News

Latest news and updates at Network Science and wireless security group.

Mahdi Chehimi and Walid Saad Won The Best Paper Award at The IEEE International Conference on Quantum Computing and Engineering (QCE23) during the IEEE Quantum Week

Posted on Oct. 4, 2023

PhD student Mahdi Chehimi and Walid Saad have been notified by IEEE International Conference on Quantum Computing and Engineering (QCE23) Technical Program Chairs during the IEEE Quantum Week that their paper entitled "Scaling Limits of Quantum Repeater Networks" has won the Best Paper Award (2nd place) in the IEEE QCE 2023 - Quantum Communications and Networking Track.


Mohammad Mozaffari and Walid Saad Win the 2023 IEEE Communications Society Award for Advances in Communication

Posted on Aug 11, 2023

Congratulations to ECE Alumnus Mohammad Mozaffari and Walid Saad for winning The 2023 IEEE Communications Society Award for Advances in Communications for their work "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle with Underlined Device-to-Device Communications: Performance and Tradeoffs"...

Mahdi Chehimi and Walid Saad received a new microgrant from the UK-based Quantum Formalism - Zaiku Group for "Quantum Federated Learning"

Posted on Apr 13, 2023

PhD student Mahdi Chehimi and Walid Saad will investigate the integration of quantum machine learning algorithms with federated learning setups to develop novel  distributed quantum federated learning frameworks...

Mingzhe Chen and Walid Saad Win the 2023 IEEE Communications Society Katherine Johnson Young Author Best Paper Award

Posted on Apr 12, 2023

Congratulations to ECE Alumnus Mingzhe Chen and Walid Saad for winning the 2023 IEEE Communications Society Katherine Johnson Young Author Best Paper Award for their work "Energy Efficient Federated Learning Over Wireless Communication Networks"...

Mingzhe Chen and Walid Saad Win the 2023 IEEE Marconi Prize Best Paper Award

Posted on Apr 12, 2023

Congratulations to ECE Alumnus Mingzhe Chen and Walid Saad for winning the 2023 IEEE Marconi Prize Best Paper Award for their work "A Joint Learning and Communications Framework for Federated Learning over Wireless Networks "...

The Metaverse: Where Reality and Virtual Reality Collide

Posted on Feb 23, 2023

Dr. Saad and PhD student Omar Hashash discuss a new project at the intersection of 6G, AI, digital twins, and the metaverse ...

Announcing a Holistic Paper on Semantic Communications

Posted on Dec 14, 2022

We are delighted to announce a new holistic and comprehensive paper on semantic communications (SC) that Christina Chaccour, Dr. Saad, and collaborators have been working on for a little over a year now: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2211.14343.pdf ...

Dr. Saad Received a $1 Million NSF Funding to Develop 6G Vision-based Wireless Technologies

Posted on Nov 10, 2022

Dr. Saad received a new funding of $1 Million from the NSF in collaboration with Dr. Harpreet Dhillon to develop technologies for viewing and mapping the surrounding environment in 6G networks.

The NEWS@VT Lab Received a New Funding from the Amazon-Virginia Tech Initiative

Posted on Oct 12, 2022

The NEWS@VT Lab received a new funding from the Amazon-Virginia Tech Initiative for Efficient and Robust Machine Learning,

Minsu Kim and Walid Saad Won The Best Paper Award at The IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC)

Posted on April 27, 2022

Minsu Kim (PhD Student) and Walid Saad have been notified by IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC) Technical Program Chairs that their paper entitled "On the Tradeoff between Energy, Precision, and Accuracy in Federated Quantized Neural Networks"

PhD student Ali Taleb Zadeh Successfully Defends His PhD

Posted on Feb 4, 2022

PhD Student Ali Taleb Zadeh successfully defends his dissertation entitled "Reliable Low Latency Machine Learning for Resource Management in Wireless Networks" 

PhD student Ye Hu Successfully Defends Her PhD

Posted on Aug 2, 2021

PhD Student Ye Hu successfully defends her dissertation entitled "Game Theory and Meta Learning for Optimization of Integrated Satellite-Drone-Terrestrial-Communication Systems" 

PhD student Tengchan Zeng Successfully Defends His PhD

Posted on Jun 15, 2021

PhD Student Tengchan Zeng successfully defends his dissertation entitled "Joint Communication, Control, and Learning for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles " 

Mingzhe Chen and Walid Saad Win the 2021 IEEE Communications Society Young Author Best Paper Award

Posted on May 11, 2021

Congratulations to ECE Alumnus Mingzhe Chen and Walid Saad for winning the 2021 IEEE Communications Society Young Author Best Paper Award for their work "Virtual Reality Over Wireless Networks: Quality-of-Service Model and Learning-Based Resource Management".

This year the awards program will be presented virtually at IEEE ICC 2021 on Tuesday, 15 June, at 10:30 am EDT. The awards program will be pre-recorded in advance and shown to the ICC audience on 15 June. 

