IEEE International Conference on Communications
20-24 May 2018 // Kansas City, MO, USA
Communications for Connecting Humanity

Keynotes

Keynote Speakers

Monday, 21 May

Room: Exhibit Hall B
11:00 am - 12:30 pm 
James Thompson, Qualcomm
Nick McKeown, Stanford University

James H. ThompsonTitle: Getting More Than Just Higher Data Rates with 5G (Youtube link)

James H. Thompson

Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

Abstract: 5G is right around the corner and it is about much more than just higher peak data rates.  The ultra-low latency and reliability introduced by 5G make it a key technology for enabling new use-cases and value-added services that require split-second data availability or the ability to leverage cloud computing to intelligently process massive datasets.  I will give an overview of the 5G rollout including a discussion of some of the practical challenges we face, followed by what I think are interesting future enhancements such as spectrum sharing, self-contained subframe and async multiple access.  Then I will cover some of the R&D topics within Qualcomm that compliment 5G such as automotive driver assist and autonomy, augmented reality using split rendering at the network edge, as well as the profound impact of deep neural networks and machine learning to our research activities.

Bio: James H. Thompson serves as executive vice president, engineering for Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and chief technology officer. In this role he is responsible for global research and development activities associated with all wireless chipsets in QCT, Qualcomm’s semiconductor business, as well as overseeing the companywide technical and product roadmaps across all business areas. Additionally, Thompson has oversight for CR&D and corporate engineering.

Thompson has overseen hardware and systems engineering activities in QCT since 2001 and all of QCT engineering since 2004. Prior to joining QCT, Thompson lead Qualcomm’s Globalstar engineering team and was also part of the team that developed the CDMA cellular standard. He has been a member of Qualcomm’s Executive Committee since 2012.

Thompson received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, as well as his doctorate in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He is a member of the Industrial Advisory Board of the University of Wisconsin College of Engineering and is also a member of the Council of Advisors for the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California, San Diego.

 

Nick McKeownTitle:Programmable Forwarding Planes are Here to Stay (PresentationYoutube link)

Nick McKeown

Kleiner Perkins, Mayfield, Sequoia Capital Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, Stanford University

Abstract: Many great research ideas and new languages are emerging for programmable forwarding. In this talk, I'll take a step back and consider how we got here, why programmable forwarding planes are inevitable, why now is the right time, why they are a final frontier for SDN, and why they are here to stay.

Bio: Nick McKeown (PhD/MS UC Berkeley ’95/’92; B.E Univ. of Leeds, ’86) is the Kleiner Perkins, Mayfield and Sequoia Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Stanford University, and Faculty Director of the Open Networking Research Center. From 1986-1989 he worked for Hewlett-Packard Labs in Bristol, England. In 1995, he helped architect Cisco's GSR 12000 router. Nick was co-founder and CTO at Abrizio (acquired by PMC-Sierra, 1998), co-founder and CEO of Nemo (“Network Memory”),acquired by Cisco, 2005. In 2007 he co-founded Nicira (acquired by VMware) with Martin Casado and Scott Shenker. Nick is chairman of Barefoot Networks which he co-founded with Pat Bosshart and Martin Izzard in 2013. In 2011, he co-founded the Open Networking Foundation (ONF) with Scott Shenker; and the Open Networking Lab (ON.Lab) with Guru Parulkar and Scott Shenker.

Nick is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering (NAE), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK), the IEEE and the ACM. He received the British Computer Society Lovelace Medal (2005), the IEEE Kobayashi Computer and Communications Award (2009), the ACM Sigcomm Lifetime Achievement Award (2012), the IEEE Rice communications theory award (1999). Nick has an Honorary Doctorate from ETH (Zurich, 2014). Nick's current research interests include software defined networks (SDN), network verification, video streaming, how to enable more rapid improvements to the Internet infrastructure, and tools and platforms for networking research and teaching.


