Past Events
2023
Seminar: Prof Simon Saunders
Speaker: Prof Simon Saunders, Visiting Professor
Title: "A wireless journey to Bristol via industry, academia and policy"
Bio:
Prof. Simon Saunders is an independent advisor and researcher with deep industry and academic background in communication systems technology. He is Honorary Professor at the University of Bristol, Visiting Professor at King’s College London, Advisor to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport and Trustee of the charity Music for All. In 2021 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Simon is a specialist in the technology of wireless communications, with a technical and commercial background derived from senior appointments in both industry (including Google, Motorola and Philips), academia (University of Surrey, Trinity College Dublin) and regulation (Ofcom and UK Government).
He founded the Small Cell Forum and chaired this industry association from 2007-12, growing membership to 150 companies and working with 3GPP to create the first standards for small cells. He acted as Director of Emerging & Online Technology for Ofcom, leading Ofcom’s Emerging Technology programme and creating their Online Tech team (2020-21). At Google (2015-20), he worked with operators globally to enhance wireless connectivity via a range of advanced technology initiatives, combining wireless networks, artificial intelligence and network virtualisation. As co-founder and Director of Technology for independent wireless strategy advisory firm Real Wireless (2006-15), he was responsible for overall technical capability and direction, providing independent wireless expertise and advice to operators, regulators, technology and law firms and wireless users. In 2019 Simon organised the world’s first 5G music lesson on behalf of charity Music for All, led by famous musician Jamie Cullum.
He is an author of over 150 articles, books and book chapters, including a popular textbook on antennas and propagation. He has invented over 15 patented wireless technologies and served on technical advisory boards of several companies and universities.
28/29 Jul Conference: Catalysing Future Networks in the UK
The Smart Internet Lab at the University of Bristol is one of the UK's most renowned Telecommunications Research Centres which addresses grand technological, industrial and societal challenges in Future Networks.
This 2-day free, in-person event will bring together the Smart Internet Lab community and leading industrial experts to discuss future visions in telecommunications research. Through a series of keynote talks, panel sessions & workshops, the conference will cover topics in areas such as:
- Future Mobile Networks (6G)
- Optical Comms & Quantum
- Network Convergence
- Quantum Computing
- Quantum Networking
- AI/ML for Networks
- Network security
- Sustainability
For further information see the conference website.
Seminar - Prof Joe Butler
Speaker: Joe Butler
Joe has run through a number of the activities that Digital Catapult has underway in areas related to the work of the Smart Internet Lab.
Bio:
Joe is the CTO at Digital Catapult where he leads a team working across digital infrastructure, AI, immersive, blockchain and quantum. This includes a range of programmes such as the SONIC Open RAN Labs, UK Telecoms Innovation Network and the StudiosUK Virtual Production studios.He has worked across industry and technology policy and regulatory roles. Previous roles include Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the radio spectrum and Director of AI and Machine Learning at Ofcom, and Director of Telecoms and Chief Scientific Advisor at DCMS. He was one of the authors of the National Infrastructure Commission recommendations to government on the future of mobile communications & 5G for the UK.
Seminar: Prof Federico Boccardi
Speaker: Federico Boccardi
Title: AWS and telecom cloudfication
Bio:
Federico Boccardi is Head of Telecom Policy for Europe in Amazon Web Services (AWS). Before AWS, he held senior positions in Ofcom (the UK communications regulator), where he contributed to a very diverse set of areas, including defining the spectrum strategy for 5G, leading the studies to open a new Wi-Fi band at 5 GHz, and coordinating the emerging technology functions. Before Ofcom, he worked in Vodafone and Bell Labs (Alcatel-Lucent), where he made key contributions for the theoretical development of wireless communications and their applications to 4G and 5G systems. He received a M.Sc. and a Ph.D. degree in Telecommunication Engineering from the University of Padova, Italy, and a Diploma in Strategy and Innovation from the Oxford Saïd Business School. He is an Honorary Visiting Professor at the University of Bristol, a Fellow of the IET and Member of the Advisory Board at UKTIN.
2022
02 Feb 2022 Seminar: GPU powered electromagnetics for Digital Twin driven research
Speaker: Dr Timothy Pelham
Title: GPU powered electromagnetics for Digital Twin driven research
Abstract: As GPU capabilities allow for more detailed electromagnetics and physical models to be explored on smaller platforms, there is an opportunity for overlap between ways of measuring the 3D space, and the measurement architecture itself. The use of different sensing modes for Digital Twins allows for the possibility of radio frequency measurements with accompanying computer vision or lidar measurements, in order to allow the researcher to account for the signature of the built environment, office space, or anechoic chamber within the measurement. Initial work will be present, and the concept explored for future work.