PhD student Qianqian Zhang Successfully Defends Her PhD

Posted on May 7, 2021

PhD Student Qianqian Zhang successfully defends her dissertation entitled "Machine Learning for Millimeter Wave Wireless Systems: Network Design and Optimization"

NEWS@VT Almunus Wins the 2021 Outstanding Dissertation Award in "Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics" Category and Blackwell Graduate Research Award

Posted on Feb 27, 2021

Congratulations to ECE Alumnus Aidin Ferdowsi (PhD, 20) for winning the 2021 Outstanding Dissertation Award in the "Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics" category from the Virginia Tech Graduate School and Blackwell Graduate Research Award from the ECE department.

Aidin's dissertation title is "Distributed Machine Learning for Autonomous and Secure Cyber-physical Systems" and his advisor was Dr. Walid Saad. 

Aidin's dissertation was selected for this award based on the originality of his research and its potential for high impact, the contribution he has made to the scientific community, as well as the preparation of his final document.

The award carries a certificate and an honorarium of $1,000 from the Graduate School.

Ye Hu, Mingzhe Chen, and Walid Saad Have Won The Best Paper Award at The IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM)

Posted on Dec. 8, 2020

Ye Hu (ECE PhD student),  Mingzhe Chen (ECE Alumni), 

and Walid Saad have been notified by IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM) Technical Program Chairs that their paper entitled "Meta-Reinforcement Learning for Trajectory Design in Wireless UAV Networks" has won the Best Paper Award in the IEEE GLOBECOM 2020 Cognitive Radio & AI-Enabled Networks Symposium Best Paper Award. The journal version of this work is available here: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2012.03158.pdf

PhD student Aidin Ferdowsi Successfully Defends His PhD

Posted on July 30, 2020

PhD Student Aidin Ferdowsi successfully defends his dissertation entitled "Distributed Machine Learning for Autonomous and Secure Cyber-physical Systems". 

Mingzhe Chen and Walid Saad Have Won The Best Paper Award at The IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC)

Posted on May 14, 2020

Mingzhe Chen (ECE Alumni) and Walid Saad have been 

notified by IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC) Technical Program Chairs that their paper entitled "Convergence Time Minimization of Federated Learning over Wireless Networks" has won the Best Paper Award in the IEEE ICC 2020.

PhD student Taehyun Park Successfully Defends His PhD

Posted on May 14, 2020

PhD Student Taehyun Park successfully defends his dissertation entitled "Distributed Wireless Resource Management in the Internet of Things". 


PhD student Gilsoo Lee Successfully Defends His PhD 

Posted on Mar 24, 2020

PhD Student Gilsoo Lee successfully defends his dissertation entitled "Online Optimization for Edge Computing under Uncertainty in Wireless Networks". 

Walid Saad named a Clarviate Highly Cited Researcher by the Web of Science for 2019 

Posted on Jan 29, 2020

Walid Saad was named a Clarviate Highly Cited Researcher by the Web of Science for 2019. The Web of Science recognizes the world's most influential researchers of the past decade, demonstrated by the production of multiple highly-cited papers that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and year in Web of Science.

https://recognition.webofsciencegroup.com/awards/highly-cited/2019/

Dr. Walid Saad receives the 2019 Early Achievement Award 

Posted on Jan 29, 2020

Walid Saad received the 2019 Early Achievement Award from the IEEE Communications Society's Communication Theory Technical Committee for contributions to distributed optimization and learning for heterogeneous wireless systems

https://comt.committees.comsoc.org/awards/early-achievement-award/

Christina Chaccour and Walid Saad Have Won The Best Paper Award at The 10th IFIP International Conference on New Technologies, Mobility and Security (NTMS) 

Posted on Jun 25, 2019

Christina Chaccour, Ramy Amer, Bo Zhou, and Walid Saad Have Won The Best Paper Award at The 10th IFIP International Conference on New Technologies, Mobility and Security (NTMS) on their paper: "On the Reliability of Wireless Virtual Reality at Terahertz (THz) Frequencies" in the Mobility & Wireless Networks Track.

10th IFIP International Conference on New Technologies, Mobility and Security (NTMS): http://www.ntms-conf.org/ntms2019/


Dr. Walid Saad Promoted to Full Professor 

Posted on Jun 3, 2019

The Virginia Tech Board of Visitors approved the promotion of Walid Saad to full professor.

https://vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2019/06/bov-june2019-promotions-tenure.html


Dr. Saad receives the Dean's Award for Excellence in Research from Virginia Tech's College of Engineering 

Posted on May 21, 2019

Dr. Saad receives the Dean's Award for Excellence in Research from Virginia Tech's College of Engineering

PhD Student Yaman Sharaf-Dabbagh successfully defends his PhD 

Posted on May 15, 2019

PhD Student Yaman Sharaf-Dabbagh successfully defends his dissertation entitled "Security and Privacy of Internet of Things: Authentication and Blockchain".

Abstract:

Reaping the benefits of the Internet of things (IoT) system is contingent upon developing IoT-specific security and privacy solutions. Conventional security and authentication solutions often fail to meet IoT  requirements due to the computationally limited and portable nature of IoT objects. Privacy in IoT is major issue as well in the light of current attacks on Facebook, and Uber. Blockchain on the other hand is an emerging technology with the potential to end the corporations control over our personal information. 