Tuesday, 22 May

Room: Exhibit Hall B
11:00 am - 12:30 pm 
Elisa Bertino, Purdue University
YongXing Zhou, Huawei

Elisa BertinoTitle: Security and Privacy in the IoT (PresentationYoutube link)

Elisa Bertino

Kleiner Perkins, Samuel Conte Term Professor of Computer Science, Purdue University and Director of the CyberSpace Security Lab, Cyber2SLab

Abstract: The Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm refers to the network of physical objects or "things" embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and connectivity to enable objects to exchange data with servers, centralized systems,  and/or other connected devices based on a variety of communication infrastructures. IoT makes it possible to sense and control objects creating opportunities for more direct integration between the physical world and computer-based systems. IoT will usher automation in a large number of application domains, ranging from manufacturing and energy management (e.g. SmartGrid), to healthcare management and urban life (e.g. SmartCity). However, because of its fine-grained, continuous and pervasive data acquisition and control capabilities, IoT raises concerns about security and privacy. Deploying existing security solutions to IoT is not straightforward because of device heterogeneity, highly dynamic and possibly unprotected environments, and large scale. In this talk, after outlining key challenges in IoT security and privacy, we present initial approaches to securing IoT data, including firewall techniques to prevent IoT devices to be compromised and used by botnets.

Bio: Elisa Bertino is Samuel Conte Term Professor of Computer Science at Purdue University, and serves as Director of the CyberSpace Security Lab (Cyber2SLab). Prior to joining Purdue in 2004, she was a professor and department head at the Department of Computer Science and Communication of the University of Milan. She has been a visiting researcher at the IBM Research Laboratory (now Almaden) in San Jose, at the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation, at Rutgers University, at Telcordia Technologies. Her recent research focuses on database security, digital identity management, policy systems, and security for web services. She is a Fellow of ACM, of IEEE, and AAAS. She received the IEEE Computer Society 2002 Technical Achievement Award, the IEEE Computer Society 2005 Kanai Award, and the ACM SIGSAC Outstanding Contributions Award. She is currently serving as EiC of IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing.

 

Title: Bring 5G into Reality (PresentationYoutube link)

Yongxing Zhou

Vice President and Head of MIMO and Spectrum Research          Competency Center, Huawei Wireless Radio Access Technology Department 

Abstract:  On top of provision of much improved mobile Internet user experience, 5G is also expected to be the key driving force behind the shift of digitalization of all industries and a more intelligent, connected world. This has brought unprecedented challenges to radio access and mobile core networks. Technology and spectrum innovations have to meet divergent requirements within an integrated/unified 5G standard framework. This talk will introduce progress and roadmap of 5G standard and commercial developments and further discuss evolution of 5G with opportunities and challenges. New evaluation metrics, spectrum and technology innovations will be analyzed and evaluated to demonstrate the potentials of accelerating business success of 5G and IoT.

Bio: Yongxing Zhou is Vice President of Huawei Wireless Radio Access Technology Department and Head of MIMO and Spectrum Research Competency Center. He is currently working on 3GPP LTE-Pro and 5G technologies. Prior to 2014, he headed Huawei 3GPP LTE Standardization Team and particularly led development of LTE and LTE-Advanced technologies such as MIMO, FD-MIMO,  CoMP, 3D channel modeling, ePDCCH and FDD/TDD Carrier Aggregation etc. Dr. Yongxing Zhou has more than 100 issued patents. Before joining Huawei, he was with Samsung from 2002 to 2009 working on IEEE 802.22, IEEE 802.11n standard and implementations as well as TDD related research.  He received his Ph.D degree from Tsinghua University, China.