Bio: Timothy Pelham received an Masters in Physics at the University of Surrey in 2009, followed by work as a Systems Engineer for MBDA in Bristol. In 2012 Timothy left MBDA for a PhD in Electrical Engineering at the University of Bristol. Currently pursuing an Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the University of Bristol, supported by the Royal Academy of Engineering. His research interests extend from antennas and propagation physics, across electromagnetics modelling, to complex systems modelling and concept design. His current work combines conventional direction finding techniques with electromagnetics modelling, computer vision and RF fingerprinting to develop spatial intelligence as a new way to secure wireless networks.
2021
14 Dec 2021 Seminar: Service Function Chains Placement Approaches with and without Resilient: Multi-layer Optimization f
Speaker: Dr Karcius Assis
Talk Title: Service Function Chains Placement Approaches with and without Resilient: Multi-layer Optimization for an Elastic Optical Network
Abstract: Virtualization technologies are changing the way network operators deploy and manage Internet services. In this presentation, firstly we show strategies by Integer Linear Programming (ILP) models to solve the Network Function Virtualization (VNF) service chaining while guaranteeing resiliency against link failures. After that, based on the Pointer Network in multi-layer edge and cloud networks, we show a way how to solve the service function chains placement with several objective functions over an Elastic Optical substrate.
10 Nov 2021 Seminar: An Intelligent Approach to Zero Touch Edge & Cloud Networking
Speaker: Xenofon Vasilakos
Talk Title: An Intelligent Approach to Zero Touch Edge & Cloud Networking
Abstract: Network softwarisation in the fifth and beyond that generation of wireless networks (5G, B5G/6G) implies a series of significant merits such as flexibility and agility. The key concepts in support of this are Software Defined Networking (SDN) and, in particular, Network Function Virtualisation (NFV), both of which are essential for enabling scalable vertical industry services with strict performance requirements, e.g: a seemingly infinite resource capacity, imperceptible latency and/or global web-scale service reach even for personalized services.
As a result, there is a need to radically change managing & orchestrating networks/services by adopting a Zero-touch network and Service Management approach (ZSM) in the place of traditional rules, policies and human administration or intervention.
This talk will overview some recent key research publications by Smart Internet Lab related to ZSM research, including solutions based on Machine Learning (ML), IoT/Industrial IoT (IIoT), Intelligent Orchestration & profiling of VNFs, automated VNF placement and Zero Downtime Edge Application Mobility. The latter works fall into research categories that envision disrupting the future landscape 5G/6G services.
13 Oct 2021 Seminar: Design and Characterization of Power Converters and Amplifiers for Supply-Modulated Transmitters
Speaker: Dr Tommaso Cappello
Talk Title: Design and Characterization of Power Converters and Amplifiers for Supply-Modulated Transmitters
Abstract:
Abstract: The rapid evolution of telecommunication systems has strongly influenced our lives, and the way we communicate and exchange information. Nevertheless, much progress is expected to happen in the next years with the introduction of new generations of wireless communications standards, which require signals with large bandwidth and very high Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) in order to enhance the spectral efficiency and maximize the data rate. However, such developments can only take place through the evolution of Radio-Frequency (RF) and microwave technology which should be capable of working at higher frequencies, higher bandwidth and with higher efficiencies than before. In order to meet these demanding specifications, transmitter architectures have to evolve from a single linear RF Power-Amplifier (PA) into more complex architectures. Envelope Tracking (ET) is one of the most promising solutions for the efficiency-enhancement of next generation transmitters. In ET, the performance and the efficiency of the supply modulator affects directly the overall performance of the transmitter. The research described in this thesis aims to provide solutions to enhance the efficiency of the RF PA by means of an ET architecture. To this purpose, a novel discrete level supply modulator is investigated, which is based on a direct digital-to-analog power conversion. This supply modulator is capable of synthesizing eight voltage steps by means of three isolated voltage sources, thus behaving like a Power Digital-to-Analog Converter (Power-DAC). This fine voltage resolution allows for almost continuous tracking, with very small steps, of the ideal supply voltage that maximizes the efficiency of the PA, while maintaining the high efficiency typical of a switching converter. A hybrid version of the Power-DAC exploiting very fast GaN devices is developed and tested with an L-band PA achieving efficiency improvement up to $13\%$ with 10\,MHz of bandwidth. Furthermore, a monolithic GaN version of the Power-DAC is prototyped and tested with an X-band PA both with radar and telecommunication signals achieving efficiency improvement up to $20\%$ and bandwidth of 20\,MHz. This supply modulator is tested with even more non-linear PAs such as the ones used in the outphasing architecture showing promising results with modulated signals and efficiency improvement up to $9\%$. Finally, dispersive phenomena, which affect PAs and switches in supply modulators, are investigated, characterized and modeled.
22 - 24 Sep 2021: SMART:2021 Future Networks Research Conference
The inaugural Smart Internet Lab conference is a chance for Smart Internet Lab academic members and PhD students, as well as, external industrial experts to discuss future ambitions and challenges in telecommunications research. Our experts and industrials guests will deliver a number of talks across three days and registration is free of charge.
You can find more information on the Smart Internet Lab Future Networks Research Conference webpage.
