consumer Technology Society, and Broadcast Technology Society (ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS) Joint Chapter, and IEEE Ottawa Educational Activities (EA).

Abstract
When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it." Lord Kelvin.
Synchronised measurement technology, more specifically the Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU), has yielded tremendous insight into power system phenomena over the last decades. The PMU, however, is an instrument that is not itself well understood by many who make use of its measurements. The time synchronised phasor, or synchrophasor, is a double-edged sword; on the one hand it has made it possible to apply classical methods of power system analysis to “real” data from real systems. On the other hand, the synchrophasor dispenses with all the nuance of the voltage or current waveform that was present in the sampled values from which it is estimated.
What is we just keep all of the time synchronised sampled value (TSSV) data, and use that for our studies? Building machines which can do this is more than feasible. This talk will discuss approaches and challenges that engineers pursuing this strategy face, in particular the not so small matter of the many terabytes of data such a system will create, with “needle in a haystack” levels of useful information. The talk will describe an effort on the island of Ireland to build a national system to record TSSV and also synchronise using PTP in preference to GNSS and its “space-based” vulnerabilities..

Bio

Dr. David Laverty (Senior Member, IEEE) received the Ph.D. degree from Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 2010. His thesis was on the use of synchrophasors for real-time control of generator sets via the Internet, investigating matters related to latency, packet loss and cyber security. He was appointed to a permanent post at the School of EEECS in Queen’s University Belfast in 2011, where he is presently a Reader (Full Professor, in North America). His work continues to address matters related to power system measurements, particularly time synchronisation, data systems, machine learning and cyber security. He is known as the founder of the open source project “OpenPMU”, which continues to develop open source hardware and software related to Phasor Measurement Units. His recent work is concerned with alternatives to “space-based” time signals, i.e. GNSS, in order to provide a resilient time transfer solution on which electrical utilities and other critical national infrastructure can depend.

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The Truth about the Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU)

SPEAKER: Dr. Harold Kirkham, Fellow IEEE, DRM Associates, Richland, WA, USA
DATE: Wednesday, December 6, 2023
TIME: Webinar: 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., EDT
PLACE: Webinar via WebEx link: https://uqo.zoom.us/j/83023795902?pwd=aHhRdWUrVkNwelNPUENkT08xYkd1QT09  (Meeting ID: 830 2379 5902 , Password: 843163)   
REGISTRATION
: Online. Free, registration required at: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/384651 
ADMISSION: Free, but the registration in advance is required by Dec. 6 2023 @ 6:45 pm.
For any additional information please contact: branislav@ieee.org or Wahab Almuhtadi.
ORGANIZED & HOSTED BY: Ithe IEEE Ottawa Section Instrumentation & Measurement Society (IMS), Chapter, Power & Energy Society (PES) Chapter, Reliability Society and Power Electronics Society (RS/PELS) Joint Chapter, Communications Society, Consumer Electronics Society, and Broadcast Technology Society (ComSoc/CESoc/BTS) Joint Chapter, and IEEE Ottawa Educational Activities (EA)).

Abstract
If you look up "phasor measurement unit" on Wikipedia, you will learn a little about PMU that is right and a lot that is wrong. (To start with, phasors predate Steinmetz.) If you turn to the various papers and books that have been written on the topic, you will still not get the whole truth. Even the IEEE and IEC standards about PMUs have got significant parts wrong! If a PMU is built so as to fully comply with the standards, it will be an under-performing device that breaks the fundamental rules of measurement. The presenter, Dr. Harold Kirkham, is listed as a member of the working group that wrote the 2011 IEEE PMU standard. However, he was so upset by it that he is NOT listed as having voted for it! It has taken him a long time to figure out exactly what is right and what is wrong about the standard. This webinar will set the record straight and explain what is wrong with the current treatment of the subject.

Bio

 Harold Kirkham (Fellow, IEEE) received the Ph.D. degree from Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA. His thesis was on the control of the real and reactive power of HVDC terminals to stabilize the AC power system. After a few years at American Electric Power (AEP), he went to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, CA, where he managed a DOE project that in many ways was a forerunner of the Smart Grid today. He worked at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) 2009 – 2021, spending a significant fraction of this time studying PMUs. He is now the Principal Researcher of DRM Associates, Richland, WA, USA. Dr. Kirkham is a member of IEEE PES, IMS, DEIS, Communications, and Oceanic Engineering Societies. For several years he chaired the IEEE PES Instrumentation and Measurement Committee. He was a member of the working group that wrote the IEEE PMU standard C37-118.1-2011.

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From Metasurfaces to Electromagnetic Skins - Concepts and Design Methods

SPEAKER: Prof. Giacomo Oliveri, Associate Professor in Electromagnetic Fields at the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Mechanical Engineering (University of Trento)
DATE: June 7, 2023
TIME: Webinar: 12:00 p.m - 01:30 p.m. EST
PLACE: Webinar via WebEx link: https://uqtr.zoom.us/j/86375973096?pwd=MEJmU1Fhem5Wd2RIKzR1ZmZnd2Y3QT09 (Meeting ID: 863 7597 3096, Passcode: 972592)
REGISTRATION
: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/event/register/361634
ADMISSION: Free, but the registration in advance is required by June 7, 2023.
For any additional information please contact: Messaoud Ahmed Ouameur or Wahab Almuhtadi.
ORGANIZED & HOSTED BY: Prim. Host: IEEE Saint Maurice Sect Chapter. Co-Host: IEEE Atlanta Section Chapter, IEEE Buenaventura Section Chapter, IEEE Jamaica Section Chapter, and IEEE Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Joint Chapter.

Abstract
2D metamaterials and metasurfaces has emerged in the last couple of decades as a powerful approach to improve the performance of antennas and radiating elements beyond what could be obtained by standard materials. Among the vast applications of such a technology, metasurfaces have been used to reduce the mutual-coupling effects in multi-antenna system, to enable antenna co-existence and mutual transparency, to allow frequency/angular filtering, and to enhance the active impedance matching in phased arrays. The recent introduction of Electromagnetic Skins (EMSs)
has motivated a complete revolution of metasurface design methodologies and approaches.
EMSs, which are stand-alone structures capable of performing advanced wave manipulation functionalities, have been then used to extend the capabilities of current wireless and sensing systems. The objective of this talk will be to discuss the transition between metasurfaces and EMSs, and to illustrate the recent advances and ongoing trends in their design and implementation.

Bio

Dr. Giacomo Oliveri received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in TLC Engineering and the PhD degree in Space Sciences and Engineering from the University of Genoa, Italy, in 2003, 2005, and 2009 respectively. He is currently an Associate Professor in Electromagnetic Fields at the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Mechanical Engineering (University of Trento) and a Board Member of the ELEDIA Research Center. Moreover, he is Adjunct Professor at CentraleSupélec and member of the Laboratoire des Signaux et Systèmes (L2S)@CentraleSupélec, Gif-sur-Yvette (France).
He has been a visiting researcher at L2S in 2012, 2013, and 2015, and he has been an Invited Associate Professor at the University of Paris Sud, France, in 2014, and visiting professor at Université Paris-Saclay in 2016 and 2017. Prof. Oliveri received the Italian National Scientific Qualification for the position of Full Professor in 2017 (ASN), and the French National Qualification as Full Professor in 2019.

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Practical 5G channel and system modeling techniques

SPEAKER: Dr. Kafi Hassan, Ph.D., George Mason University, ECE Department, USA.
DATE: Tuesday, October 18, 2022.
TIME: Refreshments/Registration/Networking: 06:00 p.m.; Seminar: 06:30 p.m. – 07:30 p.m.
ORGANIZED BY: IEEE Ottawa Joint Chapter of Communications Society, Consumer Electronics Society, and  Broadcast Technology Society (ComSoc/CESoc/BTS), IEEE Toronto Chapter (ComSoc/BTS), IEEE Communications Society Montreal Chapter (ComSoc), IEEE Communications Society Quebec Chapter, and IEEE Communications Society Kingston Section Chapter, IEEE Ottawa Educational Activities (EA), IEEE Ottawa Women In Engineering (WIE), IEEE Ottawa Young Professionals (YP), and Algonquin College Student Branch (ACSB) in conjunction with School of Advanced Technology, Algonquin College.

IN-PERSON:
PLACE
: Ciena Optophotonics Lab (room T129), School of Advanced Technology, Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2G 1V8.
REGISTRATION: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/event/register/326133 
ADMISSION: Free, but the registration in advance is strongly encourage. For any additional information please contact: Wahab Almuhtadi
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

ONLINE:
PLACE: via Zoom https://algonquincollege.zoom.us/j/96754037165?pwd=ak5DWWZDR1plVXNCWTNLR1ordWsyZz09 
REGISTRATION: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/event/register/326133 
ADMISSION: Free, but the registration in advance is strongly encourage. For any additional information please contact: Wahab Almuhtadi

Abstract

Channel link-level and system level modeling played a critical role in proper design and deployment of all generations of wireless network systems. Particularly, system level modeling has become an important task for network planning, network design, and network optimization of wireless cellular systems. System level simulations allow to evaluate the performance of an entire network containing many Evolved Node B (eNodeB) sectors serving a lot of user equipment (UEs) in urban, suburban, and rural environments. Design and performance of new technology features require to be accurately verified and improved before deployment into commercial systems. Therefore, real-world system performance modeling and predictions should be very reliable and should be based on repeatable measurements of how the model behaves in the actual environment. Both the wireless industry and academia have made a significant effort developing and defining new and updated channel models such as the 3GPP 3D channel model and the extended 3GPP extended channel model for milli-meter wave. New 3D geodata models with high-resolution and artificial intelligent (AI) algorithms are greatly enhancing the RF propagation modeling in line of sight (LOS) and non-line of sight (NLOS) beamformed signals and FD-MIMO antenna applications of 5G wireless network systems. In this talk, we will review some of the key 5G wideband wireless channel modeling including the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), NYU SIM, and others. We will discuss some of the general practical use cases of 5G network system modeling scenarios. Additionally, we will describe some of the practical challenges of channel and system modeling in 5G wireless systems.

Bio

Dr. Kafi Hassan works in the Advanced and Emerging Technology team at T-Mobile USA in Reston, Virginia. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia where he has been teaching graduate and undergraduate level courses since 2007. From 1995 to 2006, Hassan worked as a Member of Technical Staff at Bell Laboratories in Whippany, New Jersey, performing research and development in network wireless communication systems. He has been a recipient of many professional honors and recognitions, including the Bell Labs President’s Gold Award, the Bell Labs President’s Silver Award, and Sprint Network Development and Engineering Leadership award. His education background includes a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York City, and BS and MS degrees majoring in electrical engineering from University of North Carolina at Charlotte, North Carolina.

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Integrated Terrestrial-Aerial-Stratospheric-Space Networks of the Future: Towards A Sustainable ICT Ecosystem

SPEAKER: Professor Halim Yanikomeroglu, Department of Systems & Computer Engineering, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
DATE: Wednesday, October 5, 2022 @ 6 PM (EST)
TIME: Webinar: 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. EST
PLACE: Webinar via Zoom link https://carleton-ca.zoom.us/j/95808028297    
ADMISSION:Free, but the registration in advance is required.
For any additional information please contact:Sreeraman Rajan or Wahab Almuhtadi .

ORGANIZED BY: IEEE Ottawa Joint Chapters of Consumer Technology Society, Communication Society and Broadcast Technology Society (IEEE OTTAWA CTSoc/ComSoc/ BTS) along with IEEE Ottawa Aerospace and Electronic Society Chapter (IEEE OTTAWA AES) and IEEE Ottawa Educational Activity Committee cordially invites you for the following North America Regional webinar sponsored by the IEEE Consumer Technology Society (NAR CTSoc).

Abstract
In this talk, a novel wireless infrastructure will be presented which includes a new aerial access & computing layer composed of HAPS (high altitude platform station) constellations positioned in stratosphere, 20 km above the ground, in addition to the legacy terrestrial layer and the emerging satellite layer. With its bird’s-eye and almost-line-of-sight view of an entire metropolitan area, a HAPS is more than a base station in the air; it is a new architecture paradigm with access, transport, and core network functionalities for integrated connectivity, computing, sensing, positioning, navigation, and surveillance, towards enabling a variety of use-cases in an agile, smart, and sustainable manner for smart cities and societies of the future. The talk will feature a number of enabling technologies for the envisioned architecture including RIS (reconfigurable intelligent surfaces) and advanced antennas.

Bio
Dr. Halim Yanikomeroglu is a Professor at Carleton University, Canada. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in 1998. He contributed substantially to 4G/5G technologies and standards; his research focus in recent years include 6G/B6G, non-terrestrial networks (NTN), and future wireless infrastructure. His extensive collaboration with industry resulted in 39 granted patents. He supervised or hosted in his lab around 150 postgraduate researchers. He co-authored IEEE papers with faculty members in 80+ universities in 25 countries. He is a Fellow of IEEE, Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC), and Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE), and an IEEE Distinguished Speaker for ComSoc and VTS. Dr. Yanikomeroglu is serving as the Chair of IEEE WCNC Steering Committee, Member of IEEE ComSoc Conference Council, Member of IEEE PIMRC Steering Committee, and Member of ComSoc Emerging Technologies Committee. He served as the General Chair of two VTCs and Technical Program Chair/Co-Chair of three WCNCs. He chaired ComSoc Technical Committee on Personal Communications. He received several awards for his research, teaching, and service, including IEEE ComSoc Fred W. Ellersick Prize (2021), IEEE VTS Stuart Meyer Memorial Award (2020), IEEE ComSoc Wireless Communications Technical Committee Recognition Award (2018), and a number of best paper awards.

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Towards Wireless Networking, Sensing and Security in the Sub-Terahertz Regime: Design and Experiments

SPEAKER: Yasaman Ghasempour, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Princeton University
DATE: Thursday August 11, 2022
TIME: Webinar: 04:00 p.m - 05:00 p.m. EST
PLACE: Webinar via Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83674932216?pwd=Z0dvMHJZUE43Rmt4NS9MUHlaM3JQZz09 (Meeting ID: 836 7493 2216, Passcode: 015238)
REGISTRATION
: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/320934 
ADMISSION: Free, but the registration in advance is required by August 11, 2022 @ 3:30pm EST.
For any additional information please contact: Hadeel Elayan or Eman Hammad or Wahab Almuhtadi.
ORGANIZED & HOSTED BY: Prim. Host: IEEE Toronto Joint Chapter of Communications Society, and Broadcast Technology Society (ComSoc/BTS). Co-Host: IEEE Ottawa Joint Chapter of Communications Society, Consumer Technology Society, and Broadcast Technology Society (ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS), IEEE Montreal Joint Chapter of Communications Society, and Information Theory Society (ComSOc/IT), IEEE Communication Society New York Chapter, and Ottawa Section Affinity Group (YP), and Southern Alberta Section Aff Group (YP)

Abstract
The spectrum above 100 GHz offers plentiful bandwidth for ultra-high-speed communication and high-resolution sensing, thereby providing a promising foundation for realizing unprecedented capabilities in next-generation wireless networks. In this talk, I will begin by presenting emerging transceiver architecture that can enable directional sub-THz steering without traditional multi-antenna arrays. I will discuss how to exploit the key characteristics of sub-THz signals and the proposed architecture for high-resolution localization. Such sensing modalities can then be exploited to enable highly directional, high data rate links that are robust to client and environmental mobility. I will address one of the main concerns with sub-THz networking which is high power consumption by introducing the first ultra-wideband retro-directive backscatter above 100 GHz. Finally, I will discuss new security paradigms in this regime: while the conventional wisdom suggests that physical layer security improves with narrow beams, I will explain new vulnerabilities introduced by the control plane as well as emerging low-cost smart reflecting surfaces. I will conclude the talk by illustrating fundamentally new techniques for wireless authentication and security.

Bio

Dr. Yasaman Ghasempour is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Princeton University. Her research includes next-generation wireless networks and sensing systems. She received her Ph.D. and master’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Rice University. She received the National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2022, the 2020 Marconi Young Scholar Award, and the ACM SIGMOBILE Dissertation Award in 2020. Yasaman is named a rising star in computer Networking and Communications in 2022 for her contributions to terahertz wireless systems. Yasaman is serving as the associate technical editor of the IEEE Communication Magazine and the editorial board of Nano Communication Networks.

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Integration of Terrestrial Networks and Extreme Environments: Challenges and Capabilities

SPEAKER: Mehdi Rahmati, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH 44115, USA
DATE: Tuesday, March 29, 2022
TIME: Webinar: 07:00 p.m - 08:15 p.m. EST
PLACE: Webinar via WebEx link: https://ccny.zoom.us/j/84828449995?pwd=WDdQeElkYXpwUlI5VmhNNVlpQjRuUT09 (Meeting ID: 848 2844 9995, Passcode: 477661)
REGISTRATION
: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/308383
ADMISSION: Free, but the registration in advance is required by March 28, 2022.
For any additional information please contact: Zheng Peng or Wahab Almuhtadi.
ORGANIZED & HOSTED BY: Prim. Host: IEEE Communication Society New York Chapter. Co-Host: IEEE Ottawa Joint Chapter of Communications Society, Consumer Technology Society, and Broadcast Technology Society (ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS), and other 41 Chapters

Abstract
With the phenomenal growth of excessive data traffic and the increasing number of connected devices, existing communications solutions are posing unprecedented challenges in terms of capacity, latency, heterogeneity, mobility, coverage, energy efficiency, and reliability. Given the demand for full connectivity, as part of the post 5G era, non-terrestrial and terrestrial networks integration will be a challenging mission that will necessitate redefining a multi-dimensional and fully orchestrated system in terms of sensing, communications, computing, and intelligence. In this talk, I will present non-conventional approaches to address the problems in a non-terrestrial and extreme environment, i.e., underwater. Intelligent and behavior-aware probabilistic solutions will be discussed, with the goal of achieving robust adaptation in terms of required Quality of Service and Quality of Experience to meet the demands in a variety of scenarios..

Bio

Dr. Mehdi Rahmati (IEEE Senior Member) is an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Cleveland State University in Ohio. His research is in the areas of wireless communications, underwater communications, and coordination in distributed autonomous systems. He received his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2020 from Rutgers University in New Jersey. He has published numerous peer-reviewed papers and has received many prestigious awards, including the IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society Young Professional Award in 2022 and 2023, the best demo award at the 2019 IEEE International Conference on Sensing, Communication, and Networking (SECON), the first prize in the 2019 IEEE Communication Society (ComSoc) student competition, the best paper award at the 2017 IEEE International Conference on Mobile Ad-hoc and Sensor Systems (MASS), and the best paper runner-up award at the 2015 ACM International Conference on Underwater Networks and Systems (WUWNet).

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Engineering Skills and Education for the Digital Era 

SPEAKER: Dr. Tom Murad Vice Chair, Ontario Society of Professional Engineers Board of Directors. Country Lead for Engineering & Technology, Siemens Mobility
DATE: Wednesday, September 8, 2021
TIME: Webinar: 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. EST
PLACE: Webinar via WebEx link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89235099063?pwd=MHp1aEFIeXBDZ2pSNDh2cER6UXVRQT09 (Meeting ID: 89235099063, Passcode: 957020)
REGISTRATION
: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/278972   
ADMISSION: Free, but the registration in advance is required.
For any additional information please contact:  Wahab Almuhtadi.
ORGANIZED & HOSTED BY: IEEE Ottawa Joint Chapter of Communications Society, Consumer Technology Society, and Broadcast Technology Society (ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS), IEEE Toronto Chapter (ComSoc/BTS), IEEE ComSoc Montreal Chapter (ComSoc), IEEE Ottawa and Toronto Women In Engineering (WIE) Chapters along with the IEEE Ottawa, Southern Alberta and Canadian Atlantic Young Professionals (YP) Chapters

Abstract
In this talk, we look forward to Dr. Murad as he shares his reflections on the fundamental engineering skills and education requirements for the digital era.

Bio

Dr. Tom Murad has been a licensed engineer since 1998 and has extensive years of experience in the profession. He is currently the Country Lead for Engineering and Technology for Siemens Mobility, previously the founder and Head of Siemens Canada Engineering & Technology Academy (SCETA), as well as the Country Lead for Engineering, Technology and Academics for Siemens. Tom is a member of the Ontario Government’s Post-Secondary Education Quality Assessment board “ PEAQB “, the Ryerson University Faculty of Engineering Advisory Council, Humber College Applied Technologies Dean’s Board, PEO’s Experience Review Committee, Past chair of the IEEE -Toronto Section’s Executive Committee, and the Past Chair of Halton Champions of Innovation Round Table. Dr. Murad has also been a member of the Board of Directors for IEEE Canada, the German Canadian Centre for Innovation & Research, the Green Centre Canada, and Fielding Environmental. His contributions to the profession have been recognized by PEO, which gave him the Order of Honour, and he was also named a Fellow of Engineers Canada. He has been awarded the IEEE Canada J.M. Ham Outstanding Engineering Educator Award in 2019, OPEA (Joint PEO and OSPE) Best Engineering Achievement Award in 2017, and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce Golden Award for Best Skill Enhancement Project in 2016. Tom has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, as well as a Ph.D. of Engineering, specializing in Power Electronics & Industrial Controls from Loughborough University of Technology in the U.K. Tom’s passion has been always in engineering skills development, and he is nationally recognised and awarded as a visionary and an advocate for innovative approach to work integrated learning and education programs.

CTSoc Furture Webinars:
For list of future webinars follow this link:
https://ctsoc.ieee.org/education/dl-schedules-and-webinars.html.

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Tools and methodologies for better productivity leveraging AI community driven interoperability

SPEAKER: Danilo Pietro Pau, IEEE and ST Fellow, Technical director, System Research and Applications, STMicroelectronics, Agrate Brianza, Italy
DATE: Friday, August 6, 2021
TIME: Webinar: 3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. EST
PLACE: Webinar via WebEx link: https://ieeemeetings.webex.com/ieeemeetings/onstage/g.php?MTID=ea66283e451243a3116cbd7275dbae260     
REGISTRATION
: https://ieeemeetings.webex.com/ieeemeetings/onstage/g.php?MTID=ea66283e451243a3116cbd7275dbae260  
ADMISSION: Free, but the registration in advance is required.
For any additional information please contact: Gordana Velikic or Wahab Almuhtadi.
ORGANIZED & HOSTED BY: Education Activities - IEEE Consumer Technology Society (CTSoc). Co-Hosted by: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Joint Chapter

Abstract
Is artificial intelligence a technological fad or a singularity? Why is resource-constrained AI and therefore tiny machine learning important? A better awareness on the technology can be gained by reviewing the milestones of AI and learning more about the benefits of resource-constrained machine learning to overcome the limitations of a centralized approach. To address the challenges and opportunities in designing neural networks for micro controllers, he will describe a 5-steps methodology applied to a case study by using a set of tools to automatically deploy pre-trained neural networks on IoT (STM32) and Automotive (SPC58) microcontrollers. A set of exemplary applications can be derived as useful starting point for AI practitioners. New perspectives are being opened toward the automation of neural network design and to achieve low power implementations

Bio

Danilo Pietro Pau, IEEE, and ST Fellow, Technical director, System Research and Applications, STMicroelectronics, Agrate Brianza, Italy. Danilo Pau graduated in Electronic Engineering at Politecnico di Milano on 1992. Since 1991 he is with STMicroelectronics Italy, System Research. He worked on HDMAC hardware design and MPEG2 video memory reduction, then on video coding and transcoding, next on embedded 3D and VG graphics, and computer vision with hand-crated algorithms. Currently, his focus is on the development of tools to bridge deep learning frameworks with resource constrained applications on micro-controllers and sensors. Since 2019 Danilo is an IEEE Fellow. He currently serves IEEE Region 8 Action for Industry focused on the Internship initiative. He is also a Member of the Machine Learning, Deep Learning and AI in the CTSoc (MDA) Technical Stream Committee IEEE Consumer Technology Society (CTSoc). With over 81 patents, 105 publications (h-index 24, i10-index 53), 113 MPEG authored documents and 40+ invited talks/seminars at various worldwide Universities and Conferences, Danilo's favorite activity remains mentoring undergraduate students, MSc and PhD, from various universities.

CTSoc Furture Webinars:
For list of future webinars follow this link:
https://ctsoc.ieee.org/education/dl-schedules-and-webinars.html.

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Flexible Radio Access Beyond 5G: A Future Projection

SPEAKER: Dr. Huseyin Arslan, Professor, Electrical Engineering Dept. of University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
DATE: Monday, July 26, 2021
TIME: Webinar: 12:00 p.m. - 01:30 p.m. EST
PLACE: Webinar via Webex link: IEEE WebEx Enterprise Site    
REGISTRATION
: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/277084 
ADMISSION: Free, but the registration in advance is required.
For any additional information please contact: Brian Page or Hossein Hassani or Wahab Almuhtadi.
ORGANIZED BY IEEE: Atlanta Section ComSoc Chapter, Saint Maurice Section ComSoc Chapter, Toronto Section ComSoc/BTS Chapter, Kingston Section CS/ComSoc Joint Chapter, London Section ComSoc/BTS Joint Chapter, Montreal Section ComSoc/ITS Joint Chapter, North Saskatchewan Section CAS/ComSoc/SPS Joint Chapter, and Ottawa Section ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Joint Chapter

Abstract
Today's wireless services and systems have come a long way since the rollout of the conventional voice-centric cellular systems. The demand for wireless access in voice and multi-media applications has increased tremendously. The trend on the variety and the number of mobile devices along with the mobile applications will certainly continue beyond 5G, creating a wide range of technical challenges. One of the biggest challenges is the security of the communication beyond the classical crypto based approaches which secure the information. In this talk, security aspects of the physical communication and also physical signal which is called Physical Layer Security (PHY Security) will be discussed. Latest trends, threats, and techniques to improve the security of the physical signal will be discussed. The tentative outline of the talk will be as follows:
  - Wireless Communication trends, requirements
  - Importance of secure communication
  - Classification of communication security
  - PHY security: Communication and REM
  - PHY security: Eavesdropping, Spoofing & Jamming
  - Anti-jamming capable communication
  - Cross-layer security
  - Secure communication & other advanced radio access technologies
Case- studies:
  a- Security in URLLC (URLL & Secure communication)
  b- Security in vehicular network (V2V and V2I)
  c- Security in NOMA
  d- Security in LIS.

Bio

Dr. Arslan (IEEE Fellow) has received his BS degree from Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara, Turkey in 1992; MS and Ph.D. degrees in 1994 and 1998 from Southern Methodist University (SMU), Dallas, TX. USA. From January 1998 to August 2002, he was with the research group of Ericsson Inc., NC, USA, where he was involved with several projects related to 2G and 3G wireless communication systems. Since August 2002, he has been with the Electrical Engineering Dept. of University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA, where he is a Professor. In December 2013, he joined Istanbul Medipol University to found the Engineering College, where he has worked as the Dean of the School of Engineering and Natural Sciences. He has also served as the director of the Graduate School of Engineering and Natural Sciences in the same university. In addition, he has worked as a part-time consultant for various companies and institutions including Anritsu Company, Savronik Inc., and The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey.
Dr. Arslan’s research interests are related to advanced signal processing techniques at the physical and medium access layers, with cross-layer design for networking adaptivity and Quality of Service (QoS) control. He is interested in many forms of wireless technologies including cellular radio, wireless PAN/LAN/MANs, fixed wireless access, aeronautical networks, underwater networks, in vivo networks, and wireless sensors networks. His current research interests are on 5G and beyond radio access technologies, physical layer security, interference management (avoidance, awareness, and cancellation), cognitive radio, small cells, powerline communications, smart grid, UWB, multi-carrier wireless technologies, dynamic spectrum access, co-existence issues on heterogeneous networks, aeronautical (High Altitude Platform) communications, channel modeling and system design, and underwater acoustic communications. He has served as technical program committee chair, technical program committee member, session and symposium organizer, and workshop chair in several IEEE conferences. He is currently a member of the editorial board for the IEEE Surveys and Tutorials and the Sensors Journal. He has also served as a member of the editorial board for the IEEE Transactions on Communications, the IEEE Transactions on Cognitive Communications and Networking (TCCN), the Elsevier Physical Communication Journal, the Hindawi Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Wiley Wireless Communication and Mobile Computing Journal.

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Machine Learning For Wireless Communications And Networking: Motivations, Case Studies, And Open Problems

SPEAKER: Dr. Shiwen Mao Professor and Earle C. Williams Eminent Scholar Chair, and Director of the Wireless Engineering Research and Education Center at Auburn University
DATE: Monday, June 28, 2021
TIME: Webinar: 06:00 p.m. - 07:30 p.m. EST
PLACE: Webinar via Zoom:link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86149311681?pwd=K2UyeUV5M0REa2c4S1FsMHU4MWNIQT09    
REGISTRATION
: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/274419 
ADMISSION: Free, but the registration in advance is required.
For any additional information please contact: Hossein Hassani or Wahab Almuhtadi.
ORGANIZED BY IEEE: Denver Section VTS/ComSoc Joint Chapter, Kingston Section CS/ComSoc Chapter, Windsor Section SPS/ComSoc Joint Chapter, Kitchener-Waterloo Section VTS Chapter, Toronto Section ComSoc/BTS Chapter, Denver Section, Windsor Section CIS/SMC Joint Chapter, and Ottawa Section ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Joint Chapter

Abstract
While 5G deployment is being carried out in many places of the world, there has been great interest in the prospects of 5G beyond and the next generation. Among the various visions, a common theme is that artificial intelligence will play a key role, as evidenced by the great interest and advances in machine learning enabled wireless communications and networking. In this talk, we will discuss the motivation, potential, and challenges of incorporating machine learning in wireless communications and networking for 5G and beyond systems.
We will start with two motivating examples, i.e., channel estimation and mobile edge computing, to show why machine learning could be helpful. We will share our experience of several case studies, including (i) a hybrid approach to the classical energy efficiency maximization problem, where traditional models could be used to train a deep learning model; (ii) data augmentation for convolutional neural network (CNN) based automatic modulation classification (AMC), where a conditional generative adversarial network (CGAN) is utilized to generate synthesized training data; and (iii) and an adaptive model for RFID-based 3D human skeleton tracking, which utilizes meta-learning and few-shot fine-tuning to achieve high adaptability to new environments. We will conclude this talk with a discussion of challenges and open problems.

Bio

Dr. Shiwen Mao [S'99-M'04-SM'09-F'19] received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Polytechnic University, Brooklyn, NY in 2004. He was a postdoc at Virginia Tech from 2004 to 2006, and joined Auburn University, Auburn, AL as an assistant professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2006. He held the McWane Endowed Professorship from 2012 to 2015 and the Samuel Ginn Endowed Professorship from 2015 to 2020. Currently, he is a professor and Earle C. Williams Eminent Scholar Chair, and Director of the Wireless Engineering Research and Education Center at Auburn University. His research interest includes wireless networks, multimedia communications, and smart grid. He is on the editorial board of several IEEE and ACM journals. He is a Distinguished Lecturer of IEEE Communications Society and IEEE Council of RFID, and a Distinguished Speaker of IEEE Vehicular Technology Society. He received the IEEE ComSoc TC-CSR Distinguished Technical Achievement Award in 2019 and NSF CAREER Award in 2010. He is a co-recipient of the 2021 IEEE Communications Society Outstanding Paper Award and the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society 2020 Jack Neubauer Memorial Award.

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IEEE VDL: Learning To Learn To Communicate

SPEAKER: Professor Osvaldo Simeone, Information Engineering, Telecommunications Research, Department of Engineering of King's College London, UK
DATE: Thursday, June 24, 2021
TIME: Webinar: 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. EST
PLACE: Webinar via Zoom:link https://uottawa-ca.zoom.us/j/93444801698?pwd=R2k0d0Z1VmJZbVJaajJYaVBQUnZ2QT09    
REGISTRATION
:
https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/274966
ADMISSION: Free, but the registration in advance is required.
For any additional information please contact: Hossein Hassani or Wahab Almuhtadi.
ORGANIZED BY IEEE: Kingston Section CS/ComSoc Chapter, Saint Maurice Section ComSoc Chapter, Toronto Section ComSoc/BTS Chapter, Vancouver Section JComSoc/PHOS/BTS/ITS oint Chapter, and Ottawa Section ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Joint Chapter

Abstract
The application of supervised learning techniques for the design of the physical layer of a communication link is often impaired by the limited amount of pilot data available for each device; while the use of unsupervised learning is typically limited by the need to carry out a large number of training iterations. In this talk, meta-learning, or learning-to-learn, is introduced as a tool to alleviate these problems. The talk will consider an Internet-of-Things (IoT) scenario in which devices transmit sporadically using short packets with few pilot symbols over a fading channel. The number of pilots is generally insufficient to obtain an accurate estimate of the end-to-end channel, which includes the effects of fading and of the transmission-side distortion. To tackle this problem, pilots from previous IoT transmissions are used as meta-training data in order to train a demodulator that is able to quickly adapt to new end-to-end channel conditions from few pilots. Various state-of-the-art meta-learning schemes are adapted to the problem at hand and evaluated, including MAML, FOMAML, REPTILE, and CAVIA. Both offline and online solutions are developed.

Bio

Osvaldo Simeone is a Professor of Information Engineering with the Centre for Telecommunications Research at the Department of Engineering of King's College London, where he directs the King's Communications, Learning and Information Processing lab. He received an M.Sc. degree (with honors) and a Ph.D. degree in information engineering from Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy, in 2001 and 2005, respectively. From 2006 to 2017, he was a faculty member of the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), where he was affiliated with the Center for Wireless Information Processing (CWiP). His research interests include information theory, machine learning, wireless communications, and neuromorphic computing. Dr Simeone is a co-recipient of the 2019 IEEE Communication Society Best Tutorial Paper Award, the 2018 IEEE Signal Processing Best Paper Award, the 2017 JCN Best Paper Award, the 2015 IEEE Communication Society Best Tutorial Paper Award and of the Best Paper Awards of IEEE SPAWC 2007 and IEEE WRECOM 2007. He was awarded a Consolidator grant by the European Research Council (ERC) in 2016. His research has been supported by the U.S. NSF, the ERC, the Vienna Science and Technology Fund, as well as by a number of industrial collaborations. He currently serves in the editorial board of the IEEE Signal Processing Magazine and is the vice-chair of the Signal Processing for Communications and Networking Technical Committee of the IEEE Signal Processing Society. He was a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Information Theory Society in 2017 and 2018. Dr Simeone is a co-author of two monographs, two edited books published by Cambridge University Press, and more than one hundred research journal papers. He is a Fellow of the IET and of the IEEE.

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IEEE VDL: Intelligent Reflected Surfaces For Future Wireless Systems

SPEAKER: Dr. Shahid Mumtaz is an IET Fellow, IEEE ComSoc and ACM Distinguished Speaker
DATE: Monday, June 21, 2021
TIME: Webinar: 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. EST
PLACE: Webinar via Zoom link: https://uottawa-ca.zoom.us/j/97065802800?pwd=RDVoV3g1RlhZQmRLYXVxa1NDMWNzQT09
REGISTRATION
: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/274962  
ADMISSION: Free, but the registration in advance is required.
For any additional information please contact: Hossein Hassani or Wahab Almuhtadi.
ORGANIZED BY IEEE: Kingston Section CS/ComSoc Chapter, Toronto Section ComSoc/BTS Chapter, and Ottawa Section ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Joint  Chapter

Abstract
As we have finalized the research for 5G, now there is a race for technologies that will conquer 6G. The 6G technologies will achieve much better latency and computation efficiency as compared to 5G. From 1G to 5G, almost all research and standardization randomly model the wireless channel between transmitter and receiver. There is no control of humans over a wireless medium, as it is given by nature. In 6G, we will break this assumption and go from random wireless channels to controllable wireless. Thanks to Intelligent Reflected Surfaces for Future Wireless System(IRS). This talk will explain in detail the physics of metasurface and the progress of IRS till today. This talk will also present different use case, study cases, signal processing and communication techniques for IRS, standardization, Prototype and testbed, and the open research challenges.

Bio

Shahid Mumtaz is an IET Fellow, IEEE ComSoc and ACM Distinguished speaker, recipient of IEEE ComSoC Young Researcher Award (2020), IEEE Senior member, founder and EiC of IET “Journal of Quantum communication”, Vice-Chair: Europe/Africa Region- IEEE ComSoc: Green Communications & Computing society and Vice-chair for IEEE standard on P1932.1: Standard for Licensed/Unlicensed Spectrum Interoperability in Wireless Mobile Networks.

He has more than 15 years of wireless industry/academic experience. He has received his Master's and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden, and University of Aveiro, Portugal in 2006 and 2011, respectively. From 2002 to 2003, he worked for Pak Telecom as System Engineer and from 2005 to 2006 for Ericsson and Huawei at Research Labs in Sweden. He has been with Instituto de Telecomunicações since 2011 where he currently holds the position of Auxiliary Researcher and adjunct positions with several universities across the Europe-Asian Region.

He is the author of 4 technical books, 12 book chapters, 250+ technical papers (170+ Journal/transaction, 90+ conference, 2 IEEE best paper award- in the area of mobile communications. He had/has supervised/co-supervising several Ph.D. and Master Students. He uses mathematical and system-level tools to model and analyze emerging wireless communication architectures, leading to innovative theoretically optimal new communication techniques. He is working closely with leading R&D groups in the industry to transition these ideas to practice. He secures the funding of around 2M Euro.

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IEEE VDL: Localization in Drone Assisted and Vehicular Networks

SPEAKER: Professor Shahrokh Valaee, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto, ON, Canada
DATE: Thursday, June 17, 2021
TIME: Webinar: 01:00 p.m. - 02:00 p.m. EST
PLACE: Webinar via Zoom link: https://uottawa-ca.zoom.us/j/99675351488?pwd=c3lVcm9PM1ZDUjJndmlrT0U3TlZkQT09   
REGISTRATION
:  https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/274379 
ADMISSION: Free, but the registration in advance is required.
For any additional information please contact: Hossein Hassani or Wahab Almuhtadi
ORGANIZED BY IEEE: Kingston Section CS/ComSoc Chapter, Windsor Section SPS/ComSoc Joint Chapter, Toronto Section ComSoc/BTS Chapter, Ottawa Section ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Joint  Chapter, and Canadian Atlantic Section ComSoc Chapter, Vancouver Section ComSoc/PHOS/BTS/ITS Joint Chapter.

Abstract
The next generation of wireless systems will employ networking equipment mounted on mobile platforms, unmanned air vehicles (UAV), and low orbit satellites. As a result, the topology of 6G wireless technology will extend to 3D vertical networking. With its extended service, 6G will also give rise to new challenges which include, the introduction of intelligent reflective surfaces (IRS), the mmWave spectrum, the employment of massive MIMO systems, and the agility of networks. Along with the advancement in networking technology, user devices are also evolving rapidly, with the emergence of highly capable cellphones, smart IoT equipment, and wearable devices. One of the key elements of 6G technology is the need for accurate positioning information. The accuracy of today’s positioning systems is not acceptable for many applications of future, especially in smart environments. In this talk, we will discuss how positioning can be a key enabler of 6G, and what challenges the next generation of localization technology will face when integrated within the new wireless networks.

Bio

Shahrokh Valaee is a Professor with the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto, and the holder of Nortel Chair of Network Architectures and Services. He is the Founder and the Director of the Wireless and Internet Research Laboratory (WIRLab) at the University of Toronto. Professor Valaee was the TPC Co-Chair and the Local Organization Chair of the IEEE Personal Mobile Indoor Radio Communication (PIMRC) Symposium 2011. He was the TCP Chair of PIMRC2017, the Track Co-Chair of WCNC 2014, the TPC Co-Chair of ICT 2015. He has been the guest editor for various journals. He was a Track Co-chair for PIMRC 2020 and VTC Fall 2020. From December 2010 to December 2012, he was the Associate Editor of the IEEE Signal Processing Letters. From 2010 to 2015, he served as an Editor of IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications. Currently, he is an Editor of Journal of Computer and System Science. Professor Valaee is a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada, and a Fellow of IEE

 


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Integrated Terrestrial-Aerial-Satellite Networks: Key Enabler for the Super Smart Cities of the Future

SPEAKER: Professor Halim Yanikomeroglu, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
DATE: Friday, May 27, 2021
TIME: Webinar: 12:00 p.m.  - 1:00 p.m. EST
PLACE: Webinar via Zoom link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83194080312?pwd=L01RNElTKytWSE1vb3ZJUkd0OG1DQT09   
REGISTRATION: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/271155
ADMISSION:Free, but the registration in advance is required.
For any additional information please contact: Hadeel Elayan or Wahab Almuhtadi or Eman Hammad.

ORGANIZED BY: IEEE Ottawa Joint Chapter of Communications Society, Consumer Technology Society, and Broadcast Technology Society (ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS), IEEE ComSoc Toronto Chapter (ComSoc), IEEE ComSoc Montreal Chapter (ComSoc), IEEE Ottawa Educational Activities (EA), IEEE Ottawa Women In Engineering (WIE), IEEE Ottawa Young Professionals (YP), and Algonquin College Student Branch (ACSB)  in conjunction with School of Advanced Technology, Algonquin College.

Abstract
There have been rapid and exciting developments in recent years in satellite networks, in particular, in LEO mega-constellations such as SpaceX's Starlink. Although less visible, exciting developments have also been taking place in a certain type of aerial networks known as the high-altitude platform station (HAPS) systems, such as the formation of HAPS Alliance which brings together the connectivity and aerospace industries. It is worth noting that the satellite and aerial networks discussions have been occurring exclusively in the context of remote and rural connectivity. A major concern in this context is the rather questionable business case; there is limited revenue in rural and remote regions. In this talk, a novel vision will be presented for an integrated terrestrial-aerial-satellite networks architecture as a key enabler for the super smart cities of 2030s and beyond.

Bio
Dr. Halim Yanikomeroglu is a Professor at Carleton University, Canada. He received his Ph.D. from University of Toronto in 1998. He contributed to 4G/5G technologies and non-terrestrial networks. His industrial collaborations resulted in 37 granted patents. He supervised or hosted in his lab a total of 135 postgraduate researchers. He co-authored IEEE papers with faculty members in 80+ universities in 25 countries. He is a Fellow of IEEE, Engineering Institute of Canada, and Canadian Academy of Engineering, and an IEEE Distinguished Speaker for ComSoc and VTS. He is currently chairing the WCNC Steering Committee; he is a member of PIMRC Steering Committee and ComSoc Emerging Technologies Committee. He served as the General Chair of two VTCs and TP Chair of three WCNCs. He chaired ComSoc Technical Committee on Personal Communications. He received several awards including ComSoc Wireless Communications TC Recognition Award (2018) and VTS Stuart Meyer Memorial Award (2020).