This dissertation, investigates the use of blockchain in IoT systems. The proposed frameworks and solutions are designed to address the main issues faced by blockchain and IoT systems. This dissertation led to the following key contributions. First, a novel lightweight framework, called DShard, that supports low energy devices. The framework utilizes blockchain to solve the limitations of scalability, centralization, and privacy. The framework is able to support small devices with low energy capabilities by dynamically grouping the devices in the system into smaller blockchain based systems called shards. Each shard has a subset of the devices in the system and a portion of the Blockchain. To secure each shard against 51% attacks, the framework determines the type of each device in the system and uses these information to insure all shards are balanced. Second, an IoT objects authentication framework is proposed. The framework uses device-specific information, called fingerprints, along with a transfer learning tool to authenticate objects in the IoT. The framework tracks the effect of changes in the physical environment on fingerprints and uses unique IoT environmental effects features to detect both cyber and cyber-physical emulation attacks. The proposed environmental effects estimation framework is proven to improve the detection rate of attackers without increasing the false positives rate. The proposed framework is also shown to be able to detect cyber-physical attackers that are capable of replicating the fingerprints of target objects which conventional methods are unable to detect. A transfer learning approach is proposed to allow the use of objects with different types and features in the environmental effects estimation process to enhance the performance of the framework while capturing practical IoT deployments with diverse object types.

PhD Student Mingzhe Chen Successfully Defends His PhD 

Posted on May 15, 2019

PhD Student Mingzhe Chen Successfully Defends His PhD.

PhD Student Abdelrahman Eldosouky successfully defends his PhD 

Posted on May 3, 2019

PhD Student Abdelrahman Eldosouky successfully defends his dissertation entitled "Security of Critical Cyber-Physical Systems: Fundamentals and Optimization".

Abstract:

Cyber-physical systems (CPSs) are systems that integrate physical elements with a cyber layer that enables sensing, monitoring, and processing the data from the physical components. Examples of CPSs include autonomous vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), smart grids, and the Internet of Things (IoT). In particular, many critical infrastructure (CI) that are vital to our modern day cities and communities, are CPSs. This wide range of CPSs domains represents a cornerstone of smart cities in which various CPSs are connected to provide efficient services. However, this level of connectivity has brought forward new security challenges and has left CPSs vulnerable to many cyber-physical attacks and disruptive events that can utilize the cyber layer to cause damage to both cyber and physical components. Addressing these security and operation challenges requires developing new security solutions to prevent and mitigate the effects of cyber and physical attacks as well as improving the CPSs response in face of disruptive events, which is known as the CPS resilience.

To this end, the primary goal of this dissertation is to develop novel analytical tools that can be used to study, analyze, and optimize the resilience and security of critical CPSs. In particular, this dissertation presents a number of key contributions that pertain to the security and the resilience of multiple CPSs that include power systems, the Internet of Things (IoT), UAVs, and transportation networks. First, a mathematical framework is proposed to analyze and mitigate the effects of GPS spoofing attacks against UAVs. The proposed framework uses system dynamics to model the optimal routes which UAVs can follow in normal operations and under GPS spoofing attacks. A countermeasure mechanism, built on the premise of cooperative localization, is then developed to mitigate the effects of these GPS spoofing attacks. To practically deploy the proposed defense mechanism, a dynamic Stackelberg game is formulated to model the interactions between a GPS spoofer and a drone operator. The equilibrium strategies of the game are analytically characterized and studied through a novel, computationally efficient algorithm. Simulation results show that, when combined with the Stackelberg strategies, the proposed defense mechanism will outperform baseline strategy selection techniques in terms of reducing the possibility of UAV capture. Next, a game-theoretic framework is developed to model a novel moving target defense (MTD) mechanism that enables CPSs to randomize their configurations to proactive deter impending attacks. By adopting an MTD approach, a CPS can enhance its security against potential attacks by increasing the uncertainty on the attacker. The equilibrium of the developed single-controller, stochastic MTD game is then analyzed. Simulation results show that the proposed framework can significantly improve the overall utility of the defender. Third, the concept of MTD is coupled with new cryptographic algorithms for enhancing the security of an mHealth Internet of Things (IoT) system. In particular, using a combination of theory and implementation, a framework is introduced to enable the IoT devices to update their cryptographic keys locally to eliminate the risk of being revealed while they are shared.

Considering the resilience of CPSs, a novel framework for analyzing the component- and systemlevel resilience of CIs is proposed. This framework brings together new ideas from Bayesian networks and contract theory – a Nobel prize winning theory – to define a concrete system-level resilience index for CIs and to optimize the allocation of resources, such as redundant components, monitoring devices, or UAVs to help those CIs improve their resilience. In particular, the developed resilience index is able to account for the effect of CI components on the its probability of failure. Meanwhile, using contract theory, a comprehensive resource allocation framework is proposed enabling the system operator to optimally allocate resources to each individual CI based on its economic contribution to the entire system. Simulation results show that the system operator can economically benefit from allocating the resources while dams can have a significant improvement in their resilience indices. Subsequently, the developed contract-theoretic framework is extended to account for cases of asymmetric information in which the system operator has only partial information about the CIs being in some vulnerability and criticality levels. Under such asymmetry, it is shown that the proposed approach maximizes the system operator’s utility while ensuring that no CI has an incentive to ask for another contract. Next, a proof-of-concept framework is introduced to analyze and improve the resilience of transportation networks against flooding. The effect of flooding on road capacities and on the free-flow travel time, is considered for different rain intensities and roads preparedness. Meanwhile, the total system’s travel time before and after flooding is evaluated using the concept of a Wardrop equilibrium. To this end, a proactive mechanism is developed to reduce the system’s travel time, after flooding, by shifting capacities (available lanes) between same road sides. In a nutshell, this dissertation provides a suite of analytical techniques that allow the optimization of security and resilience across multiple CPSs.