08 Sep 2021 Seminar: When Machine Learning Meets Wireless Communications
Speaker: Shuping Dang
Talk Title: When Machine Learning Meets Wireless Communications
Abstract: To realize ever-increasing demands on various performance metrics and resolve new security challenges in wireless communications, machine learning has been regarded as an imperative tool to improve wireless communications in the pre-6G era. By learning through a large number of data samples, machine learning can produce a well-trained neural network model. Such a model is able to adapt a set of system parameters of wireless systems and/or assign wireless resources in an efficient manner to achieve better performance. In this talk, the basics of machine learning and two specific applications of machine learning for wireless communications, i.e., resource allocation and detection, will be introduced. Following these, related research challenges and future directions will also be shared and discussed.
Bio
Shuping Dang received B.Eng (Hons) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Manchester (with first class honors) and B.Eng in Electrical Engineering and Automation from Beijing Jiaotong University in 2014 via a joint ‘2+2’ dual-degree program. He also received D.Phil in Engineering Science from University of Oxford in 2018. Dr. Dang joined in the R&D Center, Huanan Communication Co., Ltd. after graduating from University of Oxford and then worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Science and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). He is currently a Lecturer with Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Bristol. The research interests of Dr. Dang include 6G communications, wireless communications, wireless security, and machine learning for communications.
11 Aug 2021 Seminar: Multi-Objective Deep Reinforcement Learning Assisted Service Function Chains Placement
Speaker: Teresa Bi
Talk Title: Multi-Objective Deep Reinforcement Learning Assisted Service Function Chains Placement
Abstract: The study of Service Function Chains (SFCs) placement problem is crucial to support services flexibly and use resources efficiently. Solutions should satisfy various Quality of Service requirements, avoid edge resource congestion, and improve service acceptance ratio (SAR). This work presents a novel approach to address these challenges by solving a multi-objective SFCs placement problem based on the Pointer Network in multi-layer edge and cloud networks. We design a Deep Reinforcement Learning algorithm, called Chebyshev-assisted Actor-Critic Algorithm, to overcome the limitations of traditional heuristic and evolutionary algorithms. Then, we run this algorithm iteratively with a set of weights to obtain approximated Pareto Fronts (PFs), which have much higher hypervolume values than those obtained from other state-of-the-art algorithms. Moreover, running our algorithm individually with selected weights from PFs can avoid edge resource congestion and achieve 98% SARs of low-latency services during high-workload periods. Finally, based on both simulation and real testbed experimental results, it is validated that the proposed algorithm fits for pragmatic service deployment while achieving 100% of SARs in the use cases deployed on the testbed.
Bio
Teresa Yu Bi is a research associate in High Performance Networks group. She received the B.Sc. degree of Optical Information Science and Technology from Beijing Jiaotong University and then the M.Sc. with distinction in Communication Networks and Signal Processing from the University of Bristol. She is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree at the University of Bristol. Her research interests include Network Optimization, Deep Reinforcement Learning, Game Theory, Network Function Virtualization, and Optical Networks.
08 Jul 2021 Seminar: AI-Enabled Large-Scale Entanglement Distribution Quantum Networks
Speaker: Rui Wang
Talk Title: AI-Enabled Large-Scale Entanglement Distribution Quantum Networks
Abstract: We propose an entanglement distribution switching architecture to support large-scale dynamic quantum networking. Deep neural networks are further developed for predicting the performance of a dynamic entanglement distribution network utilizing the proposed architecture.
Contact information
Please contact Rebecca Layland, Smart Internet Lab Project Coordinator - smart-internet-lab@bristol.ac.uk for more information about this talk
23 Jun 2021 Seminar: Digital Technology: Environmental Saint or Sinner?
Speaker: Dr Chris Preist
Talk Title: Digital Technology: Environmental Saint or Sinner?
Abstract:
Digital technology is responsible for substantial environmental impacts globally. It has roughly the same carbon footprint as aviation, and is one of the most widespread sources of hazardous substances in waste streams. Furthermore, its emissions are growing currently. However, it has also been argued that digital technology can play a key role in the transition to a low carbon society. Progressive IT companies are making significant efforts to reduce the environmental impact of their activities, and searching for new ways of supporting lower impact ways of living.
In this talk, I will look at the big picture and arguments from both sides. I will also present more detail on how to understand and mitigate the environmental impacts of a digital service such as a website, google search, facebook, youtube or BBC iPlayer. Where in the system are the ‘hotspots’ and what can we do to tackle them?
What are the longer term trends in such patterns? What can service designers - both architectural and interaction designers - do to mitigate these effects?
We will also have a discussion regarding the environmental impact of network technologies and approaches to mitigate this, particularly mobile technologies.
Bio
Dr Chris Preist is Professor in Sustainability and Computer Systems at the University of Bristol, and Academic Sustainability Lead. He leads a team of researchers who combine the disciplines of Industrial Ecology and Computer Science to understand the environmental impacts of digital services; the methodology and results of their research are now widely used – including by such organisations as the International Energy Agency, and by Netflix and Sky as part of their Net Zero strategies.