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AI to Enable Digital Medicine and Detect COVID-19

SPEAKER: Dr. Giorgio Quer, PhD, Dir. of AI, Scripps Research Translational Institute, La Jolla, California, USA, IEEE ComSoc Distinguished Lecturer
DATE: Friday, May 14, 2021
TIME: Webinar: 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. EST
PLACE: Webinar via Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85676389854  
REGISTRATION
: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/271155
ADMISSION: Free, but the registration in advance is required.
For any additional information please contact: Wahab Almuhtadi or Eman Hammad.
ORGANIZED BY: IEEE Ottawa Joint Chapter of Communications Society, Consumer Technology Society, and Broadcast Technology Society (ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS), IEEE ComSoc Toronto Chapter (ComSoc), IEEE ComSoc Montreal Chapter (ComSoc), IEEE Ottawa Educational Activities (EA), IEEE Ottawa Women In Engineering (WIE), IEEE Ottawa Young Professionals (YP), and Algonquin College Student Branch (ACSB)

Abstract
Digitalize human beings using biosensors to track our complex physiologic system, process the large amount of data generated with artificial intelligence (AI) and change clinical practice towards individualized medicine: these are the goals of digital medicine. In this talk, we discuss how to design AI solutions in the clinical space and what are the key aspects to make a difference. We focus on two critical clinical topics that need AI: 1) atrial fibrillation (AF), and 2) viral illnesses (COVID-19). AF is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia, associated with stroke, heart failure and coronary artery disease. AF detection from single-lead electrocardiography (ECG) recordings is still an open problem, as AF events may be episodic and the signal noisy. We conduct a thoughtful analysis of recent convolutional neural network architectures developed in the computer vision field, redesigned to be suitable for a one-dimensional signal, and we evaluate their performance in the detection of AF using 200 thousand seconds of ECG, highlighting the potential and pitfall of this technology. We also discuss how to explain (global and local post hoc explanations) this AI model for AF detection using features that are commonly used by a cardiologist.
To tackle the problem of COVID-19, we start with an overview of continuous, passively monitored vital signs from 200,000 individuals wearing a Fitbit wearable device for 2 years. This large study provides the baseline for DETECT, our app-based, nationwide clinical study enrolling individuals who routinely use a smartwatch or other wireless devices to determine if individualized tracking of changes in heart rate, activity and sleep can provide early diagnosis and self-monitoring for COVID-19. We analyze data from more than 36,000 individuals, showing how we can discriminate (on an individual level) between COVID-19 and other types of infections. We discuss how this can impact both the individual and public health, and how the use of AI can be a game changer in this fight against the virus.

Bio

Dr. Giorgio Quer received a Ph.D. degree (2011) in Information Engineering from University of Padova, Italy. In 2007, he was a visiting researcher at the Centre for Wireless Communication at the University of Oulu, Finland. During his Ph.D., he proposed a solution for the distributed compression of wireless sensor networks signals, based on the joint exploitation of Compressive Sensing and Principal Component Analysis. From 2010 to 2016, he was at the Qualcomm Institute, University of California San Diego (UCSD), working on cognitive networks protocols and implementation. At Scripps Research, he is leading the Data Science and Analytics Scripps team involved in the All of Us Research Program (NIH), together with several efforts involving big data and AI in digital medicine, including DETECT, towards the use of wearables to detect COVID-19. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE and a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Communications society. His research interests include wireless sensor networks, probabilistic models, deep convolutional networks, wearable sensors, physiological signal processing, and digital medicine.

 

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Webinar: The Smart City Building Blocks & Their Synergy with Smart Villages

SPEAKER: Prof. Dr. Saifur Rahman, Director, Advanced Research Institute, Virginia Tech, USA, IEEE PES President 2018-2019, IEEE PES Distinguished Lecturer
DATE: Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2020
TIME: Webinar: 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
REGISTRATION: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/236964.

ADMISSION: Free, but the registration in advance is required.
For any additional information please contact: Ajit Pardasani or Branislav Djokic.
ORGANIZED BY: IEEE Ottawa Power and Energy Society Chapter (PES), Reliability Society and Power Electronics Society Joint Chapter (RS/PELS), Instrumentation & Measurement Society Chapter (IMS), Communications Society, Consumer Electronics Society, and Broadcast Technology Society Joint Chapter (ComSoc/CESoc/BTS), and IEEE Ottawa Educational Activities (EA)

Abstract
A smart city relies on widely distributed smart devices to monitor the urban environment in real-time, collects information for intelligent decision making, and facilitates various services to improve the quality of urban living. The distributed network of intelligent sensor nodes, as well as data centers/clouds where sensor data are stored and shared, constitutes a smart city infrastructure. Smart cities address urban challenges such as pollution, energy efficiency, security, parking, traffic, transportation, and others by utilizing advanced technologies in data gathering and communications interconnectivity via the Internet. It provides real time and remote monitoring for different aspects of data management in areas such as transportation, communication, video surveillance, and sensors distributed throughout the city. Simultaneously, the Smart City building blocks like education, telemedicine, health care, IT applications, pollution management, etc. can be deployed in the IEEE Smart Village initiative to have a greater impact on the rural population throughout the world. through reliable electricity and internet connectivity.

Bio

Prof. Dr. Saifur Rahman is the founding director of the Advanced Research Institute (www.ari.vt.edu) at Virginia Tech, USA, where he is the Joseph R. Loring Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He also directs the Center for Energy and the Global Environment (www.ceage.vt.edu). He is a Life Fellow of the IEEE and an IEEE Millennium Medal winner. He was the founding Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Electrification Magazine and the IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy. In 2006, he served on the IEEE Board of Directors as the Vice President for Publications. He is a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) and has lectured on renewable energy, energy efficiency, smart grid, electric power system operation and planning, etc. in over 30 countries. He was IEEE Power and Energy Society President 2018-2019 and is now a candidate for IEEE President-Elect 2021.

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Webinar: Measurement, Control and Protection in Smart Grid Energy Management Systems for Smart Buildings in a Smart City

SPEAKER: Prof. Dr. Saifur Rahman, Director, Advanced Research Institute, Virginia Tech, USA, IEEE PES President 2018-2019, IEEE PES Distinguished Lecturer
DATE: Thursday, July 30, 2020
TIME: Webinar: 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
REGISTRATION: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/234586

ADMISSION: Free, but the registration in advance is required.
For any additional information please contact: Ajit Pardasani or Branislav Djokic.
ORGANIZED BY: IEEE Ottawa Power and Energy Society Chapter (PES), Instrumentation & Measurement Society Chapter (IMS), Reliability Society and Power Electronics Society Joint Chapter (RS/PELS), Communications Society, Consumer Electronics Society, and Broadcast Technology Society Joint Chapter (ComSoc/CESoc/BTS), and IEEE Ottawa Educational Activities (EA)


Abstract

Smart grid is a modern electric system with its architecture, communications, sensors, measurements, automation, computing hardware and software for improvement of the efficiency, reliability, flexibility and security. In particular, the smart grid, when fully deployed, will facilitate the (i) increased use of digital information and measurement, control & protection technologies, (ii) deployment and grid-integration of distributed energy resources (DERs), (iii) operation of demand response and energy efficiency programs, and (iv) integration of consumer-owned smart devices and technologies. Different non-linear controls, such as back-stepping control, feedback linearization, model predictive control, and sliding mode control are applied to control DERs, and their grid integration. Another control technique gaining application in the smart grid space is based on multi-agent systems (MAS) which provide autonomy, reactivity and proactivity. As speedy communication facilities, such as fiber-optics, microwave, GSM/GPRS, 4G/5G are becoming the integral parts of the functioning smart grid, the integration of MAS in smart grid applications is becoming simple and feasible. This lecture focuses on the measurement & control issues of the smart grid and how MAS can provide an efficient tool to address such issues. In addition, an overview of the related challenges and opportunities for energy efficient building operation and management with deployment experience in the US will be provided.

Bio

Prof. Dr. Saifur Rahman is the founding director of the Advanced Research Institute (www.ari.vt.edu) at Virginia Tech, USA, where he is the Joseph R. Loring Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He also directs the Center for Energy and the Global Environment (www.ceage.vt.edu). He is a Life Fellow of the IEEE and an IEEE Millennium Medal winner. He was the founding Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Electrification Magazine and the IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy. In 2006, he served on the IEEE Board of Directors as the Vice President for Publications. He is a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) and has lectured on renewable energy, energy efficiency, smart grid, electric power system operation and planning, etc. in over 30 countries. He was IEEE Power and Energy Society President 2018-2019 and is now a candidate for IEEE President-Elect 2021.

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Webinar: Role of the Smart Grid in Facilitating the Integration of Renewables

SPEAKER: Prof. Dr. Saifur Rahman, Director, Advanced Research Institute, Virginia Tech, USA, IEEE PES President 2018-2019, IEEE PES Distinguished Lecturer
DATE: Tuesday, July 28, 2020
TIME: Webinar: 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
REGISTRATION: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/234594.

ADMISSION: Free, but the registration in advance is required.
For any additional information please contact: Ajit Pardasani or Branislav Djokic.
ORGANIZED BY: IEEE Ottawa Power and Energy Society Chapter (PES), Instrumentation & Measurement Society Chapter (IMS), Reliability Society and Power Electronics Society Joint Chapter (RS/PELS), Communications Society, Consumer Electronics Society, and Broadcast Technology Society Joint Chapter (ComSoc/CESoc/BTS), and IEEE Ottawa Educational Act



Abstract

With the focus on environmental sustainability and energy security, power system planners are looking at renewable energy as supplements and alternatives. But such generation sources have their own challenges - primarily intermittency. It is expected that the smart grid – due to its inherent communication, sensing and control capabilities – will have the ability to manage the load, storage and generation assets (including renewables) in the power grid to enable a large-scale integration of distributed generation. In a smart grid, information about the state of the grid and its components can be exchanged quickly over long distances and complex networks. It will therefore be possible to have the integration of sustainable energy sources, such as wind, solar, off-shore electricity, etc. for smoother system operation. But in order for this to be possible, the electric utility will have to evolve, and change their ways of operation to become an intelligent provider of these services..

Bio

Prof. Dr. Saifur Rahman is the founding director of the Advanced Research Institute (www.ari.vt.edu) at Virginia Tech, USA, where he is the Joseph R. Loring Professor of
Electrical and Computer Engineering. He also directs the Center for Energy and the Global Environment (www.ceage.vt.edu). He is a Life Fellow of the IEEE and an IEEE Millennium Medal winner. He was the founding Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Electrification Magazine and the IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy. In 2006, he served on the IEEE Board of Directors as the Vice President for Publications. He is a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) and has lectured on renewable energy, energy efficiency, smart grid, electric power system operation and planning, etc. in over 30 countries. He was IEEE Power and Energy Society President 2018-2019 and is now a candidate for IEEE President-Elect 2021.

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Webinar: Integrated Access and Backhaul for 5G and Beyond

SPEAKER: Dr. Behrooz Makki, a Senior Researcher in Ericsson Research, Gothenburg, Sweden.
DATE: Thursday, July 9, 2020
TIME: Webinar: 12:00 p.m. - 01:00 p.m.  
ADMISSION: Open to all, free of charge. Registration is required by e-mail. Space is limited:
REGISTRATION: Please visit https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/233754 for more details and to register.
ORGANIZED BY: IEEE Communications Society Toronto Chapter along with ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Ottawa Joint Chapter and IEEE ComSoc Montreal Chapter
MORE INFO/CONATCT
: IEEE ComSoc Toronto Chapter


Abstract:
The number of devices requesting for wireless communications is growing exponentially. Network densification via the deployment of many base stations (BSs) of different types is one of the mechanisms that can be employed to satisfy the ever-increasing demand for bandwidth/capacity in wireless networks. However, deploying fiber to the small cells may be expensive and impractical when the number of small cells increases. For this reason, as well as because of the traffic jams and infrastructure displacements caused by fiber optic installation, millimeter wave (mmw)-based wireless backhaul is currently considered as an alternative, providing (almost) the same rate as fiber optic with significantly less price and no digging. With this background, integrated access and backhaul (IAB) networks, where the operator can utilize part of the radio resources for wireless backhauling, has recently received considerable attention. The purpose of IAB is to replace existing backhaul systems with flexible wireless backhaul using the existing 3GPP bands providing not only backhaul but also existing cellular services in the same node. This creates more flexibility and reduces the implementation cost. For 5G NR, IAB is currently considered as a work item in 3GPP, and it is known as one of the main novelties of 5G. In this talk, we review the main backhauling techniques, and present the main motivations/standardization agreements on IAB. Moreover, We present comparisons between the IAB networks and the cases where all or part of the small access points are fiber-connected. Finally, we study the robustness of IAB networks to environmental effects and verify the effect of the blockage, the tree foliage, the rain as well as the antenna height/gain on the coverage rate of IAB setups, as the key differences between the fiber-connected and IAB networks. As we show, IAB is an attractive setup enabling 5G and beyond.

Bio:

Behrooz Makki received his PhD degree in Communication Engineering from Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden. In 2013-2017, he was a Postdoc researcher at Chalmers University. Currently, he works as a senior researcher in Ericsson Research, Gothenburg, Sweden. Behrooz is the recipient of the VR Research Link grant, Sweden, 2014, the Ericsson’s Research grant, Sweden, 2013, 2014 and 2015, the ICT SEED grant, Sweden, 2017, as well as the Wallenbergs research grant, Sweden, 2018. He is a Senior Member of IEEE since Aug. 2019. Also, Behrooz is the recipient of the IEEE best reviewer award, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 2018. Currently, he works as an Editor in IEEE Wireless Communications Letters, IEEE Communications Letters, the journal of Communications and Information Networks as well as the associate editor of Frontiers in Communications and Networks. He was a member of European Commission projects “mm-Wave based Mobile Radio Access Network for 5G Integrated Communications” and “ARTIST4G” as well as various national and international research collaborations. His current research interests include integrated access and backhaul, hybrid automatic repeat request, Green communications, millimeter wave communications, and backhauling. He has co-authored 57 journal papers, 45 conference papers and 40 patent applications
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Webinar: Josephson Arbitrary Waveform Synthesizer as a Quantum Standard of Voltage and Current Harmonics

SPEAKER: Dr. Dimitrios Georgakopoulos, Senior Research Scientist, National Measurement Institute, Sydney, Australia
DATE: DATE: Tuesday, July 09, 2020
TIME: Webinar: 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm
REGISTRATION: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/233847.

ADMISSION: Free, but the registration in advance is required.
For any additional information please contact: Ajit Pardasani or Branislav Djokic.
ORGANIZED BY: IEEE Ottawa Power and Energy Society Chapter (PES), Instrumentation & Measurement Society Chapter (IMS), Reliability Society and Power Electronics Society Joint Chapter (RS/PELS), Communications Society, Consumer Electronics Society, and Broadcast Technology Society Joint Chapter (ComSoc/CESoc/BTS), and IEEE Ottawa Educational Activities (EA).

Abstract:
Josephson arbitrary waveform synthesizers (JAWS) are becoming a viable technology for national metrology institutes and industry to establish quantum standards of direct and alternating voltage. At the National Measurement Institute of Australia (NMIA) we have extended the pplication of the JAWS to provide a standard of both the magnitude and the phase of harmonics in a distorted waveform. Harmonic analysis is critical in a number of industrial applications such as electric power systems, power electronics, characterization of systems and materials and acoustics and vibration. At present, in the calibrations of power analyzers, the traceability of the magnitude of the harmonics is based on ac-dc transfer measurements. However, there is a gap in the traceability of the phase of the harmonics relative to the fundamental. The NMIA calibration system uses a JAWS chip from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), USA, a precision inductive voltage divider and a set of current shunts designed and manufactured by NMIA.

Bio:

Dimitrios Georgakopoulos (IEEE AM’11–M’12–SM’12) was born in Athens, Greece, in 1972. He received his B.Eng. degree in electrical engineering from the Technological Educational Institution of Piraeus, Egaleo, Greece, in 1996; his M.Sc. degree in electronic instrumentation systems from the University of Manchester, Manchester, UK, in 1999; and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and electronics from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, Manchester, UK, in 2002. From 2002 to 2007, he worked as a research scientist at the National Physical Laboratory, UK. In 2007, he joined the National Measurement Institute, Australia, as a research scientist, where he has been working on the development of quantum voltage standards and low frequency electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) standards.

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Drone-assisted Mobile Edge Computing
Speaker: Nirwan Ansari, Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT)
DATE: Thursday, March 19, 202. (Canceled due to COVID-19 restriction)
TIME: Refreshments/Registration/Networking: 06:00 p.m.; Seminar: 06:30 p.m. – 07:30 p.m.
PLACE: Ciena Optophotonics Lab (room T129), School of Advanced Technology, Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2G 1V8.
PARKING: Parking at Lots 8 and 9 after 5 p.m. is $5 flat rate, pay at a machine and display the ticket on your dashboard. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. Please register by e-mail contacting:  Wahab Almuhtadi.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website

Abstract

In mobile access networks, different types of Internet of Things (IoT) devices (e.g., sensor nodes and smartphones) will generate vast traffic demands, thus dramatically increasing the traffic loads of their connected access nodes, especially in the 5G era. Mobile edge computing enables data collected by IoT devices to be stored in and processed by local fog nodes as well as allows IoT users to access IoT applications via these nodes at the same time. In this case, the communications latency critically affects the response time of IoT user requests. Owing to the dynamic distribution of IoT users, drone base station (DBS), which can be flexibly deployed over hotspot areas, can potentially improve the wireless latency of IoT users by mitigating the heavy traffic loads of macro BSs. Drone-based communications poses two major challenges: 1) DBS should be deployed in suitable areas with heavy traffic demands to serve more users; 2) traffic loads in the network should be allocated among macro BSs and DBSs to avoid instigating traffic congestions. Therefore, we propose a TrAffic Load baLancing (TALL) scheme in such drone-assisted fog network to minimize the wireless latency of IoT users. In the scheme, we divide the problem into two sub-problems and design two algorithms to optimize the DBS placement and user association, respectively. Extensive simulations have been set up to validate the performance of TALL.

Bio

Dr. Nirwan Ansari, Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), received his Ph.D. from Purdue University, MSEE from the University of Michigan, and BSEE (summa cum laude with a perfect GPA) from NJIT. He is a Fellow of IEEE and a Fellow of National Academy of Inventors.
He authored Green Mobile Networks: A Networking Perspective (Wiley-IEEE, 2017) with T. Han, and co-authored two other books. He has also (co-)authored more than 600 technical publications. He has guest-edited a number of special issues covering various emerging topics in communications and networking. He has served on the editorial/advisory board of over ten journals including as Associate Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Wireless Communications Magazine. His current research focuses on green communications and networking, cloud computing, drone-assisted networking, and various aspects of broadband networks. He was elected to serve in the IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc) Board of Governors as a member-at-large, has chaired some ComSoc technical and steering committees, is current Director of ComSoc Educational Services Board, has been serving in many committees such as the IEEE Fellow Committee, and has been actively organizing numerous IEEE International Conferences/Symposia/Workshops. He is frequently invited to deliver keynote addresses, distinguished lectures, tutorials, and invited talks. Some of his recognitions include several excellence in teaching awards, a few best paper awards, the NCE Excellence in Research Award, several ComSoc TC technical recognition awards, the NJ Inventors Hall of Fame Inventor of the Year Award, the Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award, Purdue University Outstanding Electrical and Computer Engineering Award, the NCE 100 Medal, and designation as a COMSOC Distinguished Lecturer. He has also been granted more than 40 U.S. patents.
 

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Microgrid Stability Definitions, Analysis, and Modeling

Speaker: Dr. Mostafa Farrokhabadi, Director of Technology at BluWave-ai, Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada.
DATE: Tuesday, March 17, 2020.
TIME: Refreshments/Registration/Networking: 06:00 p.m.; Seminar: 06:30 p.m. – 07:30 p.m.
PLACE: Ciena Optophotonics Lab (room T129), School of Advanced Technology, Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2G 1V8.
PARKING: Parking at Lots 8 and 9 after 5 p.m. is $5 flat rate, pay at a machine and display the ticket on your dashboard. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. Please register by e-mail contacting: ajit.pardasani@ieee.org or branislav@ieee.org.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

Abstract

A microgrid is defined as a group of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and loads that act locally as a single controllable entity and can operate in both grid-connected and islanded modes. Microgrids are considered a critical link in the evolution from vertically integrated bulk power systems to smart decentralized networks, by facilitating the integration of DERs. Entities, such as government agencies, utilities, military bases, and universities around the world are deploying microgrids, and an increasing number of these systems are expected to be developed in the next decade. In general, stability in microgrids has been treated from the perspective of conventional bulk power systems. However, the nature of the stability problem and dynamic performance of a microgrid are considerably different than those of a conventional power system due to intrinsic differences between microgrids and bulk power systems, such as size, feeder types, high share of Renewable Energy Sources (RES), converter-interfaced components, low inertia, measurement devices such as Phase-Locked Loop (PLL), unbalanced operation, etc.
This seminar discusses the findings of the award-winning IEEE PES Task Force on Microgrid Stability Definitions, Analysis, and Modeling, which defines concepts and identifies relevant issues related to stability in microgrids. The seminar presents definitions and classification of microgrid stability, considering pertinent microgrid features such as voltage-frequency dependence, unbalancing, low inertia, and generation intermittency. A few examples will be also presented, highlighting some of the stability classes discussed during the seminar.

Bio

Dr. Mostafa Farrokhabadi is the Senior Director of Technology at BluWave-ai, an internationally award-winning startup offering AI-enabled control and optimization solutions for smart grids. He has more than 8 years of experience in designing mission critical grid solutions for industry and academia, including technical leadership of a $6M international consortium in Electric Grid Modernization, and Smart Grid projects with Hatch and Canadian Solar. Mostafa has authored/co-authored several high-impact technical papers and patents on intelligent control and optimization of renewable-penetrated grids. Mostafa obtained his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo. He has also studied and performed research in Sweden at KTH and Germany at KIT. During the course of his career, Mostafa has received multiple business, research, and teaching awards, including the prestigious University of Waterloo Doctoral Thesis Completion Award and Ottawa's Forty Under 40. Mostafa has also led the award-winning IEEE Power and Energy Society Task Force on microgrid stability, an international coalition of 21 researchers from 14 institutions investigating stability issues in microgrids. Currently, he serves as an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid.

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The Journey to 5G

Speaker: Dr. Ibrahim Gedeon, CTO, TELUS
DATE: Wednesday February 19, 2020.
TIME: 11:30 a.m. – 01:30 p.m.
PLACE: CENGN-,Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks,  555 Legget Dr Tower A Suite, Ottawa, ON, Canada  K2K 2X3
ADMISSION: Event is free, but space is limited. Registration required. All participants must register in advance. Please follow the link to register https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/20632. For more information, please contact: Register here, or contact Michael Lalonde michael.lalonde@ieee.org.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

Abstract

Through an informal, open and candid discussion, Ibrahim will share a look into the various aspect of the journey to 5G. From industry trends on 5G and deployments globally to TELUS’ view and plans, the lunch and learn will explore the technology, security and applications required to deploy 5G right.

Bio

Ibrahim Gedeon is one of the global telecommunications industry's eminent thought leaders. He has carved out an international career by combining tremendous insight and skill as an applied scientist with a lighthearted and non-conventional approach to leadership. As Chief Technology Officer for TELUS a leading national telecommunications company in Canada, he is responsible for all technology development and strategy, security, service and network architecture, service delivery and operational support systems, as well as service and network convergence, and network infrastructure strategies and evolution. Under his leadership the TELUS wireless broadband network has become one of the best in the world.
Ibrahim also serves on the board of the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance, the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions and the Institute for Communication Technology Management. He has a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from the American University of Beirut and a Master's in Electronics Engineering from Carleton University. In 2010, Ibrahim received a Honourary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of British Columbia. In 2014, he was elected as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE) in recognition of his significant contributions to the field of engineering. He has been named five times to the Global Telecoms Business magazine's GTB Power 100, a list of the 100 most powerful and influential people in the telecoms industry.
Ibrahim served in many IEEE executive and leadership posts on the Society, Region, Section, and Chapter level. He is currently the Senate Chair of IEEE Ottawa Section, the Industry Advisor of the IEEE Communications Society for the North America Region, and the Industry Advisor for the IEEE Consumer Electronics Society. Ibrahim is very well known a keynote speaker, he organized and hosted several national and international conferences. He was the General Chair of the 2012 IEEE International Conference on Communications - ICC2012 (IEEE Communications Society's flagship conference), and he is currently the General Chair of the 2021 IEEE International Conference on Communications - ICC2021 that will be held in Montreal on June 14-18, 2021. He received many awards, just to name few, the Consumer Electronics Society's Distinctive Exemplary Industry Leader Award in 2019, and the IEEE Canada's Outstanding Canadian Engineer Award in 2001.

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The Future of 5G, Edge Computing and Digital Transformation

Speaker: Akshay Sharma, Tech analyst, ex-Gartner
DATE: November, 2019
TIME: Refreshments, Lunch, and Networking: 11:30 a.m.; Seminar: 12:00 p.m. - 01:30 p.m.  
PLACE: The Marshes Golf Club, 320 Terry Fox Drive, Kanata. View Map
PARKING: Free parking available.
ADMISSION: Open to all, free of charge. Registration is required by e-mail. Space is limited:
REGISTRATION: Register here, or contact Michael Lalonde michael.lalonde@ieee.org.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website, or contact  almuhtadi@ieee.org


Bio

Akshay Sharma is a Tech analyst, ex-Gartner, having authored 280+ research notes, on emerging technologies like DevOPs, Software Defined Data Centers, 5G, and IoT. T. A frequent speaker at tech events, he is often quoted in leading institutions like CNN, Wall St. Journal, and CIO.com. He is a former CTO of one of the first video/WiFi smartphone firms and an entrepreneur in the tech sector, having worked for firms that are now part of leading firms like Intel, IBM, Nokia, and Ericsson. He advises many emerging startups, such as Kovair in the DevOps/ALM arena, having worked for 3 startups that are part of IBM Rational/DOORS in ObjecTime, Verilog, and Telelogic on integrated development, test and operational environments. He will be joining us to speak on his extensive experience in the field of 5G and digital transformations related to upcoming technology leaps..

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Enabling IoT Services Through Secure 5G Core Slices

Speaker: Prof. Ashraf Matrawy, PhD, PEng, SMIEEE, School of Information Technology, Faculty of Engineering, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.
DATE: Thursday October 31, 2019.
TIME: Refreshments/Registration/Networking: 06:00 p.m.; Seminar: 06:30 p.m. – 07:30 p.m.
PLACE: Ciena Optophotonics Lab (room T129), School of Advanced Technology, Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2G 1V8.
PARKING: after 5:00 p.m. at Lots 8 & 9. Pay $5 flat rate at the machine and display the ticket on your car dashboard.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:  Wahab Almuhtadi.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

Abstract

The key motivation for this work is that future smart services (e.g. IoT applications) will have competing and perhaps conflicting networking performance requirements. These services will also require flexible and agile deployment. 5G networks, an essential component of future virtualized infrastructures, deal with this issue - in part - by relying on network slicing. To define a network slice, one has to consider the allocation of resources - both in the radio and core parts - of the 5G network to form a logical entity where a service could be deployed. Network slicing has emerged as a key-enabler for proving heterogeneous services. It takes advantage of the virtualization elements of future networking infrastructures where multiple services can be hosted on the same physical infrastructure.This talk will give a quick overview of network slicing with emphasis on 5G core networks. It will also discuss the requirement for network slice isolation and different methods that were proposed to implement it. Finally, an overview of our research group ongoing work on mitigating Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks using slice isolation. Our approach is to tackle slice isolation as a resource allocation problem to deal with the trade-off between offering security while achieving a certain level of performance. In other words, we utilize a mathematical optimization model to solve a security problem. In our proposed solution, we use slice isolation as security constraints for the optimization model to proactively mitigate DDoS attacks. Our experimental test results show how DDoS could be mitigated and the impact on slice availability. We believe this work will encourage further research in securing 5G network slicing.

Bio

Dr. Ashraf Matarawy (http://www.csit.carleton.ca/~amatrawy/) is a Full Professor at the School of Information Technology, Faculty of Engineering, Carleton University. He is also a senior member of the IEEE and a licensed P. Eng. in Ontario. Dr. Matrawy leads the Next Generation Networks group at Carleton and is a Network co-Investigator of Smart Cybersecurity Network (SERENE-RISC). His research interests include reliable and secure computer networking, secure virtualized infrastructures, and security routing in IoT. In addition to his academic work, he did consulting work for different industrial and government organizations (https://ca.linkedin.com/in/ashraf-matrawy-5917b56). He spent his sabbatical leaves working for industry, at Cloackware Research Center in 2010-2011 and at TELUS in 2017-2018. He serves on the editorial board of the IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials journal and Wiley’s Security and Privacy Journal. He has served as a technical program committee member of IEEE CNS, IEEE ICC, IEEE Globecom, IEEE LCN, and IEEE/ACM CCGRID and other conferences. Dr. Matrawy has more than 10 year experience in undergraduate and graduate curriculum development for the Network Technology programs at Carleton University. He served as associate director for the School for three and half years and as coordinator for the Networking program for six years.

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AI-Driven 5G Networks & Beyond

Speaker: Hatem Abou-zeid, Ericsson
DATE: Wednesday October 30, 2019.
TIME: 11:30 a.m. – 01:30 p.m.
PLACE: 359 Terry Fox Drive, Suite 200, Kanata, Ontario, Canada
ADMISSION: Event is free, but space is limited. Registration required. All participants must register in advance. Please follow the link to register https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/20632. For more information, please contact: Kexing Liu kexing.liu@ieee.org.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

Abstract

5G Networks are anticipated to transform modern societies by providing an ultra-reliable, high-speed communications infrastructure that will connect billions of devices including vehicles, machines, and sensors. Both the complexity of such networks and the diversity of application requirements will be unprecedented. This mandates novel, autonomous network configuration and operation that can anticipate and react to changes in traffic, topology, and interference conditions to ensure seamless quality of experience and reliability. In this talk I will discuss AI-driven networking use-cases elaborating on the practical challenges of industrial deployments. I will then highlight directions where research is needed to further expedite and facilitate the development of AI-powered networks.

Bio

Hatem Abou-zeid is a Senior 5G Systems Designer at Ericsson Canada where he drives research and system development for 5G radio access networks. Prior to that he held industrial positions at CISCO Systems and Bell Labs in addition to postdoctoral and research assistant affiliations at Queen’s University, Canada. His research focuses on the application of machine learning in 5G networks with particular emphasis on anticipatory and adaptive algorithms drawing on methods from reinforcement learning, spatio-temporal forecasting, deep learning and stochastic optimization. Dr. Abou-zeid is very passionate about developing strong industry-university collaborations that foster applied, innovative research, and he leads multiple academic partnerships on intelligence and analytics in future networks.

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The Future of Leadership & Work in the Era of Exponential Technologies

Speaker: Sophia Leong, Executive-in-Residence (University of Ottawa), Global Advisor Executive Development Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA)
DATE: Wednesday September 11, 2019
TIME: Refreshments, Lunch, and Networking: 11:30 a.m.; Seminar: 12:00 p.m. - 01:30 p.m.  
PLACE: The Marshes Golf Club, 320 Terry Fox Drive, Kanata. View Map
PARKING: Free parking available.
ADMISSION: Open to all, free of charge. Registration is required by e-mail. Space is limited:
REGISTRATION: Register here, or contact Michael Lalonde michael.lalonde@ieee.org.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website, or contact  almuhtadi@ieee.org

Abstract

What does leadership & work look like in an age where emerging technologies are constantly disrupting the status quo? We will hear speculation on what we know, and what is possible from someone who has been in the emerging technology landscape for many years.

Bio

Ms. Sophia Leong is the Director of the Telfer Executive MBA Program, responsible for the Ottawa’s only face-to-face Executive MBA program, one that is Global, Practical and Relevant in its curriculum design. She also teaches within the Program. Ms. Leong is a strategic and operational planning specialist on the areas of innovation, commercialization and capital investment. She assists companies in crafting and implementing their strategic direction by connecting focused goals and actions towards business successes. Most recently she served at the executive level with Industry Canada and prior to that, Sophia was Vice-President Business Development at KlocWork Inc., a company she had co-founded. She has extensive experience working at Nortel Networks where she was instrumental in co-founding, managing and commercializing seed and start-up companies. Sophia leads a capital financing course, a course she had led for the past decade with strong funding success rate. She is a recipient of numerous awards for outstanding contributions and holds a patent on Mergers and Acquisition business and software processes during her time at Nortel Networks and Nortel Technology. She is currently Chair/Board Member of several start-ups and sits on the Government, Industry & Academic Board of Startup Canada, an entrepreneur-led, national movement to enhance the competitiveness and prosperity of Canada by supporting and celebrating Canadian entrepreneurship. Sophia is focused on the development of business and civic leadership to help grow innovative and profitable Canadian companies.

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Status of the Internet in Canada and the Importance of Canadian IXP's

Speaker: Jacques Latour, CTO at Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA/.CA)
DATE: Thursday June 20, 2019
TIME: Refreshments, Lunch, and Networking: 11:30 a.m.; Seminar: 12:00 p.m. - 01:30 p.m.  
PLACE: The Marshes Golf Club, 320 Terry Fox Drive, Kanata. View Map
PARKING: Free parking available.
ADMISSION: Open to all, free of charge. Registration is required by e-mail. Space is limited:
REGISTRATION: Register here, or contact Michael Lalonde at michael.lalonde@ieee.org.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website, or contact  almuhtadi@ieee.org

Abstract

As an expert in developing innovative, leading-edge IT solutions, Jacques has established CIRA as a global leader among ccTLD registries. He has 25+ years of experience in the private and not-for-profit sectors and as CIRA’s CTO, is currently leading CIRA Labs, CIRA’s innovation hub and providing leadership and direction for the management and security of the .CA registry and its underlying DNS. A visionary in the Internet community, Jacques led the development of CIRA’s Internet Performance Test, is an outspoken advocate for the adoption of IPv6 and represents the .CA registry internationally as a member of a variety of working groups and advisory groups, including being a member of ICANN’s Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC), TLDOPS standing committees and TechDay and DNSSEC Planning Program Committee.

Bio

Jacques is committed to the development of a new Canadian Internet architecture. He has served as the catalyst for the creation of a national Canadian IXP association, CA-IX, and is a member of the Manitoba Internet Exchange’s (MBIX) and the DNS-OARC Board of Directors. Jacques holds an Electronics Engineering Technologist diploma from Algonquin College in Ottawa, is ITIL v3 Foundation certified and is a certified Agile ScrumMaster.

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Perspectives on AI, the future impact on Engineering, Science and Technology

Speaker: Robin Grosset, Patent Agent, CTO Mindbridge AI
DATE: Thursday May 2, 2019
TIME: Refreshments, Lunch, and Networking: 11:30 a.m.; Seminar: 12:00 p.m. - 01:30 p.m.  
PLACE: The Marshes Golf Club, 320 Terry Fox Drive, Kanata. View Map
PARKING: Free parking available.
ADMISSION: Open to all, free of charge. Registration is required by e-mail. Space is limited:
REGISTRATION: Register here, or contact Michael Lalonde at michael.lalonde@ieee.org.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website, or contact  almuhtadi@ieee.org

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is set to disrupt many professions and the future of any role will certainly involve AI. This is true for doctors, lawyers, accounts and even engineers. In this session, we will look at the factors which are bringing about this disruption. We will also explore the importance of explicability and a human-centric approach in AI technology to support improving professional judgement.

Abstract
Artificial Robin currently works at MindBridge where he leads the development of a next generation AI Auditor which helps professionals detect and prevent financial anomalies including fraud. Robin has a track record as an entrepreneur having founded successful software start- ups. He joined Cognos and subsequently IBM through acquisitions. In 2012 he was appointed IBM Distinguished Engineer. At IBM, he was a part of the Watson Group where he served as technical lead and chief architect of IBM Watson Analytics. Robin holds many patents in the areas of analytics, data processing and security. MindBridge Ai is a venture-backed FinTech company based in Ottawa, Canada. Through the application of machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies, the MindBridge platform detects anomalous patterns of activities, unintentional errors and intentional misstatements. Using MindBridge Ai Auditor, organizations across multiple industries can minimize financial loss, reduce corporate liability and can focus on providing higher value services to their clients.

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Security in SDN/NFV and 5G Networks-Opportunities and Challenges

Speaker: Dr. Ashutosh Dutta, Director, Industry Outreach-IEEE Communications Society, IEEE 5G Initiative Founding Co-Chair and Senior Scientist JHU/APL (Johns Hopkins University/Applied Physics Lab).
DATE: Wednesday April 3, 2019.
TIME: Refreshments/Registration/Networking: 06:00 p.m.; Seminar: 06:30 p.m. – 07:30 p.m.
PLACE: Ciena Optophotonics Lab (room T129), School of Advanced Technology, Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2G 1V8.
PARKING: after 5:00 p.m. at Lots 8 & 9. Pay $5 flat rate at the machine and display the ticket on your car dashboard.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:  Wahab Almuhtadi.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

Abstract

Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) are the key pillars of future networks, including 5G and Beyond that promise to support emerging applications such as enhanced mobile broadband, ultra-low latency, massive sensing type applications while providing the resiliency in the network. Service providers and other verticals (e.g., Connected Cars, IOT, eHealth) can leverage SDN/NFV to provide flexible and cost-effective service without compromising the end user quality of service (QoS). While NFV and SDN open up the door for flexible networks and rapid service creation, these offer both security opportunities while also introducing additional challenges and complexities, in some cases. With the rapid proliferation of 4G and 5G networks, operators have now started the trial deployment of network function virtualization, especially with the introduction of various virtualized network elements in the access and core networks. These include elements such as virtualized Evolved Packet Core (vEPC), virtualized IP Multimedia Services (vIMS), Virtualized Residential Gateway, and Virtualized Next Generation Firewalls. However, very little attention has been given to the security aspects of virtualization. While several standardization bodies (e.g., ETSI, 3GPP, NGMN, ATIS, TIA) have started looking into the many security issues introduced by SDN/NFV, additional work is needed with larger security community involvement including vendors, operators, universities, and regulators. This tutorial will address evolution of cellular technologies towards 5G but will largely focus on various security challenges and opportunities introduced by SDN/NFV and 5G networks such as Hypervisor, Virtual Network Functions (VNFs), SDN Controller, Orchestrator, Network slicing, Cloud RAN, and security function virtualization. This tutorial will also highlight some of the ongoing activities within various standards communities and will illustrate a few deployment use case scenarios for security including threat taxonomy for both operator and enterprise networks. In addition, I will also describe some of the ongoing activities within IEEE Future Network initiative including roadmap efforts and various ways one can get involved and contribute to this initiative.

Bio

Dr. Ashutosh Dutta is currently Senior Wireless Communication Systems Research Scientist and JHU/APL Sabbatical Fellow at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Labs (JHU/APL), USA. Most recently he served as Principal Member of Technical Staff at AT&T Labs in Middletown, New Jersey. His career, spanning more than 30 years, includes Director of Technology Security and Lead Member of Technical Staff at AT&T, CTO of Wireless at a Cybersecurity company NIKSUN, Inc., Senior Scientist in Telcordia Research, Director of Central Research Facility at Columbia University, adjunct faculty at NJIT, and Computer Engineer with TATA Motors. He has more than 90 conference and journal publications, three book chapters, and 30 issued patents. Ashutosh is co-author of the book, titled, “Mobility Protocols and Handover Optimization: Design, Evaluation and Application” published by IEEE and John & Wiley that has recently been translated into Chinese Language. Ashutosh served as the chair for IEEE Princeton / Central Jersey Section, Industry Relation Chair for Region 1 and MGA, Pre-University Coordinator for IEEE MGA and vice chair of Education Society Chapter of PCJS. He co-founded the IEEE STEM conference (ISEC) and helped to implement EPICS (Engineering Projects in Community Service) projects in several high schools. Ashutosh currently serves as the Director of Industry Outreach for IEEE Communications Society and is the founding co-chair for IEEE 5G initiative. He also serves as IEEE Communications Society's Distinguished Lecturer for 2017-2018. Ashutosh serves as the general co-chair for the premier IEEE 5G World Forum. He was recipient of the prestigious 2009 IEEE MGA Leadership award and 2010 IEEE-USA professional leadership award. Ashutosh obtained his BS in Electrical Engineering from NIT Rourkela, India, MS in Computer Science from NJIT, and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University under the supervision of Prof. Henning Schulzrinne. Ashutosh is a senior member of IEEE and ACM.

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Opportunities and Design Considerations for GaN HEMTs in Industrial and Automotive Applications

Speaker: Juncheng (Lucas) Lu, Applications Engineering Manager, GaN Systems Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 14, 2019.
TIME: Refreshments/Registration/Networking: 06:00 p.m.; Seminar: 06:30 p.m. – 08:00 p.m.
PLACE: Ciena Optophotonics Lab (room T129), School of Advanced Technology, Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2G 1V8.
PARKING: after 5:00 p.m. at Lots 8 & 9. Pay $5 flat rate at the machine and display the ticket on your car dashboard.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:  Wahab Almuhtadi or ottawapels@gmail.com.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

Abstract

GaN HEMT has been a focus in both academia and industry, due to the extremely low figure of merits (RDS(on) x QG) compared with conventional Silicon counterparts. The opportunities, challenges and design considerations for GaN HEMTs in industrial and automotive applications will be presented in the device/packaging and system perspectives. Design examples are detailed to show how the system performance maximization is enabled by GaN HEMTs with minimum cost in the selected applications. The key design procedures will be thoroughly discussed, i.e., topology selection, loss analysis, cost reduction, power stage layout, thermal design, etc.
This presentation is aimed at covering the fundamentals as well as the latest research and updates of GaN HEMTs applications. The target audience is the design engineers, researchers, and graduate/undergraduate students interested in industrial/automotive applications or just GaN technology.

Bio

Juncheng (Lucas) Lu received B.S. degree from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, and M.S. degree from
Kettering University, Michigan, USA. He was a research engineer with Delta Power Electronics Center, Shanghai, China. Since 2016, he has been with GaN Systems, Inc., Ottawa, Canada. He manages the head office applications and is responsible for Americas and EMEA application support.
His research interest is wide bandgap devices application, power electronics packaging, high-efficiency high power density power supply, and electric vehicle battery charger. He published more than 20 IEEE/SAE transaction and conference papers and holds 9 U.S. Patents.

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Improve Measurement Accuracy on Switching Characteristics of SiC and GaN devices

Speaker: Evan Shuster is presently the Director of Sales at Testforce Systems Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 11, 2018.
TIME: Refreshments/Registration/Networking: 06:00 p.m.; Seminar: 06:30 p.m. – 07:30 p.m.
PLACE: Ciena Optophotonics Lab (room T129), School of Advanced Technology, Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2G 1V8.
PARKING: after 5:00 p.m. at Lots 8 & 9. Pay $5 flat rate at the machine and display the ticket on your car dashboard.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:  Wahab Almuhtadi.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

Abstract

This presentation highlights the industry best practices for measurements on modern power electronics devices such as SiC and GAN devices. These modern devices introduce new complexities into power conversion circuits requiring the need for precise circuit timing and higher sensitivity for gate threshold voltage and timing.
Common measurement pitfalls can be avoided by using differential and floating measurements and understanding the link between CMRR and signal frequency. Today’s power designs can have common mode voltages in excess of hundreds or even thousands of volts, while still needing to measure small differential voltages, this common mode error can be even more severe. Wide bandgap devices allow switching of higher frequencies, higher voltages and faster rise times, which requires higher bandwidth scopes and probes with high CMRR. In this presentation, some solutions for improving the measurement accuracy on SiC and GaN devices during switching will be presented.

Bio

Evan Shuster is presently the Director of Sales at Testforce Systems Inc. Testforce is North America’s largest Representative of premium test equipment. Evan has thirty years of Test and Measurement experience. Originally from Montreal, with a career start at Bell Canada, Evan has held directorial positions at several small to mid-sized companies in Canada and the United States. Evan has built up hugely successful Technical Account Manager teams with market focus covering Semiconductors, Power and Wireless Technologies to name a few. Evan has previously created and delivered Technical Training courses and has been a guest lecturer at several Universities and Colleges across Canada.

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An IP Strategy for Canada and Your Company

Speaker: Jeff Leuschner, Patent Agent, Smart & Biggar
DATE: Tuesday October 2, 2018
TIME: Refreshments, Lunch, and Networking: 11:30 a.m.; Seminar: 12:00 p.m. - 01:30 p.m.  
PLACE: The Marshes Golf Club, 320 Terry Fox Drive, Kanata. View Map
PARKING: Free parking available.
ADMISSION: Open to all, free of charge. Registration is required by e-mail. Space is limited:
REGISTRATION: Register here, or contact Eric Karmouch ekarmouch@marchnetworks.com.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website, or contact  almuhtadi@ieee.org

Abstract

Does Canada have an innovation problem? What is the right approach for the intellectual property (IP) of a Canadian company in the software/computer space? Where does IP fit in an anti-IP hacker culture? The objective could be freedom to innovate, i.e. build something great without being shut out by other market players. The objective could be to secure commercial exclusivity. In any case, the IP generated by your company needs to be handled in a way that furthers the business objectives. Join Jeff Leuschner, of Smart & Biggar, to learn about the above, and to learn about how different innovations in the software/computer space can be matched to different IP rights to best further your company's business objectives.