NetSciWiS Almunus Wins the 2019 Outstanding Dissertation Award in "Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics" 

Posted on Mar 7, 2019

Congratuations to ECE Alumnus Mohammad Mozaffari (Ph.D. 18) for winning the 2019 Outstanding Dissertation Award in the "Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics" category from the Virginia Tech Graduate School.

Mohammad's dissertation title is Fundamentals of Wireless Communications and Networking with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and his advisor was Dr. Walid Saad.

Mohammad's dissertation was selected for this award based on the originality of his research and its potential for high impact, the contribution he has made to the scientific community, as well as the preparation of his final document.

The award carries a certificate and an honorarium of $1,000 from the Graduate School, which will be presented at the Graduate Awards Banquet on Thursday, March 28, 2019.

https://ece.vt.edu/news/article/mohammad-mozaffari-wins-oustanding-dissertation-award-2019

Walid Saad Has Been Elevated to IEEE Fellow (Class 2019) for Contributions to Distributed Optimization in Cooperative and Heterogeneous Wireless Systems 

Posted on Nov 15, 2018

Walid Saad has been elevated to IEEE Fellow (Class 2019) for contributions to distributed optimization in cooperative and heterogeneous wireless systems.  Each year, following a rigorous evaluation procedure, the IEEE Fellow Committee recommends a select group of recipients for elevation to IEEE Fellow. Less than 0.1% of voting members are selected annually for this prestigious member grade elevation.

Bo Zhou and Walid Saad Have Won The Best Paper Award at The IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM) 

Posted on Nov 7, 2018

Bo Zhou (ECE post-doc) and Walid Saad have been notified by IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM) Technical Program Chairs that their paper entitled "Optimal Sampling and Updating for Minimizing Age of Information in the Internet of Things" has won the Best Paper Award in the conference’s Communications Theory Symposium.  The award will be presented in Abu Dhabi, UAE in December 2018 during the GLOBECOM conference week.

PhD Student Anibal Sanjab Successfully Defends His PhD 

Posted on Nov 1, 2018

PhD Student Anibal Sanjab Successfully Defends His PhD.

Dr. Saad gives a podcast interview on the Internet of Things 

Posted on Jul 30, 2018

Dr. Saad provides his perspective on the future of the Internet of Things in a podcast interview by Fybr.

The interview is found here:

http://internetofthingspodcast.libsyn.com

PhD student Gilsoo Lee Receives a Nokia Foundation Centennial Scholarship 

Posted on Jul 30, 2018

PhD student Gilsoo Lee (LINK HISN AME TO HIS WEBSITE) received a Centennial Scholarship from the Nokia Foundation. This scholarship provides EUR 10,000 that will enable Gilsoo to visit the University of Oulu in Finland to pursue collaborative research on fog and edge computing. 

Dr. Saad received the 2018 IEEE ComSoc RCC Early Achievement Award 

Posted on May 28, 2018

Dr. Saad has received the 2018 IEEE ComSoc Radio Communications Committee (RCC) Early Achievement Award for contributions to fundamental results in radio communications, wireless resource allocation and cooperative communications. He received the award at IEEE ICC that was held in Kansas City in May 2018, where he gave a lecture on "Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Wireless Networking".

Link to the website:

http://rc.committees.comsoc.org/awards/

PhD Student Mohammad Mozaffari successfully defends his PhD 

Posted on May 16, 2018

PhD Student Mohammad Mozaffari successfully defends his PhD

Dr. Saad Investigates Ways to Advance Smart City Technologies 

Posted on May 12, 2018

It might start with the installation of smart light-responsive windows in your office building. Then a drone flight path will be designated above the mall. One morning, you will notice a self-driving car in your neighbor's driveway. Slowly but steadily, the city you live in will become more and more connected, its infrastructure keyed to monitor itself in smart, sustainable ways.

"Smart cities may be a buzzword now," says ECE's Walid Saad, the College of Engineering Faculty Fellow and associate professor. "But in the next few decades, we're going to start seeing it materialize around us."

... Read more

Dr. Saad joins the BioBuild program at Virginia Tech 

Posted on May 11, 2018

Dr. Saad joined the faculty of the BioBuild program at Virginia Tech. The BioBuild program investigates interdisciplinary researcher needed to explore building systems and biological systems synergistically  andto discover innovative connections between these two fields.

BioBuild program at Virginia Tech:

http://biobuild.mlsoc.vt.edu/

Dr. Saad awarded IEEE ComSoc Best Young Professional in Academia 

Posted on Dec 20, 2017

Dr. Walid Saad received the IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc) Best Young Professional in Academia Award in recognition for outstanding contributions to academia in innovative communications research and outstanding services to society.