12 May 2021 Seminar: 5GUK Test Network
Speaker: Dr Hamid Falaki
Talk Title: Smart Internet Lab – 5GUK Test Network
Abstract:
This talk will provide an overview of the Smart Internet Lab's 5GUK Test Network facility and an update on its capabilities.
The 5GUK Test Network was conceptualised as a national asset in 2017 and in March 2018 delivered the world's first 5G public showcase, the 'Layered Realities' in collaboration with Watershed. This pioneering collaboration among artists, researchers and creatives explored the potential of 5G and offered the public the opportunity to participate in unique experiences like spectacular 3D-like projections, a virtual reality dance piece, and a guided tour onwhich you take a walk-through time among others.
Since then, under the leadership of Prof. Simeonidou, the 5GUK Test Network engineering team worked with Smart Internet Lab researchers to advanced its capabilities and delivered various innovative 5G Demonstrations. Through further research and development, we have built this experimentation testbed over a dark fibre network connecting Smart Internet Lab to a number of urban city centre locations (including We The Curious, MShed, Watershed & Bristol VR Lab) and created a multi-technology testbed.
The talk will provide technical information the 5GUK Test Network's capabilities and ways for researchers to engage.
13 Apr 2021 Seminar: Physical Layer Security in future agile networks
Speaker: Dr. Vaia Kalokidou
Talk Title: Physical Layer Security in future agile networks
Abstract:
The development of secure and agile future networks is highly crucial. The SWAN project aims at shielding current and future communication everyday networks against malicious cyber-attacks, such as sniffing, jamming and denial of service. Specific use cases are being investigated, such as mobile networks, WiFi, GNSS and IoT. This seminar will greatly focus on the IoT systems use case, and in particular LoRa-LoRaWAN. The functionality and architecture of LoRa-WAN will be discussed, along with performance evaluation. Moreover, a brief look at anticipated attacks will be given, along with state-of the-art detect and defence mechanisms from a physical layer perspective.
Speaker Bio:
Dr. Vaia Kalokidou has graduated with a Meng in Electronic Engineering from the University of Reading in 2005. Later, she has been awarded a position in the first year of the CDT in Communications in the University of Bristol. Her PhD research focused on interference management in 5G Networks. She was working on Interference Alignment, Topological Interference Management and Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access. She graduated in 2015, and since then she has been part of the CSN and Smart Internet Lab as a Senior Research Associate.
She has worked on EU and UK funded, such as 5GXHaul, 5G-PICTURE and MANTRA, focusing on signal processing algorithms and performance evaluation of 5G networks, mostly for vehicular communications, looking into mmWave and Massive MIMO. She has also performed several field trials, investigating system performance and channel propagation in both fixed and mobile networks.
Currently, she is working on the SWAN project, which aims to the development of secure and agile future networks. She is focusing on different types of anticipated attacks in different systems, such as 4G/5G, IoT and WiFi. Also, she is investigating novel detect and defence mechanisms in the physical layer against cyber-attacks.
10 Mar 2021 Seminar: Optical Intersatellite networks: the HyDRON approach
Speaker: Dr George T. Kanellos
Talk Title: Optical Intersatellite networks: the HyDRON approach
Abstract:
Optically connected satellite constellations potentially offer significant advantages in reducing the latency of longhaul communications while maintaining a high bit rate and an evident better coverage on a global scale. Optical satellite communications is becoming a reality, as the SpaceX project Starlink has already launched 122 satellites, and the aim is to reach a 12000 LEO satellite constellation. ESA is also looking to deploy a large satellite constellation through their project HyDRON with siwtching and routing capabilities on the satellite nodes, towards implementing a fully functional free space optical intersatellite network. In this talk we review the potential use case scenarios that optical intersatellite constellations could satisfy as part of the 5G ecosystem, we explore the convergence of 5G terrestrial networks with the optical satellite segment and we discuss the architectural principles for the optical intersatellite constellations.
Speaker Bio:
Dr George T. Kanellos is currently a Senior Lecturer in High Performance Networks Group at the University of Bristol. He received his BSc in ECE/CS and his Ph.D. from NTUA, Athens, Greece in 2002 and 2008 respectively working on optical communications systems. Dr. Kanellos research today focus on reshaping the architectural networking concepts of optical Data Centers, Quantum Networks and optical satellite communications. He previously led the technical efforts in several EU and National funded projects, including EU projects FET-ICT-RAMPLAS and H2020-ICT-STREAMS, while he is currently engaged with EU-H2020-UNIQORN and the EPSRC UK-National Quantum Communications hub projects. Dr. Kanellos has published more than 100 articles in scientific journals and international conferences including several invited contributions.
