IEEE Comsoc Summer School 2018 on Intelligent Communication Networks, Lahore, Pakistan

By Kashif Bashir - IEEE ComSoc Lahore Chapter Chair and Usman Munawar - IEEE Lahore Section Secretary, Pakistan

“Education” is one of the major pillars of the IEEE Communication Society. In view of this, the IEEE Comsoc Board appreciates when the chapters disseminate awareness of the latest research and technological developments in the field of communication and related areas.

In Pakistan, the IEEE Comsoc Summer School has been organized continuously over the past three years. The first edition of the summer school was organized with the joint collaboration of Punjab University and the Al-Khawarizmi Institute of Computer Science (KICS), University of Engineering and Technology Lahore, Pakistan on 26-29 July 2016; the second edition of the summer school was organized with the joint collaboration of FAST National University and Al-Khawarizmi Institute of Computer Science (KICS), UET Lahore, Pakistan on 11-14 July 2017.

The IEEE Comsoc Lahore Chapter organized the third IEEE Comsoc Summer School 2018 at the Syed Babar Ali School of Science and Engineering, LUMS Lahore with the joint collaboration of the IEEE LUMS student branch and Al-Khawarizmi Institute of Computer Science (KICS), University of Engineering and Technology Lahore, Pakistan. This year the theme of the Summer School was Intelligent Communication Networks. It attracted a diverse audience of communication technology students, researchers and practitioners from academia, industry, and public administration across the world.

The opening ceremony of the IEEE Comsoc Summer School 2018 took place at LUMS Lahore on 7 August 2018. The Chief Guest of the opening ceremony was Prof. Dr. Shahid Masud Acting Vice Chancellor and Dean of School of Science and Engineering LUMS. Prof. Dr. Shahid Masud delivered the welcome note and mentioned that LUMS is ranked amongst the top 500 schools of science and engineering overall in the world. He appreciated the fact that despite the communications community being comparatively small in Pakistan, gathering interested people and quality speakers from all over the world was a big milestone achieved by the organizing team of IEEE Comsoc Summer School 2018. He emphasized the importance of the communications field and how everyone desires high speed data transmission.

Mr. Kashif Bashir, Chair of the IEEE Cosmoc Lahore Chapter and the General Chair of the IEEE Comsoc Summer School 2018, explained the history of the IEEE Comsoc Summer School and showed glimpses of the last two summer schools through a video. He also discussed the agenda of IEEE Comsoc Summer School 2018.

Dr. Momin Uppal, an associate professor at LUMS, said that this school has been organized very carefully to deliver the best and latest through interactive sessions with the participants.

This year the IEEE Comsoc Summer School 2018 featured 10 speakers including four from abroad and six from national universities. International speakers were from the University of Leeds, UK; NEC Labs Europe, Germany; the University of Oklahoma USA, and Vodafone UK; the national speakers were from LUMS Lahore, UET Lahore and ITU Lahore.

Featured speakers and topics of the talk were Dr. Syed Ali Zaidi (emerging technologies for intelligent communication network design and deployment); Dr. Momin Uppal (OFDM: the theory of practice); Dr. Ali Ahmad (blind deconvolution using deep generative priors); Dr. Zarrar Yousaf (NFV and SDN–key technology enablers for 5G networks); Dr. Muhammad Tahir (cross-roads between machine learning, signal processing, and communications); Dr. Ali Imran (leveraging AI for designing lean, elastic, agile and proactive (LEAP) wireless networks of the future: case studies, challenges and opportunities); Dr. Junaid Qadir (on analyzing self-driving networks: a systems thinking approach); Dr. Usman Javed (internet of things – a digitally connected society); Dr. Mahboob Ur Rahman (toward intelligent receiver design for nano-scale communication systems operating in the terahertz band); and Dr. Ubaid Ullah Fayyaz (factor graphs in channel coding).

A technical tour to Punjab Safe City Authorities (PSCA) was arranged on the third day of the Summer School to give the researchers the latest updates on how the latest technology is helping government institutions ensure the safety of their citizens. Mr. Akbar Nasir Khan, Chief Operating Officer, delivered a comprehensive presentation on PSCA and its activities and programs.

A thesis competition was also arranged with the title ‘5 Minutes Thesis Madness’ on the last day of the Summer School. Students participated in this competition and showcased their thesis and research work. Three students were declared winners and were presented shields as tokens of appreciation.

The Chief Guest of the closing ceremony was Prof. Dr. Waqar Mahmood, Managing Director of the Al-Khawarizmi Institute of Computer Science (KICS) UET Lahore. He delivered a presentation on KICS research activities and two IEEE conferences ICOSST 2017 and ICECE 2017. He expressed appreciation for the efforts of the organizing committee and volunteers for organizing a four- day event 7–10 August.

Dr. Momin Uppal, Associate Prof. at LUMS, and Mr. Usman Munawar, Secretary of the IEEE Lahore Section, were also present at the closing ceremony. Dr. Tariq Jadoon from the Electrical Engineering Department at LUMS distributed the certificates among the participants of the Summer School. At the end of the event shields were distributed among the invited speakers and the events’ organizers by the Chief Guest of the closing ceremony.