Tutorials on "Wireless Communications and Networking with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles" by Dr. Saad 

Posted on Dec 11, 2017

Dr. Walid Saad has given several tutorials on "Wireless Communications and Networking with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles", at the following conferences: IEEE MILCOM 2017, IEEE PIMRC 2017, IEEE ISCC 2017, IEEE GLOBECOM 2016. These tutorials cover some of the fundamental results that Dr. Saad's group has had in this area, particularly based on the following key papers:

1) M. Mozaffari, W. Saad, M. Bennis, and M. Debbah, "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle with Underlaid Device-to-Device Communications: Performance and Tradeoffs," IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, vol. 15, no. 6, pp. 3949 - 3963, June 2016.

2) M. Mozaffari, W. Saad, M. Bennis, and M. Debbah, "Efficient Deployment of Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Optimal Wireless Coverage", IEEE Communications Letters, vol. 20, no. 8, pp. 1647-1650, August 2016.

3) M. Mozaffari, W. Saad, M. Bennis, and M. Debbah, "Wireless Communication using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs): Optimal Transport Theory for Hover Time Optimization", IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, to appear, 2017.

4) M. Chen, M. Mozaffari, W. Saad, C. Yin, M. Debbah, and C. S. Hong, "Caching in the Sky: Proactive Deployment of Cache-Enabled Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Optimized Quality-of-Experience", IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications (JSAC), Special Issue on Human-In-The-Loop Mobile Networks, vol. 35, no. 5, pp. 1046 - 1061, May 2017.

5) M. Mozaffari, W. Saad, M. Bennis, and M. Debbah, "Mobile Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for Energy-Efficient Internet of Things Communications", IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, vol. 16, no. 11, pp. 7574 - 7589, November 2017.

6) A. Sanjab, W. Saad, and T. Başar, "Prospect Theory for Enhanced Cyber-Physical Security of Drone Delivery Systems: A Network Interdiction Game," in Proc. of the IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), Communication and Information Systems Security Symposium, Paris, France, May 2017.

7) M. Mozaffari, W. Saad, M. Bennis, and M. Debbah, "Optimal Transport Theory for Power-Efficient Deployment of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles," in Proc. of the IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), Wireless Communications Symposium, Kualalumpur, Malaysia, May 2016.

The slides of these tutorials can be found here:

https://www.slideshare.net/saadwalid/wireless-communications-and-networking-with-drones-and-unmanned-aerial-vehicles-uavs

Dr. Saad delivers a tutorial on "The Internet of Things: Enablers, Technologies, and Applications" at IEEE GLOBECOM 2017 

Posted on Dec 4, 2017

Dr. Saad, together wtih Dr. Mehdi Bennis, delivered a tutorial on the Internet of Things at IEEE GLOBECOM 2017. The tutorial covered the fundamentals of the IoT, as well as a broad range of IoT applications that include fog computing, M2M communications, URLLC, UAV communications, V2X networking, and wireless virtual reality.

IEEE GLOBECOM 2017:

http://globecom2017.ieee-globecom.org/

New Seed Grant from the Army Research Office (ARO) to study the performance of communications using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) 

Posted on Oct 1, 2017

Dr. Saad received a new 9-month, $57,922 seed grant from the Army Research Office (ARO) entitled "Performance of Wireless Communications using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles", whose goal is to develop fundamental results on the performance of wireless communications using flying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Dr. Saad delivers a keynote on Drones and Smart Cities at the IEEE VTC-Fall, 3rd IEEE Workshop on Next Generation Backhaul/Fronthaul Networks 

Posted on Sep 24, 2017

Dr. Saad delivered a keynote entitled " The Internet of Everything: When Drones meet 5G in Context-Aware Smart Cities" at  the IEEE VTC-Fall, 3rd IEEE Workshop on Next Generation Backhaul/Fronthaul Networks.

Abstract:

The coming decade will be marked by a large-scale wireless interconnection of smartphones, sensors, wearables, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and people, into what has come to be collectively known as the Internet of Everything (IoE), which will lie at the heart of tomorrow's smart cities. In this talk, we give an overview on two key ingredients that will help realize this IoE vision. First, we investigate the role of UAVs within the IoE by exposing the various performance tradeoffs associated with their use as flying base stations. Then, we introduce the disruptive paradigm of context-aware networking in which a wireless system can exploit a dimension that has often been overlooked – the user’s context. We discuss the various components of this framework while highlighting its promising outlook for boosting the performance of beyond 5G networks. We conclude this talk by providing our vision on wireless networking in the smart cities era.

3rd IEEE Workshop on Next Generation Backhaul/Fronthaul Networks:

https://sites.google.com/site/backnets2017/home

Dr. Saad delivers a plenary talk on Smart Cities at the APA Virginia Conference 

Posted on Jul 16, 2017

Dr. Saad delivered a talk entitled "Smart Cities: Enablers, Challenges, and Opportunities" at the APA Virginia Conference.

Abstract:

Transforming our villages, towns, and cities into smart and connected communities is arguably the most pressing technological challenge for the coming decade. This plenary will present a broad view on the smart cities vision, while discussing its enabling technologies with a focus on the challenges and opportunities associated with each one of them. 