21 Jan 2021 Seminar: Field trial of multi-layer slicing over disaggregated optical networks
Speaker: Dr Abubakar Siddique Muqaddas
Talk Title: Field trial of multi-layer slicing over disaggregated optical networks enabling end-to-end crowdsourced video streaming
Abstract:
The next generation of networks (5G and beyond) is aimed at supporting new Network Services (NSs) with stringent requirements. A Crowd-sourced Live Video Streaming (CLVS) is an example of such NS, in which thousands of users attending an event stream video from their smartphones to a CLVS platform. The content from all the users is edited in real time, producing an aggregated video, which can be broadcasted to a large number of viewers. In order to support new vertical applications, Metro-Haul project has designed and built a cost-effective, agile, disaggregated packet-optical metro infrastructure with compute capabilities at the network edge, addressing the capacity increase and characteristics such as low latency and high bandwidth. Metro-Haul control plane consists of the Control, Orchestration and Management (COM) system, based on the principles of ETSI-NFV framework and a hierarchical SDN control plane facilitating the deployment of multilayer end-to-end network slices, including Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) in multiple datacentres and simultaneously dedicating packet and optical network resources. In this talk, we present the experimental demonstration of a CLVS NS using Metro Haul infrastructure, with NFV orchestration using COM system implemented over a disaggregated optical network testbed in UK. The service creation procedure, from planning to service deployment is shown and measured against the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) defined by 5GPPP.
Bio:
Abubakar Siddique Muqaddas received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degree in Telecommunications Engineering from Politecnico di Torino, Italy, in 2015 and 2019 respectively. He is currently working as a Senior Research Associate in High Performance Networks Research Group, University of Bristol. His interests lie in the areas of NFV orchestration of 5G network services, multi-access edge computing, software defined networks and enterprise/service provider level routing and switching.
2020
20 Nov 2020 Seminar: A Novel Autonomous Profiling Method for the Next Generation NFV Orchestrators
Speaker: Dr Shadi Moazzeni
Talk Title: A Novel Autonomous Profiling Method for the Next Generation NFV Orchestrators
Abstract:
Currently, telecommunication research communities are striving towards the adoption of Zero-touch network and Service Management (ZSM) in Network Function Virtualisation (NFV) orchestration. Contemporary efforts on adopting Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have caused an upsurge of ZSM application in the VNF space. While ML and AI complement the ZSM goals for building the intelligent NFV orchestration, a deep knowledge about the resource consumption by Network Services (NSs) and its constituent Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) is required, which would enable AI and ML models to manage the available resources better and enhance user experience. In this talk, at first, state-of-the-art works in the topic of VNF and NS profiling will be surveyed. Then, our recently proposed Novel Autonomous Profiling (NAP) method will be presented that not only predicts the optimum network load a VNF can support, but also estimates the required resources in terms of CPU, Memory, and Network, to meet the performance targets and workload by utilising ML techniques. In addition, the performance evaluation results on a real dataset will be explained.
28 Oct 2020 Seminar: Optically controlled microwave and millimetre switches
Speaker: Prof Martin Cryan
Talk Title: Optically controlled microwave and millimetre switches
Abstract:
Reconfigurable (or tunable) microwave and millimetrewave circuits have a huge number of applications from military and commercial radar systems to smart antennas for mobile phones. This presentation shows a radically new way of implementing tunability using light interaction with semiconductors. If light is absorbed by a semiconductor like silicon, electron-hole pairs are generated. If sufficient numbers of electrons are generated they form a “plasma” which acts like a metal at microwave and millimetrewave frequencies. These Optically Induced Plasmas can be used as a technology platform to create fast, linear, high power microwave and milliemtrewave control circuits. This talk will present recent results and future directions for this work.
29 Sept 2020 Seminar: Increment in Self Interference Cancelation Bandwidth of In Band Full Duplex Transceiver by Antenna
Speaker: Dr Soheyl Soodmand
Talk Title: Increment in Self Interference Cancelation Bandwidth of In Band Full Duplex Transceiver by Antenna with Stable Impedance
Abstract:
Electrical Balance Duplexers (EBDs) in In-Band Full Duplex (IBFD) transceivers provides Transmit (TX)-Receive (RX) isolation to implement a form of self-interference (SI) cancellation to facilitates simultaneous transmission and reception from single antenna. EBD works by coupling transmitter, receiver, antenna, and balancing impedance using a hybrid junction where the balancing impedance needs to be equal to the antenna impedance to achieve a high isolation. Variations in antenna impedance with respect to frequency significantly reduces the isolation bandwidth and is dominant factor in limiting the isolation. A method based on Sample Standard Deviation is introduced to quantify impedance instability in the frequency domain. Also, a frequency independent antenna with a core structure of equiangular Archimedean spiral is designed to achieve impedance stability in frequency domain. The antenna impedance at an ultra-wideband (UWB) frequency range of 1.5GHz to 4GHz is more smoothened in some design steps using electromagnetic absorbers, capacitive Impedance tuning and modification techniques whilst this electrically small antenna also has circular polarization, electromagnetic compatibility, and suitable radiation efficiency. In comparison with the literature, using this antenna in the EBD stage along with a simpler balancing impedance is resulted to 95 times wider cancellation bandwidth and 9 dB decrement in mean isolation value.