Wednesday, 23 May

Room: Exhibit Hall B
11:00 am - 12:30 pm 
John Saw, Sprint
Thyaga Nandagopal, NSF
Paul Tilghman, DARPA

Title: Sprint 5G and the Power of Massive MIMO (Youtube link)

John Saw

Chief Technology Officer, Sprint

Abstract: Leading operators around the world are using Massive MIMO to power high-capacity Gigabit LTE services and prepare for 5G. Sprint has begun its deployment of Massive MIMO in the U.S., and is partnering with global providers including SoftBank and Qualcomm Technologies to develop the Band n41 5G ecosystem. With its deep 2.5 GHz spectrum holdings offering the right balance of coverage and capacity, Sprint is uniquely positioned for nationwide mobile 5G. Sprint CTO Dr. John Saw shares his perspective on the challenges and opportunities ahead as Sprint leverages its spectrum asset to launch the first 5G mobile network in the U.S. in the first half of 2019.

Bio: John Saw, Ph.D., is chief technology officer at Sprint, responsible for technology development, network planning, engineering, deployment and  service  assurance of the Sprint network. Prior to this he was chief network officer. Dr. Saw has more than 20 years of wireless industry experience. Before Sprint’s acquisition of Clearwire, he was CTO of Clearwire Corp. He joined Clearwire as its second employee in 2003 and was instrumental in scaling the company’s technical expertise and organization. In 2009 and 2010, he led the Clearwire team that built the first 4G network in North America, covering more than 130 million people.Prior to Clearwire, Dr. Saw was Senior Vice President & General Manager of Fixed Wireless Access at Netro Corp. (now SR Telecom) after Netro’s acquisition of AT&T Wireless’ broadband wireless group in 2002. He initiated the rollout of Netro’s broadband wireless products in Europe as part of Telefonica de Espana’s TRAC Migration project to bring high-speed internet and voice to suburban and rural Spain. He was Chief Engineer and VP of Engineering at AT&T Wireless, and was instrumental in the development and rollout of AT&T Wireless’ Digital Broadband wireless service from 1997-2002 (one of the earliest OFDM-based wireless systems ever deployed and foundational to the subsequent development of OFDM-based 4G standards for WiMAX and LTE).Before joining AT&T Wireless, he spent nine years at Nortel and Bell Northern Research, where he was involved in the development of TDMA, GSM and CDMA cellular infrastructure and microwave radio products. Under his leadership, Nortel was an early pioneer in the design and integration of Si/GaAs/HBT multichip modules (MMIC’s) into compact radio transceivers. Dr. Saw was awarded the Nortel Wireless President’s Award for Innovation in 1997.Dr. Saw has a doctorate in electrical engineering from McMaster University, Canada. His dissertation on low loss surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices is recognized as pioneering work that has helped enable a new generation of RF signal processing elements used in all mobile phones today. He has also published more than 15 technical papers and has six U.S. patents in wireless technologies.  In April 2017, Dr. Saw was appointed to the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman, Ajit Pai. He also currently serves on the advisory board to the Global TDD LTE Initiative (GTI), an international industry consortium.

 

Title : DARPA Spectrum Collaboration Challenge (SC2) (Youtube link)

Paul Tilghman 

Program Manager, DARPA

Abstract:The DARPA Spectrum Collaboration Challenge (SC2) is the first-of-its-kind collaborative machine-learning prize competition to overcome scarcity in the radio frequency (RF) spectrum. Today, spectrum is managed by manually dividing it into rigid, exclusively licensed bands. This slow, human-driven process is not adaptive to the dynamics of supply and demand, and thus cannot exploit the full potential capacity of the spectrum.  In SC2, competitors are reimagining spectrum access strategies to develop a new wireless paradigm in which radio networks autonomously collaborate and reason at machine speed.  To achieve these breakthroughs in efficiently sharing the RF spectrum, SC2 competitors are taking advantage of recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, and the expanding capacities of software-defined radios.  In this talk, I'll give an overview of SC2 and the technical challenges that competitors face this competition.

Bio: Mr. Paul Tilghman joined DARPA in December 2014 as a Program Manager in the Microsystems Technology Office. His research interests include intelligent and adaptive RF systems, digital signal processing, machine learning, wireless communications and electronic warfare.

