Joel Rodrigues

Joel J.P.C. Rodrigues [S’01, M’06, SM’06] is a professor at the National Institute of Telecommunications (Inatel), Brazil and senior researcher at the Instituto de Telecomunicações, Portugal. Prof. Rodrigues is the leader of the Internet of Things research group (CNPq), Director for Conference Development – IEEE ComSoc Board of Governors, IEEE Distinguished Lecturer, Technical Activities Committee Chair of the IEEE ComSoc Latin America Region Board, the President of the scientific council at ParkUrbis – Covilhã Science and Technology Park, the Past-Chair of the IEEE ComSoc Technical Committee on eHealth, the Past-chair of the IEEE ComSoc Technical Committee on Communications Software, Steering Committee member of the IEEE Life Sciences Technical Community and Publications co-Chair, and Member Representative of the IEEE Communications Society on the IEEE Biometrics Council. He is the editor-in-chief of the International Journal on E-Health and Medical Communications, the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Multimedia Information Systems, and editorial board member of several high-reputed journals. He has been general chair and TPC Chair of many international conferences, including IEEE ICC, IEEE GLOBECOM, IEEE HEALTHCOM, and IEEE LATINCOM. He has authored or coauthored over 650 papers in refereed international journals and conferences, 3 books, and 2 patents. He had been awarded several Outstanding Leadership and Outstanding Service Awards by IEEE Communications Society and several best papers awards. Prof. Rodrigues is a licensed professional engineer (as senior member), member of the Internet Society, and a senior member ACM and IEEE.

Keynote talk on “New Horizons with Internet of Things”

Summary: This keynote addresses a hot and updated topic focusing on Internet of Things (IoT), considering their most relevant trends and challenges. It starts with an introduction to IoT and its typical application scenarios considering different verticals and enabling technologies. Relevant aspects considering opportunities for IoT will be addressed, considering promising verticals and applications. The Inatel Smart Campus, an open Campus for research on IoT, experiments, and concepts and technology validation will be presented. It is a project open for companies’ participation and promotes the academy-enterprise interaction. It is a true living lab for several IoT verticals, including smart cities and smart homes. An initiative to prepare ICT professionals for new challenges regarding this new generation technologies for IoT will be presented. The communication ends with new trends and issues on Internet of Things, suggesting further research topics.

Octavia Dobre

Octavia A. Dobre is a Professor and Research Chair at Memorial University, Canada. Previously, she was with the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest and New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA. In 2013, she was a Visiting Professor with Université de Bretagne Occidentale, France, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. She was a Royal Society Scholar in 2000 and a Fulbright Scholar in 2001.Her research interests include 5G enabling technologies, blind signal identification and parameter estimation techniques, cognitive radio systems, resource allocation, as well as optical and underwater communications.

Dr. Dobre serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Communications Letters, and was an Editor of other prestigious journals. She has served as General Chair, Tutorial Co-Chair, and Technical Co-Chair at numerous conferences. Dr. Dobre is a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada.

Keynote talk on “When All Technologies Work Together For Good: The Path Towards Future Wireless Networks”

Summary: With the 3GPP Release R15 on the standalone 5G New Radio (NR) out in June 2018, 5G is becoming a reality. While continuing to address the ever increasing demand for high data rates and ubiquitous connectivity, as well as provide mobility support, 5G and beyond wireless networks also aim to accommodate a massive number of devices, with different traffic characteristics. Enhanced mobile broadband, massive machine-type communications, and ultra-reliable low-latency communications are the three pillars of these networks. To satisfy their wide requirements in terms of capacity per area, peak and user experienced data rate, spectral and energy efficiency, mobility, connection density, reliability, latency and security, innovative technologies have been explored by both industry and academia in the most recent years.

The talk will provide an overview of 5G networks, emphasizing the use cases for the three mentioned pillars, the standardization timeline, and the enabling technologies. Advantages and challenges of adopting different technologies, such as full duplex and non-orthogonal multiple access, will be underlined. Machine-type communications will be discussed as an important driving force of future wireless networks, which allows the expansion of the mobile ecosystem to other industries like energy, healthcare, transportation, and agriculture. Finally, in an attempt to answer the question “Quo vadimus,” research directions are highlighted for the dynamic and exciting field of wireless communications.

Michael Rice

Michael Rice received a BSEE from Louisiana Tech University in 1987 and his PhD from Georgia Tech in 1991. Dr. Rice was with Digital Transmission Systems, Inc. in Atlanta and joined the faculty at Brigham Young University in 1991 where he is currently the Jim Abrams Professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering. Professor Rice was a NASA/ASEE Summer Faculty Fellow at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory during 1994 and 1995 where he worked on land mobile satellite systems. During the 1999-2000 academic year, Professor Rice was a visiting scholar at the Communication Systems and Signal Processing Institute at San Diego State University. His professional interests are in the general area of wireless communications, with a special interest in software defined radios and aeronautical telemetry.

He has been a consultant to both government and industry on telemetry related issues, and currently serves as an associate member of the Telemetry Group of the Range Commanders Council. He was the General Chair of the 2008 International Telemetering Conference and will serve again as General Chair in 2016. Prof. Rice is a member the IEEE Communications Society and the Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society. He has served as a Section Chair, Area Chair, and as the Region Student Activities Chair. He has served as the Chair of the Communications Theory Technical Committee in the Communications Society and is currently serving as the Technical Editor for Command, Control, and Communications and as an Associate Editor-in-Chief for IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems.

Keynote talk on “Single Carrier Modulation: Not Dead Yet!”

Summary: TBA