Bio

Jeff Leuschner has practiced in the area of Intellectual Property (IP) for over a decade, with an emphasis on patents. When working with tech companies, Jeff advises on where to focus patenting activity to best support the company's business objectives, especially in view of other options such as trade secret protection and defensive publication. His approach is quality over quantity. Not just a well drafted patent, but one that will actually have commercial relevance. Prior to entering the IP profession, Jeff pursued graduate studies in the field of electrical and computer engineering.
Smart & Biggar helps the world's leading tech companies protect and leverage their IP, and advises them on how to use IP Strategy to secure growth around the world. Headquartered in Ottawa with a national presence, Smart & Biggar has a consistent track record and reputation as the leaders for IP and tech law in Canada.

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Medical Device Test Strategies

Speaker: J. Max Cortner, IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society President
DATE: Friday, September 21, 2018.
TIME: Refreshments/Registration/Networking: 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
PLACE: Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Dr, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6.
PARKING: at the Visitors’ Parking. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:  Wahab Almuhtadi.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

Abstract

Electronic medical devices challenge traditional test strategies in a number of ways. Heightened demand for quality and reliability for these life impacting electronic packages conflicts with constraints to testing including limited physical access and test times. Regulatory agencies define the boundaries of testing, but seldom provide real solutions. Current research is driving great technology which represents the frontier for successful strategies for both design validation testing and production quality control testing. Physiologic sensors make devices more effective, but are difficult to characterize and control. Lessons from battery and accelerometer testing suggest strategies for these advanced devices.

Bio

J. Max Cortner earned a BSEE from Iowa State University and an MSEE from the University of Minnesota. After 18 years as a Test Engineer in defense division of Sperry Corporation, Max moved to the Cardiac Rhythm Management division of Guidant, now the CRM Division of Boston Scientific. Boston Scientific CRM manufactures medical electronics including pacemakers and defibrillators. Max retired in 2016 as a Senior Fellow Engineer in Test Engineering, a group responsible for automated electronic testing of components, subassemblies and final product in manufacturing. He now consults in the areas of medical device and process validation testing. As an active member of the IEEE Twin Cities Section since 1972, Max has held offices in the Computer Society including local chapter chair and area chair. He worked with a group of activists who organized and successfully ran a 5 year series of multi-week technical symposia covering hot topics such as computer graphics and artificial intelligence. Max was among the founders of the Twin Cities Chapter of the Instrument and Measurement Society. He helped organize numerous local test conferences and served as General Chair for the IMTC 1998. In 1999, he served on the committee of the IEEE Sections Congress which was held in the Twin Cities. Max was Co-Chair of I2MTC held in Minneapolis in 2013. Having served as I2MTC Board Chair and VP of Education for the Instrumentation and Measurement Society Administration Committee, he now serves as President of the Society.    Go to Top


Medical Device Instrumentation Needs and Test Strategies

Speaker: J. Max Cortner, IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society President
DATE: Friday, September 21, 2018.
TIME: Refreshments/Registration/Networking: 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
PLACE: NRC Montreal Road Campus, 1200 Montreal Rd, Ottawa, ON K1A 0R6.
PARKING: at the Visitors’ Parking. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:  Wahab Almuhtadi.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

Abstract

Electronic medical devices challenge traditional test strategies in a number of ways. Heightened demand for quality and reliability for these life impacting electronic packages conflicts with constraints to testing including limited physical access and test times. Regulatory agencies define the boundaries of testing, but seldom provide real solutions. Current research is driving great technology which represents the frontier for successful strategies for both design validation testing and production quality control testing. Physiologic sensors make devices more effective, but are difficult to characterize and control. Lessons from battery and accelerometer testing suggest strategies for these advanced devices.

Bio

J. Max Cortner earned a BSEE from Iowa State University and an MSEE from the University of Minnesota. After 18 years as a Test Engineer in defense division of Sperry Corporation, Max moved to the Cardiac Rhythm Management division of Guidant, now the CRM Division of Boston Scientific. Boston Scientific CRM manufactures medical electronics including pacemakers and defibrillators. Max retired in 2016 as a Senior Fellow Engineer in Test Engineering, a group responsible for automated electronic testing of components, subassemblies and final product in manufacturing. He now consults in the areas of medical device and process validation testing. As an active member of the IEEE Twin Cities Section since 1972, Max has held offices in the Computer Society including local chapter chair and area chair. He worked with a group of activists who organized and successfully ran a 5 year series of multi-week technical symposia covering hot topics such as computer graphics and artificial intelligence. Max was among the founders of the Twin Cities Chapter of the Instrument and Measurement Society. He helped organize numerous local test conferences and served as General Chair for the IMTC 1998. In 1999, he served on the committee of the IEEE Sections Congress which was held in the Twin Cities. Max was Co-Chair of I2MTC held in Minneapolis in 2013. Having served as I2MTC Board Chair and VP of Education for the Instrumentation and Measurement Society Administration Committee, he now serves as President of the Society.    Go to Top


Medical Device Test Strategies

Speaker: J. Max Cortner, IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society President
DATE: Thursday, September 20, 2018.
TIME: Refreshments/Registration/Networking: 06:00 p.m.; Seminar: 06:30 p.m. – 07:30 p.m.
PLACE: Ciena Optophotonics Lab (room T129), School of Advanced Technology, Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2G 1V8.
PARKING: Parking in Lots 8 and 9 after 5 p.m. is $5 flat rate, pay at a machine and display the ticket on your dashboard.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:  Wahab Almuhtadi.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

Abstract

The Electronic medical devices challenge traditional test strategies in a number of ways. Heightened demand for quality and reliability for these life impacting electronic packages conflicts with constraints to testing including limited physical access and test times. Regulatory agencies define the boundaries of testing, but seldom provide real solutions. Current research is driving great technology which represents the frontier for successful strategies for both design validation testing and production quality control testing. Physiologic sensors make devices more effective, but are difficult to characterize and control. Lessons from battery and accelerometer testing suggest strategies for these advanced devices.

Bio

J. Max Cortner earned a BSEE from Iowa State University and an MSEE from the University of Minnesota. After 18 years as a Test Engineer in defense division of Sperry Corporation, Max moved to the Cardiac Rhythm Management division of Guidant, now the CRM Division of Boston Scientific. Boston Scientific CRM manufactures medical electronics including pacemakers and defibrillators. Max retired in 2016 as a Senior Fellow Engineer in Test Engineering, a group responsible for automated electronic testing of components, subassemblies and final product in manufacturing. He now consults in the areas of medical device and process validation testing. As an active member of the IEEE Twin Cities Section since 1972, Max has held offices in the Computer Society including local chapter chair and area chair. He worked with a group of activists who organized and successfully ran a 5 year series of multi-week technical symposia covering hot topics such as computer graphics and artificial intelligence. Max was among the founders of the Twin Cities Chapter of the Instrument and Measurement Society. He helped organize numerous local test conferences and served as General Chair for the IMTC 1998. In 1999, he served on the committee of the IEEE Sections Congress which was held in the Twin Cities. Max was Co-Chair of I2MTC held in Minneapolis in 2013. Having served as I2MTC Board Chair and VP of Education for the Instrumentation and Measurement Society Administration Committee, he now serves as President of the Society.    Go to Top


Women in Engineering and Diversity

Speaker: Sandro Perruzza, CEO, Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE)
DATE: Monday September  3, 2018
TIME: Refreshments, Lunch, and Networking: 11:30 a.m.; Seminar: 12:00 p.m. - 01:30 p.m.  
PLACE: The Marshes Golf Club, 320 Terry Fox Drive, Kanata. View Map
PARKING: Free parking available.
ADMISSION: Open to all, free of charge. Registration is required by e-mail. Space is limited:
REGISTRATION: Register here, or contact Eric Karmouch ekarmouch@marchnetworks.com.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website, or contact  almuhtadi@ieee.org

Abstract

The Ontario Society of Professional Engineers champions the advancement of women in engineering, STEM and diversity. Mr. Sandro Perruzza, CEO of the Society, will discuss OSPEs advocacy with respect to these subjects. Special attention will be placed on a number of programs OSPE undertakes, including the Women in Engineering Mentorship Program, the Breaking Barriers for Women in STEM initiative, as well as the national 30-by-30 Campaign, designed to see an increase of female professional engineers to 30% by 2030. Mr. Perruzza will also provide some highlights on the engineering community in Ottawa and province-wide.

Bio

Sandro Perruzza is the Chief Executive Officer of the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE), the advocacy and member services organization for the engineering profession in Ontario. Sandro also serves on the Board of Directors of Minerva Canada, and on the Board of the Construction and Design Alliance of Ontario. While at OSPE, he serves as one of Ontario’s co-champions of Engineers Canada’s 30 by 30 goal and has spoken on behalf of Ontario’s engineers at the federal, provincial and municipal level on areas of importance, including innovation, infrastructure, environment, finance and economic growth. Prior to joining OSPE, Sandro was the Chief of Client Services at Workplace Safety & Prevention Services, the largest Health and Safety Association in Canada, during which time he was also member of the Ontario Ministry of Labour’s Prevention Operations Forum. He has been recognized for bringing a diverse group of stakeholders together to develop simple solutions to solve complex problems.

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Convergence between Broadcast and Mobile Broadband

CTSoc DL Speaker: Dr. Ulrich Reimers, IEEE CTSoc Renowned Distinguished Speaker, and Professor Institut fuer Nachrichtentechnik (IfN), Technische Universitaet Braunschweig, Germany
DATE: Monday August 13, 2018.
TIME: Refreshments/Registration/Networking: 06:00 p.m.; Seminar: 06:30 p.m. – 07:30 p.m.
PLACE: Ciena Optophotonics Lab (room T129), School of Advanced Technology, Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2G 1V8.
PARKING: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:  Wahab Almuhtadi.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

Abstract

The mobile industry has been testing the feasibility of evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (eMBMS), an LTE embedded broadcast approach to support a growing mobile video/TV consumption and the delivery of other highly popular data services. But, eMBMS has so far only been used in small scale scenarios with local coverage. When it comes to large scale service areas with regional or even national coverage, the cellular nature of eMBMS has not proven to be attractive for cost efficient LTE broadcast content distribution. Adapting LTE broadcast to traditional High Tower High Power (HTHP) broadcasting towers and introducing this as a third service layer, i.e. as an extension of LTE unicast and eMBMS can resolve this issue as it reduces network load, energy consumption and network costs for such popular services. Additionally, it creates the possibility of cooperation between the cellular and broadcasting networks enabling a cooperative spectrum usage.
The term “Tower Overlay over LTE-Advanced+ (TOoL+)” describes the transmission of an extension of LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) offering broadcast services, especially live video, from a traditional High Tower High Power (HTHP) broadcast infrastructure, rather than in a cellular LTE-A network. TOoL+ was invented and developed by IfN. Since LTE-A is optimized for the Low Tower Low Power (LTLP) environment of cellular networks, the use of a HTHP environment requires some modifications of the LTE-A standard, e.g. the definition of a dedicated broadcast carrier and of additional OFDM parameters with longer cyclic prefixes. These modifications are represented by the term LTE-A+. In one of the modes, TOoL+ even supports a cooperative spectrum use by DVB-T2 (or ATSC 3.0 in the future) and LTE-A+ if this is attractive to market players. IfN developed a Software Defined Radio (SDR) based TOoL+ implementation to demonstrate the technological feasibility of this approach. An extended version of this demo has been used during two field trials conducted in Paris, France and in the Aosta Valley, Italy to evaluate the proposed modifications and the cooperative spectrum use in a real environment. The analysis shows that LTE-A+ is a suitable technology for HTHP broadcast to mobile devices as its coverage area is similar to that of DVB-T2.
In line with the ideas underlying TOoL+, 3GPP has recently specified FeMBMS (Further evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service) in Release 14. FeMBMS supports a long cyclic prefix and thus makes larger network cells feasible. At IfN we have already implemented FeMBMS and by the time of the lectures in Canada will have carried out a field trial in at least one European country.

Bio

Prof. Ulrich H. Reimers studied communication engineering at Technische Universitaet Braunschweig, Germany. Following research at the university’s Institut fuer Nachrichtentechnik (IfN - Institute for Communications Technology) he joined BTS Broadcast Television Systems in Darmstadt. Between 1989 and 1993 he was Technical Director of Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) in Hamburg - one of the major public broadcasters in Germany. Since 1993 he has been a Professor at Technische Universitaet Braunschweig and Managing Director of the Institut fuer Nachrichtentechnik (Institute for Communications Technology). Prof. Reimers was chairman of the Technical Module within the DVB Project from 1993 to 2012. Since 2012 he is Vice President Strategic Development and Technology Transfer of Technische Universitaet Braunschweig. He is the author of more than 120 publications, among others of various text books on DVB. Prof. Reimers received a significant number of international and national awards. He is an IEEE Life Fellow and the recipient of the IEEE Masaru Ibuka Consumer Electronics Award. Recently Prof. Reimers and the research teams at IfN invented innovative solutions for the co-existence of broadcast and wireless broadband such as “Dynamic Broadcast”, “Tower Overlay over LTE-A+ (TOoL+)”, or “Redundancy on Demand”.
Prof. Reimers is a Renowned Distinguished Speaker of the IEEE Consumer Electronics Society (CTSoc).    Go to Top


Canadian Telecoms and the Appearance of Choice: Are monopolies and government interference stifling innovation and growth in Canada?

Speaker: Michael Lalonde, Senior Solutions Manager,, PureColo Inc., Ottawa
DATE: Monday June 4, 2018
TIME: Refreshments, Lunch, and Networking: 11:30 a.m.; Seminar: 12:00 p.m. - 01:30 p.m.  
PLACE: The Marshes Golf Club, 320 Terry Fox Drive, Kanata. View Map
PARKING: Free parking available.
ADMISSION: Open to all, free of charge. Registration is required by e-mail. Space is limited:
REGISTRATION: Register here, or contact Eric Karmouch ekarmouch@marchnetworks.com.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website, or contact  almuhtadi@ieee.org

Abstract

Canadians currently pay more for telecom services than any other country in the world. What are some of the driving forces behind this? Is it for better or worst? What are the positive and negative consequences of such an environment for innovation and growth on the world stage? Michael Lalonde will give an overview of the Canadian landscape as it compares to other countries around the world and provide insight into how this impacts businesses on both a macro and micro level.

Bio

Michael Lalonde is a part owner and sales director of PureColo, Ottawa's only commercially available carrier neutral data center located in the heart of Kanata's technology hub, as well as a consultant for Ruckify and The Better Software Company. While completing two degrees from both Carleton University and Algonquin College, Michael started his career in consumer packaged goods working at Coca-Cola. He then started his own beverage line via Kickstarter.com which created a thirst for entrepreneurship ultimately leading him into the world of telecommunications and technology. Currently, Michael is helping with the creation of a new Ottawa Gatineau Internet Exchange in conjunction with growing the adoption of his carrier neutral data center. He believes strongly in freedom of choice and net neutrality, and advocates for both passionately in everything he does.

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A Microinverter Based, Self-Forming Nanogrid for ON and OFF Grid Applications

Speaker: Edward Keyes M.Eng, Solantro Semiconductor Corporation
DATE: Thursday, May 24, 2018.
TIME: Refreshments/Registration/Networking: 06:00 p.m.; Seminar: 06:30 p.m. – 07:30 p.m.  
PLACE: Ciena Optophotonics Lab (room T129), School of Advanced Technology, Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2G 1V8.
PARKING: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:  Wahab Almuhtadi.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

Abstract

This talk will disclose a novel, microinverter based, all AC nanogrid architecture using photovoltaic panels and lithium ion battery storage. Much of the nanogrid’s hardware is based on Solantro’s Digital Power Processor chipset. The nanogrid is capable of on-grid and off-grid (islanded) operation with “hot” switching between modes. While in grid tied mode the nanogrid can provide a variety of grid support services to increase the percentage of renewables on the utility grid. These include power smoothing, peak limiting, time shifting of PV generation, and California Rule 21 behaviors. The architecture is granular and highly scaleable. It can be scaled from a single microinverter and battery into the hundreds of devices. In islanded operation the nanogrid is self forming with battery operation controlled by a novel resistive droop control method, click here.

Bio

Mr. Keyes is the Nanogrid Projects Manager at Solantro Semiconductor where he leads the company’s development of nanogrid technology. He holds a B. Sc. in Applied Physics from the University of Waterloo and a Masters in Electronic Engineering from Carleton University. Mr. Keyes was formerly Chief Technology Officer of Semiconductor Insights (now Techinsights Inc.) where he led the company’s R&D activities. Previous to Techinsights Mr. Keyes held positions at Optotek Ltd, Xerox Research Corp. and Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. Mr. Keyes holds over 14 US patents in a range of areas including power electronics, nanogrids and integrated circuit analysis.   

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Talk 1: Machine Learning in Digital Medicine
Talk 2: Cellular and Device-to-Device Networks Coexistence

Speaker: Professor Giorgio Quer, Sr. Research Scientist and Director of Artificial Intelligence, Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, California
, USA

DATE: Wednesday May 9, 2018.
TIME: Refreshments/Registration/Networking: 06:00 p.m.; Seminar: 06:30 p.m. – 07:30 p.m.  
PLACE: Ciena Optophotonics Lab (room T129), School of Advanced Technology, Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2G 1V8.
PARKING: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:  Wahab Almuhtadi.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

Abstract

Talk organization: In the following, two possible topics for a DL talk. It would be possible to do two shorter talks (30 minutes) in the same institution.

Talk 1: Machine Learning in Digital Medicine (30 minutes):

Digitalize human beings using biosensors to track our complex physiologic system, process the large amount of data generated with artificial intelligence (AI) and change clinical practice towards individualized medicine: these are the goals of digital medicine. At Scripps, we promote a strong collaboration between computer scientist, engineers, and clinical researchers, as well as a direct partnership with health industry leaders. We propose new solutions to analyze large longitudinal data using statistical learning and deep convolutional neural networks to address different cardiovascular health issues. Among them, one of the greatest contributors to premature morbidity and mortality worldwide is hypertension. It is known that lowering blood pressure (BP) by just a few mmHg can bring substantial clinical benefits, but the assessment of the “true” BP for an individual is non-trivial, as the individual BP can fluctuate significantly. We analyze a large dataset of more than 16 million BP measurements taken at home with commercial BP monitoring devices, in order to unveil the BP patterns and provide insights on the clinical relevance of these changes.
Another prevalent health issue we investigated is atrial fibrillation (AFib), one of the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia, which is associated with stroke, hospitalization, heart failure and coronary artery disease. AFib detection from single-lead electrocardiography (ECG) recordings is still an open problem, as AFib events may be episodic and the signal noisy. We conduct a thoughtful analysis of recent deep network architectures developed in the computer vision field, redesigned to be suitable for a one-dimensional signal, and we evaluate their performance for the AFib detection problem using 200 thousand seconds of ECG recording, highlighting the potential of this technology.

Looking to the future, we are investigating new applications of existing wearable devices, requiring advanced processing and clinical validation, and we are participating to the All of Us research program, an unprecedented research effort to gather data from one million people in the USA to accelerate the advent of precision medicine.


Talk 2: Cellular and Device-to-Device Networks Coexistence (30 minutes):

The coexistence of device-to-device (D2D) and cellular communications in the same band is a promising solution to the dramatic increase of wireless networks traffic load. Mobile nodes may communicate in a semi-autonomous way (D2D mode), with minimal or no control by the base station (BS), but they will create a harmful interference to the cellular communications.

To control this interference, we propose a distributed approach that allows the mobile nodes to acquire local information in real time, infer the impact on other surrounding communications towards the BS, and optimize mode and power selection performed with a network wide perspective. In a single-cell scenario, we develop a rigorous theoretical analysis to quantify the balance between the gain offered by a D2D transmission and its impact on the cellular network communications, while in a multi-cell scenario, we exploit a probabilistic approach with Bayesian networks.
As a practical application, we envision a network with one macro BS, multiple small cell BSs, and several mobile D2D users, where proactive caching can be used to take full advantage of this heterogeneity. In this scenario, we propose a robust optimization framework to derive a proactive caching policy that exploits all these communication opportunities and reduces congestion on the backhaul link.

The adoption of D2D technologies may save precious resources like spectrum and energy for future 5G networks by exploiting physical proximity between terminals, helping to counteract the increasing traffic demand in cellular networks, click here.

Bio

Giorgio Quer is a Sr. Research Scientist at the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, California, and he is the Director of Artificial Intelligence at the Scripps Translational Science Institute.
He received the B.Sc. degree, the M.Sc. degree (with honors) in Telecommunications Engineering and the Ph.D. degree (2011) in Information Engineering from University of Padova, Italy. In 2007 he was a visiting researcher at the Centre for Wireless Communication at the University of Oulu, Finland. During his Ph.D., he proposed a solution for the distributed compression of wireless sensor networks signals, based on the joint exploitation of Compressive Sensing and Principal Component Analysis. From 2010 to 2017 he was a visiting scholar at the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology and then a postdoc at the Qualcomm Institute, University of California San Diego (UCSD), working on cognitive networks protocols and implementation.
He is a Senior Member of the IEEE, a member of the American Heart Association (AHA), and a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Communications society. His research interests include wireless sensor networks, network optimization, compressive sensing, probabilistic models, deep convolutional networks, wearable sensors, physiological signal processing, and digital medicine.   

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Navigating the Wireless IoT Implementation Waters

Speaker: Don Hawkins, RF Hardware Engineering Manager, Syntronict
DATE: Monday May 7, 2018
TIME: Refreshments, Lunch, and Networking: 11:30 a.m.; Seminar: 12:00 p.m. - 01:30 p.m.  
PLACE: The Marshes Golf Club, 320 Terry Fox Drive, Kanata. View Map
PARKING: Free parking available.
ADMISSION: Open to all, free of charge. Registration is required by e-mail. Space is limited:
REGISTRATION: Register here, or contact Eric Karmouch ekarmouch@marchnetworks.com.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website, or contact  almuhtadi@ieee.org

Abstract

The Wireless IoT landscape is covered with many standards and chipsets that can address almost any application. Choosing the right implementation method so your product achieves the design goals can be challenging. Don Hawkins will give an overview of this space and describe some of the challenges that Syntronic has seen while working with clients looking for wireless IoT solutions. He'll provide some examples of choosing a system design that addresses the product goals while keeping cost and time to market top of mind.

Bio

Don Hawkins is the RF Hardware Engineering Manager at Syntronic Research and Development Canada Inc. After graduating from the University of Waterloo in 1998, he worked in RF Systems, Hardware and Software teams in Nortel, DragonWave, and BlackBerry. Currently, in addition to managing a growing team of 50 RF designers and engineers, Don is actively involved with Syntronic's soccer and curling teams. Syntronic is a global engineering design house founded in Sweden in 1983. It has 16 locations worldwide and over 1,000 employees. The company specializes in the design and development of products/solutions and test systems including electronics, electro-mechanics, embedded and application software. Syntronic has active clients in various markets such as telecom, defence, automotive, industrial and medtech. All design centres offer services that cover the entire product life cycle, from the concept stage to the complete product or system. Their Ottawa office was established in 2014 as headquarters for the Americas and has rapidly grown to over 200 employees in Kanata North Technology Park. The new expanded location has an on-site anechoic chamber, as well as a variety of other lab equipment to perform RF, system, climate, digital, EMI, ESD, and other testing
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Advances and Challenges in 5G Wireless Security

Speaker: Professor Yi Qian, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Nebraska‐Lincoln, USA
DATE: Wednesday May 2, 2018.
TIME: Refreshments/Registration/Networking: 06:00 p.m.; Seminar: 06:30 p.m. – 07:30 p.m.  
PLACE: Ciena Optophotonics Lab (room T129), School of Advanced Technology, Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2G 1V8.
PARKING: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:  Wahab Almuhtadi.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

Abstract

Wireless communication technologies are ubiquitous nowadays. Most of the smart devices have Cellular, Wi‐Fi, Bluetooth connections. These technologies have been developed for many years, nonetheless they are still being enhanced. More development can be expected in the next 5 years, such as faster transmission data rate, more efficient spectrum usage, lower power consumption, etc. Similarly, cellular networks have been evolved for several generations. For example, GSM as part of 2G family, UMTS as part of the 3G family, and LTE as part of 4G family. In the next few years, 5G cellular network systems will continue the evolution to keep up with the fast‐growing needs of customers. Secure wireless communications will certainly be part of other advances in the industry such as multimedia streaming, data storage and sharing in clouds, mobile cloud computing services, etc. This talk covers the topics on security for next generation mobile wireless networks, with focusing on 5G mobile wireless network systems, followed by a discussion on the challenges and open research issues in the area, click here.

Bio

Yi Qian received a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Clemson University. He is a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Nebraska‐Lincoln (UNL). Prior to joining UNL, he worked in the telecommunications industry, academia, and the government. Some of his previous professional positions include serving as a senior member of scientific staff and a technical advisor at Nortel Networks, a senior systems engineer and a technical advisor at several start‐up companies, an assistant professor at University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, and a senior researcher at National Institute of Standards and Technology. His research interests include information assurance and network security, network design, network modeling, simulation and performance analysis for next generation wireless networks, wireless ad‐hoc and sensor networks, vehicular networks, smart grid communication networks, broadband satellite networks, optical networks, high‐speed networks and the Internet. He has a successful track record to lead research teams and to publish research results in leading scientific journals and conferences. Dr. Yi Qian is a member of ACM and a senior member of IEEE. He is serving on the editorial board for several international journals and magazines, including serving as the Associate Editor‐in‐Chief for IEEE Wireless Communications Magazine. He is a Distinguished Lecturer for IEEE Vehicular Technology Society and IEEE Communications Society. He is serving as the Technical Program Committee Chair for IEEE International Conference on Communications 2018.    Go to Top


FPGA-based Hardware-in-the-Loop Testing for Smart Grid and Electric Motor Drive Applications

Speakers: Sébastien Cense and François Berthelot, OPAL-RT Technologies
DATE: Thursday, April 26, 2018.
TIME: Refreshments/Registration/Networking: 06:00 p.m.; Seminar: 06:30 p.m. – 07:30 p.m.  
PLACE: Ciena Optophotonics Lab (room T129), School of Advanced Technology, Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2G 1V8.
PARKING: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:  Wahab Almuhtadi.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

Abstract

This presentation will highlight OPAL-RT’s latest FPGA-based electrical hardware solver for real-time simulation of high-frequency grid and drive converters, for smart grid and electric motor drive applications. As the development of FPGA-based systems is typically for advanced users, OPAL-RT’s solution is oriented towards non-flashing technology using a generic and optimized approach to solve power electronics circuit for these applications. As motor controller's algorithms become more complex, so do tests and development of new control strategies. This presentation will also highlight the latest developments of OPAL-RT efforts to work efficiently with these new challenges and to improve time to market of grid converters and electric motor drive systems. OPAL-RT turnkey system for ECU testing and rapid motor prototyping is in line with this philosophy as the user interface allows easy modification of motor or drive topology without requiring knowledge in FPGA or reprogramming the FPGA. The objective of this approach is to enable hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing with submicrosecond time steps, click here.

Bios

Sébastien Cense – eFPGASIM Team Leader
Sebastien Cense received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in micro electronics from the ISEN Engineering School in Lille, France in 2010. His final paper on FPGA embedded command of polyphase motor using space vector algorithm was conducted at the Arts et Metiers Paris Tech in collaboration with OPAL-RT. He joined OPAL-RT in October 2010 where he has been engaged in developing FPGA application solutions such as rapid control prototyping and on-board motor simulation. Sebastien also contributed to a number of technical presentations.

François Berthelot – Business Unit Manager - Eastern North America
François Berthelot received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from the École Polytechnique de
Montréal, Canada in 2008. He received his post-graduate diploma in electrical engineering from the
École de technologie supérieure (ETS) de Montréal, Canada in 2013. His final project was related to FPGA motor model integration with controller in the loop. He joined OPAL-RT in 2008 and has been involved in worldwide technical support, R&D and sales activities for the last 10 years with the company.    Go to Top


 

State of the Art in Today's Fiber Optic Transmission

Speaker: Henry (Han) Sun, Distinguished Engineer, Infinera
DATE: Monday April 2, 2018
TIME: Refreshments, Lunch, and Networking: 11:30 a.m.; Seminar: 12:00 p.m. - 01:30 p.m.  
PLACE: The Marshes Golf Club, 320 Terry Fox Drive, Kanata. View Map
PARKING: Free parking available.
ADMISSION: Open to all, free of charge. Registration is required by e-mail. Space is limited:
REGISTRATION: Register here, or contact Eric Karmouch ekarmouch@marchnetworks.com.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website, or contact  almuhtadi@ieee.org

Abstract

Since 1980's, the capacity growth of digital fiber optic networks has been met by increasing single channel data rate (TDM) and wavelength multiplexing (WDM). The prevalent modulation format used was intensity modulation and direct detection (a.k.a. IMDD). Inter-symbol interferences in the fiber increases strongly with baud rate and thereby severely degrades signal quality and limiting reach in high bit rate TDM systems. In the early 2000's, commercial serial 40G systems were not able to successfully deploy in the field. For the 10 years between 2007 and 2017, the commercial single channel data rate have increased 10 fold, from 40Gbit to the state of art 400Gbit per optical wavelength. The winning recipe is a coherent receiver with intra-dyne detection followed by high speed A/D sampling and digital signal processing. The combination enables the use of both the amplitude and phase of the optical electric field, allowing digital filters to compensate for linear impairments in the fiber. With access to the complete field information, advanced phase-modulated formats such as polarization-multiplexed QAM are ubiquitous, and is reducing the cost of a transmitted bit in all aspects of the fiber optic network. Combining advanced modulation techniques with large scale photonic integration, the state of art transmission system today, as implemented by Infinera, carries multi-terabits of data over a super channel. The development of the coherent DSP is at the heart of the Infinera Ottawa office.

Bio

Han Sun received the B.Eng. degree in electrical engineering and post-graduate degree in photonics and semiconductor lasers, both from the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1997 and 1999, respectively. From 2001 to 2009, he was employed with Nortel, Ottawa, Ontario, doing research on future optical transport systems. From 2003 to 2006, he was instrumental in the development of DSP algorithms which led to the World's first commercial 40Gb optical modem employing Pol-Mux QPSK modulation format. He is currently with Infinera Canada, architecting the next generation transceivers targeting multiple Terabits per second. He holds 20 granted US patents and 40 additional submissions. He has authored/co-authored over 39 technical journals papers and conference presentations. His publications have accumulated over 1200 citations. He has been a reviewer of IEEE Photonic Technology Letters and Journal of Lightwave Technology. His research interests include signal processing, receiver equalization, and error correction coding. Go to Top


Kick-Starting Test Automation

Speaker: Chris Huddleston, P.Eng., Test Automation Manager, General Dynamics Mission Systems-Canada
DATE: Monday March 5, 2018.
TIME: Refreshments, Lunch, and Networking: 11:30 a.m.; Seminar: 12:00 p.m. - 01:30 p.m.  
PLACE: The Marshes Golf Club, 320 Terry Fox Drive, Kanata.  View Map
PARKING: Free parking available.
ADMISSION: Open to all, free of charge. Registration is required by e-mail. Space is limited:
REGISTRATION: Register here, or contact Eric Karmouch ekarmouch@marchnetworks.com.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website, or contact  almuhtadi@ieee.org

Abstract

Test Automation is not a new thing, it has been around for decades in various forms. Although usage and maturity have evolved a lot over the last 20 years there are still a lot of projects that are just starting out on their Test Automation journey. This discussion will touch on some of the basics and motivation behind automating, but will focus more on how to get started and maximize your success. Topics will include advocating and getting the buy-in you need, different project needs and requirements and how to address them, various ways to automate based on your product and technologies, different ways to structure your team, some tools, and some common approaches and challenges.

Bio

Stephan Chris Huddleston is an engineer with 20 years of experience at all levels of the product development life cycle. After spending several years working in software development, he stumbled into the exciting world of testing and automation and has not looked back. In his current role as Test Automation Manager with General Dynamics Mission Systems-Canada, he founded, and now leads, the group that works with teams from across the company to develop automation solutions that fit with product architecture, technologies, staff and programmatic needs, and customer expectations. Previously a Test Engineering Manager and System Integration / QA Lead, he developed the team that integrates and tests the system of software and hardware products that form the tactical voice and data networks for the Canadian Army. Also with General Dynamics, he has held development and test-related roles on programs such as the Hydra Naval Sonar Suite and the Maritime Helicopter Program. Prior to joining General Dynamics, he worked in various software development roles in the telecommunications industry. Chris holds an Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Waterloo. He loves traveling and visiting new places, and enjoying the outdoors with his family and friends.

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IBIONICS - Doing for Blind People What Cochlear is Doing for the Deaf

Speaker: Suzanne Grant, BSc, CD, Co-founder and CEO, iBIONICS
DATE: Monday February 5, 2018
TIME: Refreshments, Lunch, and Networking: 11:30 a.m.; Seminar: 12:00 p.m. - 01:30 p.m.  
PLACE: The Marshes Golf Club, 320 Terry Fox Drive, Kanata. View Map
PARKING: Free parking available.
ADMISSION: Open to all, free of charge. Registration is required by e-mail. Space is limited:
REGISTRATION: Register here, or contact Eric Karmouch ekarmouch@marchnetworks.com.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website, or contact  almuhtadi@ieee.org

Abstract

For years, visual implants using electrodes have demonstrated blind people can again see - a little. For decades Cochlear has demonstrated that by replicating natural sensory brain communication, deaf people can interpret speech, and even hear crickets chirping. iBIONICS is pulling these together - implants and sensory brain communication replication, so a playing child saying "look at me, look at me" can be seen by her blind father.
Suzanne will share how demonstrated technology is being used along with patented iBIONICS technology to move the bar in bionic vision capability. She will discuss how embracing converging technologies, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence will improve user experience for blind people, bionic surgeons and clinical support teams helping DiamondEye recipients learn a revised sensory brain language.
Suzanne will speak about how the Canadian Eco-system has helped iBIONICS get where they are today and share some insight into winning grants, competitions and awards. She will wrap her talk up with the necessity for a bold global strategy that embraces diversity and entrepreneurial grit.

Bio

Suzanne's curious and adventurous nature propelled her through a diverse career of discovery, travel and pushing boundaries. From Canadian Military engineering officer she pivoted to entrepreneurship creating - The Art of Business in a frontier market. This strategic communications agency helped fortune 500 C Suite executives launch companies in emerging markets. Today, as CEO and co-founder of iBIONICS, Suzanne's mission is to return sight to blind people. She lives by her mantra - The Art of the Possible blending cutting edge technology and social change with making the world better
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RF Spectrum Challenges in the Age of Netflix and Self-Driving Cars

Speaker: Nikhil Adnani, CTO, ThinkRF
DATE: Monday December 5, 2017
TIME: Refreshments, Lunch, and Networking: 11:30 a.m.; Seminar: 12:00 p.m. - 01:30 p.m.  
PLACE: The Marshes Golf Club, 320 Terry Fox Drive, Kanata. View Map
PARKING: Free parking available.
ADMISSION: Open to all, free of charge. Registration is required by e-mail. Space is limited:
REGISTRATION: Register here, or contact Eric Karmouch ekarmouch@marchnetworks.com.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website, or contact  almuhtadi@ieee.org

Abstract

Over the past decade we have been witnessing a wireless revolution. The way we communicate with each other has been changed forever with the proliferation of smartphones and other wireless devices. How we consume audio and video has evolved as streaming technologies such as Netflix, YouTube and Spotify have replaced traditional TV, DVDs, and CDs. Soon, even the way we get around will look different as autonomous vehicles relying on communications from thousands of sensors become technologically and commercially viable. Looking ahead, the potential is there for new applications that we can’t even begin to imagine.
All of this is exponentially driving the demand we place on the wireless spectrum. To address this, wireless engineers and scientists are having to push the boundaries and come up with more creative use of the limited RF spectrum resources that are available.
Advanced modulation techniques, increasing bandwidths and higher frequencies are just some of the methods used to address the spectrum challenge. And as we continue to ask more and more of the spectrum around us, we also need to develop new ways to measure and monitor these signals. This talk will review the growing challenges associated with using, measuring, and monitoring the radio spectrum during this period of incredible innovation.

Bio

Dr. Nikhil Adnani is currently the Chief Technology Officer at ThinkRF. During his career he has worked on a number of different radio and wireless technologies. At ThinkRF he works on wideband radio receivers for spectrum and signal analysis applications. Nikhil has a BSc and MSc from the University of Manitoba and a PhD from Carleton University, all in Electrical Engineering.


The Autonomous Network - Technology and Politics

Speaker: Phil Rackus, Director of Product Management, CENX
DATE: Monday November 5 , 2017.
TIME: Refreshments, Lunch, and Networking: 11:30 a.m.; Seminar: 12:00 p.m. - 01:30 p.m.  
PLACE: The Marshes Golf Club, 320 Terry Fox Drive, Kanata. View Map
PARKING: Free parking available.
ADMISSION: Open to all, free of charge. Registration is required by e-mail. Space is limited:
REGISTRATION: Register here, or contact Eric Karmouch ekarmouch@marchnetworks.com.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website, or contact  almuhtadi@ieee.org

Abstract

Continued growth of bandwidth and QoS hungry applications combined with competitive pressure on ARPU have created an environment where service providers are towards a completely integrated assurance model – both to increase operational efficiencies and to improve mean time to resolution of network and SPIT faults. The operational model however is still domain, and even vendor, specific – both for good reasons and bad. This discussion will focus on realistic approaches to creating a highly integrated end to end assurance model that still respects technical and political domain boundaries.

Bio

A product and technology strategist, Phil has been involved in many of Ottawa’s most interesting technology innovations over the last 20 years. An alumni of Bell Labs research, a founding member of N-able technologies (acquired by Solarwinds) and a key member of intrepreneurial projects at Corel, Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia, Phil brings a keen insight into the commercial and technology challenges facing the industry today and tomorrow.

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Measurement, Control and Protection in a Robust Smart Grid with a Reference to Energy Management Systems for Smart Buildings in a Smart

Speaker: Dr. Anura Jayasumana, Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Colorado State University, USA
DATE: Thursday October 19, 2017
TIME:11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.   
PLACE: NRC, M-36, Kelvin Room, 1200 Montreal Road, Ottawa, ON Canada  K2G 1V8 .
PARKING: at the Visitors’ Parking.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: Branislav Djokic or Wahab Almuhtadi.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

Abstract

The smart grid is a modern electric system. It has its own architecture, communications, sensors, metering, automation, computing hardware and software to improve the efficiency, reliability, flexibility and security of the electric power supply system. In particular, the smart grid, when fully deployed, will facilitate the (i) increased use of digital information and measurement, control & protection technologies, (ii) deployment and grid-integration of distributed energy resources (DERs), (iii) operation of demand response and energy efficiency programs, and (iv) integration of consumer-owned smart devices and technologies.
The smart grid requires advanced control at both component and system levels. Different non-linear controls, such as back-stepping control, feedback linearization, model predictive control, and sliding mode control are applied to control DERs, and their grid integration. Another control technique gaining application in the smart grid space is based on multi-agent systems (MAS) which provide autonomy, reactivity and proactivity. MAS are complex systems composed of several autonomous agents with only local knowledge and limited abilities, but are able to interact in order to achieve a global objective. As speedy communication facilities, such as fibreoptics, microwave, GSM/GPRS, 3G/4G are becoming the integral parts of the functioning smart grid, the integration of MAS in smart grid applications is becoming simple and feasible. This lecture focuses on the measurement & control issues of the smart grid and how MAS can provide an efficient tool to address such issues. In addition, an overview of the related challenges and opportunities for energy efficient building operation and management with deployment experience in the US will be provided, click here.

Bio

Professor Saifur Rahman is the founding director of the Advanced Research Institute (www.ari.vt.edu) at Virginia Tech, USA where he is the Joseph R. Loring professor of electrical and computer engineering. He also directs the Center for Energy and the Global Environment (www.ceage.vt.edu). He is a Life Fellow of the IEEE and an IEEE Millennium Medal winner. He is the president-elect of the IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) and will serve in this role in 2018 and 2019. He was the founding editor-in-chief of the IEEE Electrification Magazine and the IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy. In 2006 he served on the IEEE Board of Directors as the vice president for publications. He is a distinguished lecturer for the IEEE Power & Energy Society and has lectured on renewable energy, energy efficiency, smart grid, electric power system operation and planning, etc. in over 30 countries. He served as the chair of the US National Science Foundation Advisory Committee for International Science and Engineering from 2010 to 2013. He has conducted several energy efficiency related projects for Duke Energy, Tokyo Electric Power Company, the US Department of Defense, the State of Virginia and the US Department of Energy.   


Role of Smart Building Energy Management Systems in the Development of a Smart City 

Speaker: Professor Saifur Rahman, Director, Virginia Tech Advanced Research Institute, USA 
DATE: Thursday October 19, 2017
TIME: Refreshments/Registration/Networking: 06:00 p.m.; Seminar: 06:30 p.m. – 07:30 p.m.  
PLACE: Ciena Optophotonics Lab (room T129), School of Advanced Technology, Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2G 1V8.
PARKING: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:  Wahab Almuhtadi.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

Abstract

The demand of electrical energy is increasing drastically and electricity consumed in small and medium sized buildings in India is growing at a high rate. Therefore, there is a need for smart buildings or zero energy buildings. In India, most of the electrical equipment in small and medium sized buildings are operated manually in the sense that there is no automation for monitoring and control of air conditioning, plug loads and lighting systems. As a result, the lot of electrical energy is wasted. It is also observed that the power factor often drops below acceptable ranges with increasing inductive loads which causes circuit currents to reach unacceptable limits.
BEMOSS (Building Energy Management Open Source Software) using ICT devices and integrated with renewable energy can provide a cost-effective solution for the aforesaid problem and would be helpful in the development of smart buildings and smart cities in India.
This lecture will provide an in-depth understanding of the challenges and opportunities for energy efficient building operation and managementd, click here.

Bio

Professor Saifur Rahman is the founding director of the Advanced Research Institute (www.ari.vt.edu) at Virginia Tech, USA where he is the Joseph R. Loring professor of electrical and computer engineering. He also directs the Center for Energy and the Global Environment (www.ceage.vt.edu). He is a Life Fellow of the IEEE and an IEEE Millennium Medal winner. He is the president-elect of the IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) and will serve in this role in 2018 and 2019. He was the founding editor-in-chief of the IEEE Electrification Magazine and the IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy. In 2006 he served on the IEEE Board of Directors as the vice president for publications. He is a distinguished lecturer for the IEEE Power & Energy Society and has lectured on renewable energy, energy efficiency, smart grid, electric power system operation and planning, etc. in over 30 countries. He served as the chair of the US National Science Foundation Advisory Committee for International Science and Engineering from 2010 to 2013. He has conducted several energy efficiency related projects for Duke Energy, Tokyo Electric Power Company, the US Department of Defense, the State of Virginia and the US Department of Energy.   


