News

Dr. Norman C. Beaulieu receives election to Fellowship of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (the IET).

Alberta Innovates-Technology Futures AITF/iCORE Research Chair in Broadband Wireless Communications, Professor Norman Beaulieu has been elected Fellow of The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) of the United Kingdom. Founded 140 years ago, the IET is one of the world's leading professional societies for the engineering and technology community. The IET has more than 150,000 members in 127 countries, with active networks of members in 37 countries. To support its worldwide membership, it has offices in Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific. The IET provides a global knowledge network to facilitate the exchange of ideas and promote the positive role of science, engineering and technology in the world. Through its awards programme, the IET seeks to reward and celebrate individual excellence and innovation. Fellowship of the IET is for individuals who have demonstrated sustained achievement in their profession. It may be awarded to members who have demonstrated superior individual responsibility, sustained achievement and significant professionalism during their career. To achieve Fellowship, applicants must clearly demonstrate successful leadership or outstanding service to the profession over an extended period, normally not less than five years. Candidates should demonstrate success in one or more of these areas:

  • Operational and strategic responsibility for substantial programmes and resources.
  • Personal responsibility for significant technological innovation.
  • Original research resulting in international recognition.
  • The successful creation and development of a business in a sector of relevance to the IET.
  • Recognised leadership in academia or the armed services.
  • Outstanding service on national and international professional bodies.
  • Enhancement of the profession through public service.

The February 23 edition of The Times (UK) announced the election of new IET Fellows, including Professor Norman Beaulieu.

Dr. Beaulieu Appointed to the Advisory Board of the IEEE Communications Letters.

AITF Research Chair, Professor Norman Beaulieu has been appointed to the Advisory Board of the IEEE Communications Letters from March 2012. The IEEE Communications Letters is a highly respected archival journal that provides researchers with a venue for sharing their newest results in a timely manner. Every month this journal publishes 20-25 short (up to 4 pages) high-quality contributions on the theory and practice of communications. Submissions are reviewed by experts and evaluated by the editorial board. Accepted manuscripts experience an average time of 6 months from submission to publication. The Advisory Board advises the Editor-in-Chief on matters pertaining to the operation and profile of the journal, as well as acting as a review panel for submissions affected by special circumstances.

Dr. Beaulieu Goes on Invited Cross-Continental Distinguished Lecture Tour.

iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory (iWCL) Research Chair, Dr. Norman Beaulieu was invited by the European Emebbed Control Institute (EECI), and the Networked Control Systems Laboratory, Center of Excellence DEWS, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of L'Aqulia in L'Aqulia, Italy to give a Distinguished Lecturer Seminar (September 20, 2011). Dr. Beaulieu was also invited to give a Distinguished Speaker Seminar to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS), Boston, MA (October 13, 2011). The seminar was titled "Exact Analytical Solution for End-to-End SNR Multihop AF Relaying Systems," and was presented at the University of L'Aqulia on September 20, 2011 and at MIT on October 13, 2011.

Lecture Abstract: In cooperative wireless networks, the source sends the same signal to one or more intermediate nodes called relays, in addition to sending the signal directly to the destination in a single hop. These relays in turn perform some distributed processing on the received signals before retransmitting the signal to the next node. The next node may be the destination (dual-hop), or it may be another relay node (multihop). The most popular and studied relaying techniques are amplify-and-forward (AF) or equivalently, non regenerative relaying and decode- and-forward(DF), called also regenerative relaying. In AF relaying systems, relays amplify the received signals before forwarding to the next node. In DF relaying systems, the relay nodes completely decode the received signals, regenerate them and forward them to the next node. DF relaying requires more processing at the relay nodes than AF and the complexity and power consumption are disadvantages. Once the destination receives all the different versions of the signal, through the direct path and the relays, they are combined together through any of the well known receiver diversity combining techniques.

Much research and publication has been focused on the performance of AF relaying systems. Yet, for multihop networks, all previous work reports approximate solutions for the performance metrics of the system because no exact solution for the end-to-end received SNR of multihop AF relaying is known. In this seminar, we use a novel approach to find the exact probability density function (PDF) of the instantaneous end-to-end received SNR in a generic multihop AF relaying system, valid for any modulation scheme, and any fading channel distribution. The new approach represents a general framework for the analysis of cooperative networks.

