Prof. Nirwan Ansari
The New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA

Title: TCP: Is It Time for a Makeover?

Abstract:
    The origin of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) can be dated back to the seminal paper published in IEEE Transactions on Communications in 1974 by Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn. TCP was later deployed in the early 80’s, and has since become the de facto congestion control standard adopted in most applications. It was originally designed primarily for data communications in wireline network infrastructure; together with Internet Protocol at the internetworking layer, referred to as the Internet Protocol Suite, it has become the engine of the Internet. Though TCP has undergone several revisions, the basic principle remains the same and it has enabled data communications quite well for the past three decades. However, today’s network infrastructure has grown in size and variety, very different from that of three decades ago. Is TCP still relevant?? This talk first quickly reviews TCP/IP, examines the emerging networking landscape, and justifies the call for a calibration of this congestion control standard. The talk further analyzes the deficiency of stock TCP for the emerging and converging network infrastructure, classifies and discusses various proposed strategies of modifying stock TCP and of introducing clean-slate re-design to mitigate shortcomings of current congestion control in heterogeneous networks, and discourses remaining open issues.

Biography:
    Professor Nirwan Ansari received the B.S.E.E. (summa cum laude, gpa=4.0/4.0) from the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Newark, in 1982, the M.S.E.E. degree from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1983, and the Ph.D. degree from Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, in 1988.
He joined NJIT’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering as Assistant Professor in 1988, tenured Associate Professor in 1993, and Full Professor since 1997. He has also assumed various administrative positions at NJIT.
    Some of his recent awards and recognitions include an IEEE Fellow (Communications Society), IEEE Leadership Award (2007, from Central Jersey/Princeton Section), the NJIT Excellence in Teaching in Outstanding Professional Development (2008), IEEE MGA Leadership Award (2008), the NCE Excellence in Teaching Award (2009), and designation as an IEEE Communications Society Distinguished Lecturer (2006-2009, two terms).

Prof. CHING Pak-Chung
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China

Title: From MIMO to Cognitive Wireless Communications:Theory and Practice

Abstract
    Over the last decade wireless communications witnessed unprecedented developments due to the emergence of new multimedia applications and wireless services. To meet the continually increasing demands of the transmission capacity, reliability, communication coverage and ubiquitous services, several key enabling technologies have been developed. MIMO technology is just one example and it has now been successfully applied to many wireless applications because of its potential in achieving higher data rate and providing more reliable reception performance by employing multiple antennae in the system design. Cooperative communication technology, which can be considered as a form of virtual MIMO, has also been developed into a promising new technique that allows distributed terminals in a wireless network to collaborate through distributed transmission or signal processing means so as to realize a new form of space diversity in enhancing performance. Cognitive radio is another exciting emerging technology which has the potential of dealing with the stringent requirement and scarcity of the radio spectrum and allowing agile and efficient utilization of the radio spectrum by offering distributed terminals or radio cells the ability of radio sensing,      self-adaptation, and dynamic spectrum sharing.
This talk will describe the theory and practice of these enabling technologies developed in the past decade with emphasis on coding and modulation for MIMO, cooperative communications and cognitive wireless communications. It will also discuss the challenges facing future wireless systems and share some thoughts on future research directions in wireless communications.

Biography:
    Professor Pak-chung Chingreceived the B. Eng. (1st Class Honors) and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Liverpool, UK, in 1977 and 1981 respectively. From 1981 to 1982 he was Research Officer at the University of Bath, UK. In 1982, Prof. Ching returned to Hong Kong and joined the then Hong Kong Polytechnic as a lecturer. Since 1984, he has been with the Department of Electronic Engineering of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), where he is currently Professor of Electronic Engineering. He was Department Chairman from 1995 to 1997, Dean of Engineering from 1997 to 2003 and Head of Shaw College from 2004 to 2008. He became Director of the Shun Hing Institute of Advanced Engineering in 2004. Beginning 1 August 2006, Prof. Ching assumes his new responsibility as Pro-Vice-Chancellor of CUHK.

Prof. Arne S?lvberg
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway

Title: “Wireless Trondheim”: A “Living Lab” for Mobile Broadband Technology

Abstract:
    During the first years of the new millennium the students’ use of laptops increased sharply. The response from the university was to install Wi-Fi in selected areas on campus. In 2003-04 the trend towards present day smart phones was visible. Because NTNU wants to recruit students who are early adopters of new technology, It was deemed important that the university presented early-adopter-students with up-to-date ICT infrastructure. To provide the campus with full Wi-Fi coverage indoors and outdoors was decided in 2005. It was deemed desirable to offer mobile broadband to all areas with high student populations, including Trondheim downtown. The city government agreed to the idea. “Wireless Trondheim” became reality in 2007 serving the whole Trondheim population including visitors. “Wireless Trondheim” is an experimental facility. In addition to deliver operational stat-of-the art Wi-Fi infrastructure, it serves as a field test facility for new information services and for new wireless broadband technology. “Wireless Trondheim” is a “living lab”. The talk will give an overview of the project, the technology and the applications, explain how the university cooperates with the city in order to give early adopters better access in the public space to state-of-the-art ICT, as well as discuss future business models.

Biography:
    Professor Arne S?lvberg is Professor of Computer Science at The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, since 1974. He received a M.Sc. degree in Engineering Physics in 1963, and a dr.ing. degree in Computer Science in 1971, both from The Norwegian Institute of Technology (now incorporated in NTNU - The Norwegian University of Science and Technology). He was Dean of NTNU’s Faculty of Information Technology, Mathematics and Electrical Engineering in 2002-09. His main research interests are in information systems engineering. He has been a Visiting Scientist with IBM San Jose Research Labs, The University of Florida, The Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, The University of California at Santa Barbara, at Los Angeles, and at Berkeley.