 

Personal Creativity - An Interactive Workshop

Speaker: Inez Dekker, University Lecturer, Researcher, and Public Speaker
DATE: Monday October 2, 2017
TIME: Refreshments, Lunch, and Networking: 11:30 a.m.; Seminar: 12:00 p.m. - 01:30 p.m.  
PLACE: The Marshes Golf Club, 320 Terry Fox Drive, Kanata. View Map
PARKING: Free parking available.
ADMISSION: Open to all, free of charge. Registration is required by e-mail. Space is limited:
REGISTRATION: Register here, or contact Eric Karmouch ekarmouch@marchnetworks.com.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website, or contact  almuhtadi@ieee.org

Abstract

As Engineers and Scientists you have challenges that are both wide in scope and bound by critical limitations as well. Modern creativity research suggests that the flexibility and focus required for such complex challenges can be strengthened and toned through apparently unrelated creative activities. Drawing from current scientific research and evidence emerging from several domains of study, this interactive workshop explores the psychology of creativity, your beliefs about what creativity is, and how exploring your personal creative spark can have a positive impact on your personal and professional development. Workshop takeaways focus on specific tips that will empower you to 1) Learn about the science of creativity, 2) Develop your awareness to enable greater creativity (personally and professionally), and 3) Build on different tools, skills, and knowledge to unleash your creative side.

Bio

Inez Dekker is a believer in life-long learning, development, and se! lf-discovery. After running a family business for several years, she started university at the age of 39, earning a BA (Psychology), and an MA (Organizational Psychology), and also took courses in the PhD Management program, all from Queen's University in Kingston. She taught university courses for eight years at the Queen's School of Business, Athabasca University, and the Sprott School of Business, including the Psychology of Personality, Organizational Behaviour, Organizational Culture, Leadership, and more. For the past 10 years, Inez has been engaged in personnel research for the Canadian military. To satisfy her own need to express herself through original art and craftwork, she has explored a variety of mediums. She writes and performs original poetry, has competed at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word, and continues to be active in the Lanark County Live Poets' Society (LiPS).

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Data Centric Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Applications

Speaker: John Clarke, Product Manager, Data Management Systems, General Dynamics Mission Systems Canada 
DATE: Monday September 4, 2017
TIME: Refreshments, Lunch, and Networking: 11:30 a.m.; Seminar: 12:00 p.m. - 01:30 p.m.  
PLACE: The Marshes Golf Club, 320 Terry Fox Drive, Kanata. View Map
PARKING: Free parking available.
ADMISSION: Open to all, free of charge. Registration is required by e-mail. Space is limited:
REGISTRATION: Register here, or contact Eric Karmouch ekarmouch@marchnetworks.com.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website, or contact  almuhtadi@ieee.org

Abstract

Product Manager, Data Management Systems, General Dynamics Mission Systems Canada
The research and development team at General Dynamics Mission Systems is evolving our intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance application to ensure that it can keep pace with the rapidly evolving ISR field. Airborne military sensors are growing increasingly capable, and commercial and open source intelligence data is now widely available and of very high quality. To modernize our system has meant exploring new approaches. The presentation will describe the ISR mission, and cover some of the new development approaches, including moving a monolithic application towards data centric microservices, using open source tools to manage and present geographic data, containerization of services to allow rapid deployment and high reliability, and machine learning to improve the workflow for operators.

Bio

As Product Manager, Data Management Systems, John Clarke provides direction, vision and leadership for the system at the heart of the airborne surveillance and comma! nd and control platforms produced by the Air and Naval business unit of General Dynamics Mission Systems–Canada. John joined General Dynamics in 2002 having spent twelve years at Bell Northern Research. Prior to assuming his current role, John was the software development manager for the Data Management System for the Airbus H225M helicopter, designed to perform land and naval surveillance missions for the Polish armed forces. Previous to his role on the Polish program, John has held a number of project management and software management positions throughout the company, including the design and development of a self defense system for helicopters and the control software for a remotely operated underwater vehicle deployed with the Swedish Navy’s stealth corvette. John holds a Bachelor of Computer Engineering and Management from McMaster University. He lives in Stittsville, Ontario with his wife, daughter and son. General Dynamics Missi! on Systems–Canada is one of Canada's leading C4ISR and defence and security electronics companies, with a worldwide reputation for excellence in the production of technology-based, integrated solutions for land, airborne, maritime and public safety applications. With state-of-the-art facilities in Ottawa, Calgary and Halifax, the company's success is based on strong systems engineering experience, ongoing investment in research and development and collaboration with commercial and military systems industry leaders
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"Resiliency by Design" - Dynamic Categorization Working Session

Speaker: Steven Woodward, CEO, Cloud Perspectives
DATE: Tuesday August 1, 2017
TIME: Refreshments, Lunch, and Networking: 11:30 a.m.; Seminar: 12:00 p.m. - 01:30 p.m.  
PLACE: The Marshes Golf Club, 320 Terry Fox Drive, Kanata. View Map
PARKING: Free parking available.
ADMISSION: Open to all, free of charge. Registration is required by e-mail. Space is limited:
REGISTRATION: Register here, or contact Eric Karmouch ekarmouch@marchnetworks.com.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website, or contact  almuhtadi@ieee.org

Abstract

While the term 'resiliency' is frequently used, it is seldom defined, clarified or used in a meaningful context. This leads to rework, costs exceeding budgets, frustration and most importantly, solutions that do not provide the resiliency that was required by the business. The technology storms continue to form and merge, including Internet of Things, Software Defined Everything, Block Chain, Fog Computing and Cloud Computing. In order to provide or consume trusted and resilient services, the solutions must be clarified, planned, designed and governed accordingly. Resiliency can take many forms; performance, security, integrity and even personal safety. We will identify some foundational elements and considerations, then a working taxonomy mind-map will be provided to highlight some resiliency categories. During the session specific resiliency subjects of interest will be identified by the attendees and further "mindmaps" will be generated to express specific resiliency considerations. The working activities provide an opportunity to network and exchange ideas that will build resiliency as the technology storm front continually advances.

Bio

Steven Woodward is CEO of Cloud Perspectives, located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He is a member of the National Institute of Standards for Technology (NIST) cloud computing working groups (under the US Department of Commerce), a co-leader of the Cloud Audit and Cloud Carrier sub-groups, while contributing to Standards, Reference Architecture, SLAs, Security, Broker and Services topic areas. Steven is also a Director of the Cloud Security Alliance Canadian Chapter, a member of the ISO/ IEC SC7 (software systems) and SC38 (cloud and distributed processing) and chair of IFPUG's (ISO 20926 software sizing) ISO Committee. He fosters collaboration and cooperation within and between standards groups (ISO/IEC, IEEE, IFPUG, TMFORUM, ITU-T, CSA, OMG) to clarify and quantify realistic expectations for cloud computing and the controls that build trust. His previous IEEE presentations included: SOSE in Maui, HONET in Northern Cyprus and EPEC in Ottawa. He has several published chapters in software metrics books, edits and frequently contributes articles to various communities, and is frequently interviewed by research companies. Steven's education, advisory, planning and execution services have resulted in saving millions of dollars, while mitigating risks, for private and public sector organizations around the world
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The Rise of the Industrial Drone

Speaker: Ian Glenn, CEO/CTO, ING Robotic Aviation Inc.
DATE: Tuesday July  , 2017
TIME: Refreshments, Lunch, and Networking: 11:30 a.m.; Seminar: 12:00 p.m. - 01:30 p.m.  
PLACE: The Marshes Golf Club, 320 Terry Fox Drive, Kanata. View Map
PARKING: Free parking available.
ADMISSION: Open to all, free of charge. Registration is required by e-mail. Space is limited:
REGISTRATION: Register here, or contact Eric Karmouch ekarmouch@marchnetworks.com.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website, or contact  almuhtadi@ieee.org

Abstract

This talk will focus on the transformative impact of drones on mapping and charting, as well as, for inspection and monitoring tasks. Modern industrial drones provide the ability to provide highly accurate mosaics, point clouds, DEMs, and DSMs of areas of interest in the single digit centimetre resolution range. These bundled solutions accomplish so much more than traditional methods - cost effectively and safety. ING Robotic Aviation is focused on data-driven robotic aviation delivered in harsh conditions globally. The company has flown drones the equivalent of 81 times around the planet since 2008. Ian will highlight with real world examples the possibilities that these disruptive technologies now offer. From wildlife to wind turbines, industrial drones are transforming many sectors.

Bio

Ian has led the creation of Canada's most dynamic growth sector - unmanned aviation. His leadership in the field started over two decades ago, driving the creation of national drone standards with Transport Canada to enable the creation of the industry. Along the way he launched UVS Canada, the organization that grew into Unmanned Systems Canada which is Canada's national sector organization. As the Chief Executive and Chief Technology Officer of his company, ING Robotic Aviation, over the past 15 years he has developed and integrated UAV systems and provided services across the globe in harsh conditions including war zones. ING Robotic Aviation often has undertaken technically difficult projects that moved the regulatory yardstick forward by demonstrating safe, robust, and validated results that served to expand the operational envelope for all the civil and commercial sector. ING has also been highly and consistently visible as a sponsor of student activities. As a pioneer of industrial drones, he has created new markets and capabilities introducing UAVs to the resource, agriculture, forestry, utility, film, construction, and defence and public safety sectors. Ian is a true pioneer in a technology and aviation emergence that will happen only once in our professional lifetime. He has grasped this evolution, and expended considerable energy in guiding it for the benefit of all Canada
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Topology Preserving Maps: A Localization-Free Approach for 2-D and 3-D IoT Subnets

Speaker: Dr. Anura Jayasumana, Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Colorado State University, USA
DATE: Wednesday June 14, 2017
TIME: Refreshments/Registration/Networking: 06:00 p.m.; Seminar: 06:30 p.m. – 07:30 p.m.  
PLACE: Ciena Optophotonics Lab (room T129), School of Advanced Technology, Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2G 1V8.
PARKING: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:  Wahab Almuhtadi.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

Abstract

In Driven by higher potency and lower cost/size of devices capable of sensing, actuating, processing and communicating, the Internet of Things and of everything promises to dramatically increase our ability to embed intelligence in the surroundings. Subnets of simple devices such as RFIDs and tiny sensors/actuators deployed in massive numbers in 2D and complex 3D spaces will be a key aspect of this emerging infrastructure. Most techniques for self-organization, routing and tracking in such networks rely on distances and localization in the physical domain. While geographic coordinates fit well with our intuitions into physical spaces, their use is not feasible in complex environments. Protocols based on geographical coordinates do not scale well to 3D either. We present a novel localization-free coordinate system, the Topology Coordinates (TC). Interestingly, geographic features such as voids and shapes are preserved in the resulting Topology-Preserving Maps (TPMs) of 2-D and 3-D networks. Ability to specify virtual cardinal directions and angles in networks is a radical change from the traditional approaches. A novel self-learning algorithm is presented to provide network awareness to individual nodes, a step toward large-scale evolving sensor networks. Application of TCs to social networking will be illustrated, click here.

Bio

Anura Jayasumana is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Colorado State University, where he also holds a joint appointment in Computer Science. He is the Associate Director of Information Sciences & Technology Center at Colorado State. He is a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Communications Society. His research interests span high-speed networking to wireless sensor networking, and anomaly detection to DDoS defense. He has served extensively as a consultant to industry ranging from startups to Fortune 100 companies. He received the B.Sc. degree from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Michigan State University. Prof. Jayasumana has supervised 20+ Ph.D. and 50+ M.S. students, holds two patents, and is the co-author over 250 papers. He is the recipient of the Outstanding Faculty Award from the Mountain States Council of the American Electronics Association.   


A 101 to Machine Learning using Python

Speaker: Chris Allison, Senior Coordinator, GC2.0 Tools at Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
DATE: Tuesday June 6, 2017
TIME: Refreshments, Lunch, and Networking: 11:30 a.m.; Seminar: 12:00 p.m. - 01:30 p.m.  
PLACE: The Marshes Golf Club, 320 Terry Fox Drive, Kanata. View Map
PARKING: Free parking available.
ADMISSION: Open to all, free of charge. Registration is required by e-mail. Space is limited:
REGISTRATION: Register here, or contact Eric Karmouch ekarmouch@marchnetworks.com.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website, or contact  almuhtadi@ieee.org

Abstract

Machine Learning, a method of teaching computers to learn and make predictions based on data without being explicitly programmed, is a core part of predictive analytics and key technologies like image recognition, self-driving cars, unsupervised data analytics and search / recommendation engines. Featured in more MOOC's than you can shake a stick at, machine learning is taking off - and Python has one of the top ML ecosystems around! Chris Allison will present an introductory primer on machine learning using Python's Scikit-Learn and Gensim. Code and examples included!.

Bio

As a driven, passionate and creative leader and change agent, Chris Allison's career, skills and experiences span across public service, private interests and personal goals. Chris' goal is to reimagine and revitalize the public service - transforming it into an organization that can meet and exceed the needs and expectations of Canadians. Over the past 15 years Chris has worked on immigration enforcement, investigated war crimes, patrolled Toronto with the Toronto Police Service, conducted surveillance and counter smuggling activities with as an RCMP officer, participated in public relations duties in Japan, managed national security activities with the Canada Border Services Agency, developed legislation, regulations and policy on import, export and cross-border law enforcement operations, contributed to the re-writing of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, created and lead a community of passionate managers in Public Safety Canada, worked to improve the traveler experience with the CBSA and currently lead the Government of Canada's enterprise social network and wiki - working to build a single, collaborative and high performing public service to better serve Canadians. Driven and imaginative, Chris has reverse mentored three Deputy Ministers on innovation and technology on the Deputy Minister Committee on Policy Innovation, reimagined and built new ways to improve the traveler experience and acted as a catalyst for change - driving innovation in policy thinking, service delivery, information management and collaboration. An avid Python developer, Chris has built web apps, event simulations, conducted social network analysis, graphed and analyzed social media, analyzed big data with Spark, built machine learning classifiers and used natural language analysis to directly improve his organizations. As per his Twitter bio, Chris is focused on GoC leadership, community, culture, creativity and innovation. He is a geek, gamer, Python developer and storyteller
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Challenge Everything: Why Audacity Is the Key to Long-Term Growth in Technology Companies

Speaker: Stuart Russell, CTO & Co-Founder, You.i TV
DATE: Tuesday May 2, 2017
TIME: Refreshments, Lunch, and Networking: 11:30 a.m.; Seminar: 12:00 p.m. - 01:30 p.m.  
PLACE: The Marshes Golf Club, 320 Terry Fox Drive, Kanata. View Map
PARKING: Free parking available.
ADMISSION: Open to all, free of charge. Registration is required by e-mail. Space is limited:
REGISTRATION: Register here, or contact Eric Karmouch ekarmouch@marchnetworks.com.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website, or contact  almuhtadi@ieee.org

Abstract

Success in technology comes down to identifying and taking advantage of inflection points - but doing so is easier said than done, especially if you're in a position where you're already successful. The technologies that succeed in the long run are the ones that have the audacity to challenge the status quo, and take advantage of the recurring patterns of innovation. Stuart Russell has experience doing this with multiple technologies in multiple companies, including his current role as CTO and co-founder of You.i TV. When he was building You.i Engine with his team, they challenged multiple accepted beliefs, about everything from GPUs to engine toolsets to platform design and development conventions. The result has been a product that's powering some of today's leading TV interfaces, and wins out against more traditional approaches frequently. He'll bring this experience to his presentation, which will break down the innovation inflection points using historical and current examples, and provide you with a framework for how to look for and identify your next audacious move. It's the real key to long-term, sustainable success in the technology industry, and will power the next wave of technology innovation in Ottawa, in Canada and the world.

Bio

Stuart Russell is the Co-founder of You.i TV, and the creator of the technology on which the company is based. An expert in optimized computer rendering algorithms and physics, Stuart is more than just a software engineer or designer - he is a software innovator. Stuart has invented and patented software technology including rendering engines and emulators, and has won numerous software and business awards and accolades, including multiple wins of Best Software by Smartphone Magazine (then known as PocketPC) and an Ernest C. Manning nomination
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Telecommunication Engineering as Distinct Education Discipline - Reflections on the TEE Movement and Project ISTEE

Speaker: Dr. Tarek S. El-Bawab, Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Jackson State University, USA
DATE: Wednesday April 12, 2017
TIME: Refreshments/Registration/Networking: 06:00 p.m.; Seminar: 06:30 p.m. – 07:30 p.m.  
PLACE: Ciena Optophotonics Lab (room T129), School of Advanced Technology, Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2G 1V8.
PARKING: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:  Wahab Almuhtadi.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

Abstract

In this talk, we discuss the telecom community efforts which led to recognition of telecommunication engineering (TE) as a distinct education discipline in the US. These efforts, concluded by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc., (ABET) approval of its new Criteria for Electrical, Computer, Communications, Telecommunication(s) and Similarly Named Engineering Programs on November 1, 2014. We reflect on the history of the Telecommunication Engineering Education (TEE) initiative and movement (2008-2014) which resulted in this development. We discuss the impact of progress in Network Science and Engineering on modern Telecommunications, and examine these developments in light of other changes in the arena of engineering education in the US, and the rest of the world. The talk will look into the work that needs to be done to capitalize on these development and the roles of numerous stake holders. For example, Telecom is an area of high standardization activities and the new discipline requires course(s) and innovative instruction methods to fill a knowledge gap in this arena. We shall discuss efforts excreted in this regards through joint efforts of the US Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Technology (NIST), IEEE, and US academia.
To view the talk, click here.

Bio

Tarek S. El-Bawab led the Telecommunication Engineering Education (TEE) initiative and movement (2008-2014), which resulted in recognition of telecommunication engineering as a distinct ABET-accreditable education discipline on November 1, 2014. He is the first recipient of the IEEE Communications Society’s (ComSoc) Education Award, due to this work (2015). The citation of this award reads: “for outstanding contributions to the definition, and to the accreditation criteria, of modern communication/telecommunication engineering education; and for making changes to our education system that benefit our community, society, and the profession.” Dr. El-Bawab research interests include telecommunications, network architectures, optical networks, performance analysis, enabling electronic/photonic technologies, telecom standards, and engineering education. Currently, he is with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Jackson State University (USA). Before this he was with Alcatel-Lucent (USA) as a Project Manager with the Network Strategy Group (CTO organization). Earlier, he was involved in networking research with a number of organizations, including Alcatel-Lucent (USA); the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Colorado State University (USA); and the Department of Electronic Systems Engineering, University of Essex (UK). Before this he led large-scale international telecommunication projects in the Middle East for 10 years. He is Member of IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu (HKN) and an IEEE ComSoc Distinguished Lecturer. He has more than 70 scholarly journal/conference papers and patents. His book Optical Switching is one of the most comprehensive references in its subject. He is the Editor of Springer’s Series: Textbooks in Telecommunication Engineering, and the Associate Editor in Chief (AEiC) of the IEEE Communications Magazine. Tarek has served IEEE and ComSoc in numerous capacities. He is Board Member of the IEEE Educational Activities Board (EAB), and of the EAB’s Committee on Global Accreditation Activities (CGAA). He is member of ComSoc’s Educational Services Board (ESB). He served as member of the Board of Governors, Director of Conference Operations, and member of the Online Content Board (OCB) of ComSoc (2014-2015). He is a founding/active member of several ComSoc technical committees, and served as Chair of the Transmission, Access, and Optical Systems (TAOS) Technical Committee for two terms. He has served as symposium chair, workshops Chair, and organizer in several ICC/Globecom Conferences, and organized/chaired the ICC/Globecom International Workshop on Optical Networking Technologies (IWONT) for 10 years. Tarek is also member of the IEEE Computer, Electron Devices, and Photonics Societies. Dr. El-Bawab has a B.Sc. in electrical engineering, and a B.A. in history, both from Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. He holds an M.Sc. in solid state science from the American University in Cairo, and an M.Sc. in telecommunications and information systems from the University of Essex, UK. He obtained his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Colorado State University.   

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Internet of Things - Things You Need to Know

Speaker: Walter Knitl, Principal, Praxiem
DATE: Tuesday April 4, 2017
TIME: Refreshments, Lunch, and Networking: 11:30 a.m.; Seminar: 12:00 p.m. - 01:30 p.m.  
PLACE: The Marshes Golf Club, 320 Terry Fox Drive, Kanata. View Map
PARKING: Free parking available.
ADMISSION: Open to all, free of charge. Registration is required by e-mail. Space is limited:
REGISTRATION: Register here, or contact Eric Karmouch ekarmouch@marchnetworks.com.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website, or contact  almuhtadi@ieee.org

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) is upon us and with it the beginnings of the biggest techno-socio-economic paradigm shift since the printing press. It will touch us all irrespective of our sphere of endeavour or way of life. It's poised to deliver great benefits, but also some cautionary side effects. So what is it? The answer is likely coloured by your background, biases and your first touchpoints with IoT, resulting in many siloed perspectives. Individual silos may separately hold that IoT is mainly about sensors, or data, or 5G, or machine learning, or security risk, or social risk, and so on. A hardware designer's silo is different from the data scientist's, which is different from that of the government policy wonk. Ever hear of "to a hammer everything's a nail" or "six blind men and the elephant" - it also applies to IoT. This seminar breaks down the siloes by exploring the full IoT space through its several dimensions, and its impacts.

Bio

Walter Knitl is the principal at Praxiem - a consultancy helping clients with the discovery and delivery aspects of getting their innovations to market in the form of products or services. He is a proponent of the Internet of Things as a lever for economic growth and social good. To that end, he is an organizing team member of the IoT613 conference, and curates the Internet of Things eXchange Ottawa website. Walter has a record of successful ICT product introductions at Ottawa technology companies including Ericsson, Nortel, Mitel, Ontario Centre for Microelectronics and Bell-Northern Research. His extensive experience consists of both business roles including Product Management, Account Management and Commercial Management, as well as technical roles in software and hardware R&D and telecommunication standards development
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Catching Bad Guys with Math: Real World Data Science Use Cases for Cyberattack Detection and Prevention

Speaker: Stephan Jou, CTO, Interset
DATE: Tuesday March 7, 2017
TIME: Refreshments, Lunch, and Networking: 11:30 a.m.; Seminar: 12:00 p.m. - 01:30 p.m.  
PLACE: The Marshes Golf Club, 320 Terry Fox Drive, Kanata.  View Map
PARKING: Free parking available.
ADMISSION: Open to all, free of charge. Registration is required by e-mail. Space is limited:
REGISTRATION: Register here, or contact Eric Karmouch ekarmouch@marchnetworks.com.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website, or contact  almuhtadi@ieee.org

Abstract

There is a lot of buzz about the potential of data science, machine learning and analytics in cyberattack and advanced persistent threat (APT) threat detection, but what are the techniques and tools in use and working in the real world? Properly implemented, data science can be a highly effective tool against APT, cyberattacks, and fortify an organization's interior defense. Our distinguished speaker, Stephan Jou leads the technology and data science teams at Interset, a leading edge Ottawa company that has developed an award-winning solution, based on machine learning, to detect and prevent cyberattacks. This seminar shall describe the feature engineering, mathematical models, visualizations, development techniques and open source tools in real world implementations developed over the past two years, illustrated through four real-world customer examples. The information and techniques will be presented with visualizations, real (anonymized) data, and accessible descriptions of the mathematics, so that deep experience in statistics or mathematics is not required. Attendees will learn about how data science has been used to detect data theft from a manufacturing company, insider theft in a military defense contractor, system admin data loss in a life sciences company, and compromised account detection in a media company.

Bio

Stephan Jou is CTO of Interset, a leading edge cybersecurity company that uses machine learning and behavioral analytics to provide unprecedented insight into how corporate intellectual property is being attacked, moved, shared and utilized. Jou was a Technical Architect, Research Staff Member and Sr. Manager at IBM's Business Analytics Office of the CTO. In his career at Cognos and IBM, he has architected and lead the development of over ten 1.0 Cognos and IBM products in the areas of cloud computing, mobile, visualization, semantic search, data mining and neural networks. A frequent speaker, Stephan has also contributed to the Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report and ISSA Magazine on the use of data science in cybersecurity. Jou holds a M.Sc. in Computational Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, and a dual B.Sc. in Computer Science and Human Physiology, all from the University of Toronto. He has held advisory positions on NSERC Strategic Networks and is involved in setting goals for NSERC Strategic Research Grant research topics in the areas of analytics and security.

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A Compact Dual-Band Beam-Sweeping Antenna Based on Active Frequency Selective Surface

Speaker: Dr. Qingsheng Zeng (qzeng@eecs.uottawa.ca)
DATE: Friday February 10, 2017
TIME:  10:00 am – 12:00 pm. Refreshments will be served.
PLACE: University of Ottawa School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) SITE Building, Room SITE 5084, 800 King Edward Ave.,  Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1N 6N5.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: Qingsheng Zeng or Wahab Almuhtadi.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

Abstract

A dual-band beam-sweeping antenna based on two independent cylindrical active frequency selective surfaces (AFSS) is proposed in this work. This antenna is composed of a dual-band omnidirectional monopole antenna operating at 2.45 GHz and 5.2 GHz and two cylindrical AFSS screens. The dual-band omnidirectional monopole antenna is designed as a radiation source surrounded by the proposed two cylindrical AFSS screens. The unit-cells of the two proposed AFSS screens consist of two metallic crosses connected by a pin-diode vertically. By switching the pin-diodes, the transmission and reflection characteristics of unit-cell of two AFSS are investigated, respectively, at their own operating frequency. This leads to the variation of radiation pattern when the cylindrical AFSS screens are loaded around the monopole antenna. Therefore, by
switching the pin-diodes with specified combinations, the dual-band beamforming antenna with multiple discrete states can be achieved at 2.45 GHz and 5.2 GHz.
To view the talk, click here.

 

RF Technology for 5G Cellular Basestations

Speaker: Dr. Thomas Cameron, PhD, CTO, Communications Business Unit, Analog Devices
DATE: Monday December 19, 2016.
TIME: Refreshments, Lunch, and Networking: 11:30 a.m.; Seminar: 12:00 p.m. - 01:30 p.m.  
PLACE: March Networks, 303 Terry Fox Drive Kanata, ON K2K 3J1 (Second Floor).
PARKING: Free parking available.
ADMISSION: Open to all, free of charge. Registration is required by e-mail. Space is limited:
REGISTRATION CONTACT: Eric Karmouch ekarmouch@marchnetworks.com.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website, or contact  almuhtadi@ieee.org

Abstract

As we embark on the road to 5G, the next generation wireless communications system, there are countless challenges and opportunities emerging for the engineering community. 5G represents both an evolution and a revolution of mobile technologies, to reach the high level goals that have envisioned by the global wireless community. While 5G is generally seen to the technology to deliver ultra-broadband mobile services including HD and ultra-HD video streaming, 5G technology will also enable cellular to enter the world of machines providing connectivity to autonomous vehicles, dense networks of industrial sensors and intelligent machines, to name a few. In this presentation we will review some of challenges and opportunities for RF innovation as we bring 5G to reality in the coming years.
To view the talk, click here.

Bio

Dr. Thomas Cameron is the CTO for the Communications Business Unit at Analog Devices. In this role he contributes to industry leading innovation in integrated circuit technology for cellular basestations and microwave backhaul systems. He is currently working on research and development of radio technology for 5G systems in both cellular and mmwave frequency bands. Prior to his current role at Analog Devices he was Director of Systems Engineering for the Communications Business Unit. Dr. Cameron has over 30 years of experience in research and development of technology for telecom networks including cellular basestations, microwave radios and cable systems. Prior to joining Analog Devices in 2006, he had spent many years in the Ottawa area contributing to the development of numerous RF systems and integrated circuits at Bell Northern Research, Nortel, Sirenza Microdevices and WJ Communications. Dr. Cameron holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the CTO, Communications Business Georgia Institute of Technology.

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Smart Surveillance Systems: Trends and Recent Research  

Speaker: Dr. Robert Laganiere, Professor at the University of Ottawa
DATE: Thursday November 17, 2016.
TIME: Refreshments, Lunch, and Networking: 11:30 a.m.; Seminar: 12:00 p.m. - 01:30 p.m.  
PLACE: March Networks, 303 Terry Fox Drive Kanata, ON K2K 3J1 (Second Floor).
PARKING: Free parking available.
ADMISSION: Open to all, free of charge. Registration is required by e-mail. Space is limited:
REGISTRATION CONTACT: Eric Karmouch ekarmouch@marchnetworks.com.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website, or contact  almuhtadi@ieee.org

Abstract

In the past decades, video surveillance systems have evolved from simple local digital video recorders to large scale cloud-based video monitoring solutions. The large amount of visual data captured by these visual systems calls for the design of more intelligent methods that can extract higher-level understanding of the observed scenes. If the pixel was the fundamental element that gave to computers the sense of sight, object detectors and classifiers are becoming the new fundamental bricks that will give computer the faculty to see and interpret the world. This talk discusses some of the challenges related to the development of the next generation of video surveillance systems.
To view the talk, click here.

Bio

Robert Laganiere is a professor at the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science of the University of Ottawa. He is also a Faculty member of the VIVA research lab and is the co-author of several scientific publications and patents in content-based video analysis, visual surveillance, driver-assistance, object detection and tracking. Robert authored the OpenCV2 Computer Vision Application Programming Cookbook in 2011 and co-authored Object Oriented Software Development published by McGraw Hill in 2001. He co-founded Visual Cortek in 2006, an Ottawa-based video analytics startup that was later acquired by iWatchLife.com in 2009. He is also a consultant in computer vision and has assumed the role of Chief Scientist in a number of startups companies such as Cognivue Corp, iWatchlife and Tempo Analytics. Robert has a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree from Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal (1987) and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from INRS-Telecommunications, Montreal (1996).

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IoT impact on the future of Healthcare and Wellness

Speaker: Fawzi Behmann, President TelNet Management Consulting, Inc.
DATE: Thursday July 21, 2016.
TIME: Refreshments, Registration and Networking: 06:00 p.m.; Seminar: 06:30 p.m. – 07:30 p.m.  
PLACE: Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., School of Advanced Technology, T-Building, Ciena Optophotonics Lab, Room T129.
PARKING: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: almuhtadi@ieee.org.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

Abstract

Several technologies are converging empowering IoT and delivering a greater impact and advance services to multiple markets by 2020’s.
This presentation will introduce the concept of IoT and architectural evolution from a pre-IoT to Collaborative IoT impacting many markets such as home, health, automotive, enterprise, transportation and infrastructure. This will be enriched by several examples.
The talk will then focus on healthcare and wellness exploring current and emerging solutions at hospitals, clinics, care centers and homes. Solution building blocks include sensing, aggregation, and data analytics.
Examples of some of the adjacent technologies such as 3D, Robot, Drone and Wearables will be highlighted.
Finally the talk will conclude with some of the factors and challenges to deliver scalable solutions, delivering better quality of services and experience. These include development platforms, 5G, virtualization, collaborative applications and security.
To view the talk, click here.

Bio

Fawzi is a visionary, thought leader, author and contributor in advancing adoption of technology in serving humanity. Fawzi spent over 30 years in industry and held various executive and leadership positions with Tier 1 companies in the areas of communications and networks spanning Semiconductor, communication systems and service provider. Fawzi was a principle architect and championed the definition and the developing of integrated pre-IoT telecom alert system and networking management solution at Teleglobe Canada. He was a senior product manager with Nortel Networks for product release for enterprise, broadband edge and core nodes. Fawzi also served as the Director of Strategic Marketing with Motorola/Freescale for SoC networking & Communications product line in Austin, Texas.
Fawzi is passionate about technology automation and has founded TelNet Management Consulting Inc. in 2009 offering consulting services in the areas of technology trends and positioning for smart networking and IoT/GIS solutions. Examples included Solar Energy, Public Safety – emergency response systems. He organized and chaired workshops, tutorials and was a distinguished speaker on key topics such as IoT, 5G, virtualization and Big Data/Analytics. Fawzi is a board member with several companies and had several publication including a recent book on the subject of future IoT “Collaborative Internet of Things for Future Smart Connected Life and Business “ published by Wiley, June 2015 http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1118913744,subjectCd-EEJ0.html
Fawzi is a senior member of IEEE, and is currently the ComSoc NA vice chair, CTS Conference & PACE Chair, and ComSoc/SP/CS Austin chapter chair. He was the recipient of several awards from Industry and IEEE including CEO Freescale Diamond Chip Award in 2008, and IEEE ComSoc Chapter of the year award in 2015 and Outstanding R5 member award for 2013, 2014 and 2015.
Fawzi holds a Bachelor of Science with honors and distinction from Concordia University, Montreal; Masters in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo, Ontario and Executive MBA from Queen’s University, Ontario Canada.
To view the whole bio, click here.

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Topic 1: Recent Progress in Microwave Antenna Precision Measurement at National Institute of Metrology (NIM) of China
Topic 2: Quantum Based Self-traceable RF E-field Sensing by Using Rydberg States


Speaker: Dr. Zhenfei Song, EMC Laboratory, Information & Electronic Division, National Institute of Metrology (NIM) of China
DATE: Thursday, July 14, 2016,  2016  .
TIME: Seminar: 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM.  Refreshments will be served.
PLACE: University of Ottawa School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) SITE Building, Room SITE 5084 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1N 6N5.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: Qingsheng Zeng or Wahab Almuhtadi.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

Abstract

In this presentation the IEEE and ComSoc Standards Activities are positioned and explained as a part of the IEEE total value proposition and the IEEE role in technology evolution from a concept to R&D and to standards and deployment. IEEE Standards Activities ecosystem will be explained. We will address the role and modus operandi of IEEE Standards Association and the role of Technical Societies and Councils, Industry and Academia in the IEEE standardization activities. It will be a tutorial of how the IEEE Standardization cuisine works and how any materially or professly interested party can participate in the standardization process.
We will highlight the unique IEEE standardization process and IEEE standards-related policies. Sample communications and networking standardization and pre-standardization projects in such areas as PLC, Smart Grid, IoT, SDN, Big Data and 5G will be addressed. ComSoc standards–related technical activists, such as conferences and publications will be discussed..
To view the talk, click here.

Bio

Alexander Dr. Zhenfei Song received his Bachelor degree in Applied Physics from Shandong University, China, in 2006, and the Ph.D. degree in Electronics from Beihang University (BUAA), Beijing, China, in 2012.
He is currently an Associate Research Fellow with the EMC laboratory, Information & Electronic Division of National Institute of Metrology (NIM). His research interests include microwave antenna calibration and E-field measurement.
To view the whole bio, click here.

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Seeing with Diamond: from Quantum Photonics to Bionics Eyes

Speaker: Steven Prawer, School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, 3010, Australia, *s.prawer@unimelb.edu.au
DATE: Wednesday June 8, 2016.
TIME: Refreshments, Registration and Networking: 06:00 p.m.; Seminar: 06:30 p.m. – 07:30 p.m.  
PLACE: Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., School of Advanced Technology, T-Building, Ciena Optophotonics Lab, Room T129.
PARKING: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: kexing.liu@ieee.org or almuhtadi@ieee.org.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

Abstract

IDiamond, nanodiamond, graphene and other carbon allotropes are emerging as a new class of materials with superior properties for use in quantum photonics, secure communications and bionics. Quantum sensing devices take advantage of the remarkable properties of optical centres in diamond which allow manipulation and control of a single electron spin at room temperature. These same centres can be used for quantum computing and quantum key distribution for ultrasecure communications. For bionics these materials display excellent charge injection and recording properties making them particularly suitable for use as electrodes in brain-machine interfaces. In addition, diamond based materials have been shown to provide an outstanding, long-lasting hermetic encapsulation for sensitive electronic components implanted into the body. Many interesting applications are now possible using the quantum properties of diamond to obtain new insight into biological processes. Taking advantage of these properties has required the development of a suite of fabrication and characterization tools specifically designed to make devices from these materials. Many of the attractive properties such as chemical stability and extreme hardness (for diamond) mitigate against the use of more standard fabrication techniques used for silicon and other semiconductors. In this talk I will review the tool-box that we have developed to fabricate diamond based quantum photonic devices for communications and sensing and high-density, hermetic electrode arrays, specifically for use in a high acuity retinal implant designed to restore vision to patients suffering from retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration. I will also review our progress in methods for making flexible electrodes based on graphene ‘ropes’ and solving the problem of how to insert these flexible electrodes into neural tissue. Looking towards the future, we envisage carbon allotropes as being the basis on which to build the next generation of brain-machine interfaces, which could not only provide unprecedented new insights into brain function, but also allow for the treatment of diseases such as epilepsy, chronic pain, Parkinson’s, and drug resistant depression, and the neural control of prosthesis for severely disabled, click here.

Bio

Professor Steven Prawer has just completed his term as director of the Melbourne Materials Institute (MMI), a multidisciplinary research initiative dedicated to using advanced materials science and technology to address problems of global importance. He has developed the technology for the fabrication of practical, diamond-based quantum devices, such as, for example, single-photon sources for secure communications using quantum key distribution. Now, as part of the Bionic Vision Australia project, he is developing a diamond based high density electrode for neural and retinal stimulation and a diamond based technology for the encapsulation of the integrated device. Professor Prawer has published over 300 papers (H index 44), has been the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards and in 2010 was elected to the Australian Academy of Sciences.
To view the whole bio, click here.

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IEEE Standards Development Ecosystem and ComSoc Standards and Standards-related Activities

Speaker: Dr. Alexander D. Gelman, Director - Standardization Programs DevelopmentIEEE Communications Society
DATE: Tuesday April 5, 2016.
TIME: Refreshments, Registration and Networking: 06:00 p.m.; Seminar: 06:30 p.m. – 07:30 p.m.  
PLACE: Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., School of Advanced Technology, T-Building, Ciena Optophotonics Lab, Room T129.
PARKING: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: almuhtadi@ieee.org.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

Abstract

In this presentation the IEEE and ComSoc Standards Activities are positioned and explained as a part of the IEEE total value proposition and the IEEE role in technology evolution from a concept to R&D and to standards and deployment. IEEE Standards Activities ecosystem will be explained. We will address the role and modus operandi of IEEE Standards Association and the role of Technical Societies and Councils, Industry and Academia in the IEEE standardization activities. It will be a tutorial of how the IEEE Standardization cuisine works and how any materially or professly interested party can participate in the standardization process.
We will highlight the unique IEEE standardization process and IEEE standards-related policies. Sample communications and networking standardization and pre-standardization projects in such areas as PLC, Smart Grid, IoT, SDN, Big Data and 5G will be addressed. ComSoc standards–related technical activists, such as conferences and publications will be discussed..
To view the talk, click here.

Bio

Alexander D. Gelman received M.E. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the City University of New York. Presently he is CTO of NETovations consulting group that supports industry in competitive research and intellectual property management in areas of communications and networking.
During 1998-2007 Alex worked the Chief Scientist of the Panasonic Princeton Research Laboratory, managing research programs in consumer communications and networking; during 1984-1998 worked at Bellcore, most recently as Director-Internet Access Architectures Research.
To view the whole bio, click here.

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Joint Symposium on Optical Communications
Speaker DL: Prof. Bhaskar D. Rao, University of California, San Diego, USA
DATE:
Friday March 18, 2016   1:00 PM -4:30 PM.
TIME:
Refreshments, Registration and Networking: 06:00 p.m.; Seminar: 06:30 p.m. – 07:30 p.m.  
PLACE: ARC 233, University of Ottawa, 25 Templeton St, Ottawa, ON, Canada  K1N 6N5.
PARKING: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: almuhtadi@ieee.org.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

Symposium Program


1:00 – 1:30   PM Networking
1:30 – 2:30   PM Distinguished Guest Speaker: Prof. Dan M. Marom, Hebrew University
                   Title: Switching technologies for spatially and spectrally flexible optical networks
2:30 – 3:30   PM Invited Speaker: Maurice O'Sullivan, Ciena
                   Title: Flexible, multi-rate coherent transmission and network applications
3:30 – 4:30   PM Invited Speaker: Siegfried Janz, NRC
                   Title: Emerging Photonic Component Technology at the National Research Council Canada

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SDN/NFV Technology Trends and Academic Research in Canada
Speaker DL: Prof. Bhaskar D. Rao, University of California, San Diego, USA
DATE: Thursday November 26, 2015.
TIME: Refreshments, Registration and Networking: 06:00 p.m.; Seminar: 06:30 p.m. – 07:30 p.m.  
PLACE: Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., School of Advanced Technology, T-Building, Ciena Optophotonics Lab, Room T129.
PARKING: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: almuhtadi@ieee.org.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

Abstract

Traditional network designs are failing service providers as recurring and new revenue streams fail to keep pace with escalating operational costs. In today’s marketplace, dependence on purpose-built hardware and use of manual systems interfaces lead to complex hardware stacks, over-provisioning, and lengthy service cycles. We will examine market trends that are leading to the adoption of SDN and NFV technologies in both the service provider and large enterprise markets. We will also review some of the academic research initiatives in Canada that are investigating use cases attempting to leverage the full potential of these new technologies.

Bio

Chris Bachalo is currently the Chief Technical Officer for Juniper Networks Canada. Mr Bachalo has accumulated 25 years of experience in the Canadian telecom industry. He joined Juniper in 2010 from Alcatel-Lucent (and former Newbridge Networks) where he was VP of Systems Engineering for 17 years. Chris is focused on building telecommunications solutions for Canadian service providers and large enterprise. He is also heavily engaged in Canadian academic research and has participated in multiple technology advisory boards including: University of Toronto Masters of Engineering in Telecommunications Advisory Board, NodeLogic Networks Technical Advisory Board and currently serves on Algonquin College Photonics and Laser Technology Advisory Board, BRIC/University of Regina (Bridging Research and Interoperability Center) Industry Advisory Board, SAVI/University of Toronto/York University (Smart Applications on Virtual Infrastructure) Industry Advisory Board, CENGN (Center of Excellence for Next Generation Networking) Industry Advisory Board, Invest Ottawa ICT Industry Sector Advisor, BCNet Industry Advisor, Nuvollo Networks industry advisor and is cofounder/technology advisor/co-author of primary patent for Enermotion Inc, a Canadian cleantech company. Chris has a BASc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Windsor and studied at the University of Toronto toward an MEng in Electrical Engineering.

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Terrestrial broadcast vs. LTE-eMBMS: Competition and cooperation
Speaker DL: Marco Breiling, IEEE BTS distinguished lecturer, Chief scientist of the broadband & broadcast
Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits (IIS), Erlangen, Germany

DATE: Wednesday November 18, 2015.
TIME: Refreshments, Registration and Networking: 06:00 p.m.; Seminar: 06:30 p.m. – 08:00 p.m.  
PLACE: Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., School of Advanced Technology, T-Building, Ciena Optophotonics Lab, Room T129.
PARKING: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: almuhtadi@ieee.org.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

Abstract

While the broadcast world is reinforcing its armoury by introducing new and highly advanced standards like DVB-T2/-NGH and ATSC 3.0, the pressure by the mobile communications business is ever increasing. As users consume more unicast content or switch over to satellite TV or IPTV, the user base for terrestrial TV is shrinking, whereas the data rates requested by the users in mobile communications networks explode. Moreover, the mobile communications armoury now includes LTE-eMBMS as a broadcast mode, which can handle cases, where many users want to consume the same content. Consequently, the mobile network operators ask for a reallocation of the UHF broadcast bands to standards such as LTE (digital dividend II and more). If we assume that there is a future for broadcast over terrestrial transmission, this talk will shed some light about the question what technical (not commercial!) advantages conventional terrestrial broadcast standards like DVB have over eMBMS and vice versa. This leads to the question, whether the best aspects of both can be combined by having both networks cooperate. A final aspect discussed is the idea of distributing eMBMS content by satellite using, e.g., DVB-S2……..
To view the DL talk, click here.

Bio

After conducting studies at the Universität Karlsruhe/Germany (now Karlsruhe Institute of Technology – KIT), the Norges Tekniske Høgskole (NTH) in Trondheim/Norway, the Ecole Supérieure d’Ingénieurs en Electronique et Electrotechnique (ESIEE) in Paris and the University of Southampton/England, Marco Breiling graduated with a Dipl.-Ing. degree from KIT in 1997. He earned his PhD degree (with highest honor) for a thesis about turbo codes from Universität Erlangen/Germany in 2002.Since 2001, he has been working at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits (IIS) in Erlangen in the field of satellite and terrestrial communications. He currently holds the position of the broadband & broadcast department’s chief scientist.

