The Faculty of Engineering, Applied Science and Technology (FEAST) at Canadian University Dubai (CUD) brought together speakers and delegates from across the globe to discuss the emerging challenges and opportunities in the areas of wireless and mobile communications and networking technology. The three-day International Symposium on Networks, Computers and Communications (ISNCC) had keynote addresses from world-renowned scholars and practitioners in the field, including representatives from NASA, du, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The event opened with a presentation from Dr. Mohamed Abid, who is the Mars Sample Return Payload Chief Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Having worked as Deputy Chief Mechanical Engineer on the Mars Perseverance mission, Dr. Abid spoke about the intricate technical challenges the team overcame to successfully land the most advanced rover NASA has sent to another planet.
The day-one afternoon session began with a keynote address from Dr. Muriel Médard from the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at MIT, who discussed the new trends of error correcting codes in 5G technology. Also on the subject of 5G, Dr. Mahmoud R. Sherif, Head of Technology & IT Strategy at du, Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company, spoke about how telecoms operators can effectively monetize their investment in infrastructure through Next Generation Use Cases.
Delegates also heard addresses from three other keynote speakers during the Symposium. Dr. Maria Guta from the European Space Agency spoke about the impact of 5G/6G on delivering ubiquitous connectivity, Dr. Mohamed-Slim Alouini from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology talked about bridging the digital divide in remote and rural areas, while Dr. Albert Zomaya from the University of Sydney discussed Edge Computing for the Internet of Things.
This year marked the eighth edition of the ISNCC, which was hosted across the University’s campus buildings in Dubai and broadcast simultaneously to an international audience of participants around the world. Alongside the six keynote speeches, the Symposium featured 28 parallel workshop sessions across 12 different tracks, which included Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Blockchains and Cryptocurrency, and Data Science and Big Data Systems Engineering. The event concluded with a visit to Expo 2020 Dubai.
Prof. Adel Ben Mnaouer, General Chair of the Conference and CUD Professor of Computer Engineering in FEAST said, “We have been honoured to welcome such eminent speakers and to attract a very strong and diverse program of distinguished academic contributions, which has resulted in 167 papers being accepted for publication. The conference has provided a valuable platform for the exchange of ideas across several disciplines and for networking to connect different parts of the world. We thank everyone who has participated and supported the staging of this event and we look forward to building on these newly formed collaborations.”
Dean of FEAST, Dr. Sherif Moussa, added, “Dubai is regarded as a hub of excellence, innovation and high technology and CUD has what it takes to be a bridge of knowledge and collaboration among innovators and researchers around the globe. We are especially excited to have created an opportunity for scholars, industry leaders and university students to engage in conversation through panel discussions, technology demonstrations and presentations of new research findings.”
The event was sponsored by IT industry leader, Siemon, and received technical sponsorship from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the IEEE Communications Society. All accepted papers will be submitted for publication in IEEE Xplore.