The talk is organized as follows. The talk begins with presenting the system model and then the generalized transformed characteristic function (GTCF) approach is explained and discussed. Numerical results are presented for performance metrics such as the average symbol error probability, ergodic capacity and outage probability for Nakagami-m fading channels to demonstrate the application of the new GTCF approach. The computational complexity of the proposed method is compared to the direct exact method. Numerical results for Nakagami- m fading channels show perfect match between results obtained from the GTCF method and simulation results, while some of the state-of-art published approximate results are very inaccurate.

iWCL PDF and Professor Win IEEE Best Paper Award.

(September 2011)

Post Doctoral Fellow Dr. David Young and iCORE Chair Norman C. Beaulieu received an IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Best Paper Award for their paper, "Time- Hopped Ultrawide Bandwidth Receiver Designs Using Multiuser Interference Sensing." The paper was presented at the 2011 IEEE International Conference on Ultra-Wideband (ICUWB) in Bologna, Italy, Sept. 14-16, 2011.

The IEEE 2011 ICUWB was held in Bologna, Italy, where wireless communication was first demonstrated by Guglielmo Marconi in 1895. The IEEE ICUWB conference brings together the world's leading researchers from academia and industry working in UWB communications and networking technologies. The 2011 ICUWB received more than 200 paper submissions. Of these submissions, 128 papers were presented in 23 regular sessions.

Prize Paper Abstract: The uncoordinated nature of impulse radio ultra-wide bandwidth (UWB) transmissions leads to multiple-user interference (MUI) at each receiver. Due to use of a repetition code and multipath propagation, a Rake receiver has many partial decision statistics available for use in forming a symbol decision. Novel time-hopped UWB Rake receiver structures have been designed that aim to mitigate MUI by sensing the presence of MUI in the partial decision statistics associated with each received symbol. The presented IS method responds to mistimed pulses arising from interfering users for each repeated pulse (frame) of the symbol, in each Rake finger, yielding a signal that is correlated with signals from interfering users but uncorrelated with the desired-user signal. Receivers are presented that use MUI- sensing in selection of the best received pulses for combining, i.e., pulses less likely to be catastrophically corrupted by a pulse due to an interfering user. Also considered are nonlinear receiver structures in which MUI-sensing is used to select a subset of partial decision statistics to undergo nonlinear processing and/or combining.

Full PDF Version of Paper

iWCL Ph.D. Student Wins Chinese Government Award.

University of Alberta Ph.D. student Ms. Hua Shao of the iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory (iWCL) has been announced as one of 45 Canadian University winners of the Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad.

This award is established to encourage research excellence and recognize top Chinese students undertaking full-time research training abroad leading to a research-based Doctoral degree in all areas of study. The award consists of a certificate and a $5,000 US cash prize.

Chinese students studying in 29 countries, including the United States, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Australia, and other countries, competed for the award this year. There were 497 students selected for the award this year. Of these, 45 Chinese students from 21 Canadian universities received an award, three from the University of Alberta.

Ms. Hua Shao works under the supervision of iCORE Research Chair Professor Norman C. Beaulieu in the iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory (iWCL). Her current research interests include ultra-wideband (UWB) radio communications, spread-spectrum communications, and digital communications over fading channels. Ms. Shao has published several papers in prestigious IEEE journals and international conferences, and one of the papers was selected for the Prize Paper Award of IEEE International Conference on Communications (IEEE ICC 2010), which is the leading international conference in communications. Ms. Shao is also a current recipient of the iCORE ICT Graduate Student Scholarship from the Alberta Informatics Circle of Research Excellence (iCORE). She has several patents pending on her novel UWB technologies.

iWCL Ph.D. Graduate Wins NSERC Postdoctoral Award.

Dr. Somasundaram Niranjayan, a Ph.D. graduate of the iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory (iWCL) and currently a postdoctoral fellow, has been awarded the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada Postdoctoral Fellowship (NSERC PDF) in the 2010 competition.

The NSERC PDF award is a competitive postdoctoral fellowship awarded based on research ability and leadership skills. This award supports the recipient with a C$40,000 annual funding for two years to conduct postdoctoral research at a research institution of their choice around the world. In the year 2010 competition, 286 applicants received this national award out of 1341 total applicants. Around 40 awards were issued to Electrical and Computer engineering related fields and 7 were awarded in the areas of communication networks/systems.

Dr. Somasundaram Niranjayan will be joining the University of Southern California as a Post Doctoral Fellow under the supervision of Dr. Andreas Molisch in the WiDeS—Wireless Devices and Systems Group.