28 August 2020 Seminar: Multi-objective Optimization for Service Chaining
Speaker: Mrs Teresa Yu Bi
Talk Title: Multi-objective Optimization for Service Chaining
Abstract:
To cope with high capacity and low latency requirements of 5G services, the service function chains placement problem is solved, for the first time, by the multi-objective optimization approach combining the virtual layer, IP layer, and optical layer. We approximate the Pareto-fronts and propose a weighted-sum algorithm as a building block for 5G management and orchestration architecture by interacting with the NFVO (e.g., OSM). Both simulation and experiment are conducted over a real testbed composed of multiple OpenStack deployed servers interconnected via optical fibers. Results prove that our algorithm can optimize resource usage in multi-access edge computing nodes under diverse workload scenarios while maximizing service acceptance rate.
Bio:
Teresa Yu Bi is a research associate in High Performance Networks group. She received the B.Sc. degree of Optical Information Science and Technology from Beijing Jiaotong University and then the M.Sc. with distinction in Communication Networks and Signal Processing from the University of Bristol. She is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree at the University of Bristol. Her research interests include Network Optimization, Game Theory, Network Function Virtualization, and Optical Networks.
28 July 2020 Seminar: Power Amplifier Design for Wireless Communications & High Capacity Quantum Coexistence
Speaker 1: Dr Manish Nair
Title: Power Amplifier Design for Wireless Communications, Beamforming at Millimetre Wave and Machine Learning for Non Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA)
Abstract:
Wireless communication standards such as WCDMA and GSM require power amplifiers that wideband, efficient and highly linear. A high linearity Doherty power amplifier for WCDMA and wideband power amplifier for GSM is presented. These design principles are applicable in LTE and 5G. Switched-beam systems offer a promising solution for realising multi-user communications at millimetre wave (mmWave). Maximum achievable sum data-rates achievable in switched-beam mmWave systems are presented and compared with a practical mmWave lens antenna system. Lastly, the concept of non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) is introduced and machine learning approaches for beam-allocation and user selection are discussed.
Speaker 2: Dr Emilio Hugues Salas
Title: High Capacity Coexistence of Quantum and Carrier-Grade Channels for Future Secure Applications
Abstract:
Quantum key distribution (QKD) is becoming a widely used method for encryption with a variety of applications in today’s telecommunications networks. To become practical, QKD requires to be compatible with optical network infrastructures and several challenges need to be addressed for its suitable implementation. In this Smart Internet Lab seminar talk, I will focus on describing these challenges and present our work of the record-high coexistence of 11.25 terabit per second of standard channels with DV-QKD over a multicore fibre.
16 June 2020 Seminar: End-to-End Performance-based Autonomous VNF Placement with adopted Reinforcement Learning
20 May 2020 Seminar: Performance Optimisation of Sub-6GHz Massive MIMO
Wael received his MSc degree in Mobile Communications Engineering with distinction from Heriot-Watt University in 2013 and his PhD degree from the University of Bristol in 2019. He has previously worked in Alcatel-Lucent in the small cells. He is currently a researcher at the University of Bristol investigating and developing different techniques for massive MIMO, with an interest in increasing spectral efficiency.He led the massive MIMO team at the ‘5G Layered Realities Weekend’ -Showcase in Bristol’, successfully establishing reliable video streams in the world’s first urban 5G showcase in 2018. He was also a member of the University of Bristol research team that set spectral efficiency world records in 2016 in collaboration with the research team from Lund University.
20 April 2020 Seminar: Reliable Communication over Dynamic Network Topologies
Mark Graham is a PhD Student from the Centre of Doctoral Training in Communications. He is researching network coding, its applications to vehicular communications, and is working to find analytic bounds on its performance. He received a BSc in Mathematics in 2016 from the University of the West of England, Bristol, and is supervised by Ayalvadi Ganesh (School of Mathematics) and Robert Piechocki (SCEEM/CSN).
Abstract:
Communication over data networks has become an integral part of modern life, with the Internet now considered a utility as much as mains water. It is a common misconception that information flow in data networks behaves in the same way as in any other utility networks (such as oil, gas or water pipelines, road traffic networks etc), and that the data packets are analogous to boxes/cars which are simply stored, forwarded or routed. Recent achievements in network information theory show that this approach is suboptimal. Vastly improved efficiency may be achieved by using network coding: a strategy in which coding of packets is performed at every node in the network.
Our motivating application is the sharing of sensory data between autonomous vehicles. This has the potential to improve road safety by allowing vehicles to discover hazards more quickly, and to reduce journey times and CO2 emissions by cooperatively increasing the efficiency of road utilisation. V2V wireless channels however experience heavy packet loss due to shadowing, caused by varying terrain and other obstructing road users. All vehicles within a reasonable range must however be able to share data quickly and reliably. Random Linear Network Coding (RLNC) is a potential solution to this problem, in which packets are combined at each intermediate node and decoded at the recipient. A barrier to the application of these methods is their encoding and decoding complexity. We present an all-cast method for networks of n nodes, based on RLNC, in which only log(n) packets are combined at a time, yielding sparse linear systems which may be solved with reduced cost. We compare the performance of our method with an uncoded method for various network sizes, using analytical results and using numerical studies.