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Agility for an App-centric Network - Integrated Management of Software Defined Infrastructure
Speaker DL: Prof. Bhaskar D. Rao, University of California, San Diego, USA
DATE:
Thursday November 12, 2015.
TIME:
Refreshments, Registration and Networking: 06:00 p.m.; Seminar: 06:30 p.m. – 07:30 p.m.  
PLACE: Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., School of Advanced Technology, T-Building, Ciena Optophotonics Lab, Room T129.
PARKING: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: almuhtadi@ieee.org.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

Abstract

Changes in advanced telecommunication networks are challenging network architects and operators in fundamentally new ways. The world is transforming into an application-centric environment, and the role of the network is taking center stage with computing and storage. This new environment brings both pros and cons and places unprecedented demands on networks of all kinds. This talk describes the nature of these challenges and how Ciena corporation, in partnership with the worlds fastest and most agile academic research networks is exploring, experimenting and addressing these new dynamics.

Bio

Mr. Wilson is responsible for Ciena’s leadership & interactions with universities and the research community, including national research and education networks. Residing within Ciena's CTO organization, he is able to orchestrate intersections between emerging technologies and research network experiments. He is a frequent contributor to research projects, demonstrations and discussions about advanced optical telecommunications systems. Prior to his current role, Mr. Wilson was a senior advisor for the CTO at Nortel, and held other advanced technology roles during 13 years with the company, including director of Broadband Switching, and optical Ethernet development. He has held a number of other high tech positions including the University of Toronto as chief network architect for the University’s on-line business UTLAS. He was originally trained in Electrical Engineering at Ryerson University in Toronto Ontario, and University of Toronto. He is a graduate of the Executive Management School at Stanford University in Palo Alto California. He has served on a number of business and volunteer Boards. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Algonquin College Foundation, and on the Incorporated Body of Scouts Canada. He has served on the Board of Directors for the Canadian Institute of Marketing, Scouts Canada Board of Governors and CANARIE, several technology advisory boards and is involved with industry special interest groups.

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Applications of Petri Nets in Communications - Calculation of Probability Distributions of Performance Variable in Petri Net Models
Speaker: Dr. Faruk Hadziomerovic, Independent Consultant, Ottawa
DATE:
Thursday, April 16, 20, 2015.
TIME: Refreshments, Registration and Networking: 6:00 p.m.; Seminar: 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
PLACE: Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., School of Advanced Technology, T-Building, Ciena Optophotonics Lab, Room T129.
PARKING: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: almuhtadi@ieee.org
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website

Abstract

CA brief overview of Petri nets, as a powerful modeling tool for many systems, will be given. Models with Stochastic Petri Nets (SPN) enable evaluating system performance. Every SPN can be reduced to a corresponding Markov Chain. This presentation deals with telecommunication networks where, in addition to average packet delays, it is necessary to know the probability distribution of packet delays exceeding given values. In provisioning the input buffer it is important to know statistics to be able to determine probability of buffer overflow and underflow. An original method to calculate statistics (and percentiles) of traversing time in Markov chains will be presented. Markov chains can be used to model the traffic in any network. They can model packet traffic in stored and forward networks like Internet; the parts moving across the production network; or patients moving through the health network. Conventionally the traversing time is given by the average values.

Bio
Faruk Hadziomerovic received his B.Sc. from University of Zagreb, M.E.E. from the Netherlands University Foundation for International Cooperation (NUFFIC) in the Hague, and Ph.D. from University of Sarajevo, with the thesis “Multiprocessor-Multimemory Computer Based on Microprocessors”. He spent a part of his career teaching at University of Sarajevo, Carleton University in Ottawa, Sarajevo School of Science and Technology, etc., and the other part in industrial research at the Institute for Control and Computer Sciences (IRCA), Sarajevo, Bell Northern Research (BNR) and Nortel Networks in Ottawa, and other companies in the telecommunication sector. His main teaching and research areas include microprocessors, operating systems, computer networks, and modeling for performance. His technical contributions are in the field of microprocessor hardware, network protocols and Petri nets.

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Self-Organizing Small Cell Networks
Speaker: Dr. Ekram Hossain (IEEE Fellow), Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
DATE:
Monday, March 30, 2015.
TIME: Refreshments, Registration and Networking: 6:00 p.m.; Seminar: 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
PLACE: Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., School of Advanced Technology, T-Building, Ciena Optophotonics Lab, Room T129.
PARKING: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: almuhtadi@ieee.org.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website

Abstract

mall cell" is an umbrella term for low-power radio access nodes that operate in both licensed and unlicensed spectrum and have a range of 10 meter to several hundred meters. These contrast with a typical mobile macrocell, which might have a range of up to several kilometers or even higher. The term ``small cell" covers femtocells, picocells, microcells, and metrocells. The evolving heterogeneous networks (HetNets) including macrocells and small cells of all types (which are also referred to as small cell networks [SCNs] hereafter) are envisioned to provide improved spectrum efficiency (bps/Hz/km2), capacity, and coverage in future wireless networks. SCNs have to be designed not only to support high quality-of-service (QoS), but also to achieve cost-effectiveness, deployment flexibility, and scalability. To achieve the low capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operation expenditure (OPEX), a self-organizing network (SON) architecture should be adopted in the SCNs. After a brief overview of the SCNs, the major challenges in successful deployment of small cells in the next generation cellular wireless systems will be outlined.

Bio
Ekram Hossain (IEEE Fellow) is currently a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from University of Victoria, Canada, in 2001. His current research interests include design, analysis, and optimization of wireless/mobile communications networks, cognitive radio systems, and network economics. He has authored/edited several books in these areas (http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~hossaina). Dr. Hossain serves as the Editor-in-Chief for the IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials, and an Editor for IEEE Wireless Communications. Also, currently he serves on the IEEE Press Editorial Board. Previously, he served as the Area Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications in the area of ``Resource Management and Multiple Access, from 2009-2011, an Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing} from 2007-2012, and an Editor for the IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications - Cognitive Radio Series from 2011-2014.

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Challenging Problems and Opportunities in Semiconductors and Microsystems
Speaker: Kenneth D. Wagner, ITAC Semiconductor Microsystems Council Chairman, Distinguished Engineer, PMC-Sierra, Inc.
DATE:
Thursday, March 26, 2015.
TIME: Networking: 2:30 am – 2:45 pm; Talk: 2:45pm – 3:45pm. Refreshments will be served
PLACE: ME3380, Mackenzie Eng. Building, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
PARKING:  fees . Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Limited, RSVP by Mar 25, 2015
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website

Abstract

This Seminar is meant to expose students, researchers and industry professionals to the challenges and opportunities facing the semiconductor industry today. It will be followed during 2015 by additional in-depth seminars on specific topics of interest. The Seminar will survey contemporary problems associated with semiconductor development and production. Topics to be reviewed include device power reduction, power and signal integrity, low cost high capacity functional verification (simulation, validation and emulation), embedded firmware and software development, the 3rd party semiconductor IP ecosystem and the evolution of the fabless semiconductor industry. Each topic will be covered in a format that highlights the challenges and opportunities to be found in contemporary microsystem development. The format is meant to be an open exchange where audience members are encouraged to ask questions and contribute to the discussion.

Bio
IKen joined PMC-Sierra, Inc. in 2000 as Director of Design Services and CAD. In that role, he managed the corporate IC design infrastructure for ASIC/SOC/ASSP development. Then, as Vice-President of Engineering for the Communication Products Division, he managed the development of wireline and wireless backhaul platforms for telecommunications. Now, as a Distinguished Engineer in the IC Technology Group, he leads advanced CAD R&D, including next generation implementation methodology, low power initiatives and embedded software – to enable development and manufacture of networking and storage ICs in advanced process nodes. Ken also developed PMC’s internal procedures for coordinating silicon and software IP, services and CAD tools procurement.

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Challenges in the Next Wave of Connectivity
Speaker: Dr. Patrice Gamand, Ph.D, RF Fellow and Technology Manager, Corporate CTO office, NXP Semiconductors
DATE:
Friday, March 20, 2015.
TIME: 14:00 -16:00. Refreshments will be served.
PLACE: ME4124, Mackenzie Eng. Building, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
PARKING:  fees . Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website

Abstract

High data rate, high frequencies, wide bandwidth, capacity and other characteristics are the key drivers for future communications. That is the trend since decades! but today, it seems more concrete and we need solutions. The presentation will address the Internet of Things and 5G applications and will review the main technical challenges we are facing. One of them being the low power aspect. However, because of the consumer market type of applications, miniaturization and cost cannot be neglected. So, high data rate, high capacity, high frequency are associated with low power, low cost and low (small) form factor. Therefore, innovative solutions have to be found in all areas including testing and packaging in addition to architecture and design breakthrough. The presentation will cover (partially) these aspects and will be illustrated by examples from NXP.

Bio
(IEEE M'05-SM'06) received the Ph.D. degree in microelectronics from the University of Lille, France, in 1984. He then joined Philips Research Laboratories in France, where he has been involved in microwave and millimeter-waves ICs in III/V technologies. In 1993, he joined Philips Semiconductors, Caen, France as design group leader and RF development manager. In 2006, he took over the General Management of the RF Innovation Center at NXP Semiconductors. He is currently RF Fellow and Technology Manager at Corporate CTO office at NXP Semiconductors. He is authored or co-authored of more than 60 technical papers in several areas in microwave and RF domains. He holds over 33 patents.

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An Overview of the Build in Canada Innovation Program (BCIP)
Speaker: Helen Braiter, Director, Build in Canada Innovation Program (BCIP), Ottawa Canada
DATE:
Tuesday February 4, 2015.
TIME: Refreshments, Registration and Networking: 6:00 p.m.; Seminar: 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
PLACE: Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., School of Advanced Technology, T-Building, Ciena Optophotonics Lab, Room T129.
PARKING: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: Qinghan.Xiao@drdc-rddc.gc.ca or sreeraman@ieee.org.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website

Abstract

Created to bolster innovation in Canada’s business sector, the Build in Canada Innovation Program (BCIP) helps Companies Bridge the pre-commercialization gap by procuring and testing late stage innovative goods and services within the federal government before launching them into the commercial market. The BCIP is a new $40 million program which aims to promote innovation and support Canadian business development. It was announced in Budget 2010 and made permanent in Budget 2012 with the addition of a military procurement component. The BCIP is a unique program that focuses on innovations that are at a stage of development where they can participate in an operational testing environment.

Bio
Helen Braiter has been with PWGSC for 15 years and is the Director of the Build in Canada Innovation Program (BCIP) in the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises and Strategic Engagement (OSMESE). An environmental engineer by training, Helen has worked in many areas within the Acquisitions Branch of PWGSC including policy, risk management and supplier engagement. She was recently awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for fostering a culture of innovation in the government and for supporting innovative Canadian businesses.

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Cloud Computing – Models – Big Data vs Privacy
Speaker: Steven Woodward, CEO, Cloud Perspectives
DATE:
Thursday, Dec. 04, 2014.
TIME: Refreshments, Registration and Networking: 6:00 p.m.; Seminar: 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
PLACE: Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., School of Advanced Technology, T-Building, Ciena Optophotonics Lab, Room T129.
PARKING: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: IEEE Members – Complementary; Prospective Members - $5 (incl. HST).. Registration by E-mail contacting: RaedAbdullah@ieee.org.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website

Abstract

Description of key cloud ecosystem models, with policy, security, and privacy considerations for 2014. Updates will be provided, largely based on NIST and the United Nations ITU-T cloud computing efforts. These updates will clarify core considerations for acquiring data, and present some of the major privacy discussions in the industry. Real-life, practical scenarios will be used to emphasize business perspectives for cloud computing, and “big data” opportunities and the benefits already quantified. In closing, an interactive exchange of ideas relating to “big data”, “openness”, and “privacy” will finish the evening. Specific action-item concepts will be generated for IEEE’s future considerations.

Bio

Steven Woodward is CEO founder of Cloud Perspectives, accelerating secured, valuefocused, governed cloud and advanced ICT solutions. He leads the NIST (National Institute of Standards for Technology under the US Department of Commerce) Cloud Carrier and Cloud Auditor Sub-Groups within the Cloud Computing Reference Architecture. He has been involved with the US Government “Cloud First” initiative under NIST since 2010, contributing and building cloud standards for: Definitions, Reference Architectures, Security, Privacy, Metrics, Carrier, Audit, Broker and Interoperability. He is also a Director with the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) Canadian Chapter. He is a leading contributor to many other cloud standards related organizations including: TM Forum, Object Management Group - Cloud Standards Customer Council, Canadian Cloud Council, IEEE, ISO/ IEC, IFPUG and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Joint Collaboration Activity working groups. Steven also represents the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA) at Shared Services Canada Architecture Advisory Committee.

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Aggregating Forecast Functions for Next Generation
Speaker DL: Dr. Mo El-Hawary, Fellow IEEE, IEEE PES Distinguished Lecturer, Professor, Dalhousie University, Halifax
DATE:
Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2014.
TIME: Refreshments, Registration and Networking: 6:00 p.m.; Seminar: 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
PLACE: Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., School of Advanced Technology, T-Building, Ciena Optophotonics Lab, Room T129.
PARKING: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration by E-mail contacting: branislav@ieee.org.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website

Abstract

Conventional dispatch support functions perform Resource, Demand, Cost and Pricing Forecasts independently as a prelude to conducting environmental/economic dispatch in an electric power system. This approach does not acknowledge the natural interdependence of the resource and demand variables. It is then imperative to account for the coupling between forecasts and generation decisions. The advent of smart grid and the increasing share of intermittent non-hydro renewables pose some challenging problems. In this talk, some relevant questions will be posed and then some potential solutions addressed..

Bio

Mo El-Hawary is Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. He received his B.Sc. from University of Alexandria, Egypt, and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from University of Alberta. He received the 1999 IEEE Power Engineering Educator Award, and IEEE EAB Meritorious Achievement Award in Continuing Education. He served as Chair of the Power System Operations Committee, Life Long Learning subcommittee, the Operating Economics Subcommittee and a member of the Awards Committee of PES. He is Founding Editor, Power Engineering Letters, and Associate Editor for two PES Journals. He authored ten textbooks and monographs, is Editor of the IEEE Press Power Engineering Series, and Electrical Power Engineering, McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. He consults frequently and taught over 100 professional development offerings in numerous parts of the world. Dr. El-Hawary is a member of the IEEE Fellows Committee, and served as a member of the 2006-2007 Publications Services and Products Board, and Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Press. He served as Secretary of IEEE and member of the ExCom (2004-2005), Director Region 7 (2002-2003), and member of the Board of IEEE (2002-2005). He was also chair of IEEE Main prize Paper Awards Committee, and the IEEE Awards Board. He is a distinguished lecturer for the Power & Energy and Industry Applications Societies. He received the IEEE Canada McNaughton Medal, and the IEEE Millennium Medal.

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Bayesian Methods for Sparse Signal Recovery
Speaker DL: Prof. Bhaskar D. Rao, University of California, San Diego, USA
DATE:
Wednesday September 10, 2014.
TIME: Noon – 1:30PM (Pizza and soft drink will be served at 11:30AM)
PLACE: School of Information Technology and Engineering (SITE), University of Ottawa 161 Louis Pasteur, CBY-A707, Ottawa, ON
PARKING: fee. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration by E-mail contacting: Yifeng Zhou (yifeng.zhou@crc.gc.ca); Jun Li (jun_li71@hotmail.com).
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website

Abstract

Compressive sensing (CS) as an approach for data acquisition has recently received much attention. In CS, the signal recovery problem from the observed data requires the solution of a sparse vector from an underdetermined system of equations. The underlying sparse signal recovery problem is quite general with many applications and is the focus of this talk. The main emphasis will be on Bayesian approaches for sparse signal recovery. We will examine sparse priors such as the super-Gaussian and student-t priors and appropriate MAP estimation methods. In particular, re-weighted l2 and re-weighted l1 methods developed to solve the optimization problem will be discussed. The talk will also examine a hierarchical Bayesian framework and then study in detail an empirical Bayesian method, the Sparse Bayesian Learning (SBL) method. If time permits, we will also discuss Bayesian methods for sparse recovery problems with structure; Intra-vector correlation in the context of the block sparse model and inter-vector correlation in the context of the multiple measurement vector problem..

Bio

Bhaskar D. Rao received the B.Tech. degree in electronics and electrical communication engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India, in 1979 and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, in 1981 and 1983, respectively. Since 1983, he has been with the University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, where he is currently a Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department. He is the holder of the Ericsson endowed chair in Wireless Access Networks and was the Director of the Center for Wireless Communications (2008-2011). Prof. Rao’s interests are in the areas of digital signal processing, estimation theory, and optimization theory, with applications to digital communications, speech signal processing, and biomedical signal processing. Prof. Rao was elected fellow of IEEE in 2000 for his contributions to the statistical analysis of subspace algorithms for harmonic retrieval. His work has received several paper awards; 2013 best paper award at the Fall 2013, IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference for the paper “Multicell Random Beamforming with CDF-based Scheduling: Exact Rate and Scaling Laws,” by Yichao Huang and Bhaskar D Rao, 2012 Signal Processing Society (SPS) best paper award for the paper “An Empirical Bayesian Strategy for Solving the Simultaneous Sparse Approximation Problem,” by David P. Wipf and Bhaskar D. Rao published in IEEE Transaction on Signal Processing, Volume: 55, No. 7, July 2007, 2008 Stephen O. Rice Prize paper award in the field of communication systems for the paper “Network Duality for Multiuser MIMO Beamforming Networks and Applications,” by B. Song, R. L. Cruz and B. D. Rao that appeared in the IEEE Transactions on Communications, Vol. 55, No. 3, March 2007, pp. 618 630. (http://www.comsoc.org/ awards/rice.html), among others. Prof. Rao has been a member of the Statistical Signal and Array Processing technical committee, the Signal Processing Theory and Methods technical committee, the Communications technical committee of the IEEE Signal Processing Society and is currently a member of the Machine learning for Signal Processing technical committee. He has also served on the editorial board of the EURASIP Signal Processing Journal and also as a technical member for several IEEE conferences.

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Trends and Issues of FTTH and G-PON
Speaker ComSoc DL: Koichi Asatani, Ph D, Professor, Nankai University, Tianjin, China; Professor Emeritus, Kogakuin University, Tokyo, Japan; IEEE Distinguished Lecturer, IEEE Fellow, IEICE Fellowalist
DATE:
Monday August 18, 2014..
TIME: Refreshments, Registration and Networking:
06:30 p.m.; IEEE ComSoc Distinguished Lecture: 07:00 p.m.08:00 p.m.
PLACE: Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., School of Advanced Technology, Building-T, Optophotonics Lab (Room T129)
PARKING: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: Raed Abdullah raedabdullah@ieee.org or Wahab Almuhtadi almuhtadi@ieee.org.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website

Abstract

Thanks to the penetration of broadband access technologies for Internet, real-time applications like VoIP, streaming applications like IPTV and many other delay-sensitive applications are growing very fast.
FTTH is the key broadband technology and is replacing ADSL. It provides stable high throughput, realizing even Gbps class. It also plays a very important role in Next Generation Networks (NGN). The NGN is Carrier-grade network for the future and a converged solution after the legacy telecom networks by enabling QoS management and controls in IP network like in legacy telecom networks and by supporting economical, versatile multi-media applications like those on the Internet with secure manners.
In realizing FTTH, G-PON is widely adopted. International Standards on FTTH, G-PON in particular has been established and is being further developed.
This lecture consist of the following contents: Introduction to Access Networks, Fundamentals of FTTH,
Requirements to FTTH, Regulatory Aspect of FTTH, Global Standards on FTTH and G-PON, Market Trends and Further Issues.

Bio

Koichi Asatani received his B.E.E.E., M.E.E.E. and Ph. D. degrees from Kyoto University in 1969, 1971 and 1974, respectively. From 1974 to 1997, Dr. Asatani was engaged in R&D on optical fiber communication systems, hi-definition video transmission systems, FTTH, ISDN, B-ISDN, ATM networks, IP Networks and their strategic planning in NTT. In 1997 he joined Kogakuin University as a professor, and in 1999 he joined, Graduate School of Global Information and Telecommunication, Waseda University as a visiting professor, both in Tokyo, Japan. He is currently a Professor, Nankai University, Tianjin, China and a Professor Emeritus, Kogakuin University. He is a Fellow of IEEE and a Fellow of IEICE. He was appointed as a distinguished lecturer of IEEE Communications Society for 2006-2009 and 2011-2012, 2013-2014..
He is a founder of Communications QoS, Reliability and Performance Modeling series symposium at ICCs and Globecoms.He also served as Executive Chair, ICC2011 in Kyoto. He has published more than fifty papers, and gave more than 120 talks including keynotes and invited talks at international conferences. He is author or co-author of nineteen books including "Designs of Telecommunication Networks"(IEICE, 1993, in Japanese), "Introductions to ATM Networks and B-ISDN)" (John Wiley and Sons, 1997), "Multimedia Communications" (Academic Press, 2001), "Introduction to Information Networks-Fundamentals of Telecom & Internet Convergence, QoS, VoIP and NGN-" (Corona-sha Publishing, in Japanese, 2007).
His current interests include Information Networks including Broadband networking, Internet Interworking, IP telephony, NGN, Future Networks and their QoS aspects.

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Open Source and Open Hardware, A Slippery Slope or a Brave New World
Speaker: Glenn McKnight, Director of the Foundation for Building Sustainable Communities (FBSC), Entrepreneur, Community Engager, IT & Education Projects Specialist
DATE:
Tuesday, July 17, 2014.
TIME: Refreshments, Registration and Networking:
06:00 p.m.; IEEE ComSoc Distinguished Lecture: 06:30 p.m.07:30 p.m.
PLACE: Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., School of Advanced Technology, Building-T, Optophotonics Lab (Room T129)
PARKING: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: Raed Abdullah raedabdullah@ieee.org or Wahab Almuhtadi almuhtadi@ieee.org.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website

Abstract

The “Open Source” or “Free and Open Source” can be treated as a disruptive technology and it has been slowly gaining recognition and traction within IEEE. Learn more about the history and fundamentals of Open Source solutions in general and in context to the Humanitarian Initiatives Committee..

Bio

Glenn is the Secretary Treasurer of the Internet Society of Canada. He has been involved in IT and education projects for twenty years starting with appropriate technology development and implementation, skills training and certification with the private sector, public institutions and non-profit organizations. He has been co-responsible for developing advanced Linux certifications, Ubuntu, Security exams, co-author of various articles on Open Source, Open Hardware and Free and Free and Open Source Business training manuals and more. Glenn McKnight, BA, MA in Social Anthropology at York University in Toronto.

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Overview of Green Wireless Communications Research at Edinburgh
ComSoc DL Speaker: Prof. John S. Thompson, Personal Chair in Signal Processing and Communications, the School of Engineering in the University of Edinburgh, UK
DATE:
Wednesday April 30, 2014.
TIME: Refreshments, Registration and Networking:
06:00 p.m.; IEEE ComSoc Distinguished Lecture: 06:30 p.m.07:30 p.m.
PLACE: Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., School of Advanced Technology, Building-T, Optophotonics Lab (Room T129)
PARKING: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: Wahab Almuhtadi almuhtadi@ieee.org.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website

Abstract

The Recent Green Radio Research Programme in the UK was a major collaboration between academic and industrial researchers. The main aim of the project was to try to reduce the carbon footprint of mobile wireless networks. Recent work has shown that mobile base stations account for a significant portion of the energy consumed in such networks. Therefore the programme focussed on designing more efficient base station designs as well as new concepts to reduce energy in networks as a whole. This talk will give an overview of the research and some of the key findings as well as describing future directions, specifically relating to a new project in the area of smart grid technology.

Bio

Prof. John S. Thompson currently holds a personal chair in Signal Processing and Communications at the School of Engineering in the University of Edinburgh. His research interests currently include signal processing, energy efficient communications systems, and multihop wireless communications. He was deputy academic coordinator for the recent Mobile Virtual Centre of Excellence Green Radio project, which involved collaboration between five UK universities and a dozen international companies. During 2012-2014 he is serving as member-at-large for the Board of Governors of the IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc). He is also a distinguished lecturer for ComSoc in 2014-2015. He was technical programme co-chair for the IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference Spring in Dresden in 2013.

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Transmitting consumer products and "electro-phobia": Why are People REALLY scared of Electromagnetic Fields?
CTSoc DLSpeaker: Elya B. Joffe, Senior EMC Engineer and V.P. of Engineering, K.T.M. Project Engineering, Israel
DATE:
Friday March 28, 2014.
TIME: Refreshments, Registration and Networking:
06:00 p.m.; IEEE CTSoc Distinguished Lecture: 06:30 p.m.07:30 p.m.
PLACE: Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., School of Advanced Technology, Building-T, Optophotonics Lab (Room T129)
PARKING: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: Wahab Almuhtadi almuhtadi@ieee.org.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website

Abstract

The Why are people really scared of Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) ? Are they really the “killing fields” as denoted by the press, or…
Some common claims against EMF include:
• Science still does not know how dangerous the radiation is, but,… within a year, a decade, a century, it will…”
• Standards for limiting dangerous exposure were prepared by biased parties”
• Standards consider thermal effects only, whereas, many a-thermal effects, including cancer, are not considered”
• Wait and see - EMR exposure will be similar to asbestos and smoking…” (and yet, they keep on smoking…)
• Well known, respectable scientists do not exclude connection between EMR and cancer”
• Prudent Avoidance - better be safe than sorry”
This presentation attempts to shed light on the issue of “Electrophobia”, or “Why are people really scared of Electromagnetic Fields”. It discusses the history of EMF usage, the evolution of EMR standards, from the turn of the 20th century to date, and the evolution of the public response to the EMF and its usage.
Although it covers only technically acceptable figures, statistics etc., it rather addresses this controversial issue from a users’ point of view, addressing the sources of fear, the facts and fallacies, and the risk in… risk research.

Bio

Mr. Joffe is employed by K.T.M. Project Engineering - an engineering consulting company in Israel, since 1987. He currently holds a position of the V.P. of Engineering and works as a Senior EMC engineering Specialist and consultant. Elya holds a B.ScEE in Electrical Engineering from the Ben Gurion University in Israel, is a Registered Professional Engineer.
Mr. Joffe is also an iNARTE (International Association for Radio, Telecommunications and Electromagnetics Engineers) certified Senior EMC Engineer, ESD Control Engineer and EMC Master Design Engineer. Since the merger of iNARTE with Exemplar Global (RABQSA International), he also serves as member and Chair Elect of the RABQSA BoD and as Chairman of the iNARTE Advisory Committee.
Elya has 30 years of experience in government and industry, in EMC/E3 (Electromagnetic Compatibility/Electromagnetic Environmental Effects) for electronic systems and platforms (in particular – aircraft and aerospace). He is actively involved, as an EMC/E3 Specialist, in the EMC design of commercial and defense systems, from circuits to full platforms.
Mr. Joffe is also well known in Israel and abroad for his activities in EMC training and education, and has authored, developed and presents many courses on Electromagnetic Compatibility and related topics. He is also the main Author of the Book: "Grounds for Grounding: A Circuit to System Handbook", published by John E. Wiley & Sons, 2009.
Mr. Joffe is Senior Member of IEEE, and has served as a member of the IEEE EMC Society of the Board of Directors since the year 2000 and is the Past President of the IEEE EMC Society. He is the current President of the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society. He is also the Immediate Past Chairman of the Israel IEEE EMC Chapter. He is also a member of the Board of Governors of the Society for Social Implications of Technology (SSIT).

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Mechanical Reliability in Electronics: A lifetime of strange failures and conditions
Speaker: D Hugh M Reekie, P.Eng., IEEE SM, Ottawa, ON, Canada
DATE:
Thursday March 20, 2014.
TIME: Refreshments, Registration and Networking:
06:10 p.m.; IEEE Seminar: 0640 p.m.07:50 p.m.
PLACE: Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., School of Advanced Technology, Building-T, Optophotonics Lab (Room T129)
PARKING: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: Bhagvat Joshi bjoshi@ieee.org  or Mike Bourassa michael.bourassa@ieee.org, or Wahab Almuhtadi almuhtadi@ieee.org.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website.

Abstract

In his presentation Hugh describes a number of mechanically-related faults or conditions that affect electrical performance. In addition to standard electronic problems, Hugh will mention a number of specific instances of performance deterioration that can be directly related to the mechanical situation; some of the effects were from very strange mechanisms, requiring a strong knowledge of manufacturing processes to understand and diagnose. In conclusion, Hugh will suggest some “Field Philosophies” for the Project Engineer.

Bio

Hugh has been an electronics engineer all his career – but he nearly switched to mechanical engineering at college so perhaps he is one of the first mechatronics Engineers! After graduation in 1964 he specialized in Solid state microwave, building LNAs, varactor multipliers and “solid state klystrons”- and finally IMPATT oscillators after coming to Canada from the UK in 1969. After a stint building Anik A and C series spacecraft components, (also at Northern Telecom) he settled down with field trips all over Canada, upgrading Earth Stations for Telesat Canada. After building the world’s first fully-integrated satellite news-gathering vehicle in the mid 1980s, he moved to the Communications Research Centre as an Applications Engineer on the MSAT program; there he assisted with satellite conference management, including the International IEEE VNIS 93, Ottawa. He started up the MTT and VTS Chapters in Ottawa; presently he chairs the AESS and VTS Chapters, and remains very involved with IET-UK (formerly IEE) local activities.

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Evolution to LTE Advanced
Speaker: Frank Rayal, P.Eng, SMIEEE, Founding Partner – Xona Partners, Ottawa, ON, Canada
DATE:
Tuesday March 18, 2014.
TIME: Refreshments, Registration and Networking:
06:30 p.m.; IEEE Seminar: 07:00 p.m.08:00 p.m.
PLACE: Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., School of Advanced Technology, Building-T, Optophotonics Lab (Room T129)
PARKING: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: Bhagvat Joshi bjoshi@ieee.org  or Mike Bourassa michael.bourassa@ieee.org, or Wahab Almuhtadi almuhtadi@ieee.org.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/CTSoc/BTS Chapter website or http://www.ieeeottawa.ca/aicn webiste.

Abstract

With over 266 networks in 99 countries, LTE is the de facto world-standard for mobile communications. This
presentation will address the evolution of LTE to meet ITU requirements for high mobile broadband data rates. The talk focuses on key LTE-Advanced features such as carrier aggregation, interference management for heterogeneous networks, advanced MIMO and coordinated multipoint to provide an overview of the evolution of 4G networks for the next five years. It will combine the principles of these technologies with real-world data and results to present an objective view of the evolutionary path of LTE.

Bio

Mr. Frank Rayal is founding partner at Xona Partners, a boutique management and technology advisory firm
specializing in telecom, media and technology. He is a telecom industry professional with more than 20 years of experience working with network operators and system vendors to develop and deploy wireless solutions. Frank co-founded small-cell backhaul pioneer BLiNQ Networks. He held senior product management, marketing and business development positions at Ericsson, Redline, and Metawave. He holds a BS in electrical engineering from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, and a MASc in electrical engineering and a MBA from the University of Toronto, Canada. He is a senior member of IEEE, and a member of Professional Engineers Ontario.

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Carrier Ethernet for Cloud Computing
Speaker: Peter Green, P.Eng., Senior Product Manager for Ethernet Products and Solutions BTI Systems, Ottawa, Canada
DATE:
Monday October 28, 2013.
TIME: Refreshments, Registration and Networking:
06:30 p.m.; Seminar: 07:00 p.m.08:00 p.m.
PLACE: Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., School of Advanced Technology, Building-T, Room T129
PARKING: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: Wahab Almuhtadi almuhtadi@ieee.org.
MORE INFO: Ottawa ComSoc/BTS/CTSoc Chapter website
Abstract
The IT industry is investing in technologies to support the transition form distributed dedicated IT infrastructure to a centralized hosted cloud computing service. The promises of cloud computing includes the reduction for IT capital costs, access to dynamically scalable server resources and infinite storage capacity. For many businesses this transition has not been successful, as connectivity to the cloud has dramatically limited the capabilities of a cloud service offering. Utilizing best effort Internet for cloud connectivity has had a negative impact on application responses and bring into question the security of corporate information. To address these challenges investment are being made into a new class of connectivity services, namely Carrier Ethernet. This technical talk will review some of the key communication technologies that have been developed to enable a reliable and secure transition to cloud computing services.
Bio
Peter Green, P.Eng, from BTI Systems, is the Senior Product Manager for Ethernet products and solutions to address the requirements of access and edge networks. Mr. Green’s work has included the development of business cases and technical specifications for Ethernet Business Service and Mobile Backhaul access products. As Product Manager, Mr. Green supports strategic customer engagements to discuss business models, network architectures, product details and portfolio direction. Mr. Green has extensive professional experience in developing network architectures, business cases, service pricing models and service level agreements for Ethernet, managed wavelength and storage connectivity services. Some of Mr. Green’s advanced concepts on broadband services in published in The Handbook for Optical Communication Networks.
From 1999 to 2007, Mr. Green worked at Nortel, where he was the business development and network planning leader for Ethernet products and architectures. Prior to joining Nortel in 1999, Mr. Green held various network engineering roles with Aliant, which is the incumbent telecommunications service provider in Atlantic Canada. Mr. Green holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from University of New Brunswick. He is a member of IEEE and Professional Engineers of Ontario.

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The 2nd Canadian National Capital Region Workshop on Antenna

Date: Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Time:
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm,
         
Technical Seminar: 8:20 am – 12:50 pm,  
Location: Carleton University, Herzberg Laboratories, Room 5345HP, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, Dr. Qingsheng Zeng (qingsheng.zeng@crc.gc.ca) or Dr. Wahab Almuhtadi (almuhtadi@ieee.org

Topic #1: IEEE AP Distinguished Lectures: (1) Development of the Dielectric Resonator Antenna; (2) Transparent Antennas: From 2D to 3D; (3) Analyses of Spherical Antennas,
Speaker: Prof. Kwok Wa (Ben) Leung, Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transaction on Antennas and Propagation, Department of Electronic Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, China Prof. Kwok Wa (Ben) Leung, Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transaction on Antennas and Propagation, Department of Electronic Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, China

Topic #2: Electrical Field, Magnetic Field, Thermal, Stress and Strain
Speaker: Hao Hu, ANSYS Toronto, Canada

Topic #3: GNSS Antenna Development at DRDC Ottawa
Speaker: Dr. Michel Clénet, DRDC (Defense Research Development Canada) Ottawa, Canada

Topic #4: Low Profile Multibeam Dual Polarization Antenna Array
Speaker: Dr. Lin-Ping Shen, CCI Antenna Research, Ottawa, Canada


Design Considerations for Consumer Power Supplies

Speaker:
Stefan Mozar, President of IEEE Consumer Electronics Society (CTSoc)


Date:
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Time:
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm,
          Refreshments and Networking: 6:30 pm – 7:00 pm,
 
          Presidential Talk and Seminar, Q & A: 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Location:  Algonquin College, Room T129, T-Building, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Parking:
 
No fee after 5 p.m. at the Parking Lots 8&9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, contact Wahab Almuhtadi or  Branislav Djokic or Raed Abdullah

ABSTARCT:
This talk does not discuss the design of power supplies, as this is well known. It will provide a bird's eye view of design considerations which are important in specifying power supplies for consumer products. It covers topics such as dynamic loads, feedback loop stability, thermal considerations, safety aspects, layout issues, EMI/EMC issues. Focus is on constraints that power supplies require for the consumer market.    

BIO:
Stefan Mozar is a Chartered Professional Engineer (C.P.Eng.), who lives in Sydney, Australia. His experience includes consumer electronics, telecommunications, and industrial electronics. He spent most of his career in R&D labs; but has also taught for a number of Australian, Asian, and British Universities. He has extensive experience in designing large signal circuits for consumer products. He has worked on four continents. He has worked on projects that won 28 international design awards in a number of countries like Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, Japan, China, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil.
Stefan is active in the IEEE, and has served on the AdCom of the IEEE Consumer Electronics Society (CTSoc) for about 15 years. He has held several positions in IEEE CTSoc including: VP International affairs, and VP Conferences. He is currently the President of IEEE CTSoc
.


Implantable Wireless Medical Devices and Systems

Speaker: Dr. J.C. Chiao, Garrett endowed professor of Electrical Engineering at University of Texas – Arlington, TX, USA

Date:
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Time:
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm,
          Refreshments and Networking: 2:00 pm – 2:30 pm,
 
          DL Seminar, Q & A: 2:30 pm – 4:00 pm

Location:  Carleton University, Department of Electronics (DoE), Mackenzie Engineering (ME) Building, Room ME 4124, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, contact Dr. Qingsheng Zeng (Qingsheng.Zeng@crc.gc.ca) or Dr. Wahab Almuhtadi (almuhtadi@ieee.org). 

ABSTARCT:
The presentation focuses on the development of wireless micro devices and systems for medical applications at UT-Arlington. They are based on technology platforms such as wireless energy transfer for batteryless implants, miniature electrochemical sensors, nanoparticle modified surfaces, MEMS devices and wireless communication. An integrated wireless body network for chronic pain management will be discussed. The system provides a wireless closed loop for neurorecorders to recognize pain signals and neurostimulators to inhibit pain. Batteryless endoluminal sensing telemeter architecture will also be discussed with an esophagus implant for remote diagnosis of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), an endoscopically-implantable wireless gastro-stimulator for gastroparesis management, and a wireless bladder volume monitoring implant for urinary incontinence management. These applications enable new medicines to improve human welfare and assist better living.    

BIO:
Dr. J.C. Chiao is Greene endowed professor and Garrett endowed professor of Electrical Engineering at University of Texas – Arlington; and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Internal Medicine Department at UT-Southwestern, Medical Center.
Dr. Chiao received the 2011 O'Donnell Award in Engineering presented by The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST). He also received the 2011 Tech Titan Technology Innovator Award; 2011 Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Excellence in Engineering Teaching Award; 2012 Research in Medicine milestone award by Heroes of Healthcare; and 2012 IEEE Region 5 Outstanding Engineering Educator award. His webpage is at http://www.uta.edu/faculty/jcchiao/.


Energy Aware Computer Systems and Networks

Speaker: Distinguished Lecturer:
Professor Erol Gelenbe, Head of Intelligent Systems and Networks Research Group Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Imperial College, London, UK


Date:
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Time:
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm,
          Refreshments and Networking: 6:30 pm – 7:00 pm,
 
          DL Seminar, Q & A: 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Location:  Algonquin College, Room T129, School of Advanced Technology, T-Building, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Parking:
 
No fee after 5 p.m. at the Parking Lots 8&9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, contact Dr. Wahab Almuhtadi (almuhtadi@ieee.org

ABSTARCT:
ICT is becoming one of the main culprits for CO2 emissions, already on a par with air travel since 2007. Energy consumption by ICT is estimated to increase by 4% a year, despite the increasing energy efficiency of electronic and computer equipment, due to the ever increasing usage of computers and telecommunications. On the positive side, ICT offers the potential to manage energy more efficiently, help better match energy supply and demand, and dynamically substitute renewable energy sources in the place of fossil fuels. At the same time, one would like to think that ICT is saving energy and CO2 emissions in other areas (such as transport), by substituting on-line activities for physical activities, such as working at home rather than commuting to an office. But such trends are difficult to identify, while the recent economic crisis in Europe and the USA has definitely had an impact on energy consumption in industry and other fields of activity. Within ICT itself, communications represent close to 25% of energy consumption, with data centres accounting for another 20% or so, the rest being attributed to PCs, terminal devices and office equipment including local networks. This lecture will focus on the ICT aspects of energy consumption from a performance engineering perspective, and show how some of our established methods, with measurements, can be used to understand the trade-offs between QoS and energy consumption, and help reduce the energy consumption in servers and networks.    

BIO:
Professor Erol Gelenbe is a Fellow of IEEE, ACM and IET, and an expert on the performance evaluation of computer systems and networks, Erol Gelenbe is the Professor in the Dennis Gabor Chair in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Imperial College, London. His research has been incorporated into commercial software tools such as QNAP for system performance evaluation and FLEXSIM for manufacturing systems. He has invented new mathematical models for performance analysis such as G-networks and diffusion approximations, and designed the first random access fiber-optics network XANTHOS and the first multi-processor packet switch SYCOMORE. He currently coordinates the EU FP7 Project NEMESYS on mobile network security, and also works on the interaction between energy savings and performance in Cloud Computing and ICT. Erol is a Fellow of the French National Academy of Engineering, and of the Hungarian, Polish and Turkish Science Academies, and has won the ACM SIGMETRICS Life-Time Achievement Award (2008), and IET’s (UK) Oliver Lodge Medal for his work.


Characterization of Space Shuttle Ascent Debris Based on Radar Scattering and Ballistic Properties – Evolution of the NASA Debris Radar (NDR) System

Speaker: Dr. Brian M. Kent, Fellow, IEEE, AMTA, AFRL, Chief Scientist, Sensors Directorate, Chief Scientist, Sensors Directorate, WPAFB, OH 45433, USA

Date:
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Time:
3:00 pm – 5:00 pm,
         
DL Seminar, Q & A: 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm,  
         
Refreshments and Networking: 4:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Location:  Boardroom 5084, SITE Building, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), University of Ottawa, 800 King Edward Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, contact Dr. Qingsheng Zeng (Qingsheng.Zeng@crc.gc.ca) or Dr. Wahab Almuhtadi (almuhtadi@ieee.org). 

ABSTARCT:
This is a presentation that introduces the NASA Debris Radar (NDR) system developed to characterize debris liberated by the space shuttle (and any follow-on rocket system) during its ascent into space. Radar technology is well suited for characterizing shuttle ascent debris, and is especially valuable during night launches when optical sensors are severely degraded. The shuttle debris mission presents challenging radar requirements in terms of target detection and tracking, minimum detectable radar cross-section (RCS), calibration accuracy, power profile management, and operational readiness. After setting the stage with background of the Columbia accident, I initially describe the NDR system consists of stationary C-band radar located at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and two X-band radars deployed to sea during shuttle missions. Various sizes, shapes, and types of shuttle debris materials were characterized using static and dynamic radar measurements and ballistic coefficient calculations. My second Part discusses the NASA Debris Radar (NDR) successes, which led to a new challenge of processing and analyzing the large amount of radar data collected by the NDR systems and extracting information useful to the NASA debris community. Analysis tools and software codes were developed to visualize the shuttle metric data in real-time, visualize metric and signature data during post-mission analysis, automatically detect and characterize debris tracks in signature data, determine ballistic numbers for detected debris objects, and assess material type, size, release location and threat to the orbiter based on radar scattering and ballistic properties of the debris. Future applications for space situational awareness and space-lift applications will also be discussed.    