APA Virginia Conference Program:

https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/2eb2d6_5d7093777d3a448b87be5f8acfe1109b.pdf

Dr. Walid Saad and Yaman Sharaf-Dabbagh Participate in Summer Camps at Virginia Tech 

Posted on Jul 8, 2017

Dr. Walid Saad and Yaman Sharaf-Dabbagh participate in two summer camps held at Virginia Tech, C-Tech² and Imagination summer camps. In C-Tech² - Computers and Technology at Virginia Tech summer camp, Dr. Saad and Sharaf-Dabbagh gave a workshop in titled "Introducing the Internet of Things, a Hands on Workshop" to junior and senior high school students. Imagination is a hands-on science and engineering summer day camp for rising 7th and 8th graders, Dr. Saad and Sharaf-Dabbagh gave a similar workshop titled "Introducing the Internet of Things, a Hands on Workshop" to rising 7th and 8th graders.

C-Tech² - Computers and Technology at Virginia Tech:

https://www.eng.vt.edu/ctech2

Imagination

https://eng.vt.edu/ceed/ceed-pre-college-programs/imagination.html

Dr. Saad was a co-author of the paper that received the Best Student Paper Award from the 26th European Conference on Networks and Communications (EuCNC'2017) 

Posted on Jun 14, 2017

Dr. Saad was a co-author of the paper that received the Best Student Paper Award from the 26th European Conference on Networks and Communications (EuCNC'2017) for the following paper:

M. El-Bamby, M. Bennis, and W. Saad, "Proactive Edge Computing in Latency-Constrained Fog Networks", in Proc. European Conference on Networks and Communications (EuCNC), Oulu, Finland, June 2017.

The paper introduced the new paradigm of proactive caching of computing tasks in fog networks. A PDF of the paper is found here:

https://arxiv.org/pdf/1704.06749.pdf

Dr. Walid Saad Promoted to Associate Professor 

Posted on Jun 6, 2017

The Virginia Tech Board of Visitors approved the promotion of Walid Saad to associate professor with tenure.

Virginia Tech News:

https://vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2017/06/bov-promo-tenure-0617.html

PhD Student Omid Semiari successfully defends his PhD entitled "Context-Aware Resource Management and Performance Analysis of Millimeter Wave and Sub-6 GHz Wireless Networks" 

Posted on Jun 5, 2017

PhD student Omid Semiari has successfully defended his PhD, entitled "Context-Aware Resource Management and Performance Analysis of Millimeter Wave and Sub-6 GHz Wireless Networks". Dr. Semiari will now join Georgia Southern University as a tenure-track Assistant Professor. Congratulations Omid!

Dr. Saad awarded a faculty fellowship from the College of Engineering 

Posted on May 5, 2017

Dr. Saad received a Dean's award in the form of a faculty fellowship from the College of Engineering, for outstanding research.

Dr. Saad provides his expert opinion to the media on the emerging Internet of Battlefield Things technology 

Posted on Apr 24, 2017

Dr. Saad was recently interviewed by the Christian Science Monitor and KCBS Radio San Francisco to weigh in on the emerging Internet of Battlefield Things technology, that the U.S. Military is envisioning over the next few years. The related news article from the Christian Science Monitor is found here:

https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Passcode/2017/0331/A-more-connected-military-means-new-battlefield-glitches-too

Anibal Sanjab received IEEE ICC 2017 conference travel grant Posted on Apr 7, 2017

Anibal Sanjab was chosen to receive the IEEE ICC 2017 Student Travel Grant to attend the 2017 IEEE International Conference on Communications in Paris, France.

the 2017 IEEE International Conference on Communications website:

http://icc2017.ieee-icc.org/

Dr. Saad Leads a New Project on Exploring Big Data Analytics to Plan for Smart Communities of the Future 

Posted on Feb 8, 2017

We already have smartphones, smart clothing, and smart appliances, but emerging "smart cities" are still a concept of our imagined future.

A Virginia Tech team wants those smart cities to feature zero energy, zero outage, and zero congestion. Their tools: big data and interdisciplinary technology.

Walid Saad, the Stephen O. Lane Junior Faculty Fellow and assistant professor in electrical and computer engineering; Harpreet Dhillon, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering; and Naren Ramakrishnan, the Thomas L. Phillips Professor of Engineering and director of the Discovery Analytics Center in the Department of Computer Science, are leading a three-year, $1.4 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to develop a new planning framework for smart, connected, and sustainable communities.

read more ..

Dr. Saad Leads a New Project on Laying Groundwork for the Internet of Battlefield Things 

Posted on Jan 25, 2017

By integrating smart devices on the battlefield, military strategists are tapping into the Internet of Things to hone their tactics. The massive deployment of devices like sensors, wearables, autonomous probabilistic vehicles, and drones is expected to transform tomorrow's military battlefields into a large-scale Internet of Battlefield Things (IoBT) ecosystem.