Prior to joining DARPA, Mr. Tilghman was a senior research engineer at Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Laboratories where he led programs in adaptive electronic warfare, signals intelligence and non-cooperative geolocation. While at Lockheed Martin, Tilghman led the development of a real-time cognitive electronic warfare system, which used machine learning techniques to characterize and counter previously unknown radio emitters on the battlefield. He is a recipient of Lockheed Martin’s highest award, the NOVA award, and was also previously honored as the company’s Engineer of the Year.
Mr. Tilghman received a bachelor of science in computer engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology and a master of science in electrical engineering from Drexel University.
 

Title: Powering R&D in Wireless Systems for the next decade: Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research (PresentationYoutube link)

Thyaga Nandagopal 

Deputy Division Director, NSF

Abstract: Wireless communication networks and applications have evolved to become a vital part of the nation’s economic growth, productivity, and safety. Citizenry of the future will use services enhanced by ubiquitous wireless technologies enabling first responders and surgeons to share real-time data during emergencies, entry-level workers to be trained via immersive, virtual reality systems, and drivers to benefit from semi- or fully-autonomous vehicles, to name just a few.  To support this unparalleled growth in services, devices, and traffic, wireless speeds up to 100 times today’s speeds and improvements in coverage, reliability, and latency will be required. Research to deliver such improvements has offered promising preliminary results in theory, simulations, and lab-scale prototypes of very small numbers of advanced wireless sites. However, due to a lack of appropriately-sized testbeds available to the academic research community and industry, it has been challenging to test these preliminary results at scale.

In order to meet this challenge, the National Science Foundation, in collaboration with the 28-member PAWR Industry Consortium, has formed a public-private partnership to support creation of four city-scale, outdoor, experimental platforms for advancing fundamental wireless research. These research platforms will be open and accessible remotely to a diverse set of academic and industry researchers, helping to accelerate technology transfer from academia to industry. They are also expected to bring new economic development and educational opportunities to their surrounding communities. This talk will cover the program and provide a preview of the key research outcomes that are expected from early deployments of these platforms.

Bio: Dr. Thyaga Nandagopal serves in the Directorate of Computer & Information Science and Engineering (CISE) of the National Science Foundation. He is the Deputy Division Director (DDD) for the Division of Computing and Communication Foundations (CCF).  Prior to his DDD position he managed wireless networking and mobile computing research within the Networking Technologies and Systems (NeTS) program at NSF.  He has been with the Foundation since February 2012.

He has managed networking and mobile computing research within the NeTS program, and contributed to several other crosscutting programs, including Spectrum Efficiency, Energy Efficiency, and Security (SpecEES) and Industry/University Collaborative Research Centers (IUCRC). He has built coalitions in support of new research directions, including leading the establishment of the Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research (PAWR) program, which has garnered $50 million in cash and in-kind contributions from an industry consortium of about 30 wireless networking companies and technology associations. He serves as co-chair of the Wireless Spectrum Research and Development (WSRD) Interagency Working Group. 

Before joining NSF, Dr. Nandagopal spent 10 years as a Member of the Technical Staff at Bell Labs/Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs. His research interests dealt with networking in the cloud, green networking, and software-defined networks. In this role, he helped pioneer the development of the first commercial carrier-grade software-defined network platform (ALU 9980 AINP) between 2006 and 2008, with industry-leading features such as service-chaining and network function virtualization. He also worked extensively on wireless ad hoc/mesh networks and sensors/RFID systems, with specific focus on algorithms for enabling efficient operations of these systems.

Dr. Nandagopal holds 38 US patents awarded and several patents pending, and has published numerous papers in highly regarded conferences and journals in the field. He has also served as program chair or co-chair for many technical program committees, and Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing. Dr. Nandagopal is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Dr. Nandagopal holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC); M.S. degrees in applied mathematics and computer engineering from UIUC; and a B.Eng. in electronics and communication engineering from Anna University (Chennai, India).

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