Dr. Somasundaram Niranjayan completed his Ph.D. under the supervision of Dr. Norman C. Beaulieu. In his Ph.D. work, Somasundaram Niranjayan developed non-linear receivers for multiple access Ultra-Wide Bandwidth (UWB) systems and also developed tools to analyze the performance of transmitted reference UWB systems. He both published scientific papers reporting the research results and filed patent applications on the new technologies.

UofA Professor Gives Lecture Series at the University of Tehran.

(January 2010)

Dr. Norman C. Beaulieu, Professor and iCORE Research Chair in Broadband Wireless Communications at the University of Alberta was invited by the School of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Tehran to participate in a departmental seminar series titled "Next Generation Wireless Networks: Trends & Enabling Technologies" conducted by invited distinguished international researchers.

Dr. Beaulieu gave two seminar series in Advanced Wireless Communications. Part I: Toward Better Spectrum Utilization was held on Saturday November 20, 2010 and included three talks titled "A TH-UWB Wireless Receiver With Near-MUD Performance for Multiple Access Interference Applications," "Optimal Wideband Spectrum Sensing Framework for Cognitive Radio Systems," and "Node Switching Rates of Switch-and-Examine Relaying in Rician and Nakagami-m Fading." Part II: Diversity in Digital Receivers and Wireless Networks was held on Wednesday November 24, 2010 and included three talks titled "Unified Theoretical Expressions for the Average Error Rate of Selection Diversity With Arbitrary Coded and Uncoded Modulation in Slow Rayleigh Fading and Their Applications to Analytical, Semi-Analytical, and Simulation Performance Evaluation," "Asymptotic Performance Analysis of Optimum Combining for Dense Multiple Antenna Reception Under Rayleigh Fading," and "Precise Approximations for the Average Symbol Error Probability of Amplify-and-Forward Two-hop and Multi-hop Relaying Systems in Nakagami-m Fading."

During his visit, Dr. Beaulieu reviewed multiple new Electrical and Computer Engineering Laboratory courses at the University of Tehran. He also met with Professors and researchers to discuss new research ideas and funding opportunities. By popular student demand, Dr. Beaulieu met with Graduate students at the University of Tehran to give an additional afternoon workshop titled "How to successfully publish a research paper in the IEEE Journals." Dr. Beaulieu's visit was fully funded by Mobile Communications Company of Iran.

UofA Professor Gives Distinguished Visiting Fellowship Lecture Tour for the Royal Academy of Engineering (United Kingdom).

(December 2010)

Dr. Norman C. Beaulieu, Professor and iCORE Research Chair in Broadband Wireless Communications at the University of Alberta was selected as Distinguished Visiting Fellow for "sharing first-hand in-sight into world-class cutting-edge knowledge, recognising excellence, and inspiring the next generation," by the Royal Academy of Engineering in the United Kingdom.

The Royal Academy of Engineering is Britain's national academy for engineering. They bring together the country's most eminent engineers from all disciplines to promote excellence in the science, art and practice of engineering and enhance the UK's engineering capabilities; celebrate excellence and inspire the next generation.

The aim of the Distinguished Visiting Fellowship program is to provide funding to enable an academic engineering department in a United Kingdom university to be a host to a Distinguished Visiting Fellow from an overseas academic center of excellence. The object of the program is to access global centers of excellence in engineering research and teaching, with a view to strengthening UK capacity and international standing.

Dr. Beaulieu was hosted by Dr. Yunfei Chen, Associate Professor at the University of Warwick. During his travel as a Distinguish Visiting Fellow in the United Kingdom, Dr. Beaulieu gave Distinguished Lectures on Ultra-Wide Bandwidth Wireless at the University of Warwick and King's College London as well as Distinguished Lectures on Cognitive Radio at Southampton University, Manchester University and Heriot-Watt University. Dr. Beaulieu also met with students and faculty members at these institutions to discuss new research ideas, joint proposals and funding opportunities. Dr. Beaulieu completed this whirlwind of activities in October 2010.

UofA Professor Wins the 2010 Canadian Award in Telecommunications Research.

(May 2010)

The Canadian Award for Telecommunications Research (CATR) is a career award that recognizes outstanding Canadian researchers as demonstrated by their impact on telecommunications research. The award is normally made every two years at the Biennial Symposium on Communications held at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario or at the Canadian Workshop on Information Theory. Dr. Beaulieu was presented with an engraved gold medal at the 25th Biennial Symposium on Communications in Kingston, Ontario on May 13, 2010. Since the inception of the award in 1990, this is the first time in the award's 20 year history that the award has been given to a recipient west of Ontario.