Walid Saad, the Stephen O. Lane Junior Faculty Fellow and assistant professor in electrical and computer engineering, and Naren Ramakrishnan, the Thomas L. Phillips Professor of Engineering and director of the Discovery Analytics Center in the Department of Computer Science, are leading the $324,000 Army Research Laboratory grant. They are developing a planning framework that would present mathematical tools to

read more ..

Dr. Saad elected Vice Chair of the Americas for IEEE Technical Committee on Cognitive Networks 

Posted on Dec 6, 2016

Walid Saad has been elected the Vice Chair of the Americas for the IEEE Communications Society Technical Committee of Cognitive Networks. Beginning in 2017, Saad will serve in this capacity for two years.

IEEE Technical Committee on Cognitive Networks:

http://cn.committees.comsoc.org/

Omid Semiari received Globecom conference travel grant 

Posted on Oct 4, 2016

Omid Semiari was chosen to receive the IEEE Globecom 2016 Student Travel Grant to attend 2016 IEEE Global Communications Conference in Washington, DC USA.

Global communications conference, exhibition, and industry forum (Globecom) 2016 website:

http://globecom2016.ieee-globecom.org/

Dr. Walid Saad and Yaman Sharaf-Dabbagh Participate in CTech² Summer Camp 

Posted on Jul 1, 2016

Dr. Walid Saad and Yaman Sharaf-Dabbagh participate in C-Tech² - Computers and Technology at Virginia Tech summer camp. Dr. Saad and Sharaf-Dabbagh gave a workshop in titled "Introducing the Internet of Things, a Hands on Workshop" to junior and senior high school students.

C-Tech² - Computers and Technology at Virginia Tech:

https://www.eng.vt.edu/ctech2

Our Research on Smart Grid and Cyber-physical Systems Security in the News 

Posted on Jun 23, 2016

Our research on smart grid and cyber-physical systems security in the news. Report title "Report on grid security lists potential ways to mitigate threats"

Smart grid news report:

http://www.smartgridnews.com/story/report-grid-security-lists-potential-ways-mitigate-threats/2016-06-23

Yaman Sharaf-Dabbagh joined Global City Teams Challenge Expo at Austin, TX 

Posted on Jun 13, 2016

Yaman Sharaf-Dabbagh joined Global City Teams Challenge Expo held at Austin, TX on June 13th and 14th.

Global City Teams Challenge is an initiative designed to advance the deployment of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies within a smart city / smart community environment. The IoT Event for Global City Leaders brings together over 200 Cities and their respective leadership to prospect and partner with innovative technology and service providers; linking progressive cities with state-of-the-art solutions and best practices.

GCTC Expo • June 13-14, 2016 • Austin, TX:

http://www.gctcexpo.org/

Dr. Walid Saad to co-chair an IEEE GLOBECOM 2016 Workshop on the Internet of Everything (IoE) 

Posted on Apr 6, 2016

The coming decade will be marked by a large-scale, pervasive wireless interconnection of devices, sensors, smartphones, tablets, wearable devices, vehicles, drones, and mundane objects into a massive cyber-physical Internet of Everything (IoE) system. It is anticipated that the IoE will provide connectivity for billions of devices and millions of individuals worldwide. However, such an interconnection will only be possible if a reliable and high-speed wireless communication infrastructure is built to sustain the massive and heterogeneous traffic that will stem from the IoE. Such an infrastructure will encompass a variety of wireless systems, ranging from cellular networks to WLANs. Owing to its pervasiveness, scale, and heterogeneity, the IoE will introduce many novel and unique challenges for wireless communications that range from enabling a co-existence between machine type devices and human type devices to delivering ultra-low latency communication and developing resource allocation mechanisms that can adapt to the heterogeneous IoE environment. Moreover, the IoE will also incorporate emerging technologies such as drone-based and UAV communications which will have their own, unique challenges. 

read more ..

Dr. Walid Saad presented a tutorial on Game-Theoretic Methods for Cyber-Physical Systems at the premier event on Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS Week) 

Posted on Apr 11, 2016

Cyber-physical systems are characterized by four key features: Heterogeneity, in terms of technology and services. 

Dynamics, in terms of rapidly varying environments and uncertainty at both the cyber and physical realms.

Size, in terms of number of users, nodes, and services.

Cyber-physical vulnerabilities, that can stem from multiple cyber and physical entry points. 

The need for smart, secure, and autonomic CPS system designs has become a central research issue in a variety of applications and scenarios. One example is next-generation smart grid systems in which a myriad of devices such as renewable energy sources, customer-owned storage units, and traditional generator units must be able to interact, co-exist, and self-adapt to uncertainties and time-varying environments. Another example is the Internet of things system, which will encompass a broad range of devices, of different capabilities, that must interact, operate, and control various cyber and physical operations. Incorporating self-organizing optimization capabilities along with smarter security solutions in heterogeneous CPSs motivates the development of innovative analytical techniques.

read more ..

Dr. Walid Saad and Gilsoo Lee receive the Transmission, Access, and Optical Systems (TAOS) Technical Committee's Award for Best Paper in the Green Communications Symposium 

Posted on Mar 14, 2016

Dr. Walid Saad and his student Gilsoo Lee received the Transmission, Access, and Optical Systems (TAOS) Technical Committee's Award for Best Paper in the Green Communications Symposium for their paper "Online Ski Rental for Scheduling Self-Powered, Energy Harvesting Small Base Stations" in Proc. of the IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), Smart Grid Cyber Security and Privacy Symposium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 2016.