BIO:
Dr. Brian M. Kent, a member of the scientific and professional cadre of senior executives, is Chief Scientist, Sensors Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. He serves as the directorate's principal scientific and technical adviser and primary authority for the technical content of the science and technology portfolio. He also collaborates on numerous interdisciplinary research problems that encompass multiple AFRL directorates, customers from other DOD components, as well as the manned space program managed by NASA. Dr. Kent joined the Air Force Avionics Laboratory in 1976 as cooperative engineering student through Michigan State University. He received a National Science Foundation Fellowship in 1979, working at the Ohio State University Electroscience Laboratory until the completion of his doctorate. Dr. Kent spent twenty three years working various radar observables programs within AFRL when he was abruptly assigned to the Columbia Accident Investigation Board staff in February 2003. After the investigation, he was co-assigned to the NASA Space Shuttle Program Office as a subject matter expert in radar design and analysis from 2004-2007 and was a radar mission debris specialist on Shuttle Missions STS 114, 115, 116, and 121. After returning to AFRL, he was appointed Chief Scientist of Sensors Directorate in May 2008, where he has served for the last five years. He also served as AFRL Chief Technologist Sep 2010-Feb 2011. Dr. Kent has authored and co-authored more than 85 archival articles and technical reports and has written key sections of classified textbooks and design manuals. He has delivered more than 200 lectures, and developed a special DOD Low Observables Short Course that has been taught to more than 2,000 scientists and engineers since its inception in 1989. Dr. Kent has provided technical advice and counsel to a wide range of federal agencies, including the Department of Transportation, the Department of Justice and NASA's Space Shuttle Program. He is also an international technical adviser for the DOD and has provided basic research guidance to leading academic institutions. He was appointed an IEEE/DLP Lecturer in Antenna and Propagation Society in the summer of 2012.


VLSI Architectures for Communications and Signal Processing

Speaker: Dr. Kiran Gunnam, Distinguished Lecturer, IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society, Director of Engineering at Violin Memory, Mountain View, CA

Date:
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Time:
2:30 pm –4:00 pm,
          Refreshments and Networking: 2:30 pm – 3:00 pm,
 
          DL Seminar, Q & A: 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Location:  MC 2014, Minto Center, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel by Drive, Ottawa (Campus Map)
Parking:
 
No fee after 5 p.m. at the Parking Lots 8&9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, contact Prof. Ram Achar (achar@doe.carleton.ca)  or Dr. Wahab Almuhtadi (almuhtadi@ieee.org

ABSTARCT:
Part 1 of this lecture covers introduction to VLSI architectures for Communications and Signal Processing Systems. Various topics include pipelining and parallel processing, retiming, unfolding, folding, systolic architecture design and algorithmic transformations. The emphasis is how to design high-speed, low-area, and low-power VLSI systems for a broad range of DSP and communication applications.
Part 2 of this lecture covers speaker’s research. Low-Density Parity-Check codes now have been firmly established as coding technique for communication and storage channels. This talk gives an overview of the speaker’s research and contributions in the development of low complexity iterative LDPC solutions for Turbo Equalization for magnetic recording storage channels. Complexity is reduced by developing new or modified algorithms and new hardware architectures viz. system level hardware architecture, statistical buffer management and queuing, local-global inter-leaver, LDPC decoder and error floor mitigation schemes.    

BIO:
Kiran Gunnam received the MSEE and PhD in Computer Engineering from Texas A&M University, College Station, TX. He currently works as Director of Engineering at Violin Memory. He previously held research and development positions at Nvidia, Certicom, LSI, Marvell Semiconductor, Starvision Technologies, Schlumberger, Intel and Texas Engineering Experiment Station.
Dr. Gunnam has extensive research and development work experience in complex data path and control path systems. Dr. Gunnam is an expert in IC implementation of communications and signal processing systems. His PhD research contributed several key innovations in advanced error correction systems based on low-density parity- check codes (LDPC) and led to several industry designs. He has done extensive work on ASIC hardware architecture, micro-architecture and digital IC implementation for different systems (IEEE 802.11n Wi-Fi, IEEE 802.16e WiMax, IEEE 802.3 10-GB, Holographic read channel, HDD read channel and Flash read channel).
Dr. Gunnam has around 75 patents/patent applications/invention disclosures on hardware architecture and micro-architecture (33 issued patents, 17 pending patent applications and 25 more invention disclosures). He is the lead inventor/sole inventor for 90% of them. He is an IEEE Senior Member. He is also an IEEE Solid State Circuits Society Distinguished Lecturer for 2013 and 2014.


Source and Channel Rate Allocation Techniques for Digital Video Transmission Application

Distinguished Lecturer:
Dr. Lap-Pui Chau, Associate Professor, School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore


Date:
Monday, June 3, 2013
Time:
6:00 pm – 7:30 pm,
         
Technical Seminar: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm,  
          Discussion, Refreshments, and Networking: : 6:00 pm – 6:30 pm

Location:  Algonquin College, Room T129, T-Building, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Parking:
 
No fee after 5 p.m. at the Parking Lots 8&9. Please respect restricted areas.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, contact Dr. Wahab Almuhtadi (almuhtadi@ieee.org

ABSTARCT:
Recent advances in technology have result in a significant growth in wireless communications. As wireless access becomes more commonplace, the need for reliable transmission of video data over wireless channel is becoming an increasingly important application requirement. The lecture will first give a general introduction on the issues of error control for wireless video transmission system. Then, an overview on the concepts and strategies of source and channel rate allocation scheme that can be adopted to make the video transmission over error-prone channel robust will be addressed. Relevant state-of-the-art techniques such as GOP-based unequal error protection, two dimensional Temporal-SNR unequal error protection, and adaptive resynchronization will be discussed.    

BIO:
Dr. Lap-Pui Chau received the B. Eng degree with first class honours in Electronic Engineering from Oxford Brookes University, England, and the Ph.D. degree in Electronic Engineering from Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, in 1992 and 1997, respectively.
In June 1996, he joined Tritech Microelectronics as a senior engineer. Since March 1997, he joined Centre for Signal Processing, a national research centre in Nanyang Technological University as a research fellow, subsequently he joined School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University as an assistant professor and currently, he is an associate professor. His research interests include fast signal processing algorithms, robust video transmission, image representation for 3D content delivery, and image based human skeleton extraction. He involved in organization committee of international conferences including the IEEE International Conference on Image Processing (ICIP 2010, ICIP 2004), and IEEE International Conference on Multimedia & Expo (ICME 2010). He is a Technical Program Co-Chairs for Visual Communications and Image Processing (VCIP 2013) and 2010 International Symposium on Intelligent Signal Processing and Communications Systems (ISPACS 2010). He was the chair of Technical Committee on Circuits & Systems for Communications (TC-CASC) of IEEE Circuits and Systems Society from 2010 to 2012, and the chairman of IEEE Singapore Circuits and Systems Chapter from 2009 to 2010. He served as a member of Singapore Digital Television Technical Committee from 1998 to 1999. He served as an associate editor for IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, IEEE Signal Processing Letters, and is currently serving as an associate editor for IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting and IEEE Circuits and Systems Society Newsletter. Besides, he is IEEE Distinguished Lecturer for 2009-2013, and a steering committee member of IEEE Transactions for Mobile Computing from 2011-2013.


High performance terahertz devices for communication

Speaker:
Dr. Dayan Ban , Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada


Date:
Monday, May 6, 2013
Time:
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm,
         
Technical Seminar: 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm,  
          Discussion, Refreshments, and Networking: : 3:30 pm – 4:00 pm
 
Location: NRC Auditorium located in the M50 Building, 1200 Montreal Road (Montreal &Blair), Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required because NRC needs an attendee list. Please use the Eventbrite website http://www.eventbrite.ca/event/6501234367/# to register this event by Sunday May 5. A registrant list will be downloaded from Eventbrite and sent to NRC at the end of Sunday May 5
                        If you have any question about registration and seminar, please contact Dr. Qingsheng Zeng (qingsheng.zeng@crc.gc.ca) or Dr. Wahab Almuhtadi (almuhtadi@ieee.org) .

ABSTARCT:
Terahertz (THz) technologies aim to address the largely underdeveloped and almost unexploited electromagnetic spectral range between 1 and 10 THz (1012 – 1013 Hz), which lies between visible/infrared optical bands and radio-frequency (RF)/microwave frequencies. With a much higher carrier frequency than RF/microwave, the unlicensed terahertz band holds great potential for next generation high-speed wireless communications, such as secured short-link communications, local access network connections, and high-speed wireless communications. Terahertz radiation could also be used for other important applications, such as THz spectroscopy, atmospheric pollution monitoring, global warming, medical and biological research, THz imaging for detecting concealed weapons or currency forgeries at airports or security check points as well as THz Radar for spotting roadside bombs over a short distance. Despite these identified and wide-ranging applications, deployment of THz technologies has largely fallen behind that of electromagnetic technologies at optical (visible/infrared) and RF/microwave frequencies. Progress towards viable THz applications has been hampered by the lack of suitable and enabling components, such as emitters and detectors. In this talk, I will present novel THz devices – THz quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) [1] and THz quantum-well photodetectors (QWP) – which are based on intersubband transition in semiconductor quantum structures for wave generation and detection, respectively. In collaboration with the National Research Council (NRC), we employed a combined theoretical and experimental approach, including numerical simulations based on a simple density matrix model and state-of-the-art molecular beam epitaxy growth and device fabrication, and demonstrated a new world record of the maximum lasing temperature of 199.5 K for THz QCLs in 2012 [2]. I will also report our other recent research progress, including the oscillator strength effects on THz QCL device performance, the many-body effects in THz QWP, and new active region design based on phonon-photon-phonon relaxation for THz.

BIO:
Dr.
Dayan Ban received B.S. and M.S. degrees, both in physics, from the University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China, in 1993 and 1995 respectively, and a Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Toronto in 2003. During 2001-2002, he was a visiting scientist at Nortel Networks Optical Components, Ottawa, Ontario. After being with the Institute for Microstructural Sciences of the National Research Council for three years, he joined the faculty of the University of Waterloo in November 2005, where he is now an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the associate director for nanotechnology engineering program. He stayed at MIT eight months in 2009 for his sabbatical leave. He has authored and co-authored more than 120 refereed publications and 4 US/Canadian patents. His research interests include quantum optoelectronic devices, scanning probe microscopy, nanofabrication, infrared LEDs, photodetectors and up-converters, fiber Bragg grating sensors, and Terahertz quantum cascade lasers.


Mobile Multihop Networking - A Long Shot beyond Line of Sight

Speaker:
Dr. Li Li, Communications Research Centre Canada, Ottawa, Canada

Date:
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Time:
Technical Workshops: 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
         
Refreshment, and Networking: 11:00 am – 12:00 pm  
Location: School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Ottawa, 800 King Edward Ave., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada   K1N 6N5
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, by contacting:
                        Melike Erol-Kantarci (melike.erolkantarci@uottawa.ca ) or Dr. Wahab Almuhtadi (almuhtadi@ieee.org) .

ABSTARCT:
Mobile multihop wireless networks are often known as the Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET), the Vehicular Network (VANET) or sometimes the Delay/Disruption Tolerant Network (DTN) when considering its intermittent end-to-end connectivity. They have attracted much attention in the recent decade with a promise to provide end-to end connectivity for various applications by self-organizing the network when a pre-installed infrastructure is not available. This talk will review the key challenges in the area of mobile multihop networking. It will examine the application opportunities for the mobile multihop networks and their entailed requirements, the involved fundamental issues and some solution options. We will also try to delve into a few interesting topics in network protocols, in cross-layer design and in network security.

BIO:
Dr. Li Li r
eceived her Ph.D in Electrical Engineering from University of Ottawa in 1993. Dr. Li then worked at Nortel Networks Ltd. as a system engineer, a system architect and then a product manager. In 1999, Li joined SS8 Networks Ltd. As its chief architect. In 2003, Dr. Li joined Communications Research Centre (CRC), a federal research lab under Industry Canada. Dr. Li contributed to ITU-T and IETF standard working groups and published in international conferences and journals. She co-authored IETF RFC and has been awarded with several US patents. Dr. Li is currently a research scientist and project leader in the area of networking for the Defence Communications Program at CRC. She also represents Canada in NATO’s standard group on combat radio waveforms. Her current research focuses on mobile tactical radio networks and adaptive networks.


Canadian National Capital Region Workshop on:
Waves Propagation

Speakers:
Dr. Qingsheng Zeng, Communications Research Centre Canada, Ottawa, Canada
Dr. David Rogers, Communications Research Centre Canada, Ottawa, Canada
Dr. Mhammad Ghaddar, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT), Canada
Dr. César Amaya,, Communications Research Centre Canada, Ottawa, Canada
Dr. Gordon James, Communications Research Centre Canada, Ottawa, Canada
Dr. Robert Bultitude, Communications Research Centre Canada, , Ottawa, Canada
Dr. Yvo de Jong, Communications Research Centre Canada, , Ottawa, Canada
Mr. Tejinder Gill, National Instruments (NI) in Ottawa, Canada
Mr. Lurie Ilie, Averna Technologies, Ottawa, Canada

Date:
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Time:
Technical Workshops: 8:3 am – 4:50 pm,
          Coffee Break
, Refreshment, and Networking: 9:55 am – 10:10 am,  
          Lunch: 12:10 pm – 1:00 pm (Free)
.
          Coffee Break, Refreshment, and Networking: 2:30 pm – 2:45 pm.
Location: CRC Auditorium, Bldg 2A, Communications Research Centre Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, Dr. Qingsheng Zeng (qingsheng.zeng@crc.gc.ca) or Dr. Wahab Almuhtadi (almuhtadi@ieee.org) . Registrants will have priorities for seats, lunch and refreshments.

Bios:
Qingsheng ZENG
received his Ph.D. from University of Ottawa, is currently a senior research engineer, and has been pursuing research projects as a principal investigator at Communications Research Centre Canada (CRC). He has been serving as a member of the Strategic Projects Selection Panel (Information and Communications Technologies B) and Site Visit Committee of Industrial Research Chair (IRC) for the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). Qingsheng is an adjunct professor at Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO), and has been co-supervising Ph.D. students with UQO, University of Ottawa and Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique – Centre Energie, Matériaux et Télécommunications (INRS-EMT). He is the Chair of AP (Antennas and Propagation) / MTT (Microwave Theory and Techniques) Joint Chapter of IEEE Ottawa Section and a senior member of IEEE.

David Rogers received a PhD, Physics, in 1973. From 1973 to 1976, he worked in the Radio & Radar Research Directorate of the Communications Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada. From 1976 to 1990, he worked in industry in the US, mainly at COMSAT Laboratories, Maryland, where he performed theoretical and experimental R&D on radiowave propagation for application to satellite communications. In 1990, he rejoined the CRC, in therad propagation group. He is a former Vice-Chair of ITU-R Study Group 3 (Radiowave propagation), and a member of the IEEE, URSI Commission F, and the American Geophysical Union.

Mohamad Ghaddar was born in Beirut, Lebanon. He received the M.Sc. degree in telecommunications from the national research institute of Telecommunications (INRS) in Montréal, Canada, in 2004 and the Ph.D. degree in science and engineering (telecommunications) from the University of Quebec in Outaouais (UQO), Canada, in 2012. Currently, he is a postdoctoral research fellow at the UQAT. His main research interests concern wireless propagation measurements, modeling and signal processing, especially in the emerging area of 60 GHz wireless communications and ultra-wide band systems.

César Amaya received a BSc. degree in Electronics Engineering from Ricardo Palma University (Lima, Peru) in 1979. In 1990 and 1995 he received the MSc and PhD degrees, respectively, in EE from Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium). From 1981 to 1988 he worked as a Project Engineer at the National Institute of Research and Training in Telecommunications, in Lima, Peru. In 1997 he joined CRC, where he was leader of the Earth-Space Propagation Group between 1999 and 2012, dealing with the analysis and modelling of propagation impairments induced by the atmosphere on satellite communication links. Dr. Amaya has been responsible for the Ka-band experimental propagation campaigns conducted at CRC with NASA’s ACTS and Telesat’s Anik F2 satellites. Before that, he was involved in the campaign conducted in Europe with ESA’s Olympus satellite. He is Canadian delegate to meetings of ITU-R Study Group 3 Working Parties (dealing with radiowave propagation), Canada Chair of URSI Commission F (Radiowave propagation and remote sensing), and was CRC prime delegate to EU COST Actions 280 and IC0802.

Gordon James is an Emeritus Researcher at the Communications Research Centre, Ottawa. His research is concerned mainly with the physics of electromagnetic waves in the ionospheric plasma. He uses data from satellites, rockets and other sources to investigate natural and artificial wave processes in the VLF to HF range. Recently his research has been concerned with active wave experiments in space that used the ISIS and OEDIPUS radio sounders. In the Canadian small spacecraft CASSIOPE/e-POP mission, presently scheduled for a June 2013 launch, he serves as the Deputy Mission Scientist and as the Principal Investigator for the ULF-HF Radio Receiver Instrument.

Robert Bultitude graduated from the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada with the BSc. (Electrical Engineering) degree in 1975. He subsequently worked for a couple of years with a telecommunications consulting company in Vancouver, Canada, where he was involved with the design of systems for the radio coverage of highways in mountainous terrain. He then returned for graduate studies, graduating with M.Eng., and Ph.D. degrees, both in Electronics Engineering, in 1980 and 1987, respectively, from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. Since 1980, he has worked in research and the management thereof at the Canadian Government Communications Research Centre (CRC), Ottawa. He is now a Senior Research Scientist at CRC, and conducts research on radiowave propagation and radio channel modelling associated with personal, indoor, and mobile radio communications.
Robert is an Adjunct Professor at Carleton University, where has held an NSERC Discovery Research Grant and a Major Research Grant, and has supervised or co-supervised 3 Ph.D. theses, and 12 Master’s theses. He was co-recipient of the Neaal Shepherd Best Propagation Paper Award at the August 1997 IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference.

Yvo de Jong received his degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands and joined CRC in 2001. His Ph.D. thesis was on radiowave propagation in urban microcells. From 2001 to 2005, his research was mostly in the area of multiple-antenna (MIMO) wireless systems. Since 2005, he is in CRC's Propagation Research group, where he has been responsible for the development of a ray-tracing model for propagation prediction in dense urban environments. He has also conducted a number of propagation studies involving channel measurements, the most recent one of which is the 700/2500 MHz study he will talk about in this region wide workshop.

Tejinder Gill is aiding customers to develop test, measurement and automation applications by leveraging the latest technologies offered by NI’s off-the-shelf hardware and software solutions as a Field Sales Engineer for National Instruments in Ottawa. His experience with PXI, PXIe and FPGA hardware technology has enabled customers develop high throughput applications, including RF record/playback, advanced signal processing, control and simulation. Tejinder has previous experience as a Platinum Application Engineer with National Instruments and Structural Design Engineer at Bombardier Aerospace. His educational background includes a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from McGill University.

Lurie Ilie is involved in numerous projects related to GNSS applications, including GNSS simulator, receiver and software design, GNSS Record & Playback systems, digital signal processing and consulting as a Senior GNSS Specialist at Averna Technologies. He gained system engineering experience at Esterline CMC Electronics and GNSS receiver and simulator design experience with the École de Technologie Supérieure (ETS). He has a Master’s degree in GNSS signal processing from ETS..
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Embrace Circuit Nonlinearity to Get Transmitter Linearity and Energy Efficiency

Speaker:
Dr. Earl McCune, Besser Associates, Santa Clara, CA 95050, USA


Date:
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Time:
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm,
         
Technical Seminar: 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm,  
          Discussion, Refreshments, and Networking: : 3:30 pm – 4:00 pm

Location: Carleton University, Department of Electronics (DoE), Mackenzie Engineering Building, Room ME 4124, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, Dr. Qingsheng Zeng (qingsheng.zeng@crc.gc.ca) or Dr. Wahab Almuhtadi (almuhtadi@ieee.org

ABSTARCT:
Wireless communications signals have evolved greatly over the past century, from the use of Morse Code to very complicated digital modulation schemes used in wideband CDMA (WCDMA) and 3GPP Long-term evolution (LTE). This progression challenges the design of transmitters to be simultaneously energy efficient, low distortion, and spectrally clean. The increasing peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) characteristic of these signals is a particular problem. Because it is important to understand why this is happening this presentation begins with a discussion of the physical implications of Shannon's Capacity Limit combined with the Fourier Transform.

A 'backwards' design perspective is then presented, where we begin design from a maximally energy efficient circuit (a switch) and then make it generate the required signals, instead of the conventional approach of beginning with linear circuitry and then finding ways to improve its energy efficiency. This directly leads to the design and implementation of polar-modulation to improve both the energy efficiency of the power amplifier and effective linearity of the transmitter. Design of intentionally compressed circuitry is very different from conventional linear amplifier techniques, and these new design techniques will be discussed..    

BIO:
Earl McCune received his BS/EECS degree from UC Berkeley, his MSEE (Radioscience) from Stanford University, and his Ph.D. EE from UC Davis in 1979, 1983, and 1998 respectively. He is a serial Silicon Valley entrepreneur, founding two successful start-up companies since 1986: Digital RF Solutions (1986-1991, merged with Proxim) and Tropian (1996 - 2006, acquired by Panasonic). He is now retired from his position as a Technology Fellow of Panasonic, and is an author, instructor, and independent consultant. He is currently an instructor for Besser Associates presenting courses on Practical Digital Wireless Signals and Frequency Synthesis Principles. He holds 63 issued US patents, and is the author of Practical Digital Wireless Signals (Cambridge 2010)
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ComSoc-NAR Webinar Series


TOPIC:  Ad hoc Nanoscale and Molecular Communication Networks

Date: Wednesday, March 20, 2013, 10:00 AM Eastern Time, 07:00 AM Pacific Time
Speaker:
Stephen F Bush, Researcher, General Electric Global Research, Niskayuna, NY, USA
M
oderator: Wahab Almuhtadi, IEEE Communications Society
REGISTER now for live webinar: https://ieeemeetings.webex.com/ieeemeetings/j.php?ED=225928537&UID=499823632&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D 

Teleconference information:
Call-in toll-free number: 1-866-2030920  (US)
Call-in number: 1-206-4450056  (US)
Show global numbers: https://www.tcconline.com/offSite/OffSiteController.jpf?cc=4484601404
Conference Code: 448 460 1404
For assistance:
1. Go to https://ieeemeetings.webex.com/ieeemeetings/mc
2. On the left navigation bar, click "Support".
To add this meeting to your calendar program (for example Microsoft Outlook), click this link:
https://ieeemeetings.webex.com/ieeemeetings/j.php?ED=225928537&UID=499823632&ICS=MS&LD=1&RD=2&ST=1&SHA2=7ex04U7EmhnxQrY6H8AVAhSlemjzjQDzyMRgRAjxHO0

Please encourage your chapter members to attend these webinars.
 For more information, please contact almuhtadi@ieee.org.


Canadian National Capital Region Workshop on:
Recent Progress in Antenna Analysis and Design for Wireless Communications

Speakers:
Prof. Karu Esselle, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
Prof. Langis Roy, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
Dr. Jonathan Ethier, Communications Research Centre Canada, Ottawa, Canada
Mr. E'qab Almajali, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
Dr. Nicolas Gagnon, Communications Research Centre Canada, Ottawa, Canada


Date:
Thursday, December 6th, 2012
Time:
Technical Workshops: 8:3 am – 4:30pm,
          Coffee Break
, Refreshment, and Networking: 10:00 am – 10:30 am,  
          Lunch: 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm (Free)
.
          Coffee Break, Refreshment, and Networking: 2:40 pm – 3:00 pm.
Location: University of Ottawa, Colonel By Hall (CBY) Building, Room A707, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, Dr. Qingsheng Zeng (qingsheng.zeng@crc.gc.ca) or Dr. Wahab Almuhtadi (almuhtadi@ieee.org

Bios:
Karu Esselle
received the BSc degree in electronic and telecommunication engineering, with First Class Honours, in 1983 from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. He received the MASc and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Ottawa, Canada, in 1987 and 1990, respectively, with a nearly perfect GPA. From 1984 to 1985, he was an Assistant Lecturer at the University of Moratuwa. He was a research assistant at the University of Ottawa from 1987 to 1990, and a Canadian Government laboratory Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow from 1990 to 1992. In 1992, he joined Macquarie University, Sydney where he is a full Professor in Electronic Engineering at present. He was a Visiting Professor of the University of Victoria, Canada, in 1996/7 and a Visiting Scientist of the CSIRO ICT Centre in 2002 and 2005. He was awarded a Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship from 1985 to 1990, the University of Moratuwa Scholarship for the best first-year student in 1980 and the Sri Lanka – Philippines Friendship scholarship for the best student in 1981. Karu led the establishment of a $600,000 national antenna testing facility, AusAMF, funded by the Australian Research Council, Macquarie University and six other collaborating institutions, and he is currently directing this facility as the Chair of the Management Board. His industry experience includes full-time employment as a Faculty Hire Design Expert by the Hewlett Packard Laboratory, Palo Alto, USA, and several consultancies for local and international companies including Cochlear, Cisco Systems (USA), Optus Networks, Locata (USA)/QX Corporation, ResMed, FundEd and Katherine-Werke (Germany) through Peter-Maxwell Solicitors. Karu’s awards include the 2012 Best Published Paper Award in Electronic and Telecommunication Engineering from IESL NSW (Australia), 2011 Outstanding Branch Counsellor Award from IEEE Headquarters (USA), the 2009 Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Higher Degree Research Supervision (the very first such award ever offered in Macquarie University), Macquarie University 2004 (Inaugural) Innovation Award for best
invention disclose, the 2002 Senior Researcher Award from Raj Mittra Travel Grant Committee, IEEE AP-S Society, USA, and a Union Radio-Scientifique Internationale (URSI) Young Scientist Award.    

Langis Roy received his B.A.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Waterloo in 1987 and his M.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Carleton University in 1989 and 1993, respectively. In 1993 he joined the University of Ottawa’s Department of Electrical Engineering, and in 1999 was appointed to Carleton University. His research interests are in microwave electronics, high performance opto/electronic circuit packaging, integrated active antennas, numerical techniques in electromagnetics, and electromagnetic compatibility of ICs. He has co‐authored over 100 scientific papers with his
research group and holds three patents on system-on-package designs. In 2005/06, Professor Roy was a visiting professor at the VTT Micromodules Research Center (Oulu, Finland) and an invited professor at the INSA Electrical and Computer Engineering Department (Toulouse, France). In 2009 / 10 he was an invited researcher at IETR / Université de Rennes (Rennes, France). Apart from these excursions, Professor Roy has been the chair of the Department of Electronics at Carleton University from 2003 to 2010. He has also held the positions of 2010 chair of CHECE (Canadian Heads of Electrical and Computer Engineering Departments) and board member of ECEDHA (U.S. ECE Department Heads Association). He has served on the panels of several Canadian research granting organizations (NSERC, FQRNT) and program committees of IEEE sponsored conferences (ANTEM, ACES). He is currently a professor of electrical engineering and an associate dean of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs at Carleton University. Professor Roy is a licensed professional engineer in the Province of Ontario.

Jonathan L. T. Ethier received the B.A.Sc., M.A.Sc. and the Ph.D. degrees from the University of Ottawa, Canada in 2006, 2008 and 2012, respectively, all in electrical engineering. He joined the Communications Research Centre (CRC) in Ottawa in 2010, where he is an antenna research engineer. His current research interests include the application of modal theory to antenna analysis and design, fragmented antennas, electrically small antennas, reflectarrays,
transmitarrays, printed electronics and optimization using evolutionary algorithms. Dr. Ethier received an NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Graduate Scholarship in 2008, and a Best Student Paper Award at the ANTEM Conference in 2010.

E’qab Almajali (S’10) received the B.Sc degree (hons.) in electrical engineering from Mu’tah University, Jordan, in 2001 and M.A.Sc. degree in electrical and computer engineering from the university of Ottawa , ON, Canada, in 2010, where he is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering.
He has been a Research Assistant in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), University of Ottawa since 2008. His research interests include reflectarray and subreflectarray antennas, periodic structures and computational electromagnetics.

Nicolas Gagnon (SM’11) received the Bachelor of Applied Science (B.A.Sc.) degree with the highest honors (summa cum laude) and the Master of Applied Science (M.A.Sc.) degree, both in electrical engineering, from the University of Ottawa, Canada, in 2000 and 2002, respectively. He received the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in electrical and computer engineering in 2011, also from the University of Ottawa. Since 2001, he has been an Antenna Research Engineer at the Communications Research Centre Canada, Ottawa, Canada. His research interests include microwave lenses, quasi-optics, permittivity measurement, microwave holography and microwave antennas. He has published 12 journal papers, 20 conference papers, and is co-inventor on a patent application on phase shifting surfaces. He served as co-chair of the Students Award Committee at the ANTEM 2010 conference and he was a member of the Technical Program Committee at the ANTEM 2006 and 2010 conferences. In 2009, he was awarded the Best Student Paper Prize at the Loughborough Antennas and Propagation Conference (LAPC). The same year, he received the Excellence in Technology Transfer Award from the Canadian Federal Partners in Technology Transfer (FPTT). He also received the Young Scientist Best Paper Award at the 2011 Joint International Conference on Electromagnetics in Advanced Applications (ICEAA) and IEEE-APS Topical Conference on Antennas and Propagation in Wireless Communications (IEEE-APWC) held in Torino, Italy. Dr. Gagnon is a licensed professional engineer in the province of Québec, Canada, and a member of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec.

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Workshop on: 
1)  Electromagnetic Macro Modeling of Propagation in Mobile Wireless Communication: Theory and Experiment
2) 
Physics of Multiantenna Systems and Their Impacts on Wireless Systems

Speaker: Dr. Tapan K. Sarkar, Full Professor , Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, USA

Date:
Thursday, November 29th, 2012
Time:
Technical Session: 2:30pm – 5:00pm,
          Lecture (1): 2:00 pm – 3:15pm,
Networking Networking and refreshment: 3:15pm – 3:35pm .
          Lecture (2): 3:35 pm – 4:50pm, Networking Networking and refreshment: 4:50pm – 5:00pm .
Location:  Carleton University, Department of Electronics (DoE), Mackenzie Engineering Building,
                 Room ME 4124, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada


ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, Dr. Qingsheng Zeng (qingsheng.zeng@crc.gc.ca) or Dr. Wahab Almuhtadi (almuhtadi@ieee.org

Lecture #1: 
Electromagnetic Macro Modeling of Propagation in Mobile Wireless Communication: Theory and Experiment
Abstract:

The objective of this presentation is to illustrate that an electromagnetic macro modeling can properly predict the path loss exponent in a mobile cellular wireless communication. Specifically, we illustrate that the path loss exponent in a cellular wireless communication is three preceded by a slow fading region and followed by the fringe region where the path loss exponent is four. Theoretically this will be illustrated through the analysis of radiation from a vertical electric dipole situated over a horizontal imperfect ground plane as first considered by Sommerfeld in 1909. To start with, the exact analysis of radiation from the dipole is made using the Sommerfeld formulation. The semi-infinite integrals encountered in this formulation are evaluated using a modified saddle point method for field points moderate to far distances away from the source point to predict the appropriate path loss exponents. The reflection coefficient method can also be derived by applying a saddle point method to the semi-infinite integrals and it is shown not to provide the correct path loss exponent. The various approximations used to evaluate the Sommerfeld integrals are described for different regions. It is also important to note that Sommerfeld’s original 1909 paper had no error in sign. However, Sommerfeld overlooked the properties associated with the pole. Both accurate numerical analyses along with experimental data are provided to illustrate the above statements. Both Okumura’s experimental data and experimental data taken from different base stations in urban environments at two different frequencies will validate the theory. Experimental data reveal that a macro modeling of the environment using an appropriate electromagnetic analysis can accurately predict the path loss exponent for the propagation of radio waves in a cellular wireless communication scenario.

Lecture #2: 
Physics of Multiantenna Systems and Their Impacts on Wireless Systems
Abstract:

The objective of this presentation is to present a scientific methodology that can be used to analyze the physics of multiantenna systems. Multiantenna systems are becoming exceedingly popular because they promise a different dimension, namely spatial diversity, than what was available to the communication systems engineers: The use of multiple transmit and receive antennas provides a means to perform spatial diversity, at least from a conceptual standpoint. In this way, one could increase the capacities of existing systems that already exploit time and frequency diversity. In such a scenario it could be said that the deployment of multiantenna systems is equivalent to using an overmoded waveguide, where information is simultaneously transmitted via not only the dominant mode but also through all the higher-order modes. We look into this interesting possibility and study why communication engineers advocate the use of such systems, whereas electromagnetic and microwave engineers have avoided such propagation mechanisms in their systems. Most importantly, we study the physical principles of multiantenna systems through Maxwell’s equations and utilize them to perform various numerical simulations to observe how a typical system will behave in practice. There is an important feature that is singular in electrical engineering and that many times is not treated properly in system applications: namely, superposition of power does not hold.

Speaker's Bio: 
Tapan K. Sarkar is Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Syracuse University. His current research interests deal with numerical solutions of operator equations arising in electromagnetics and signal processing with application to system design. He has authored or coauthored more than 300 journal articles and numerous conference papers and 32 chapters in books and fifteen books, including his most recent ones, Iterative and Self Adaptive Finite-Elements in Electromagnetic Modeling (Boston, MA: Artech House, 1998), Wavelet Applications in Electromagnetics and Signal Processing (Boston, MA: Artech House, 2002), Smart Antennas (IEEE Press and John Wiley & Sons, 2003), History of Wireless (IEEE Press and John Wiley & Sons, 2005), and Physics of Multiantenna Systems and Broadband Adaptive Processing (John Wiley & Sons, 2007), Parallel Solution of Integral Equation-Based EM Problems in the Frequency Domain (IEEE Press and John Wiley & Sons, 2009), Time and Frequency Domain Solutions of EM Problems Using Integral Equations and a Hybrid Methodology (IEEE Press and John Wiley & Sons, 2010), and Higher Order Basis Based Integral equation Solver (HOBBIES) (John Wiley & Sons 2012). He received Docteur Honoris Causa from Universite Blaise Pascal, Clermont Ferrand, France in 1998, from Politechnic University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain in 2004, and from Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland in 2012. He received the medal of the friend of the city of Clermont Ferrand, France, in 2000.

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Workshop on: 
1)  From Classical to Quantum Nonlinear Optics in Integrated Photonic Structures
2)  State of the Art Silicon Based Components and Systems


Date:
Tuesday, November 20th, 2012
Time:
Technical Session: 2:30pm – 3:30pm , Networking Networking: 3:30pm – 4:30pm .
Location:  Res Commons, Carleton University, Ottawa, K1S5B6

ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:  spie@doe.carleton.ca by Friday, Nov 16, 2012. 

Speaker #1: 
Prof. Marco Liscidini, Department of Physics, University of Pavia, Via Bassi 6, Pavia, Italy

Abstract:

The drive to reduce the size of optical systems has led to a transition from bulk-crystal optics to integrated devices, and to the improvement of conversion efficiencies in nonlinear optical processes While often designed with the enhancement of a classical nonlinear optical process in mind, these integrated systems will also enhance the corresponding quantum nonlinear optical process. But is there a simple connection between the efficiencies of these two types of processes? Can one infer anything about quantum processes from classical experiments? In this talk we will show that indeed the results of classical experiments allow for an accurate prediction of quantum correlated photon-pair generation efficiencies, opening a path to move from classical to quantum nonlinear optics in integrated photonic structures.
Bio:
Marco Liscidini received the Ph.D degree in physics from the University of Pavia (Italy) in 2006, working in the group of Prof. Lucio Andreani, with a dissertation entitled "Nonlinear optical properties of planar microcavities and photonic crystal slabs". From 2007 to 2009, he was Post-Doctoral Fellow in the group of Prof. John E. Sipe at the Department of Physics of the University of Toronto, Canada. Since 2009 is researcher associate at the Department Physics of the University of Pavia. Since October 2011is adjoint professor of Photonics at the Department Physics of the University of Pavia. His research activity is focused on the theoretical study and modeling of light-­matter interaction in micro-­ and nano­structures. He works in several areas of photonics, including classical and quantum nonlinear optics, spontaneous emission, plasmon and QW-exciton polaritons, optical sensing and bio-sensing, and photovoltaic effects. He is coauthor of more than 40 papers in peer-reviewed journals. His theoretical research activity is in strong collaboration with experimental groups and in the framework of national, European and Canadian research programs.

Speaker #2: 
Prof. Winnie Ye, Department of Electronics, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Abstract:

Silicon based photonics has been under great scrutiny in recent years due to their potential for making highly compact monolithic integration of multifunctional electronic and photonic devices on the same substrate. The most popular platform is the high index contrast silicon-on-insulator (SOI) system. The high refractive index contrast between the silica cladding and the silicon waveguide core facilitates the confinement and guiding of light in structures within submicron or nanometer dimensions. In addition, the mature silicon microfabrication technology establishes a firm foundation for making low-cost and compact integrated photonic devices. A wide range of active and passive optical devices has been realized on the SOI platform. The applications of these devices can be found in high-speed communications, health industry, chemical and biological analysis, environmental monitoring, optical interconnects, and renewable energy. This talk will describe the state of the art silicon based components and systems that are reported in the literature, as well as the on-going project at Carleton University.
Bio:
Dr. Ye is a Canada Research Chair in Nano-scale IC Design for Reliable Opto-Electronics and Sensors. She received her undergraduate degree from Carleton University in Electrical Engineering. She then attended the University of Toronto, receiving an M.A.Sc in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Her PhD degree was received in 2007, for her research on stress engineering in silicon-on-insulator devices at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). She then joined MIT and Harvard as a postdoctoral fellow, in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Since July 2009, Dr. Ye has been with Carleton University as a Faculty Member in the Department of Electronics. Her current research interests are on micro- and nano-photonics and their applications in optical sensing.

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IEEE Ottawa Section to Host ICC 2012 
NEW : for more details, please visit www.ieee-icc.org/2012

Thanks to hard work of Ottawa Section, and Communications Society/BTS/CES Ottawa Joint Chapter, plus the strong support of Telus, Ottawa Tourism, Ottawa Convention Centre, and many many other local industry and academia supporters, the Ottawa Section has won the right to host the prestigious International Conference on Communications in 2012. It may seem so long away; however, this effort has taken a year to get to this point and a lot of work is yet to come. More detail will be provided on our website. In the next few months, we will be looking forward to contacting those who have already come forward to help.

The announcement was made on June 17, 2009, at the International Conference on Communications (ICC) 2009 in Dresden, Germany. Ottawa beat out other bidding major international cities. ICC 2012 will be held at the Ottawa Convention Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada from June 10 till June 15, 2012. The estimated number of the conference attendees will be 1500 to 2000. The conference will have a significant impact in regaining the reputation and business of the Canadian telecom and high tech companies that are facing many challenges during these recent years, and would raise the profile and visibility of these companies. As well as the conference will benefit the academia, scientific and engineering research, industry and local business in Ottawa.
ICC 2008 was held in Beijing, China http://www.ieee-icc.org/2008/. ICC 2009 was held in Dresden, Germany http://www.ieee-icc.org/2009/. ICC2010 will be held in Cape Town, South Africa http://www.ieee-icc.org/2010/, and ICC 2011 will be held in Kyoto, Japan http://www.ieee-icc.org/2011/.

NEW : for more details, please visit
www.ieee-icc.org/2012

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Networking and the Smart Grid:
The Relevance of Communications in the Future of Power Grid

Speaker:  Dr. Fabrizio Granelli, Dept. of Information Engineering and Computer Science (DISI) of the University of Trento, Italy
Date:
Friday June 15, 2012
Time:
Registration and Networking: 10:30 am – 10:55 am; Seminar: 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m (noon).
Location:   Ottawa Convention Centre, Room 211, 2nd floor,55 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 9J2.
Parking
: Public parking, to see the location and payment method, click here.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:  Wahab Almuhtadi,  Yifeng Zhou, or Qingsheng Zeng.  

Abstract:
The Smart Grid represents a clear step forward in improving power generation, distribution, consumption. Indeed, the Smart Grid is a digitally enabled electrical grid that gathers, distributes, and acts on information about the behavior of all participants (suppliers and consumers) in order to improve the efficiency, importance, reliability, economics, and sustainability of electricity services. In this scenario, communications gain a central point as a key enabling technology in supporting the “intelligence” of the system. Nevertheless, the area of communications and associated knowledge can even play a greater role, in supporting modeling, simulation and design of the next generation power grid. The seminar aims at providing an overview of the concept and architecture of the Smart Grid, focusing on the contributions of the communications community in terms of communications infrastructure and methodologies. Sample scenarios will be presented to illustrate the relevance of communications in the power grid .

About the Speaker:
Fabrizio Granelli is IEEE ComSoc Distinguished Lecturer for 2012-13, and Associate Professor at the Dept. of Information Engineering and Computer Science (DISI) of the University of Trento (Italy). From 2008, he is deputy head of the academic council in Information Engineering. He received the «Laurea» (M.Sc.) degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Genoa, Italy, in 1997, with a thesis on video coding, awarded with the TELECOM Italy prize, and the Ph.D. in Telecommunications from the same university, in 2001. Since 2000 he is carrying on his research and didactical activities (currently Associate Professor in Telecommunications) at the Dept. of Information Engineering and Computer Science – University of Trento (Italy). He was coordinator of the Networking Laboratory in 2006-2010. In August 2004 and August 2010, he was visiting professor at the State University of Campinas (Brasil). He is author or co-author of more than 130 papers published in international journals, books and conferences. His main research activities are in the field of networking, with particular reference to performance modeling, cross-layering, wireless networks, cognitive radios and networks, green networking and smart grid communications. Dr. Granelli is guest-editor of ACM Journal on Mobile Networks and Applications, special issues on “WLAN Optimization at the MAC and Network Levels”, “Ultra-Wide Band for Sensor Networks” and “Recent Advances in IEEE 802.11 WLANs: Protocols, Solutions and Future Directions”, guest-editor of ACM TOMACS special issue on “Modeling and Simulation of Cross-layer Interactions in Communication Networks”, of Hindawi Journal of Computer Systems, Networks and Communications special issue on “Lightweight Mobile and Wireless Systems: Technologies, Architectures and Services”. He was Co-Chair of 10th and 13th IEEE Workshop on Computer-Aided Modeling, Analysis, and Design of Communication Links and Networks (CAMAD’04 and CAMAD’08). Dr. Granelli is Founder and General Vice-Chair of the First International Conference on Wireless Internet (WICON’05) and General Chair of the 11th and 15th IEEE Workshop on Computer-Aided Modeling, Analysis, and Design of Communication Links and Networks (CAMAD’06 and CAMAD’10). He is TPC Co-Chair of GLOBECOM 2007-2009 and 2012 Symposia on “Communications QoS, Reliability and Performance Modeling”. He was voting member of IEEE SCC41 for standards IEEE P1900.1 and IEEE P1900.2, and he’s currently voting member of the IEEE ComSoc Education Board. He was officer (Secretary 2005-2006, Vice-Chair 2007-2008, Chair 2009-2010) of the IEEE ComSoc Technical Committee on Communication Systems Integration and Modeling (CSIM), and Associate Editor of IEEE Communications Letters (2007-2011) and Journal of Wireless Communications and Networking (2008-2011). He is Senior Member of IEEE and Associate Editor of IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials and Wiley International Journal on Communication Systems.

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Greener Video Coding

Speaker:  Prof. Ricardo L. de Queiroz, Universidade de Brasilia
Date:
Friday March 2, 2012
Time:
Registration and Networking: 5:00 pm – 05:30 pm; Seminar: 05:30 p.m. – 06:30 p.m.
Location:  Algonquin College, Room T129, T-Building, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Parking
: at the parking area # 9. Please respect restricted areas. No fee after 5:00 p.m.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:  Wahab Almuhtadi at almuhtadi@ieee.org, Yifeng Zhou at yifeng.zhou@crc.gc.ca; or Jun Li at jun.li@crc.gc.ca.  

Abstract:
Computers and information technology are proving themselves as energy-hungry partners in a society with carbon emission issues to be resolved. Video coding is a very computation-intensive, energy-demanding task. We approach green computing applied to video by setting task parameters in order to minimize energy consumption for a given performance. We applied the concept to H.264/AVC video coding, showing that one can substantially reduce energy consumption at the expense of a small rate-distortion (RD) performance penalty. We used a state-of-the-art implementation, x264, for tests and show RD results for comparisons and discussions.