The CATR Awards Committee was very pleased to announce that the 2010 award recipient is Professor Norman C. Beaulieu, iCORE Research Chair of the University of Alberta, for fundamental contributions to the in-depth understanding, analysis, and design of wireless communications systems. His major research contributions, cited by others over 5,500 times, include the development of what is now termed the "Beaulieu Series", a method to compute error rates, outage and coverage in communications systems with inter-symbol and co-channel interference, practical diversity system design analysis, analysis and understanding of decision feedback equalizers, development of an improved Nyquist pulse, where its application to OFDM systems is now a Motorola-owned patent, as well as the development, in collaboration with Damen and El Gamal, of threaded algebraic space-time (TAST) codes, which have been patented and incorporated into the IEEE 802.16e (WiMax) standard. Dr. Beaulieu's research, through hundreds of publications, has advanced available analysis techniques, widely influenced current communications research methodology, and seeded much subsequent work by others.

Professor Beaulieu obtained the B.A.Sc., M.A.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of British Columbia in 1980, 1983 and 1986, respectively. He was on the faculty in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Queen's University from 1986 to 2000 and cross-appointed to the Department of Mathematics and Statistics from 1995-2000. He has been Canada Research Chair and iCORE Research Chair in Broadband Wireless Communications at the University of Alberta from 2001-2007 and from 2000-present, respectively. He is Fellow of IEEE, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada, and Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. He has won the IEEE Communications Society Edwin Armstrong Award Achievement Award, the AST Leadership Foundation's Outstanding Leadership in Alberta Technology Award, and the Reginald Audrey Fessenden Silver Medal in 2010. He has also won an IEEE Prize Paper Award at the IEEE International Conference on Ultra-Wideband (ICUWB) in 2006 and an IEEE Prize Paper Award at the IEEE International Communications Conference (ICC) in 2010. He was featured in TIME Magazine in August 15, 2005.

Dr. Beaulieu has not only been recognized on numerous occasions within the communications field, but has been recognized as a preeminent engineering researcher both nationally and internationally, transcending the boundaries of communications and electrical engineering. Examples of such recognition includes the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship, the first electrical engineer in 15 years to win this interdisciplinary Canadian award, the K.Y. Lo Medal of the Engineering Institute of Canada for outstanding contributions at the international level, the Thomas W. Eadie Medal of the Royal Society of Canada in recognition of major contributions to engineering or applied science, and the J Gordin Kaplan Award for Excellence in Research, the most prestigious research award at the University of Alberta, where only four winners have been engineers since its inception in 1982.

iWCL Graduate Student and Professor Win IEEE Best Paper Award.

(March 2010)

Ph.D. Student Hua Shao and iCORE Chair Norman C. Beaulieu received an IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Prize Paper Award for their paper, "Block Coding for Impulsive Laplacian Noise." The paper will be presented in the Wireless Communications Symposium at the International Conference on Communications ICC 2010, Cape Town, South Africa, May 23-27, 2010.

The IEEE International Conference on Communications is the top international conference for dissemination of a wide range of research topics on communication. The conference has a proud tradition of being the flagship conference of the IEEE Communications Society. It brings together the world's leading scientists from academia and industry. Recent advances in the field of communications are presented, thereby facilitating scientific idea exchange, the identification of future trends in communications, and the illumination of business opportunities. At the 2009 IEEE International Conference on Communications in Dresden around 3000 papers were reviewed with only a few over 1000 being accepted and presented.

Paper Abstract: Recent reported results have shown that impulsive noise, which can be well modeled by the Laplace distribution, is present in both indoor and outdoor radio environments. The performance of communication systems employing block data transmission in the presence of impulsive Laplacian noise is studied, where analytical expressions for evaluating the block error probability are derived for both hard-decision and soft-decision decoders. Both unfaded and slow Rayleigh fading channels are considered. Computations of the block error probability are also presented for different block sizes and error levels, and the characteristics of block error probabilities are compared for both nonfading and fading scenarios. Read full paper here.

Dr. Beaulieu wins 2010 Fessenden Award.