11 Feb 2020 Seminar: Optical fibre communications using orbital angular momentum modes of light & MEHAR Group
Bio:
Professor Siyuan Yu, is a Professor in the Photonics & Quantum research group at the University of Bristol and a member of the Smart Internet Lab. His research areas include Photonic devices and Networks.
Bio:
I am Full Professor at the Federal Univerty of Uberlandia in the Faculty of Computing and I received the Ph.D. degree within an international agreement between the University of São Paulo and CNRS/France at the Laboratory of Analysis and Architecture of Systems (LAAS, Toulouse). I have experience in the areas of Computer Science, Engineering and Mathematics, with emphasis on Highly Scalable and Highly Available Architectures, Cloud/Edge Computing and Design and Validation of Protocols. Currently, I am working primarily in the following areas: Smart Cities, Future Internet, DL/ML, SDN, NFV, 5G networks, Scalable Automata, Web Services, and Smart Grid.
14 Jan 2020 Seminar: Low Power Wide Area Networks for the Industrial Internet of Things
Speaker: Dr Dimitrios Zorbas
Abstract:
Current Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) protocols suffer from short
range links and limited mobility. A Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN)
solution such as the LoRaWAN can resolve those issues, however, the
ALOHA-based transmission policy of those technologies makes the delivery
of a large number of packets by a large number of nodes impossible. To
avoid bursts of collisions and expedite data collection, we propose
scheduling of transmissions in time slots. We provide evidence through
extensive experiments that time-slotted synchronous LPWAN communications
are feasible under different node arrangements.
Biography:
Dr. Dimitrios Zorbas holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University
of Piraeus in Greece. He has worked as a post doctoral researcher at
Inria Lille – Nord Europe and at University of La Rochelle in France. He
is currently researcher at Tyndall National Institute after receiving a
Marie Curie fellowship. He is author of more than 40 peer-reviewed
publications in the area of computer communications, energy efficiency
in networks, and secure communications. He has also worked in several
national as well as FP7 and H2020 projects. He is member of the IEEE.
2019
10 Dec 2019 Seminar: On-Demand Dynamic Optical Networks with ML Technologies & Looking at future RF systems
Speaker 1: Dr Shuangyi Yan
Title of Talk: “On-Demand Dynamic Optical Networks with Machine Learning Technologies”
Biography:
Shuangyi Yan is currently a lecturer in High Performance Networking & Optical Networking at the University of Bristol. He received the B.E degree in information engineering from Tianjin University, Tianjin, China in 2004. In 2009, he got the PhD degree in optical engineering from Xi’an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics, CAS, Xi’an, China. His doctoral dissertation focused on key technologies in ultra-high-speed optical communication networks, such as ultra-short optical pulse generation, high-bandwidth optical signal processing. From 2011 to 2013, He worked on the spectra-efficient long-haul transmission system and low-cost short-range transmission system in Photonics Research Centre, Dept. EIE of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong. He was involved in several industrial funded projects. In July 2013, he joined the High Performance Networks Group at University of Bristol. His research interests include Artificial intelligence in Optical Networks, multi-dimensional programmable optical networks, multi-layer network analytics for network optimisation, and next generation data centre networks. He is the author or co-author of over 60 publications, of which consist patents and several post deadline papers in optical communication related top-level conferences.
Speaker 2: Dr Krishna Coimbatore Balram
Title of Talk: “Looking at future RF systems through a photonic lens”
Biography:
I grew up in Delhi, India's historic capital city and partly because of that, I have a lifelong affection for history and all things ancient. I got my undergraduate degree in India, graduate degrees in the US and started as a lecturer at Brisol in January 2017. My research interests are primarily in the field of nanoscale opto-electro-mechanical devices for information processing and sensing applications. I am particularly interested in nanoscale device fabrication and aim to produce state of the art opto-electronic devices at the Bristol nano-fabrication facility.
18 Nov 2019 Seminar: Harmonic Radar to Chase Insects, Massive MIMO & other Research Highlights
Speaker: Dr George Woodward
Title of talk: Harmonic Radar to Chase Insects, Masive MIMO and other Research Highlights from the Wireless Research Centre, University of Cantebury, NZ
The Wireless Research Centre (WRC) at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, is an industry facing research centre focussing on research challenges defined by the needs of industry and government. The centre has extensive knowledge and experience working with emerging wireless standards, including the 3GPP family of cellular standards (3G, 4G, 5G, and now emerging 6G concepts), local area and personal-area networks. Specific technologies of expertise include information theory, multi-antenna systems (MIMO), modulation and coding, diversity systems, relaying, scheduling, combinations of wireless and geospatial technologies, and the internet of things. Application areas include mission critical communications (civilian and strategic), intelligent transportation systems (vehicular automation), swarm intelligence (e.g. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle/drone swarming), biosecurity (e.g. trapping and tracking of invasive species), and Antarctic operations (e.g. remote sensing).