About the Speaker:
Dr. Ricardo L. de Queiroz received his Ph.D. degree from The University of Texas at Arlington in 1994. He joined the research staff at Xerox Corp. from 1994 to 2002. Since 2004 he is with Universidade de Brasilia, where he is now a Full Professor at the Computer Science Department. Dr. de Queiroz has published over 140 articles in Journals and conferences and contributed chapters to books as well. He also holds 46 issued patents. He is an elected member of the IEEE Signal Processing Society's Multimedia Signal Processing (MMSP) Technical Committee and a former member of other committees and editorial boards. He has been appointed an IEEE Signal Processing Society Distinguished Lecturer for the 2011-2012 term. He also organized many conferences and IEEE chapters. His research interests include image and video compression, multirate signal processing, and color imaging.

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DL1: Title: Many-Core Chips: The New High-Performance Computing Platform
DL2: Title: Challenges for Electronics Design in the Nano-Scale

Speaker:  Prof. Yehea Ismail, Distinguished Lecturer, IEEE Circuits and Systems society, Dept. of EECS, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL60208-3118, USA
Date:
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Time:
  DL1: 11:30AM - 12:30 p.m.; DL2: 12:30 p.m. – 01:30 p.m.  Refreshments: Served
Location: ME 4124, Mackenzie Engineering Building, Carleton University, Ottawa, On., Canada
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: Ram Achar at achar@doe.carleton.ca, or Wahab Almuhtadi at almuhtadi@ieee.org. 

Abstracts:
Abstract DL1: Many-Core Chips: The New High-Performance Computing Platform

Sacling as we know it is taking a different direction from the last three decades. Chips with tens of billions of transistors and hundreds of cores are expected to be the future of scaling. These chips will achieve performance through parallelism and application specific optimized cores. This trend will use superior technologies to integrate more cores on a chip rather than to push the frequency envelope as in the past. It is expected that every aspect of design and analysis will need to be modified to accommodate this new platform and trend. There is a clear need for new CAD tools and design methodologies that are very different from existing tools in both their focus and scope. This talk will delve into the specific challenges with respect to both design and CAD that is required for these many core chips. The talk will also provide an overview into the market and technology factors guiding and driving this trend. Attendees will be provided with insight into both present and future research vectors to support this nascent exponential.

Abstract  DL2: Challenges for Electronics Design in the Nano-Scale

Semiconductor technologies exhibited explosive growth in complexity and speed over the last two decades. Since the early 1980s, the device sizes have scaled down from few micrometers to tens of Nano-meters and the operating frequencies have increased from a few megahertz to several gigahertz. Also, the spacing between devices and interconnect have dramatically decreased due to the continuous scaling down of the technology feature size. These trends have led to issues and challenges in the design and analysis of high performance integrated circuits that previous generations did not exhibit. Most of these issues are at the circuit and interconnect (physical) levels. Also, these issues are expected only to increase in importance in future generations of integrated circuits. This talk will overview the most important challenges for electronics design in the nano-scale.

About the Speaker:
Prof. Yehea Ismail is the director of the Nanoelectronics Center at Northwestern University and the AUC. The center was inaugurated by Craig Barrett, Intel’s chairman of the board in 2008, while in Nile University.

Professor Ismail is the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transaction on Very Large Scale Integration (TVLSI) and the chair elect of the IEEE VLSI Technical Committee. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Circuits, Systems, and Computers, was on the editorial board of the IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I. Fundamental Theory and Applications, and a guest editor for a special issue of the IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems on “On-Chip Inductance in High Speed Integrated Circuits”. He has also chaired many conferences such as GLSVLSI, IWSOC, ISCAS. He is the Chief Scientist of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Egypt.

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Coordinated Control Strategy and Energy Optimization in Smart Grid

Speaker:  Dr. Hasan Mehrjerdi, Industrial Postdoctoral Fellow at Research Institute of Hydro-Quebec (IREQ), Varennes, Canada
Date:
Friday January 20, 2012
Time:
Registration and Networking: 12:45 p.m.; Seminar: 01:00 p.m. – 02:00 p.m.
Location: ME 4124, Mackenzie Engineering Building, Carleton University, Ottawa, On., Canada
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: Ram Achar at achar@doe.carleton.ca, or Wahab Almuhtadi at almuhtadi@ieee.org. 

Abstract:
Energy is one of the top priorities in the world and smart grids are the centerpiece of this energy focus. Grid design, control and stability are the main objectives of smart grid technology in order to enhance the voltage stability of electric power distribution systems during faulty conditions and disturbances. Analysis and benefits of implementing smart grids based on multi-agent systems (MAS) show that it is a suitable technology for the complex and highly dynamic operation of a power system network. The existing power grid suffers from the lack of pervasive and effective communications, monitoring, fault diagnostics, and automation control, which further increase the possibility of a region-wide system breakdown due to the cascading effect that can be initiated by a single fault. Currently, for the power system, voltage control systems are centralized and operated through a central computer which supervises the output of all generators and adjusts optimally the voltage set points of these generators. This centralized regulation algorithm must know the whole network configuration and therefore for a large-scale power system, it may become difficult to perform a centralized control system. This motivates us to study and find efficient and secure voltage control mechanism in a power system by identifying the most appropriate controls based on decentralized and distributed control. This presentation firstly presents a definition and vision of the smart grid and its key areas including: Sensing and Measurement, Advanced Control Methods, Advanced Components and Integrated Communications. Secondly, an optimal electrical network graph partitioning technique is presented that divides a power network into appropriate regions to eventually prevent the propagation of disturbances and minimize the interaction between these regions. The optimized number of partitions is found based on the bus voltage sensitivity to the disturbances being applied to the loads in each region. A number of representative buses which are labeled as pilot buses are established and these are identified in each region displaying the critical point for secondary voltage control. The graph theory applied to this situation has the ability to simplify and decompose large connected power networks.

About the Speaker:
Hasan Mehrjerdi received the B.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran, the M.Sc. degree in Power System Engineering from Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering as a member of the Power Electronics and Industrial Control Research Group (GREPCI) from Quebec University (ETS), Montreal, QC, Canada, in 2010.
In 2005, he was with the Power Research Institute (Electrical Machinery Group), Tehran, Iran and then in 2006, he worked as a research assistant with Renewable Energy and Power Electronics group at Moncton University, Moncton, Canada on a project related to the Power Flow Optimization for Fuel Cell Electrical Vehicle (FCEV).
Currently, he is an Industrial Postdoctoral Fellow at Research Institute of Hydro-Quebec (IREQ), Varennes, Canada. He is a member of Electrical Network and Mathematics group and his research interests are in power systems, smart grid, multi-agents control and coordination, and renewable generation.

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Large-Scale Industrial Software Systems: Research Opportunities and Challenges

Speaker:  Dr. Srini Ramaswamy, , Head for Industrial Software Systems research at ABB India Corporate Research Center, in Bangalore, India
Date:
Thursday October 20, 2011
Time:
Registration and Networking: 06:00 p.m.; Seminar: 06:30 p.m. – 07:30 p.m
Location: Algonquin College, Room T129, T-Building, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Parking
: at the parking area # 9. Please respect restricted areas. No fee after 5:00 p.m.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:  Wahab Almuhtadi at almuhtadi@ieee.org

Abstract:
Software systems development is fast becoming a globalized activity and this is an increasingly major trend within all industrial sectors. Due to the many benefits of globalization, from the integration of multiple ethnic / market perspectives driven idea generation to development cost structuring, middle and small-sized software companies are now beginning to establish worldwide development campuses / partners. Thus, globalization has become an overwhelming phenomenon in the software industry and is rapidly defining the nature of software development for the 21st century. For Industrial Automation companies like ABB in emerging markets such as India, these opportunities are both exciting we well as immensely challenging. They present problems that are incredibly different from similar-sized western markets and require a significant amount of innovation and creativity to develop robust, sustainable, yet significantly low-cost solutions for such markets. In this talk, I will present an overview of ABB in India and its research activities, specifically in the areas of Industrial Communications and Industrial Software Systems.

About the Speaker:
Dr. Srini Ramaswamy transitioned from an academic to a corporate research career in 2010, as the head for Industrial Software Systems research at ABB India Corporate Research Center, in Bangalore, India. His primary role is in research team building and leadership, developing university relationships and engaging in applied research for the creation and execution of projects with transformative value for the company's power technologies and process automation business units. On the academic front, he also serves as a visiting professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and a honorary adjunct professor at the Indian Institute of Information Technology – Bangalore.
His research interests are on intelligent and flexible control, behavior modeling, analysis and simulation, software stability and scalability; particularly in the design and development of complex software systems. Specific applications include real-time control issues in automation and manufacturing, data mining and distributed real-time applications. His work is motivated by the desire to understand the various requirements to build scalable, intelligent software systems with the inherent ability to successfully respond to observed and reported behavioral changes in their environment.
Dr. Ramaswamy has over 150 publications including over 30 peer-reviewed journal articles in IEEE, Elsevier, Journal of Systems and Software, etc. Additionally he is also an active reviewer for the ACM Computing Surveys. Dr. Ramaswamy has actively participated in over 50 M.S student project and thesis works in Computer Science, Applied Sciences, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering and Information Systems. He has additionally participated in over 5 PhD student dissertations in Applied Computing, served as external co-advisor for 3 PhD students in France and served as evaluator for several PhD students in India.
Dr. Ramaswamy earned his Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from the Center for Advanced Computer Studies (CACS) at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 1994. He is a Senior member of the IEEE and a Senior member of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM). He is an active member of the IEEE SMCS Technical Committee on Distributed Intelligent Systems and also serves as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Part C: Applications and Reviews.

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Autonomous Aero-Visual and Sensor Based Inspection Network for Power Grid  Asset Monitoring

Speaker:  Dr. Arun Somani, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA
Date:
Thursday September 22, 2011
Time:
Registration and Networking: 06:30 p.m.; Seminar: 07:00 p.m. – 08:00 p.m
Location: Algonquin College, Room T129, T-Building, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Parking
: at the parking area # 9. Please respect restricted areas. No fee after 5:00 p.m.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:  Wahab Almuhtadi at almuhtadi@ieee.org

Abstract:
This talk introduces a theoretical and experimental program to develop the inspection and fault detection technology needed to integrate MAVs for persistent intelligence, reconnaissance, maintenance and surveillance for obscured or logistically challenging assets in non-urban environments. The design is explained using a context of heterogeneous deployment of wireless sensors for real-time asset monitoring by anticipating exceptional conditions and building the system to cope with them. The system converges towards an error-free state with self-stabilization, the ability to fall back to a safe mode in a financially feasible manner. This sophisticated mechanism requires a real-time capacity estimation capability to sustain the quality-of-service, which can be achieved by a distributed sensor network. We discuss issues in design and information propagation in such sensor clustered topology, optimization for power-aware networking, and link and node capacity assignment to achieve the desired goals.

About the Speaker:
Arun K. Somani is currently Anson Marston Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Iowa State University. Prior to that, he was a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington, Seattle, WA and Scientific Officer for Govt. of India, New Delhi from. He earned his MSEE and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from the McGill University, Montreal, Canada, in 1983 and 1985, respectively. Professor Somani's research interests are in the area of computer system design and architecture, fault tolerant computing, computer interconnection networks, WDM-based optical networking, and reconfigurable and parallel computer systems. He has taught courses in these areas and published more than 250 technical papers, several book chapters, and has supervised more than 100 graduate students (35 PhD students). He is the chief architects of an anti-submarine warfare system for Indian navy, Meshkin fault-tolerant computer system architecture for the Boeing Company, Proteus multi-computer cluster-based system for US Coastal Navy, and HIMAP design tool for the Boeing Commercial Company. He has served on several program committees of various conferences in his research areas, served as IEEE distinguished visitor and IEEE distinguished tutorial speaker, and delivered several key note speeches, tutorials and distinguished and invited talks all over the world. He received commonwealth fellowship for his postgraduate work from Canada during 1982-85, awarded Distinguished Engineer member of ACM, and elected a Fellow of IEEE for his contributions to “theory and applications of computer networks.”

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Workshop: Two Seminars on Sept. 12, 2011

1- Monitoring-Based Key Revocation Schemes for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Speaker:  Dr. Prof. Guang Gong, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Date:
Monday, September 12, 2011.
Time:
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm, Seminars: 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm, Discussion, Refreshments and Networking: 1:30 pm – 2:00 pm
Location: University of Ottawa, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, SITE Building, Room 5084 (Boarding Room), 800 King Edward Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: Qingsheng Zeng or Wahab Almuhtadi.

Abstract:
A primary security challenge in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) is the likelihood of node compromises caused by weak physical protection and hostile environments. As a result, key revocation is essential.  In this talk, I will present our recent results on key revocation problems in MANETs.  I will introduce some  novel methods for the design of fully self-organized  key revocation schemes for MANETs, which  can be directly used in any pairing-based identity based cryptography (IBC) scheme, are adaptable to certificate revocation schemes in public-key infrastructure (PKI) solutions,  and secret key-based schemes in MANETs as well.  In the first scenario, the nodes monitor their neighbors, securely propagate their observations, and revoke keys once designed threshold accusations have been received.  The solution is very efficient, completely thwart many attacks (including Sybil, impersonation and replay attacks as well as other attacks by insiders and outsiders) and is resilient to advanced attacks by colluding nodes and roaming adversaries. In the second scenario, the statistical Dirichlet multinomial model is introduced to key revocation processes.  Each node keeps track of three categories of behavior, i.e., good, suspicious and malicious behavior, which is defined and classified by an external trusted authority, and updates its knowledge about other nodes’ behavior using  3-dimension Dirichlet distribution.  It is worth to point it out that those methods have been extended to secure fully distribute peer-to-peer (P2P) network systems.

About the Speaker:
Guang Gong received a B.S. degree in mathematics in 1981, a M.S. degree in applied mathematics in 1985 and a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering in 1990, from universities in China.  She received a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Fondazione Ugo Bordoni, Rome, Italy, and spent the following year there. After return from Italy, she was promoted to an Associate Professor at the University of Electrical Science and Technology of China.  During 1995-1998, she had worked with several internationally recognized outstanding coding experts and cryptographers including Dr. Solomon W. Golomb at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. She joined University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, in 1998, an Associate Professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in September 2000.  She is a full Professor since 2004. Her research interests are in the areas of signal processing for wireless communications,   communication and network security, and lightweight cryptography.  She has authored or co-authored more than 200 technical papers and one book, co-authored with Dr. Golomb, entitled as Signal Design for Good Correlation -- for Wireless Communication, Cryptography and Radar, published by Cambridge Press in 2005.  She serves/served as Associate Editors for several journals including an Associate Editor for Sequences for IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, and served on a number of technical program committees of conferences.  Dr. Gong has received several awards including the Best Paper Award from the Chinese Institute of Electronics in 1984, Outstanding Doctorate Faculty Award of Sichuan Province, China, in 1991 and the Premier’s Research Excellence Award, Ontario, Canada, in 2001, and NSERC Discovery Accelerator Supplement Award, 2009, Canada.

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2-  Waveguide (Fiber)-based Ultrafast All-optical Signal Processors for Applications in Computing, Telecommunication and Measurement

Speaker: Dr. Prof. José Azaña, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique - Centre Energie, Matériaux et Télécommunications (INRS-EMT), University of Québec, Montréal, Québec, Canada
Date:
Monday, September 12, 2011.
Time:
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm, Seminars: 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm, Discussion, Refreshments and Networking: 1:30 pm – 2:00 pm
Location: University of Ottawa, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, SITE Building, Room 5084 (Boarding Room), 800 King Edward Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: Qingsheng Zeng or Wahab Almuhtadi.

Abstract:
This talk will review recent work on the development of fundamental signal processors operating on ultrafast optical signals, in particular all-optical temporal differentiators and integrators, implemented in fiber-optics or integrated-waveguide technologies. Applications in computing (e.g. differential equation solving), telecommunication (e.g. pulse shaping, optical switching), and measurement (e.g. temporal phase reconstruction) will be also briefly discussed.

About the Speaker:
José Azaña received the Telecommunication Engineer degree (six years engineering program) and Ph.D. degree in telecommunication engineering from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Spain, in 1997 and 2001, respectively. He completed part of his PhD research at University of Toronto, ON, Canada (1999) and University of California, Davis, CA, USA (2000). Following some postdoctoral research at McGill University (2001-2003), he was appointed as an Assistant Professor at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique - Centre Energie, Matériaux et Télécommunications (INRS-EMT) in Montreal, where he is presently a Full Professor. His research interests cover a wide range of topics, including all-fiber grating technologies, ultrafast photonic signal processing, optical pulse shaping, fiber-optic telecommunications, all-optical computing, measurement of ultrafast events, light pulse interferometry and microwave waveform generation and manipulation. He has to his credit more than 260 publications in top scientific journals and leading technical conferences, including more than 130 publications in high-impact peer-review journals, and many invited review journal papers and invited presentations in international meetings. Some of his published works have been very highly cited by his peers. Prof. Azaña is a member of IEEE and OSA. He has served as a Guest Editor of two monographs devoted to the area of Optical Signal Processing, published by EURASIP J. Appl. Signal Proc. (2005) and J. of Lightwave Technol. (2006). He has been recognized with a number of prestigious research awards and distinctions, including the XXII national prize for the best doctoral thesis in data networks from the Association of Telecommunication Engineers of Spain (2002), the extraordinary prize for the best doctoral thesis from his former university, UPM (2003), the 2008 IEEE-Photonics Society (formerly LEOS) Young Investigator Award, and the 2009 IEEE-MTT Society Microwave Prize.

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Time Domain Adjoint Sensitivities and their Applications:
State of the Art

Speaker:  Dr. Prof. Bakr from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Date:
Friday September 16, 2011
Time:
Registration and Networking: 10:00 a.m..; Seminar: 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Location: University of Ottawa, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, SITE Building, Room 5084 (Boarding Room), 800 King Edward Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: Qingsheng Zeng or Wahab Almuhtadi.

Abstract:
The design process of high frequency structures is usually carried out using Electromagnetic (EM) simulators.   A model of the structure under consideration is constructed and a number of key variables controlling its response are chosen.  An optimization algorithm (optimizer) drives the simulator to determine the optimal set of values of the designable parameters that satisfies the design specifications.  Gradient-based optimizers are robust with well established convergence proofs.  They, however, require sensitivity information which may require large number of extra simulations for each design step.
The adjoint variable methods (AVM), aim at efficiently estimating the response sensitivities.  Using at most one extra EM simulation of an adjoint system, the response sensitivities with respect to all parameters are estimated regardless of the number of parameters.  For the case of network parameters, this extra simulation can be eliminated.  The same simulations supplying the network parameters supply their sensitivities as well.  This makes gradient-based optimization more efficient.
I
n this talk we review the state of the art of the time-domain AVMs and their applications.  We discuss recent techniques that make this approach more efficient in terms of speed and memory storage.  We show a number of interesting applications in microwave imaging, antenna design, and design of photonic devices.  Open points for research are also addressed.

About the Speaker:
Mohamed H. Bakr received  a B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Electronics and Communications Engineering and Engineering Mathematics from Cairo University, Egypt in 1992 and 1996, respectively with distinction (honors).  He earned the Ph.D. degree in September 2000 from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McMaster University.  In November 2000, he joined the Computational Electromagnetics Research Laboratory (CERL), University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada as an NSERC Post Doctoral Fellow.  Between July 2008 and June 2009, he was with Research In Motion (RIM) as a senior researcher during his Sabbatical leave.  His research areas of interest include computer-aided design and modeling of microwave and photonic circuits, neural network applications, efficient optimization using time/frequency domain methods, and bioelectromagnetism. He is a recipient of a Premier’s Research Excellence Award (PREA) from the province of Ontario in 2003, and a Discovery Accelerator Award (DAS) in 2011.  He is currently an associate professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McMaster University.

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Geometrical Probability in Wireless Networks

Speaker:  Professor Jianping Pan, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada
Date:
Monday August 15, 2011/ 10:30 am – 11:20 am.
Time:
Registration and Networking: 09:50 a.m.; Seminar: 100:0 a.m. – 11:20 a.m
Location: Room HP 4351, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada , K1S 5B6
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:  Wahab Almuhtadi at almuhtadi@ieee.org, or Jun Li at jun-li@ieee.org .
Organized by: IEEE Ottawa ComSoc/BTS/CES Joint Chapter, and SP/OE/GRS Joint Chapter
Co-sponsored by: IEEE Ottawa Joint Chapters of ComSoc/BTS/CES and SP/OE/GRS, School of Mathematics and Statistic of Carleton University, and Communication Research Centre Canada

Abstract:
Electric Many performance metrics in wireless networks are ultimately nonlinear functions of the distances between transmitters, receivers and interferers. For a given network coverage and a distribution of random users within the network, how to characterize the distances among these users becomes a challenge and a prerequisite to accurate system modeling and analysis. This talk presents some recent results in Geometrical Probability for random distances associated with rhombuses (e.g., directional antennas) and hexagons (e.g., cellular systems).

About the Speaker:
Dr Jianping Pan is currently an associate professor of computer science at the University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He received his Bachelor's and PhD degrees in computer science from Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China, and he did his postdoctoral research at the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. He also worked at Fujitsu Labs and NTT Labs. His area of specialization is computer networks and distributed systems, and his current research interests include protocols for advanced networking, performance analysis of networked systems, and applied network security. He received the IEICE Best Paper Award in 2009 and the Telecommunications Advancement Foundation's Telesys Award in 2010, and has been serving on the technical program committees of major computer communications and networking conferences including IEEE INFOCOM, ICC, Globecom, WCNC and CCNC. He is a senior member of the ACM and a senior member of the IEEE.

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Communications for the Smart Grid

Speaker:  Dr. Stephen Bush, Researcher at General Electric Global Research, Niskayuna, NY, USA
Date:
Tuesday April 12, 2011
Time:
Registration and Networking: 06:30 p.m.; Seminar: 07:00 p.m. – 08:00 p.m
Location: Algonquin College, Room T129, T-Building, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:  Wahab Almuhtadi at almuhtadi@ieee.org

Abstract:
Electric power grids around the world are rapidly evolving to make more extensive use of communication technology. New intelligent electronic devices are being developed and deployed in which communications is becoming a ubiquitous and natural part of power systems allowing new forms of collaborative behavior. An analogy is often made between the interconnection of personal computers many decades ago resulting in the rise of the Internet and what is happening within the power grid today. However, the power grid is a large and complex machine with many aspects; it comprises a very broad set of topics. This hour-long talk will begin with a review of power systems and focus upon emerging communications capabilities within the power grid including: metering and demand-response, distributed generation, fault detection isolation and restoration, and a brief overview of emerging standards. We will end with a discussion of more speculative innovations that may impact the smart grid further into the future.

About the Speaker:
Stephen F Bush received the B.S. degree in electrical and computer engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, the M.S. degree in computer science from Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH, and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Kansas, Lawrence. He is currently a Researcher at General Electric Global Research, Niskayuna, NY. Before joining GE Global Research, he was a Researcher at the Information and Telecommunications Technologies Center (ITTC), University of Kansas. He has been the Principal Investigator for many DARPA and Lockheed Martin sponsored research projects including: Active Networking (DARPA/ITO), Information Assurance and Survivability Engineering Tools (DARPA/ISO), Fault Tolerant Networking (DARPA/ATO), and most recently, Connectionless Networks (DARPA/ATO), an energy aware sensor network project. He is the author of Nanoscale Communication Networks (Norwood, MA: Artech House, 2010). He coauthored a book on active network management, titled Active Networks and Active Network Management: A Proactive Management Framework (New York, NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2001). He has taught Quantum Computation and Communication at RPI and Computer Communications at the State University of New York at Albany. Dr. Bush is the past chair of the IEEE Emerging Technical Subcommittee on Nanoscale, Molecular, and Quantum Networking. He is also on the steering committee for the IEEE Smart Grid Vision Project.

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Green Power and the Modern Grid

Speaker:  Jerry Ramie, ARC Technical Resources Inc., San Jose, CA , USA
DateThursday, March 3, 2011
Time: Registration: 06:00 p.m; Refreshments and Networking: 06:30 p.m.; Seminar: 07:00 p.m. – 08:00 p.m.
Location: FIDUS SYSTEMS Inc., 900 Morrison Drive, Suite 203, Ottawa, ON, K2H8K7
ADMISSION: Free and is on a first to reply basis. Preference given to IEEE EMC, MTT/AP, PES and ComSoc/BTS/CES members. Seating is limited. E-mail Reservation is required. Pizza and soft drinks will be served.
REGISTRATION: Pre-registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: qiubo.ye@crc.gc.ca.
ORGANIZED BY: IEEE EMC Ottawa Chapter, MTT/AP Ottawa Joint Chapter, IEEE PES Ottawa Chapter, and IEEE ComSoc/BTS/CES Ottawa Joint Chapter.
CONTACT: details - Syed Bokhari, Qiubo Ye, Wahab Almuhtadi.

Abstract:
This talk is a general presentation on the Smart Grid. It describes the seven attributes of the smart grid, presents the DOE's modern grid strategy and some typical architectures. It covers the choices in wired and wireless utility communications media that will be needed for deploying the Advanced Metering Infrastructure and presents Standards testing to address physical (including EMC) threats to the infrastructure

About the Speaker:
Jerry Ramie is a 26 year veteran of the EMC, communications and power industries and has authored six books on substation EMC for the Electric Power Research Institute. (EPRI) He has published articles on grid modernization and sits on the EMC Committee of the American Radio Relay League, (ARRL) on the Board of Directors of the Santa Clara Valley EMC Society, is a voting member of the IEEE-P1775 committee on EMC in BPL installations, a member of the IEEE Standards Association, an iNARTE-certified EMC technician, Secretary of the ANSI Accredited Standards Committee C63R on EMC and a Senior Member of the IEEE. He can be reached at jramie@arctechnical.com.

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RFID - Newly Emerging Technology and Research Areas

Speaker:  Dr. Qinghan Xiao, IEEE Senior Member, a Defence Scientist, Defence R&D Canada (DRDC), Ottawa, Canada
Date:
Thursday December 9, 2010
Time:
Registration and Networking: 03:30 p.m.; Seminar: 04:00 p.m. – 05:00 p.m
Location: Algonquin College, Room P210, P-Building, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: Gerry Crichlow at crichlg@algonquincollege.com  or Bashir Morshed at  morsheb@algonquincollege.com or Wahab Almuhtadi at almuhtadi@ieee.org

Abstract:
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is listed as one of the ten most important technologies of the century, which is an area of automatic identification that utilizes radio waves to identify unique instances of objects or people. Many government agencies and private companies are starting to integrate RFID into their business to reduce operation costs, improve process efficiency, optimize asset utilization, and enhance safety and security. Based on speaker’s knowledge and experience in RFID technology, this seminar will address the following questions:
 •  What are RFID key components?
 •  How does an RFID system work?
 •  Where are RFID systems being used?
 •  How to protect RFID systems from being attacked?
The objective is to help the students understand the key issues in developing RFID.

About the Speaker:
Dr. Qinghan Xiao, IEEE Senior Member, is a Defence Scientist at the Defence R&D Canada. He serves as the Chair of Task Force on Biometrics of the IEEE/CIS Technical Committee on Intelligent Systems Applications. His current research interests include biometric and RFID technologies. He is a Canadian delegate of the ISO/IEC JTC1 SC37 Standards Committee on biometrics, and works on a CRTI project to use RFID for in-the-field management of CBRN casualties. Dr. Xiao has been invited to speak and chair sessions in many national and international conferences. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Regina. Dr. Xiao received the 2010 Outstanding Engineer Award from IEEE Ottawa Section recently

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Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) in the Power Grid

Speaker:  Dr. Melike Erol-Kantarci, School of Information Technology and Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Date:
Monday November 22, 2010
Time:
Refreshments, Registration and Networking: 06:30 p.m.; Seminar: 07:00 p.m. – 08:00 p.m
Location: University of Ottawa, SITE, room 5084, 800 King Edward Avenue,  Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:
                     Branislav Djokic at branislav@ieee.org , Wahab Almuhtadi at almuhtadi@ieee.org


Abstract:
In the last decades, electrical power grids in the developed countries have been under pressure by the imbalance between growing demand and diminishing fossil fuels, coupled with aging equipments and aging workforce. Furthermore, the resilience of the power grid has become questionable especially after the major blackouts in North America in 2001 and 2003, which have been mostly due to the lack of pervasive and effective communications, automation, monitoring and diagnostic tools. Considering these problems together with the opportunities that become available with the advances in Information and Communications Technology (ICT), it has become necessary to renovate the existing power grid. The future grid, which is also called as the smart grid, will meet the power quality and power availability demands of the 21th century. Briefly, smart grid aims to integrate the capabilities of the ICT field to the power engineering field. In this context, use of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) in the power grid appears as a promising issue, and it is gaining wide attention from the industry and the academia. WSNs can be used at several segments of the power grid, such as generation facilities, transmission and distribution lines and the consumer premises. In this talk, we will give an overview of the possible fields that WSNs can be employed. We will also introduce our in-home energy management scheme as an application of WSNs in the consumer premises to implement smart grid applications. We show that consumer expenses, peak load and electricity usage-related emissions can be significantly reduced by our scheme providing benefits to the consumers, the utilities and the governments.

About the Speaker:
Dr. Melike Erol-Kantarci is a postdoctoral fellow at the School of Information Technology and Engineering, University of Ottawa since October 2009. She received her Ph.D. (2009) and M.Sc. (2004) degrees from the Computer Engineering Department, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey, and her B.S. (2001) from the Control and Computer Engineering Department of the same university. From 2001 to 2009, Dr. Erol-Kantarci served as a lecturer at the Information Technologies Program, Istanbul Technical University. During the same period, she was a teaching and research assistant at the Computer Engineering Department, Istanbul Technical University. She has worked in several national and international research projects on IP traffic modeling and underwater communications. She is currently working in the Wireless Heterogeneous Sensor Networks in the e-Society (WISENSE) project at the University of Ottawa under the supervision of Professor Hussein T. Mouftah. From September 2006 to August 2007, she was a Fulbright visiting researcher at the Computer Science Department, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Her main research interests are heterogeneous wireless sensor networks, smart grids, underwater sensor networks, mobility modeling and internet traffic modeling.

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Networked 3-D Virtual Collaboration in Science and Education: Towards ‘Web 3.0’ (A Modeling Perspective)

Speaker:  Prof. Michael Devetsikiotis, ComSoc Distinguished Lecturer, Electrical and Computer Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Date:
Friday November 19, 2010
Time:
Refreshments, Registration and Networking: 06:30 p.m.; Seminar: 07:00 p.m. – 08:00 p.m
Location: Algonquin College, School of Advanced Technology, Building-T, Room T129 Nortel Lab, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
PARKING: at the Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas. No fee after 5:00 p.m.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: Wahab Almuhtadi at almuhtadi@ieee.org

Abstract:
Combined advances in high speed networking, mobile devices, application sharing, web services, virtual world technologies and large scale event processing are converging to create a new world of pervasive, ubiquitous “presence” of users, which offers tremendous potential for social interaction and co-creation. The communication networking and computing requirements of this converged human-centric environment are also increasing at an accelerated pace. In this new environment, it is imperative that the much-needed networking and computing resources align closely with the needs and patterns dictated by the applications, social networks, and by the human users. We believe that the success of such socio-technical systems will hinge on the way networks capture and interact with human presence and location, in all of its physical, virtual and perceived aspects. A robust, scalable, and dynamic communication infrastructure is necessary to connect service consumers and providers within such rich, interactive collaborative virtual environments. Service-oriented networking (SON) is an emerging paradigm that directly addresses this need by enabling network devices to operate at the application layer to provide functions such as service-based routing, content transformation, and protocol integration to consumers and providers. We anticipate that applications of the future will leverage distributed SON deployment patterns where large numbers of network appliances coordinate with peers using network-wide (or “cloud-wide”) application-specific policies, in order to determine the appropriate points to perform configuration changes based on prevailing network, computing and application conditions. Modeling and adaptation of resources based on state, location, context-awareness and workload (current or predicted) is highly desirable in these high-performance computing and information socio-technical service systems. In this seminar, we provide an overview of our effort, in collaboration with our College of Management, and with IBM and Cisco, to develop models of emerging next generation network-based services, traffic characterization and predictive and dynamic resource allocation. We present an overview of approaches that we are using for service-aware utility-oriented modeling and resource allocation. We apply such techniques in the context of aggregation network optimization, location-aware hybrid activities in wireless networks, and virtual collaboration environments such as virtual worlds used for science and education.

About the Speaker:
Michael Devetsikiotis (IEEE S 1985, M 1994, SM 2003) was born in Thessaloniki, Greece. He received the Dipl. Ing. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1988, and the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from North Carolina State University, Raleigh, in 1990 and 1993, respectively. As a student he received scholarships from the National Scholarship Foundation of Greece, the National Technical Chamber of Greece, and the Phi Kappa Phi Academic Achievement Award for a Doctoral Candidate at North Carolina State University. He is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and a member of the honor societies of Eta Kappa Nu, Sigma Xi, and Phi Kappa Phi.
In October 1993 he joined the Broadband Networks Laboratory at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, as a Post-Doctoral Fellow. Michael later became an Adjunct Research Professor in the Department of Systems and Computer Engineering at Carleton University in April 1995, an Assistant Professor in July 1996 and an Associate Professor in July 1999. He joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at NC State as an Associate Professor, in October 2000, and became a Professor in July 2006. He remains an Adjunct Research Professor in the SCE Department, Carleton University. Michael served as Chairman of the IEEE Communications Society Technical Committee on Communication Systems Integration and Modeling and is now a member of the Communications Society Education Board. He has served as an Associate Editor of the IEEE Communications Letters, and an Area Editor of the ACM Transactions on Modeling and Computer Simulation, and remains a member of the editorial boards of the International Journal of Simulation and Process Modeling, the IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials, and the Journal of Internet Engineering. He co-chaired the Next Generation Internet symposium under IEEE ICC 2002 in New York, the High-Speed Networks symposium under IEEE ICC 2004 in Paris, the Quality, Reliability and Performance Modeling (QRPM) symposium under IEEE ICC 2006 in Istanbul, and the Quality, Reliability and Performance for Emerging Network Services symposium under IEEE Globecom 2006 in San Francisco. He served recently as Workshops Chair for IEEE Globecom 2008 in New Orleans, and as co-chair of the workshops on “Enabling the Future Service Oriented Internet” (2007, 2008 and 2009). Michael will co-chair the QRPM Symposium of IEEE Globecom 2010, in Miami, and is the general Chair for IEEE CAMAD 2011, in Kyoto, Japan. During the Fall of 2010, as part of his sabbatical, Michael has been a visiting professor at the University of Trento, Italy, in the Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science; and at the University of Thessaloniki, Greece, in the Department of Informatics.

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Sensing and Identification in the Internet of Things Era

Speaker: Prof. Hossam Hassanein, ComSoc Distinguished Lecturer, School of Computing, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada
Date:
Wednesday October 20, 2010
Time:
Refreshments, Registration and Networking: 06:30 p.m.; Seminar: 07:00 p.m. – 08:00 p.m
Location: Algonquin College, School of Advanced Technology, Building-T, Room T129 Nortel Lab, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
PARKING: at the Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas. No fee after 5:00 p.m.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:  Wahab Almuhtadi at almuhtadi@ieee.org

Abstract:
Enabling The concept of Internet of Things (IoT) is opening new horizons in systems intelligence, where physical objects (embedded with sensory, identification and networking capabilities) can interact with other objects through the global infrastructure of wireless/wired Internet. These systems can be monitored and controlled by filtering and processing collected data. Such intelligent design will naturally result is efficient and cost effective systems. Several architectures are being built to implement IoT from two different perspectives. The first, also known as sensor-oriented, is based on large-scale sensors deployment targeting the collection of accurate sensory data. Such huge sensory data are analyzed through cloud computing to deliver intelligent responses. The second architecture, also known as service-oriented, targets the association of unique identifiers with specific services. In such architecture, the service (or the appropriate response) is invoked upon receiving the unique identifier from a specific ID collecting node considering the context in which it was collected. Unique identification technologies (dominated by RFID) and low power Nano-scale sensors are the main enablers of IoT realization through the uniqueness of ID, small size, sensing, storage and processing capabilities. However, energy management, mobility and scale remain main challenges toward ubiquitous adaptation of such technologies. As well, the realization of IoT necessitates overcoming several interrelated technical and social challenges in IoT systems architecture, modeling and design. This talk will highlight the main characteristics of IoT, the opportunities it creates and main challenges it faces. The talk will cover some of the activities at the Telecommunication Research lab at Queen’s University towards the realization of IoT.

About the Speaker:
Hossam Hassanein is with the School of Computing at Queen's University working in the areas of broadband, wireless and variable topology networks architecture, protocols, control and performance evaluation. Dr. Hassanein obtained his Ph.D. in Computing Science from the University of Alberta in 1990. He is the founder and director of the Telecommunication Research (TR) Lab http://www.cs.queensu.ca/~trl in the School of Computing at Queen’s. Dr. Hassanein has more than 350 publications in reputable journals, conferences and workshops in the areas of computer networks and performance evaluation. He has delivered several plenary talks and tutorials at key international venues, including Unconventional Computing 2007, IEEE ICC 2008, IEEE CCNC 2009, IEEE GCC 2009, IEEE GIIS 2009, ASM MSWIM 2009 and IEEE Globecom 2009. Dr. Hassanein has organized and served on the program committee of numerous international conferences and workshops. He also serves on the editorial board of a number of International Journals. He is a senior member of the IEEE, and is currently chair of the IEEE Communication Society Technical Committee on Ad hoc and Sensor Networks (TC AHSN). Dr. Hassanein is the recipient of Communications and Information Technology Ontario (CITO) Champions of Innovation Research award in 2003. He received several best paper awards, including at IEEE Wireless Communications and Network (2007), IEEE Global Communication Conference (2007), IEEE International Symposium on Computers and Communications (2009), IEEE Local Computer Networks Conference (2009) and ACM Wireless Communication and Mobile Computing (2010). Dr. Hassanein is an IEEE Communications Society Distinguished Lecturer.

 

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- Based Management of Optical Networks for Next Generation Disaster Recovery Networking Solutions with WDM Systems
- Cloud Computing and Security

Speaker:  Mr. Andrew MacKay, Chief Technology Officer of Superna, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Date:
Wednesday October 6, 2010
Time:
Refreshments, Registration and Networking: 06:30 p.m.; Seminar: 07:00 p.m. – 08:00 p.m
Location: Algonquin College,, P-Building, Room P-215, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
PARKING: at the Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas. No fee after 5:00 p.m.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:
                     Wahab Almuhtadi at almuhtadi@ieee.org


Abstract:
Data center’s are the heart of Enterprise IT and Internet based Cloud computing services and Optical networks are the arteries that connect them. This session will cover the latest trends in data center optical network including disaster recovery, security, protocols and future architectures to enable on demand computing over flexible Optical networks and the technology requirements to make the transition.

About the Speaker:
Andrew MacKay is Chief Technology Officer of Superna, a software development specialist in geospatial network management solutions for Carrier and enterprise networks. With over 19 years in the industry, he’s an experienced leader and innovator in all aspects of Enterprise and Telecom technologies with unique expertise in security, network management, virtualization, cloud computing and BC/DR for both Enterprise and Telecom networks. During his various roles of architect, Optical product manager, strategic planning, technology evaluation and product management he was responsible for presenting the companies vision for data center networking to customers around the globe. He worked in various divisions at Nortel most recently leading activities in storage networking, Enterprise strategic planning, speaker at Industry trade shows, key contributor to T.11 ANSI Fibre channel standards, introduced the first fibre channel over Ethernet product, with later contributions resulting in granted patents around security, and WAN optimization solutions.


Contact to reserve seats: Wahab Almuhtadi at almuhtadi@ieee.org.

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Intelligent Buildings in an Intelligent Grid – the Next Great Network Build-Out

Speaker:  Mr. Wes Biggs, President and Chief Executive Officer, Triacta Power Technologies, Inc., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Date:
Thursday September 30, 2010
Time:
Refreshments, Registration and Networking: 06:30 p.m.; Seminar: 07:00 p.m. – 08:00 p.m
Location: Algonquin College, School of Advanced Technology, Building-T, Room T334, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
PARKING: at the Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas. No fee after 5:00 p.m.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:
                     Wahab Almuhtadi at almuhtadi@ieee.org


Abstract:
There is a rapid transition happening. The past decade has proven out the conventional wisdom espoused by Green Building Councils around the world, that investing in properties to make them “green” buildings has a rapid return in lowering operating costs, increasing property value, and boosting tenancy rates. The term “green building” is rapidly giving way to a new concept: Intelligent Building. This term recognizes that one of the fundamental properties of a green building is that, above any materials based changes, the overriding characteristic of a green building is the liberal application of control, monitoring and measurement systems. These systems are designed to maintain the building within a tight operating window, and to expose building and operational characteristics to all stakeholders, identifying deviations and enabling areas for improvement.
The revolution of Intelligent Buildings over the past manner of deploying control systems in buildings is the integration of building automation systems with metering platforms, to create a unified system. At its simplest, this is merely enabling the building management system to access meter data. The Intelligent Building, however, is taking this further by adding integration of the building management system, and a smart metering platform with IT systems within and outside the building. Building automation systems have been naturally moving towards this reality by embracing IP as the communications protocol within the building. BAS communications fabrics have migrated from simple networks to IP. Intelligent Buildings are the payoff for this trend, facilitated by the smooth synthesis of BAS, metering and IT. IBM refers to this as a “building operating system”.
Triacta Power as a leading vendor of Smart Meter Systems has experienced first-hand the evolution of Smart Meters and Smart Buildings and has unique insight into the ultimate integration of Intelligent Buildings with an Intelligent(Smart) Grid. We believe it is the next great network & business opportunity build-out.

About the Speaker:
Wes Biggs joined Triacta as the VP of Engineering & Operations in 2003. He became President in June of 2009. He is a technology company veteran with over 25 years of engineering and executive experience in leading companies such as Newbridge, Mitel and Nortel. Most recently, Wes was co-founder, President and CEO of Meriton Networks.


Contact to reserve seats: Wahab Almuhtadi at almuhtadi@ieee.org.

To download or view the presentation, please click here.Go to Top


Mobile Agents for Autonomous Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

Speaker:  Dr. Victor C.M. Leung, ComSoc Distinguished Lecturer, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia
Date:
Thursday June 17, 2010
Time:
Refreshments, Registration and Networking: 06:30 p.m.; Seminar: 07:00 p.m. – 08:00 p.m
Location: Algonquin College, School of Advanced Technology, Building-T, Room T129, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
PARKING: at the Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas. No fee after 5:00 p.m.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:
                     Wahab Almuhtadi at almuhtadi@ieee.org or Patrick Couture Cout0009@algonquincollege.com


Abstract:
In addition to overcoming the vagaries of propagation impairments and interference in wireless channels, designs of wireless ad hoc networks are challenged by changing network configurations due to node mobility. To meet these challenges, ad hoc networking solutions should incorporate distributed intelligence that enables network nodes to autonomously adapt to changes in networking environments and network configurations. By propagating software codes to mobile nodes for execution and allowing them to spawn new codes for propagation to other nodes, mobile agents can provide an effective solution for these challenges. This presentation provides an overview of the use of mobile agents in wireless ad hoc networks, especially in their practical realization for wireless personal communications and wireless sensor networking. In the first example, we describe the Bluescout mobile agents for scatternet formation in Bluetooth networks, which adaptively reconfigures the Bluetooth scatternet to maximize the size of individual piconets. In the second example, we present the design of a mobile agent platform for wireless sensor networks known as Wiseman, and describe a limited experimental implementation of Wiseman and its evaluation. The presentation concludes with discussions of open research issues concerning the application of mobile agents in wireless networks, and potential applications of mobile agents in wireless networks of the future.