(February 2010)

Dr. Norman C. Beaulieu, Professor and iCORE Research Chair in Broadband Wireless Communications at the University of Alberta has been awarded the 2010 Reginald Aubrey Fessenden Silver Medal "for outstanding contributions in wireless communication theory" by IEEE Canada.

IEEE Canada is the Canadian region of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). IEEE is the trusted "voice" for engineering, computing and technology information around the globe. Each year IEEE Canada showcases Canadian engineering achievements by recognizing the individual achievement of its members with various awards. The IEEE Canada awards the R.A. Fessenden silver medal to outstanding Canadian engineers recognized for their important contributions to the field of telecommunications.

R.A. Fessenden is certainly one of the unsung pioneers of wireless and radio technology. Although Marconi received much of the limelight with his work, Fessenden had a might greater insight into the workings of radio technology. He achieved many "firsts". He was the first to develop a method of generating a continuous wave signal and to use it. He was the first to transmit voice, and to make a sound broadcast. He developed and was the first to use the hererodyne principle that forms the basis of almost every radio today. He was the first to establish two-way communication across the Atlantic, and to send a voice signal across the Atlantic. In many ways, Reginald Fessenden made huge contributions to the technology of radio, and yet he is comparatively little known. Even when people do recognize his name, he is often thought of as an American, whereas in fact he came from Canada. His son summarized his greatest achievements in one sentence: "By his genius, distant lands converse and men sail unafraid upon the deep."

Over Dr. Beaulieu's illustrious career he has contributed to many aspects of the telecommunications field and the university community. He has published 248 refereed journal articles, 353 refereed conference papers and received over $15,000,000.00 in research funding to continue his research outputs in telecommunications. Among many extraordinary contributions, Dr. Beaulieu has contributed a mathematical technique called the "Beaulieu Series" used by researchers worldwide to solve problems in wireless communications. A paper in (IEE Proc.-Commun., June 2006, p. 349) states, "Many research studies on the performance characteristics of communications applications are based on the Beaulieu series approach." US Patent 7,394,875 owned by Texas Instruments is titled "Beaulieu series approach to optimal UMTS RACH preamble detection estimation." A longstanding problem, important in many fields is determining the distribution of a sum of lognormal random variables. Dr. Beaulieu's work in this field has been cited in 16 different research disciplines, (see Google Scholar and ISI Web of Science). He also derived a novel electrical pulse shape that is better than the raised-cosine pulse. Other researchers, around the world, are using the new pulse as the new benchmark pulse for data transmission. The linear threaded algebraic space-time (TAST) codes co-invented by the nominee are the best known linear block space-time codes. A TAST code has been incorporated in the Industry Standard IEEE 802.16e, the "WiMax Standard." He also co-invented the most efficient Rayleigh fading simulator design.

Dr. Beaulieu's current research interests include broadband digital communications systems, ultra-wide bandwidth wireless systems, ad hoc wireless networks and cooperative wireless networks, fading channel modeling and simulation, diversity systems, multiple input multiple output (MIMO) systems, space-time coding, synchronization in interference channels, and cognitive radio.

Dr. Norman C. Beaulieu will accept this prestigious award at the Award Banquet on May 3, 2010 at the 23rd Canadian Conference for Electrical and Computer Engineering (CCECE 2010) to be held in Calgary, Alberta, May 2-5, 2010.

Dr. Beaulieu Gives Distinguished Speaker Seminar at MIT.

(January 2010)

iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory (iWCL) Research Chair, Dr. Norman Beaulieu gave a Distinguished Speaker Seminar to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS), Boston, MA, December 17, 2009. The talk titled, "An Optimal Algorithm for Wideband Spectrum Sensing in Cognitive Radio Systems," describes ongoing research in the iWCL. Dr. Beaulieu spoke about the challenge of designing a reliable sensing algorithm that will identify suitable opportunities for transmission in cognitive radio systems without compromising the integrity of the primary transmissions, particularly in low signal-to-noise (SNR) regimes. Various algorithms have been proposed in past works, but most of these strategies are restricted to sensing narrowband channels. There have been rather limited developments when it comes to wideband spectrum sensing. A novel approach, termed the "multiband joint detection" (MJD) algorithm for wideband sensing was recently proposed, where the decisions are jointly made over multiple frequency bands. Although the MJD algorithm represents a remarkable progress in wideband sensing, it fails to exploit some basic potentials of cognitive radio.