This talk will introduce the capabilities of the Centre and give some research highlights from the most recent year. We will spend some time talking about an ambitious project to use bistatic harmonic radar operating from a swarm of unmanned aerial vehicles to track insects. The engineering challenges arising from the project are many-fold, including design of miniaturised passive harmonic radar tags for mounting on insects, bistatic radar system design including node synchronisation, and co-ordination of the drone swarm.
Biography:
Dr Graeme Woodward received B.Sc., B.E., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Sydney, and has enjoyed a career spanning industry and academia. His extensive industrial research experience includes pioneering VLSI designs for multi-antenna 3G Packet Access (HSDPA) with Bell Labs (Lucent Technologies), Sydney. Subsequently he worked with Agere Systems and LSI Logic with a focus on low power chip design for 3G and 4G (LTE) terminals contributing to chip designs shipped in volume to a major international handset vendor. From 2007 he worked as Research Manager of the Telecommunications Research Laboratory, Toshiba Research Europe (Bristol, UK) engaged in numerous large UK and EU projects. He is now Research Leader with the Wireless Research Centre, University of Canterbury, New Zealand. His speciality is digital baseband signal processing for wireless communications standards, with a particular interest in multi-antenna processing and interference/channel distortion mitigation. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE, has authored more than 50 papers and 12 U.S. patents and has served on numerous conference committees.
25 Oct 2019 Seminar: IPv6 multicast forwarding in networks & AI
Speaker 1: Dr George Oikonomou
Title of Talk: “IPv6 multicast forwarding in networks of severely-constrained wireless embedded devices”
Biography:
Lecturer in IoT Networking, with 7 years of post-doctoral research experience in the UK (University of Bristol and Loughborough University). Originally a statistician, with an MSc in Information Systems and PhD in Computer Networking from the Department of Informatics at the Athens University of Economics and Business.
Co-founder, steering group member and maintainer of Contiki-NG, the next generation, open source operating system for the IoT. Maintainer of the original Contiki OS. Inventor of the Sensniff open source software project. cc2538-bsl collaborator.
IoT Enthusiast, Software Developer, Open Source & Creative Commons proponent.
Speaker 2: Mr Alex Mavromatis
Title of Talk: “An AI Assisted Microservices Solution for Mission-Critical IoT Applications”
18 Sept 2019 Seminar: Multiobjective Optimization. A technical view and open research areas
Summary
Multiobjective Optimization Problems (MOP) have become a hot topic in today complex world where several different objective functions should be considered to find a real good compromise solution for today problems.
This talk will formally present the basis on Multiobjective optimization, presenting topics as:
- Formal Introduction (Math).
- Solving MOP.
- Metrics.
- Many Objectives Optimization Problem (MaOP).
- A couple of Applications.
- A practical example using Machine Learning (in a Multiobjective context).
- Open research areas.
13 June 2019 Event: World's First 5G Music Lesson with Jamie Cullum
The University of Bristol’s, Smart Internet Lab held the World's first music lesson with critically acclaimed jazz musician, Jamie Cullum. This landmark event was delivered using brand new 5G technology and the Smart Internet Lab’s 5GUK Test Network, and kindly hosted by We The Curious, Bristol’s Science Museum.
For more information see here.
17-20 June 2019 Event: 2nd FLAME Summer School and Hackathon
A world-leading consortium of industry pioneers has been showcasing the latest innovations in 5G networking and technologies across a four-day event at the University of Bristol’s Smart Internet Lab.
To read the full press release see here.
2018
17-18 March 2018 Event: Layered Realities Weekend: The World's First Urban 5G Showcase
Over the weekend of 17-18 March 2018, the University of Bristol’s Smart Internet Lab held the world’s first public 5G end-to-end trial.
See more information here.
14 Feb 2018 Seminar: Photonics for Disaggregated DataCentre and Computercom Architectures
The Smart Internet Lab invites you to join visiting Dr Nikos Pleros from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece as he shares his insights around how photonics can bring significant functional benefits in computing architectures.
Abstract: How should someone exploit photonics in computing? Simply replacing the electrical with optical wires and increasing the data rate is the first and obvious answer, but the idiosyncrasy of photons can lead to improved architectures that can offer additional functionality in Datacom and Computercom environments.
This talk will concentrate on how photonics can bring significant functional benefits in computing architectures, spanning from disaggregated rack-scale through disintegrated chip-scale and even to the emerging neuromorphic platforms. Nikos Pleros will present how innovative optical switching, photonic Network-on-Chip and optical RAMs can shape a radically new computing environment with increased granularity, modularity, performance and energy efficiency.