Dr. Walid Saad Receives Outstanding New Assistant Professor Award 

Posted on Mar 9, 2016

Dr. Walid Saad has received the College of Engineering Dean’s Award for Outstanding New Assistant Professor this year. The award ceremony will take place on May 03, 2016, 5:00-7:00 pm at the Inn at Virginia Tech. Congratulations, Dr. Saad!

Dr. Saad named Steven O. Lane Junior Faculty Fellow of Electrical and Computer Engineering 

Posted on Nov 19, 2015

Walid Saad, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, has been named the Steven O. Lane Junior Faculty Fellow of Electrical and Computer Engineering by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors. 

The Steven O. Lane Junior Faculty Fellowship was endowed in 2004, through donations made in memory of the late Steven O. Lane, a 1978 graduate of Virginia Tech who was considered to be a leader in spacecraft antenna design. He spent his entire professional career with Boeing Satellite Systems; among his many accomplishments were 12 patents and several professional papers. The fellowship is presented to a junior faculty member for teaching and research excellence.

Saad joined the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2014 as a tenure-track assistant professor. He has earned a reputation as an exceptional researcher having won numerous awards including three best paper awards at conferences, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) ComSoc Fred W. Ellersick Prize in 2015 for the best IEEE magazine paper on communications published in the previous three calendar years, the National Science Foundation CAREER award in 2013, and the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young ... Read More

Dr. Walid Saad and Anibal Sanjab wins Best Paper Award 

Posted on Nov 5, 2015

Dr. Walid Saad and his student Anibal Sanjab win best paper award for their paper "Smart Grid Data Injection Attacks: To Defend or Not?," in Proc. of the IEEE International Conference on Smart Grid Communications (SmartGridComm), Smart Grid Cyber Security and Privacy Symposium, Miami, FL, November 2015.

IEEE International Conference on Smart Grid Communications (SmartGridComm), Smart Grid Cyber Security and Privacy Symposium

http://sgc2015.ieee-smartgridcomm.org/

Mohammad Mozaffari received Globecom conference travel grant 

Posted on Sept 23, 2015

Mohammad Mozaffari was chosen to receive the prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) student travel grant (STG) to attend 2015 IEEE Global Communications Conference in San Diego, CA, USA.

Global communications conference, exhibition, and industry forum (Globecom) 2015 website:

http://globecom2015.ieee-globecom.org/

The NetSciWiS research group is funded by the National Science Foundation to pursue critical research on smart cities and the Internet of Things 

Posted on Sept 17, 2015

The NetSciWiS research group has received two new grants from the National Science Foundation. The first grant, funded by the NSF CRISP program, is a large-scale grant that pertains to laying the foundations of resilient, interconnected smart cities. The second grant, funded by the NSF CPS program, under the auspices of the NIST Global City Teams Challenge, will investigate the synergies between data analytics and the security of the Internet of Things.

These two grants were were part of the grants announced by the National Science Foundation at the inaugural White House  Smart Cities Initiative that took place on September 14th, 2015. More information on this event and the grants is found here:

CRISP program announcement:

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?preview=y&cntn_id=136266 

Global City Teams Challenge:

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?preview=y&cntn_id=136250

NSF event at the White House Smart Cities initiative:

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=136253&org=NSF&from=news

Dr. Walid Saad and Yaman Sharaf-Dabbagh wins Best Paper Award 

Posted on Sept 1, 2015

Dr. Walid Saad and Yaman Sharaf-Dabbagh win best paper award for their paper "Transfer Learning for Device Fingerprinting with Application to Cognitive Radio Networks," in the Proc. of 26th IEEE International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC), Hong Kong, September 2015.

26th IEEE International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC):

www.ieee-pimrc.org/

Abdelrahman El-Dosouky was selected for "Games and Contracts for Cyber-Physical Security" summer school at UCLA 

Posted on Jul 7, 2015

Abdelrahman El-Dosouky was selected for "Games and Contracts for Cyber-Physical Security" summer school held at UCLA from JULY 7 - 23, 2015. The summer school covered many topics in game theory and economics that's related to cyber and network security.

Graduate Summer School: Games and Contracts for Cyber-Physical Security,

http://www.ipam.ucla.edu/programs/summer-schools/graduate-summer-school-games-and-contracts-for-cyber-physical-security/

Yaman Sharaf-Dabbagh joined Global City Teams Challenge Expo 

Posted on Jun 1, 2015

Yaman Sharaf-Dabbagh joined Global City Teams Challenge Expo held in Washington DC at June 1st.

The expo showcase new IoT technologies that are transforming decision making within a smart city / smart community environment in the US and around the world.

The expo includes:

Global City Teams Challenge Expo,

https://www.us-ignite.org/globalcityteamsexpo/

Dr. Saad receives the Young Investigator Award from the Office of Naval Research 

Posted on May 10, 2015

Dr. Walid Saad receives the Young Investigator Award from the Office of Naval Research

Website Launch 

Posted on May 1, 2015

Website beta version is launched