An optimal wideband spectrum sensing algorithm, developed in the iWCL, which jointly detects the primary activities over multiple narrowband channels was presented. The algorithm enhances the overall secondary user performance while protecting the primary network at a desired level. Generally speaking, the algorithm makes efficient use of the spectrum by establishing a suitable tradeoff between the secondary user access and primary network protection through a joint adjustment of the sensing parameters. Simulation results attest that the proposed algorithm achieves a superior performance compared to contemporary algorithms.

iWCL Graduate Joins Stanford

(January 2010)

Golnaz Farhadi is joining the Department of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, as a Visiting Scholar (NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow) in January 2010. She will be a member of the Dynamic Spectrum Management (DSM) Group, a research group within the Space, Telecommunications, and Radioscience (STAR) Laboratory, headed by Prof. John M. Cioffi, Hitachi America Professor of Engineering. The STAR Lab consists of several research groups working on a wide range of areas including remote sensing, wireless communications, broadband access, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), and optical communications. The DSM group specifically studies advanced digital communication technologies for high-speed multi-user wireline and wireless networks.

Golnaz' research at the STAR Lab will be focused on cooperative networks. This is a new communication paradigm that creates a virtual multiple-antenna system using antennas of different users within the system to provide broader and more efficient coverage area. Her work will involve the development of system-wide practical algorithms for interference mitigation in cooperative networks aiming to improve system quality of service, reliability, and data rate. The research will provide one of the main enabling technologies for applications in areas such as crisis management services, home networking, environment control, intelligent transportation systems, medical monitoring, and low-cost wireless Internet access.

Golnaz completed the Ph.D. degree under the supervision of iCORE Research Chair Prof. Norman C. Beaulieu in August 2009. Her Ph.D. research has led to many published, accepted and submitted papers in premiere journals and international conferences as well as three patent applications in progress.

Dr. Beaulieu Gives Distinguished Visitor Lecture at The University of Warwick, School of Engineering, Coventry, UK.

(January 2010)

iCORE Wireless Research Chair, Dr. Norman Beaulieu gave a Distinguished Visitor Lecture to the School of Engineering at the University of Warwick, December 10, 2009. The University of Warwick is ranked 4th out of 117 Universities in the UK on The Guardian Ranking of UK Universities 2009.

The talk titled, "An Optimal Algorithm for Wideband Spectrum Sensing in Cognitive Radio Systems," describes ongoing research in the iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory. More specifically, Dr. Beaulieu spoke about an optimal wideband spectrum sensing algorithm which jointly detects the primary radio user activities over multiple narrowband channels. The algorithm enhances the overall secondary user performance while protecting the primary network at a desired level. The problem is formulated as an optimization problem to maximize the available secondary throughput capacity given a bound on the imposed aggregate interference. It is demonstrated that the problem can be solved as a convex optimization if certain practical constraints are imposed. Generally speaking, the novel algorithm makes an efficient use of the spectrum by establishing a suitable tradeoff between the secondary user access and primary network protection through a joint adjustment of the sensing parameters. Simulation results attest that the proposed algorithm achieves a marked superior performance compared to contemporary algorithms intended for the same purpose.

iWCL Sponsors Distinguished Speaker Pan-Alberta Tour and UofA Double Feature.

(August 2009)

Furthering iCORE's Pan-Alberta activities and collaborations, the iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory (iWCL) sponsored invited iCORE Distinguished Speaker, Dr. Moe Win, to tour Alberta and speak at both the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta. Dr. Win, Associate Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS), is internationally recognized as one of the two ground laying pioneers of ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless. He is an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer and was elected Fellow of the IEEE, cited for "contributions to wideband wireless transmission."

Dr. Win's talk titled "Location-Awareness Wireless Networks," described novel research that uses cooperative peer-to-peer communications together with anchor nodes to locate accurately agents in environments where GPS doesn't work.

Dr. Win spoke on July 29, 2009 to a standing-room only crowd at the Schulich School of Engineering at the University of Calgary and again on July 31, 2009 to Students and Faculty at the University of Alberta. The University of Alberta was treated to a double feature. Dr. Andreas Molisch of the University of Southern California and Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL) in Cambridge gave the second talk titled, "Distributed MIMO Systems and Base Station Cooperation."

iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory Graduate Appointed Associate Editor for the IEEE Communications Letters

(April 2009)

Congratulations to Dr. Yunfei Chen, Assistant Professor at the University of Warwick who was recently appointed Associate Editor for the IEEE Communications Letters. Every month this journal publishes 20-25 short (5-6 columns) high-quality, original contributions on the theory and practice of communications. This provides researchers with a venue for sharing their newest results in a timely manner.