About the Speaker:
Victor C. M. Leung received the B.A.Sc. (Hons.) degree in electrical engineering from the University of British Columbia (U.B.C.) in 1977, and was awarded the APEBC Gold Medal as the head of the graduating class in the Faculty of Applied Science. He attended graduate school at U.B.C. on a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Postgraduate Scholarship and completed the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering in 1981. From 1981 to 1987, Dr. Leung was a Senior Member of Technical Staff at MPR Teltech Ltd., where he contributed to the design of a number of thin-route and mobile satellite communication networks. He also held a part-time visiting faculty position at Simon Fraser University in 1986 and 1987. He began his full-time academic career in 1988, as a a Lecturer in the Department of Electronics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He returned to U.B.C. as a faculty member in 1989, where he is currently a Professor and the inaugural holder of the TELUS Mobility Research Chair in Advanced Telecommunications Engineering in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He is a member of the Institute for Computing, Information and Cognitive Systems at U.B.C. He also holds Guest/Adjunct Professor appointments at Jilin University, Beijing Jiaotong University, and South China University of Technology in China. Dr. Leung has made substantial contributions to the design and evaluations of wireless networks and mobile systems over the past 30 years, and has authored/co-authored more than 450 technical papers in international journals and conference proceedings in these areas. He and his co-authors have received several best-paper awards. Dr. Leung is a registered member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia (APEGBC), Canada. He is a Fellow of IEEE, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada, and a voting member of ACM. He has served on the editorial boards of the IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, the IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, the IEEE Transactions on Computers, Computer Communications, the International Journal of Sensor Networks, the Journal of Communications and Networks, and the International Journal of Communication Networks and Distributed Systems. He has guest-edited several special journal issues, and served on the technical program committee of numerous international conferences. He is a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Communications Society. He was the TPC Chair of the wireless networks and cognitive radio track of IEEE VTC-fall 2008, and the TPC Vice-chair of IEEE WCNC 2005. He was the General Chair of QShine 2007, and a General Co-Chair of IEEE EUC 2009 and ACM MSWiM 2005. He is the General Chair of AdhocNets 2010 and WC 2010, and a General Co-Chair of IEEE MobiWorld 2010, IEEE CWCN 2010, IEEE ASIT 2010, EMC 2010 and BodyNets 2010.

Contact to reserve seats:  Wahab Almuhtadi at almuhtadi@ieee.org.

To download or view the presentation, please click here.Go to Top


Multigigabit Wireless Multimedia Communications: Future and Core Technologies

Speaker:  Prof. Dr. Vijay K. Bhargava, FRSC, FIEEE, University of British Columbia, Candidate for IEEE Communications Society President-Elect
Date:
May 12, 2010
Time:
Refreshments, Registration and Networking: 06:30 p.m.; Seminar: 07:00 p.m. – 08:00 p.m
Location: Algonquin College, School of Advanced Technology, Building-T, Room T129, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
PARKING: at the Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas. No fee after 5:00 p.m.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:
                    
   Wahab Almuhtadi, or Balakumar Balasingam, Raed Abdullah, Patrick Couture.

Abstract:
The millimeter wave technology has been known for several decades but was mainly used for military communications. In this presentation we specifically focus on 60 GHz band as recently a massive unlicensed spectrum up to 9GHz has been allocated worldwide in this band for civilian communication. This spectrum is a very promising candidate for multigigabit wireless transmission systems including wireless personal area network (WPAN) as well as Wireless local area network (WLAN) usage. The effective interference level in this band is less severe then those WLAN systems deployed in the congested WiFi bands (2-2.5 GHz and 5-5.8 GHz). As a result, higher frequency reuse can be achieved, leading to a very high throughput network. After summarizing the current status of standardization activities for 60 GHz band we will focus on a series of technical challenges that need to be resolved before the full deployment of multigigabit wireless multimedia communications. These include 60 GHz propagation and antennas, CMOS circuit design, modulation schemes, LDPC-based error correction schemes and MAC layer design.

About the Speaker:
Vijay Bhargava, an IEEE volunteer for three decades, is Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, where he served as Department Head during 2003-2008. As a senior level IEEE volunteer, he has lectured in 66 countries and assisted IEEE Presidents in negotiating sister society agreements in India, Japan and Russia.
Vijay has served as the IEEE Vice President for Regional Activities Board, now known as Member and Geographic Activities (MGA) Board. During his tenure the program known as Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD) was conceived and he developed a profound understanding of how IEEE Societies, Regions, Sections, Chapters and Student Branches work.  He is the Founder of the IEEE Pacific Rim Conference on Communications, Computers and Signal Processing and of the Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering Vijay played major role in the creation of the IEEE Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC) and IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, for which he served as the Editor-in-Chief during 2007-2009. In 2010, he was appointed for a two year term as the IEEE Communications Society Director of Journals. He is a past President of the IEEE Information Theory Society. Vijay Bhargava is a candidate for IEEE Communications Society President-Elect in the forthcoming election
.
and the International Society for Bayesian Analysis.


Contact to reserve seats: Dr. Wahab Almuhtadi, P.Eng. at almuhtadi@ieee.org.

To download or view the presentation, please click here.

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The Particle Filtering Methodology in Signal Processing

Speaker:  Prof. Petar M. Djuric, Department of ECE, Stony Brook University, NY, USA
Date & Time:
Monday, November 23rd, 2009, 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Place: University of Ottawa, School of Information Technology and Engineering (SITE), Boardroom, 5th floor, 800 King Edward Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Admission: Free Registration. Please contact in advance to reserve seats.
Refreshments: Will be served 15 minutes before the start of the meeting.

Abstract:
Particle filtering is a Monte Carlo – based methodology for sequential signal processing. It is designed for estimation of hidden processes that are dynamic and that can exhibit most severe nonlinearities. Also, it can be applied with equal ease to problems that involve any type of probability distributions. Therefore, it is not surprising that particle filtering has gained immense popularity. In this talk, first, the basics of particle filtering will be provided with description of its essential steps. Then some important topics of the theory will be addressed including Rao-Blackwellization, smoothing, and estimation of constant parameters. Finally, a presentation of most recent advances in the theory will be given. The talk will contain signal processing examples which will aid in gaining valuable insights about the methodology.

About the Speaker:
ViPetar M. Djuric (Fellow, IEEE) received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Belgrade, in 1981 and 1986, respectively, and his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Rhode Island (1990). From 1981 to 1986, Prof. Djuric was a Research Associate with the Institute of Nuclear Sciences, Vinca, Belgrade. Since 1990, he has been with Stony Brook University, where he is Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His research interests are in the area of statistical signal processing, and his primary interests are in the theory of modeling, detection, estimation, and time series analysis and its application to a wide variety of disciplines including wireless communications and biomedicine. Prof. Djuric has served on numerous technical committees for the IEEE and has been invited to lecture at universities in the United States and overseas. His SPS activities include: Vice President-Finance (2006-09); Area Editor of Special Issues, IEEE Signal Processing Magazine (2002-05); Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing (1994-96 and 2003-05); Chair, SPS Signal Processing Theory and Methods Technical Committee (2005-06); and Treasurer, SPS Conference Board (2001-03). He is
an Editorial Board Member, IEEE Journal on Special Topics in Signal Processing, Elsevier Digital Signal Processing, Elsevier Signal Processing, and the EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking. Prof. Djuric is an IEEE Fellow, as well as a Member of the American Statistical Association.
and the International Society for Bayesian Analysis.


Contact to reserve seats: Balakumar Balasingam at balasing@site.uottawa.ca, or Wahab Almuhtadi at almuhtadi@ieee.org. Go to Top


Converged Services and New Generation of Networking

Speaker: Dr. Bhumip Khasnabish, IEEE ComSoc Distinguished Lecturer, Distinguished MTS of Verizon Network and Technology, Waltham, MA, USA

Date & Time:
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009, Refreshments, Registration and Networking: 06:00 p.m.; Seminar: 06:30 p.m. – 07:30 p.m
PLACE: Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., School of Advanced Technology, Building-T, Room T129
PARKING: at the Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas. No fee after 5:00 p.m.
ADMISSION: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:
                     Wahab Almuhtadi at almuhtadi@ieee.org or Patrick Couture Cout0009@algonquincollege.com


Abstract:
Commoditization of voice service has reached such a state that anyone with a server to provide registry and addressing (identification) functions can offer it to the Internet community using the voice over the Internet protocol (IP) or VoIP technology. Traditional client-server model has evolved to peer-to-peer model for near-real-time voice and multimedia (gaming, video, etc.) sessions. Voice mail service is being replaced by Instant-messaging (for presence-announced users), use of Star codes for advanced call/session feature activation is being replaced by Web based service-provisioning interface, and so on. Similar revolution is also happening in the areas of IP-based Television (IPTV) service development and distribution. These are only a glimpse of what is possible with the new/emerging converged services paradigm. However, many issues related to reliability/availability, security/privacy, mobility, service provisioning and continuity, regulation, operations, and quality of service and experience (QoS/QoE) still remain open.
In this discussion, we will explore the current activities of the traditional service providers to find implementable and operable solutions to these problems in the evolving Next Generation Networks (NGNs). The objective is to support VoIP, IPTV, and other multimedia services seamlessly over a variety of interconnected networks using the emerging IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) and service-oriented architecture/network (SOA/SON) based standards.

About the Speaker:
Dr Khasnabish is a Distinguished MTS of Verizon Network and Technology, Waltham, MA, USA. He is the founding chair of the recently created ATIS Next Generation Carrier Interconnect (NG-CI) Task Force. Bhumip also founded MSF Services Working Group and led World’s first IMS-based IPTV Interop during GMI08. In Verizon, he focuses on NGN and Carrier Interconnection projects related to delivering enhanced multimedia services. He represents Verizon in the Standards activities of MSF and ATIS NG-CI. Previously Bhumip worked in Bell-Northern Research (BNR) Ltd. designing, implementing, and leading implementation of trunking and traffic management software modules for Passport® multi-service switch. Bhumip contributed to developing numerous patents and publications including the books entitled Implementing Voice over IP (Wiley, 2003, 2005) and Multimedia Communications Networks: Technologies and Services (Artech House, 1998). Bhumip is a Distinguished Lecturer of IEEE, an adjunct faculty member of Brandeis University and Bentley University and Northeaster University; all in greater Boston, Massachusetts, area, and a member of the Board of Editors of the Journal of Network and Systems Management (JNSM).

Contact to reserve seats: Wahab Almuhtadi at almuhtadi@ieee.org.

To download or view the presentation, please click on: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4Go to Top


Microelectronics Reliability: It's evolution from Military to Commercial Requirements

Speaker: Dr. Ray Haythornthwaite
DATE: Thursday, May 21, 2009
TIME: Refreshments, Registration and Networking: 06:30 p.m.; Seminar: 07:00 p.m. – 08:00 p.m.
PLACE: Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., School of Advanced Technology, T-Building, Room T230.

Parking
: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 (green) & 9 (red). Please respect restricted areas. Map: to view the map,
click here.
ADMISSION: All welcome - Free.
REGISTRATION: pre-registration Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: Raed Abdullah
ORGANIZED BY: IEEE Reliability Ottawa Chapter, IEEE ComSoc/BTS/CES Ottawa Chapter, IEEE LEOS Ottawa Chapter, IEEE AESS Ottawa Chapter, IEEE P/MTT Ottawa Chapter, IEEE CS Ottawa Chapter, and Algonquin College Student Branch.
CONTACT: details -
Raed Abdullah, Patrick Couture, or almuhtadi@ieee.org. Go to Top


Why Technical Writing Matters and What It Can Do for Your Career

Speaker: Kerry Surman, Algonquin College, Ottawa, Canada
DATE: Wednesday May 13, 2009
TIME: Refreshments, Registration and Networking: 06:30 p.m.; Seminar: 07:00 p.m. – 08:00 p.m.
PLACE: Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., School of Advanced Technology, T-Building, Room T129.

Parking
: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 (green) & 9 (red). Please respect restricted areas. Map: to view the map,
click here.
ADMISSION: All welcome - Free.
REGISTRATION: pre-registration Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: almuhtadi@ieee.org.
ORGANIZED BY: IEEE ComSoc/BTS/CES, PES Ottawa Chapter, Reliability Chapter, IEEE Ottawa Section Educational Activities, Women in Engineering Affinity Group, and Algonquin College Student Branch.
CONTACT: details - Wahab Almuhtadi, Branislav Djokic, and
Patrick Couture. Go to Top


Advanced Technology Seminar on:

1.     Compensation of Long Input Delays for Unstable Nonlinear and PDE Systems by Dr. Miroslav Krstic, Sorenson Distinguished Professor and Director of the Center for Control Systems and Dynamics at UC San Diego

2.    40 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s Coherent Modems by Kim Roberts, Nortel, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

PLACE: Algonquin College, School of Advanced Technology, Building-T, Room T119, 1385 Woodroffe Ave. , Ottawa, Ontario

Program

Thursday March 19, 2009:

6:30 pm

Refreshments, Registration and Networking

6:55 pm

Opening Remarks,
Claude Brule, Executive Dean, Faculty of Technology and Trades, Algonquin College

7:00 pm

Compensation of Long Input Delays for Unstable Nonlinear and PDE Systems
IEEE CSS Distinguished Lecturer:  Dr. Miroslav Krstic, Sorenson Professor and Director of the Center for Control Systems and Dynamics, UC San Diego, USA

8:00 pm

40 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s Coherent Modems  
Guest Speaker: Kim Roberts, Nortel Networks, Canada

9:00 pm

Closing
Wahab Almuhtadi

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Compensation of Long Input Delays for Unstable Nonlinear and PDE Systems

Speaker:  Prof. Dr. Miroslav Krstic, Sorenson Distinguished Professor and Director of the Center for Control Systems and Dynamics at UC San Diego

Date & Time: March 19, 2009. Refreshments, Registration and Networking: 06:30 p.m.; Seminar: 07:00 p.m. – 08:00 p.m.

Location: Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave. School of Advanced Technology, Building-T, Room T119

Parking: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.

Admission: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: Wahab Almuhtadi at almuhtadi@ieee.org.

More Info: Contact: Jurek Sasiadek jsas@ccs.carleton.ca, Wahab Almuhtadi almuhtadi@ieee.org, Raed Abdullah RaedAbdullah@ieee.org, Balakumar Balasingam balasing@site.uottawa.ca, Branislav Djokic branislav@ieee.org, Patrick Couture Cout0009@algonquincollege.com  
 

Abstract:
Input delays create challenges in stabilization problems in many applications for unstable plants. I will present new designs for global stabilization of broad classes of nonlinear systems with long input delays. I will also introduce problems where the length of the input delay is highly uncertain, or even completely unknown, and present adaptive control designs for stabilization in the presence of this and other parametric uncertainties. In addition to input delays, I will discuss other infinite-dimensional input dynamics, such as those that combine convective and diffusive phenomena. Finally, I will show designs for PDEs with long input delays, such as unstable reaction-diffusion equations and anti-stable wave equations
.
 

About the Speaker:
Miroslav Krstic is a Sorenson Distinguished Professor and Director of the Center for Control Systems and Dynamics at UC San Diego. He is a Fellow of IEEE and IFAC and a co-author of eight books: Nonlinear and Adaptive Control Design (1995), Stabilization of Uncertain Nonlinear Systems (1998), Flow Control by Feedback (2002), Real-Time Optimization by Extremum Seeking Control (2003), Control of Turbulent and Magnetohydrodynamic Channel Flows (2007), Boundary Control of PDEs (2008), Adaptive Control of Parabolic PDEs (2009), and Delay Compensation for Nonlinear and PDE Systems (2009).Go to Top


40 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s Coherent Modems

Speaker:  Kim Roberts, Nortel, 3500 Carling Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Date & Time: March 19, 2009. Refreshments, Registration and Networking: 06:30 p.m.; Seminar: 08:00 p.m. – 09:00 p.m.

Location: Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave. School of Advanced Technology, Building-T, Room T119

Parking: No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.

Admission: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting: Kexing Liu kexing.liu@ieee.org, or Wahab Almuhtadi at almuhtadi@ieee.org.  

 

Abstract:
Due to demand for increased optical transmission capacity, lower cost, and better spectral efficiency, 40 Gb/s optical systems are emerging and 100 Gb/s transmission is being discussed. With increased baud rate, system performance becomes very sensitive to chromatic dispersion, noise, and Polarization Mode Dispersion. It is desirable to have 40 and 100 Gb/s systems that operate as independently of optical physics as is possible. Traditionally, optical dispersion compensation modules were used within line amplifiers to compensate chromatic dispersion. Electrical Domain Compensation of Optical dispersion (eDCO) systems at 10 Gb/s, use digital signal processing to perform dispersion compensation in the transmitter such that all forms of optical compensation are obsolete. Systems at 40 and 100 Gb/s should be designed to be just as independent of dispersion. Telecommunications operators have been discovering significant amounts of Polarization Mode Dispersion in many of their installed fibers. Coherent detection provides several thousand kilometres of reach at 40 Gb/s, and allows linear digital filters in the receiver to combat dispersion, PDL and PMD A 100 Gb/s coherent product operates within a single 50 GHz WDM slot. The same coherent technology can be applied to 200, 400 and 1000 Gb/s modems, with future generations of CMOS
.
 

About the Speaker:
Kim Roberts has innovated in the areas of optical transmission and high capacity packet connections since 1984. His creations are at the heart of much of Nortel’s optical transmission portfolio from the first OC-48 to the 40 Gb/s DSP-assisted coherent transceiver. He has been granted 85 US patents while at the Nortel labs in Edmonton, Harlow UK, and Ottawa. Kim holds a BASc and MASc. in EE from UBC and is a Nortel Fellow. Kim received the Outstanding Engineer medal in 2008 from IEEE Canada.Go to Top


Adaptive Filtering Games for designing Reconfigurable Sensor Networks

Speaker:  Prof. Vikram Krishnamurthy, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia
Date & Time:
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009, 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Location: University of Ottawa, School of Information Technology and Engineering (SITE), Boardroom, 5th floor, 800 King Edward Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Admission: Free Registration. Please contact in advance to reserve seats.
Refreshments: Will be served 15 minutes before the start of the meeting.

Abstract:
This seminar deals with decentralized sensor activation and management in large scale sensor networks using game theoretic methods. Using recent results in economics, we describe how the theory of global games gives a powerful paradigm for designing decentralized data-aware sensor activation algorithms in dense sensor networks. We show that the Nash equilibrium of the sensor network has a simple threshold structure and exhibits a remarkable phase transition as more data is collected. Next, we describe how decentralized adaptive filtering algorithms with regret matching can be deployed in sensor networks to guide network behavior to a satisfactory operating point. A major theme of the talk will be the focus on structural properties that result in numerically efficient algorithms rather than brute force computational methods. Another key paradigm of the talk is the idea of sensors learning from data and other sensors – this is different to the traditional paradigm of sensors learning from data alone. This seminar should be of interest to researchers and practitioners in signal processing, sensor design, control systems and economics/applied mathematics.


About the Speaker:
Vikram Krishnamurthy (F) currently holds the Canada Research Chair in Signal Processing at the University of British Columbia. Prior to 2002, he was a Chaired Professor, University of Melbourne, Australia where has served as Deputy Head of Department. He has made several contributions to the theory of bayesian estimation, stochastic sensor scheduling, and hidden markov models. Dr. Krishnamurthy’s current research interests include computational game theory, stochastic dynamical systems for modeling of biological ion channels and stochastic optimization and sensor scheduling. Much of his recent research deals with sensor-adaptive signal processing – that is, how networked sensors can dynamically adapt their behavior to optimize the statistical signal processing. Such problems use game theory and stochastic control together with statistical signal processing. Dr Krishnamurthy has published over 30 book chapters and 125 peer reviewed journal papers. He has served as Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions Signal Processing (2000-2005); IEEE Transactions Automatic Control; IEEE Transactions Aerospace & Electronic Systems; IEEE Transactions Circuit and Systems II; IEEE Transactions Nanobioscience; EURASIP Journal of Applied Signal Processing; and Systems & Control Letters. Dr. Krishnamurthy has received many awards for his research including the Canada Research Chair, and Queen Elizabeth II Fellowship. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and a Member, IEEE Signal Processing Theory and Methods Technical Committee(2005-present).


Contact to reserve seats: Balakumar Balasingam at balasing@site.uottawa.ca, or Wahab Almuhtadi at almuhtadi@ieee.org.Go to Top


Watch this White Space: Leveraging the latest license-free spectrum

Speaker:  Stephen Rayment, Chief Technology Officer, BelAir Networks, Ottawa, Canada
Date & Time: Monday, Monday 26 January 2009, 8:00 PM
Optional pub supper 6.30 pm -Social hour with refreshments from 7.30 pm - All welcome
Location: RA Centre, Riverside Drive, Courtside A Room, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Parking: free. Please park in East lot and enter by corner door, Map: http://www.racentre.com/e/about/map.htm
Admission: Free Registration. Pre registration requested for either pub supper or social hour, please contact Hugh Reekie 613-728-5343, max-com@allstream.net.
Refreshments: Will be served 15 minutes before the start of the meeting.
Organized by: The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Ottawa Network and IEEE Ottawa Joint Chapter of Communications Society & Broadcast Technology Society (ComSoc, BTS & CES).

Abstract:
There is a sign in the US FCC's window which reads: "Broadband spectrum with excellent propagation characteristics suitable for both fixed and mobile applications - Free to a good home!" Free, yes, and potentially priceless, but this puppy will need some training. Stephen Rayment will delve into the promise and problems presented by this new "beachfront property" spectrum soon to be vacated - in the move from analog to digital TV. With requirements for GPS capabilities and third-party databases, spectrum sensing and microphone protection, adaptive power control and other technical specifications -- many covered under IEEE 802.22 -- it's not quite as simple as "give it away and they will build it" but it still presents an attractive opportunity for broadband innovation. Attend this meeting to find out what Microsoft KNOWS and why Dolly Parton was up in arms - you'll get the latest update on the spectrum that everyone's talking about and how and where you can expect to leverage it.


About the Speaker:
Stephen Rayment is co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of BelAir Networks where he has been responsible for delivering its first products and now oversees product and technology strategy and evolution. He brings 30 years of product and technology experience in the telecommunications industry, including 20 years in the wireless arena. At Bell-Northern Research, he led the development of broadband wireless products, the launch of broadband multimedia satcom equipment and the design of the industry's first wireless PBX. Stephen is active in industry standardization, serving as an officer in IEEE 802.11 and is author of over a dozen patents. Stephen holds a B.Sc. and a M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Queen's University, a Diploma in Administration from the University of Ottawa, is a graduate of the MIT Sloan School's Management of Technology program and is a Senior Member of the IEEE.

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Impacts of the Sun on Satellite Communications Systems

Speaker:         Dr. Andy D Kucar, andy@radio4u.com, www.radio4u.com, Ottawa, Canada
Time/Date:     
Monday, Sept. 22, 2008, 7:00pm-8:00pm
Location:         4124 Mackenzie Engineering Building, Carleton University

Abstract
For over 60 years, artificial man--made satellites have been providing diverse, highly available services, worldwide. The Sun is the lifeline of majority of satellite space segments, providing to satellites a thermal equilibrium, and, via solar cells, the electric energy. When the Sun becomes obscured by the Earth or by the Moon, a solar eclipse occurs. A satellite's lifeline becomes vitally reduced or cut and its thermal equilibrium disrupted. Different measures have to be taken to reduce and/or avoid potential degradations and/or disruptions of services. The worst case scenario, an unavailability of service, is also called an outage. Direct exposure to the Sun by a receiver's antenna main beam would cause an increase in the receiver's system noise temperature, which, consequentially, may cause a degradation of service and even an outage.

About the Speaker:
Dr Andy D Kucar P2EE4 has >30 years of industrial experience, worldwide, working on: top-of-the-line special projects and design of advanced terrestrial and satellite wireless radio equipment for oil/nafta/gas, aviation, transportation, TV, PTT, Baby Bells, dispatch and delivery, service industries, governments, etc. His affiliations include (d): Zagreb University, Radioindustrija Zagreb, Iskra/ITT, Ottawa University, BCE: Telesat, BCE: Bell Northern Research (now Nortel), KFUPM, and since 1990 4U Comm > www.radio4u.com, where he serves as a co-founder and senior manager.

More details, please click here: Seminar AnnouncementGo to Top


Blind Modulation Classification: A Concept Whose Time Has Come

Speaker: Dr. Octavia A. Dobre, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL, Canada
DATE
:    Wednesday March 26, 2008.
TIME:
    Refreshments, Registration and Networking: 06:45 p.m.; Seminar: 07:00 p.m. – 08:30 p.m.
PLACE:
University of Ottawa, School of Information Technology and Engineering (SITE), Boardroom, 5th floor,
             
800 King Edward Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, For direction to SITE click here on the map.

Admission: Free
. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:
                     Wahab Almuhtadi at almuhtadi@ieee.org.

Abstract
In a world of rapid growth of commercial wireless services, accommodating the explosive demand for spectrum access, efficiency and reliability becomes increasingly technically challenging. A solution is provided by flexible cognitive and intelligent radios, which sense the environment and respond intelligently, without explicit pre-configuration to define their functions. Furthermore, implementation of advanced information services for military applications in a crowded electromagnetic spectrum is a challenging task for communication engineers. Friendly signals should be securely transmitted and received, whereas hostile signals must be located, identified and jammed. The spectrum of these signals may range from HF to millimeter frequency band and their format can vary from simple narrowband modulations to wideband schemes. Under such conditions, advanced techniques are required for real-time signal intelligence, vital for decisions involving electronic warfare operations. This has created the need for flexible cognitive and intelligent radio systems, which employ advanced signal processing techniques. A major task of such radios is signal identification, which can encompass signal detection, separation, parameter estimation, modulation classification, etc..

Modulation classification is an intermediate step between signal detection and demodulation. This is a challenging task, especially in non-cooperative environments, since in addition to complex channels; there are many unknown parameters, such as symbol timing, and carrier phase and frequency. This talk focuses on techniques to tackle the blind modulation classification problem. The state-of-the-art in this research area is first reviewed. Signal cyclostationarity-based techniques are then introduced. Digital and analog, single- and multi-carrier modulations are considered. Single- and multiple-receive antenna cyclostationarity-based classifiers are presented. The talk concludes by outlining new and challenging problems in the dynamic research field of blind signal identification.

About the Speaker:
Octavia A. Dobre received the Diploma of Engineer and Ph. D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Polytehnic University of Bucharest, Romania, in 1991 and 2000, respectively. In 2000 she was the recipient of a British Royal Society fellowship at Westminster University, UK. In 2001 she joined the Wireless Information Systems Engineering Laboratory at Stevens Institute of Technology, US, as a Fulbright fellow. Between 2002 and 2005 she was a Research Associate with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, US, where she collaborated with US Army CECOM. Currently she is an Assistant Professor with the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at Memorial University, Canada. She has published over 25 research papers, authored over 10 technical reports, served as a reviewer for several international journals and conferences in the area of signal processing and wireless communications and as a member of the Technical Program and Organizing Committees of a number of IEEE conferences, such as ICC 2005 and CCECE 2009, respectively. She has given several invited talks to academia and industry, including Illinois Institute of Technology and Drexel University, US, and CRC and DRDC, Canada. Her current research interests include blind modulation classification and parameter estimation techniques, cognitive radio, multi-antenna systems, multicarrier modulation techniques, cyclostationarity applications in communications and signal processing, and resource allocation in emerging wireless networks.

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Advances in Wireless Sensor Networks

Speaker: Dr. Hussein T. Mouftah, Canada Research Chair and Distinguished University Professor SITE, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
DATE
: Wednesday February 27, 2008.
TIME:
Refreshments, Registration and Networking: 06:45 p.m.; Seminar: 07:00 p.m. – 08:30 p.m.
PLACE:
Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave., School of Advanced Technology, Building-T, Room T129.
PARKING:
No fee after 5:00 p.m. at the Visitors’ Parking Lots 8 & 9. Please respect restricted areas.
Admission: Free. Registration required. To ensure a seat, please register by e-mail contacting:
                  Wahab Almuhtadi at almuhtadi@ieee.org.

Abstract
In recent years, advances in miniaturization; low-power circuit design; simple, low power, yet reasonably efficient wireless communication equipment; and improved small-scale energy supplies have combined with reduced manufacturing costs to make a new technological vision possible: Wireless sensor networks.
A sensor network is composed of a large number of sensor nodes, which are densely deployed either inside the phenomenon or very close to it. The position of nodes need not be engineered or pre-determined. This allows random deployment in inaccessible terrains or disaster relief operation. We will present an overview of advances in wireless sensor networks technology and its future trends and its applications.

About the Speaker:
Hussein Mouftah joined the School of Information Technology and Engineering (SITE) of the University of Ottawa in September 2002 as a Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) Professor in Optical Networks, where he became a Distinguished University Professor in February 2006. He has been with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Queen's University (1979-2002), where he was prior to his departure a Full Professor and the Department Associate Head. He has three years of industrial experience mainly at Bell Northern Research of Ottawa, now Nortel Networks (1977-79). He has spent three sabbatical years also at Nortel Networks (1986-87, 1993-94, and 2000-01), always conducting research in the area of broadband packet switching networks, mobile wireless networks and quality of service over the optical Internet. He served as Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Communications Magazine (1995-97) and IEEE Communications Society Director of Magazines (1998-99), Chair of the Awards Committee (2002-2003) and Director of Education (2006-). He is a Distinguished Speaker of the IEEE Communications Society since 2000. Dr. Mouftah is the author or coauthor of five books, 24 book chapters and more than 800 technical papers and 9 patents in this area. He is the joint holder of the Best Paper Award for papers presented at the IEEE ICC'2005 Optical Networking Symposium and SPECTS’2002, and the Outstanding Paper Award for papers presented at the IEEE HPSR’2002 and the IEEE ISMVL’1985. Also he is the joint holder of a Honorable Mention for the Frederick W. Ellersick Price Paper Award for Best Paper in the IEEE Communications Magazine in 1993. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, such as the 2006 IEEE Canada McNaughton Medal, the 2006 Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC) Julian Smith Medal, the 2004 IEEE Communications Society Edwin Howard Armstrong Achievement Award, the 2004 George S. Glinski Award for Excellence in Research of the University of Ottawa Faculty of Engineering, the 1989 Engineering Medal for Research and Development of the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO), and the Ontario Distinguished Researcher Award of the Ontario Innovation Trust. He is also the recipient of the IEEE Canada (Region 7) Outstanding Service Award (1995) and the 2006 CSIM Distinguished Service Award of the IEEE Communications Society. Dr. Mouftah is a Fellow of the IEEE (1990), Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (2003) and Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada (2005).

To print or to open the flyer of the seminar, please click here.

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Micro-power Integrated Circuits and Systems

Speaker: Prof. Anantha Chandrakasan, Director of the MIT Microsystems Technology Laboratories, MA
Date: Thursday, Dec. 20, 2007, 2:00pm - 3:30pm
Place: 5050MC (Minto Center), Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa
Organized by: IEEE Ottawa SSCS Chapter and ComSoc/BTS/CES Joint Chapter
Contact: Sreedhar Natarajan sn@ieee.org, Ram Achar achar@doe.carleton.ca, Wahab Almuhtadi almuhtadi@ieee.org

Abstract:
 Energy efficient system design requires systematic optimization at all levels of the design abstraction ranging from devices and circuits to architectures and algorithms. The design of micro-power systems will enable operation using energy scavenging. A major opportunity to reduce the power dissipation of digital circuits is to scale the power supply voltage below the device thresholds (i.e., sub-threshold operation). The opportunities and challenges associated with sub-threshold design will be presented. This includes variation-aware design for logic and SRAM circuits, efficient DC-DC converters for ultra-low-voltage delivery, and algorithm structuring to support extreme parallelism. A number of integrated circuit examples that demonstrate sub-threshold operation will be presented. Other power management techniques such as ultra-dynamic-voltage scaling, fine-grained power gating and 3-D integration will be discussed. The use of highly digital architectures for wireless communication circuits can also significantly reduce system energy dissipation. Specific examples of power management will be presented, focusing on wireless sensor networks and impulse based ultra-wideband communications as drivers.

About the Speaker:
Anantha P. Chandrakasan received the B.S, M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1989, 1990, and 1994 respectively. Since September 1994, he has been with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, where he is currently the Joseph F. and Nancy P. Keithley Professor of Electrical Engineering. He was a co-recipient of several awards including the 1993 IEEE Communications Society's Best Tutorial Paper Award, the IEEE Electron Devices Society's 1997 Paul Rappaport Award for the Best Paper in an EDS publication during 1997, the 1999 DAC Design Contest Award, the 2004 DAC/ISSCC Student Design Contest Award, and the ISSCC 2007 Beatrice Winner Award for Editorial Excellence. His research interests include low-power digital integrated circuit design, wireless microsensors, ultra-wideband radios, and emerging technologies. He is a co-author of Low Power Digital CMOS Design (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1995), Digital Integrated Circuits (Pearson Prentice-Hall, 2003, 2nd edition), and Sub-threshold Design for Ultra-Low Power Systems (Springer 2006). He is also a co-editor of Low Power CMOS Design (IEEE Press, 1998), Design of High-Performance Microprocessor Circuits (IEEE Press, 2000), and Leakage in Nanometer CMOS Technologies (Springer, 2005). He has served as a technical program co-chair for the 1997 International Symposium on Low Power Electronics and Design (ISLPED), VLSI Design '98, and the 1998 IEEE Workshop on Signal Processing Systems. He was the Signal Processing Sub-committee Chair for ISSCC 1999-2001, the Program Vice-Chair for ISSCC 2002, the Program Chair for ISSCC 2003, and the Technology Directions Sub-committee Chair for ISSCC 2004-2007. He was an Associate Editor for the IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits from 1998 to 2001. He served on SSCS AdCom from 2000 to 2007 and he was the meetings committee chair from 2004 to 2007. He is the Technology Directions Chair for ISSCC 2008. He is the Director of the MIT Microsystems Technology Laboratories.Go to Top


Cooperative and Opportunistic Communications

Speaker: Behnaam Aazhang, distinguished lecturer
Date: July 30, 2007.
Contact: Burt Christian at b.christian@ieee.orgGo to Top


Air Interfaces for Future-Generation Wireless Systems

Speaker: Dr. David Falconer
Date: April 18, 2006
Contact: zahir@ieee.orgGo to Top


VoIP PBXs for Small and Multi-Location Businesses

Speaker: Ron Reddick
Date: May 3, 2006
Contact: zahir@ieee.orgGo to Top


Introduction to Turbo Equalization

Speaker: Maryam Sabbaghian
Date: May 15, 2006
Contact: zahir@ieee.orgGo to Top


A Unified view of iterative ("Turbo") Receivers and Decoders

Speaker: Dr. Ezio Biglieri
Date: September 27, 2006
Contact: zahir@ieee.org, b.christian@ieee.orgGo to Top

 


1. A Brief Overview of the European Union WINNER Projects
2. WINNER Channel Model; Challenges in MIMO System Testing
 

Speakers: 1. Dr. David Falconer, 2. Pekka Kyosti and Yuha Ylitalo
Date: October 19, 2006
Contact: zahir@ieee.org, b.christian@ieee.orgGo to Top

 


OWRA/IEEE COMSOC/NCIT/CRC Seminar Day

"Wireless Applications"
Program Chair: Bahram Zahir, zahir@ieee.org
Program Co-Chair: Maike Luiken Miller, maike.miller@ieee.org

DATE: Wednesday, June 22, 2005
LOCATION: CRC Auditorium, 3701 Carling Ave., Ottawa
(CRC is a secure site - All attendees must sign in at CRC Reception Centre)

Registration The theme of our seminar, Wireless Applications, highlights the importance that developing applications plays in improving the services and consequently enhancing the economic situation of the communications industry. We look forward to providing a forum for discussion and debate on current status of the research on wireless applications. Building on past experience and drawing from the insights of our members, a primary goal of this seminar is to further educate ourselves as to where the industry is headed, or should go. The security aspects, trust and privacy will be of great importance in this seminar. Along these lines, we have several speakers, from industry, government organizations or academia, who come forward and share with us their most recent research and development ideas, or products.

For directions to CRC, please visit:
http://www.crc.ca/en/html/crc/home/info_crc/contact/visitor_info

Program

8:00 - 8:30    Registration and Coffee, Continental Breakfast

8:30 - 8:35 Welcome

  8:35 - 9:10  Current and Future Handheld Applications, Jason Flick, Flick Software

9:10 - 9:55   Mobile Payment, Mohammad Tanabian, Hivva Technologies

9:55 - 10:15  Coffee Break

10:15 - 11:00   Wireless Security through RF Fingerprinting, Nur Serinken, CRC

11:00 - 11:45  Mobilizing Applications: A few PWGSC Case Studies, Marek Dziedzic, PWGSC

11:45 - 12:00  Q & A

12:00 - 13:00  Lunch Break

13:00 - 13:45  Collaborative Leadership for Market Driven Success, Stephen Fry, i2p.biz

13:45 - 14:30  Mobile Applications with Digital Broadcasting, Francois Lefebvre, CRC

14:30 - 14:50  Coffee Break

14:50 - 15:35   Developing Remote Communication Wireless Networks, Harry Silverstone, EION

15:35 - 16:10   Middleware for Mobile Applications, Thomas Kunz, Carleton University

16:10 - 16:55  Q & A

16:55 - 17:30  Panel

Go to Top


ABSTRACTS & BIOS

Current and Future Handheld Applications, Jason Flick, Flick Software
Abstract: This presentation will give an overview of both personal and enterprise handheld/wireless applications that are available and yet to be developed. It will also cover the breath of device types available and look into some of the future devices yet to be commercialized.
Bio: Jason Flick is the President and Chief Technology Officer of the mobile technology and solutions company, Flick Software. He has 15 years of technical leadership experience in mobile and handheld technology, and has held board positions at a number of technology companies and not-for-profit organizations. Jason enjoys exploring the latest advancements in mobility, and has focused on helping customers understand how to harness its’ usefulness to generate value in their businesses.

Mobile Payment as a Wireless Application, Mohammad Tanabian, MBA, Hivva Technologies
Abstract: Mobile payment as a wireless application has been on wish list of many wireless operators and wireless subscribers alike. Over the last decade, the idea of using a mobile phone as a payment medium, a data retrieval device and as a personal companion has seen hype of support and at times, wave of criticism. This presentation will give an overview of today’s electronic payment solutions and shows how mobile payment can fill a gap that they haven’t been able to address. It also introduces some of the available mobile payment solutions that are being commercially deployed today.
Bio: Mohammad Tanabian is the President and one of the co-founders of Hivva Technologies. He has a number of patents in m-commerce, mobile payment, point of sales collaboration and location based services. Mohammad holds a Bachelor of Engineering, A Master of Science from Carleton University and an MBA from Queen’s university.

Wireless Security through RF Fingerprinting, Nur Serinken, PhD., CRC
Abstract: The process to identify radio transmitters by examining their unique transient characteristics at the beginning of transmission is called "RF fingerprinting". The security of wireless networks can be enhanced by challenging a user to prove its identity if the fingerprint of a network device is unidentified or deemed to be a threat. In this talk, the identification problem of an individual node in a wireless network using its RF fingerprint will be addressed. A complete identification system, including data acquisition, transient detection, RF fingerprint extraction and classification subsystems, will be presented. The system performance results based on the real data acquired using the test bed at Communications Research Centre will be highlighted.
Bio:
Employment: 1981 to Present CRC- Ottawa, 1977-1981- Bell Northern Research -Ottawa, 1974-1977- General Electric Research Centre Wembley UK
Areas of interest and past research topics: Transmitter identification for security, Research into radio packet data transmission systems, for HF, VHF and UHF channels, Facsimile data transmission over radio, Secure identification
documents, secure facsimile systems, Large area flat LCD displays, Meteor burst communications.
Education: Ph.D E.E. 1974, M.Sc. E.E 1971, B.Sc. E.E 1969

Mobilizing Applications: A few PWGSC Case Studies, Marek Dziedzic, PWGSC
Abstract: Over the last few years a number of attempts was made to implement mobile applications within the PWGSC environment. This presentation discusses a few of these trials and explores the successes and challenges of these implementations.
Bio: Marek Dziedzic has extensive experience in Telecommunications and Information Technology. He held various senior technical and management positions with telecommunications and hi-tech companies. He has extensive experience in network architecture, management and operations of large-scale national and international telecommunications networks and in management and operations of IT/IM. Recently, he led the Connectivity Initiative in Real Property Branch of Public Works and Government Services Canada, where, as part of his responsibilities, he is working on wireless and mobility solutions and on Building Automation Systems. He holds a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering and is a certified Information Systems Professional (I.S.P.).

Collaborative Leadership for Market Driven Success, Stephen Fry, i2p.biz
Abstract: This presentation is designed to give the researcher and business participant an appreciation for key enablers for business success, including any endeavour relating to the wireless market. Collaboration is not only a technology, but a powerful approach to achieving business success. Identifying a real market opportunity, developing a solution and a plan to execute, and gathering the resources to succeed are critical elements of successful ventures.
Bio:Steve Fry PEng has a strong IT and communications sales/engineering background with Nortel in Canada and the USA which he is now successfully applying to commercialization consulting projects. Steve’s quiet practical approach to technical sales and implementation processes help users develop confidence in execution of new product offerings.

Mobile Applications with Digital Broadcasting, Francois Lefebvre, CRC
Abstract: Digital broadcasting technologies like DAB, DMB and DVB-H are currently attracting a lot of attention in the mobile telecommunication industry. Projected networks will combine 3G one-to-one communication channels with one-to-many broadcast downlinks to deliver new services. On the end-user side, multi-radio handsets will provide flexible access, storage and rendering capabilities for multimedia-rich applications. This presentation will give an overview of these new systems and applications while focusing on convergence aspects.
Bio: Mr. Lefebvre has 15 years of R&D experience in multimedia systems and applications. He joined the Broadcast Technology branch at the Communications Research Centre in 1999 and is currently leading the Mobile Multimedia Broadcasting project. His most recent works focus on converging technologies built on DAB/DMB, Internet and personal wireless communications systems. He holds a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from Laval University.

Developing Remote Communication Wireless Networks, Harry Silverstone, MBA, EION
Abstract: Deploying Wireless Network Infrastructure in Remote and Rural Communities has technical and business challenges. It entails understanding the local needs, their current abilities, along with developing an economically viable solution. This presentation will explore some of the concerns, considerations and how EION is addressing them.
Bio: Director Technology & Business Development Mr. Harry Silverstone has a solid track record in the Data Networking industry, and brings extensive experience from Nortel Networks, Bay Networks and Digital Equipment Corp. Mr. Silverstone has a thorough understanding of IP protocols and Broadband Access technologies. Through his combined technical, marketing and customer skills, he has designed and installed WAN and LAN networks worldwide, improved product quality, developed RFCs, and provided internal and external wired and wireless training. Mr. Silverstone holds a Bachelor of Computer Science from the University of New Hampshire and an Executive MBA from the University of Ottawa.

Middleware for Mobile Applications, Thomas Kunz, Carleton University
Abstract: While traditional middleware technology has shown great suitability for fixed distributed systems, it does not offer much help for dealing with the dynamic aspects of mobile applications. Challenges from mobile computing applications indicate the need for defining a new architecture for distributed systems. The new architecture should be able to address many of the limitations exposed by emerging mobile applications. This talk sheds some light on the concept of middleware and its relations with mobile applications. It defines the major constraints posed by mobile computing systems and presents a detailed analysis of static and dynamic requirements to evaluate the traditional and modern middleware solutions, respectively. We also provide a general overview of traditional and modern middleware solutions, and discuss several implementations of both paradigms against these.

Registration

For registration visit http://www.modasolutions.com/Forms/comsoc/index13062005.htm. Please note that early registration ends June 19, 2005.

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