Dr. Chen completed his Ph.D. program under the supervision of iCORE Research Chair Dr. Norman Beaulieu in January 2006. He was subsequently appointed Assistant Professor at the University of Warwick in Coventry UK. The University of Warwick is ranked 4th out of 117 Universities in the UK on The Guardian Ranking of UK Universities 2009.

Dr. Chen continues research collaboration with the iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory with numerous accepted, published and submitted journal and international conference papers. This research has led to 2 US Patents on wireless technology being filed.

Dr. Beaulieu Gives Research Seminar at the University of Toronto's Electrical and Computer Engineering Department

(April 2009)

iCORE Wireless Research Chair, Dr. Norman Beaulieu gave a research seminar to the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Toronto, April 27, 2009. The talk titled, "A TH-UWB Receiver With Near-MUD Performance for Multiple Access Interference Applications," describes ongoing research in the iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory. More specifically, Dr. Beaulieu spoke about novel receiver technologies for UWB (Ultra wide bandwidth) wireless systems. UWB is envisioned as a replacement for wires and cables, offering for extremely high data rates for short-distance applications, sometimes dubbed "Bluetooth on steroids." The talk described patent pending UWB technology developed at the iWCL.

iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory researcher wins Outstanding M.Sc. Award

(March 2009)

The Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Alberta released in February 2009 the name of the winner of the Chair's Outstanding M.Sc. Award for the 2006-07 academic year. Congratulations to Robert Carruthers of the iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory. Robert completed his M.Sc. program under the supervision of iCORE Research Chair Norm Beaulieu. Robert's thesis, titled "Improved Markov Chain Modelling of the Rayleigh Fading Channel," studies new mathematical Markov chain models used to represent fading wireless transmission channels.

The models will be helpful in studying the performances of wireless networks, in particular for studies of signal outage (dropped calls), coverage (dead zones), and system throughput (bandwidth and data rate speed). Robert is now contributing to Alberta industry, commerce, and research in his job at UTI - University Technologies International, the University of Calgary's technology transfer company.

Dr. Beaulieu Speaks on UWB Wireless during IEEE Distinguished Lecturer Tour in Scandinavia

(November 2008)

iCORE Wireless researcher Professor Norman C. Beaulieu was invited by top Scandinavian Universities and the Danish Engineering Society to present a lecture tour in Scandinavia in early mid November. The IEEE Communications Society Distinguished Lecturer Tour included lectures in the Scandinavian cities of Oulu, Finland, Linköoping, Sweden, Göteborg, Sweden, Lund, Sweden, Aalborg, Denmark and Copenhagen, Denmark.

Dr. Beaulieu spoke at the University of Oulu, Linköping University, Chalmers University, Lund University, Aalborg University and Ingeniørhuset, København (Danish Engineering Society Hall, Copenhagen). An interesting part of Dr. Beaulieu's past is that he was once a student at Aalborg University and at the Technical University of Denmark.

Dr. Beaulieu presented the concepts and applications of ultra-wide bandwidth wireless (or UWB) prior to lecturing on the modelling of UWB channels and the signal formats of UWB. After introducing the fundamentals, an in-depth exposition of receiver designs, and techniques for mitigating multi-user interference that arises when multiple UWB applications operate simultaneously in near proximity was given. In part, the talk showcased patent pending UWB technologies developed in the iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory.

UWB devices are envisioned to replace cables and wires in short-range, high data rate applications such as in-home entertainment centres, mine tunnels, hospitals, tank turrets, vehicular radar systems, and local area body networks.

iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory seeks Computer Systems Specialist

(November 2008)

The iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory is looking for a Computer Systems Specialist to provide technical support to the research group with the following computational requirements: computer and network administration, software installation and configuration, and support of scientific applications. The full job posting is available in PDF format.

Dr. Beaulieu Speaks on UWB Wireless during IEEE Distinguished Lecturer Tour in Australia

(August 2008)

iCORE Wireless researcher Dr. Norman C. Beaulieu went on a lecture tour across Southeast and Northeast Australia in late August.

The IEEE Communications Society Distinguished Lecturer Tour included lectures in the Australian cities of Adelaide, Brisbane, Marsfield, Newcastle, Sydney, and Townsville. The local IEEE sponsors were the South Australia Communications and Signal Processing Chapter, the North Queensland Microwave Theory and Techniques/Communications Society, the Queensland Signal Processing and Communications Chapter, and the New South Wales Communications, Signal Processing & Oceans Engineering Chapter.

Dr. Beaulieu spoke at the University of Adelaide, James Cook University, the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CISRO) QCAT Exploration & Mining Internal Communications Group, the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CISRO) ICT Centre, the University of New South Wales, and the University of Newcastle.

Of common interest to diverse audiences, Dr. Beaulieu lectured on ultra-wide bandwidth wireless (or UWB) devices that can be used to replace cables and wires, be it in home entertainment centres, mine tunnels, hospitals, or tank turrets. In particular, Dr. Beaulieu's research is concerned with techniques for mitigating interference that permit multiple UWB applications to operate simultaneously in near proximity.

Dr. Beaulieu Keynote Speaker at Italian Ultra-Wide Bandwidth Wireless Workshop in Marconi's Home County

(June 2008)

Dr. Norm Beaulieu was a Distinguished Keynote Speaker June 10 at the UWB Workshop, "Ultrawide Bandwidth: A Paradigm for Tomorrow's Networking Applications."

The workshop was sponsored by the University of Ferrara, in Ferrara, Italy. The University of Ferrara, founded on March 4, 1391, counts Nicolaus Copernicus among its alumni. It is located just 43 miles from the Marconi Family Villa where Guglielmo Marconi conducted his pioneering experiments in wireless, giving the workshop an unique historic backdrop, particularly since Marconi's wireless was the first ultra-wideband. Professor Beaulieu's talk, entitled "UWB Receiver Designs for Multi-User Interference Environments," reported ongoing research into novel receiver designs for future UWB systems and featured patent pending UWB technologies developed in the iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory.

Workshop webpage

Professor Norman C. Beaulieu Gives Distinguished Lecturer Seminar at Harvard

(May 2008)

Professor Norman C. Beaulieu gave an invited distinguished lecturer seminar in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University, May 2, 2008. The talk titled, "Designing Ultra-Wide Bandwidth (UWB) Receivers for Multi-User Interference Environments" described ongoing research in ultra-wide bandwidth wireless systems in the iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory (iWCL). Professor Beaulieu lectured on nonlinear receiver designs for ultra-wide bandwidth wireless (UWB) systems specifically tailored to operating in multiuser interference environments, such as those found in multiple access applications. The talk featured published and patent pending UWB technologies developed by the iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory. This was one of the best attended talks in the seminar series this year, drawing groups of wireless researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL) (the North American arm of the Corporate R&D organization of the Mitsubishi Electric Corporation), as well as Harvard University.

iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory Expands Team in Pan-Alberta Cooperation

(April 2008)

The iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory based at the University of Alberta in Edmonton is expanding its activities to include a researcher at the University of Calgary as part of the core professoriate, iCORE Chair and laboratory director Dr. Norman Beaulieu announced today. Professor John Nielsen is joining Dr. Beaulieu, principal researchers Chintha Tellambura and Abraham Fapojuwo, and iCORE research associate Masoud Ardakani on the research team. Dr. Nielsen brings additional ultra-wide bandwidth (UWB) wireless expertise to a world-class physical layer wireless research cluster. Professor Nielsen's professional credentials include valuable practical experience with the defence and telecommunications sectors. Notable involvements were with Research in Motion where he was a primary lead in establishing RIM, CDMA and iDEN Blackberry products. Prior to being at RIM, he was with Nortel's CDMA team in Calgary engaged in the IS95 and IS2000 CDMA base station developments with emphasis on the physical layer. Several patents and numerous design innovations resulted from his involvement and leadership at both RIM and Nortel. At the Schulich School of Engineering, he teaches courses on numerical methods, DSP, signal detection and information theory. He also leads a research group consisting of two PhD and ten MSc/MEng students. John is a member of the IEEE and a registered Professional Engineer in the Province of Alberta. In addition to appointment of Professor Nielsen, the iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory is funding one additional graduate student based at the University of Calgary. They join Professor Fapojuwo and one graduate student already at the University of Calgary. This cross-university clustering is expected to seed further collaborations between the Edmonton and Calgary units.

UofA Prof Wins Prestigious International Award

(February 2008)

Professor and iCORE Research Chair Norman C. Beaulieu at the University of Alberta is the recipient of the 2007 IEEE Edwin Howard Armstrong Achievement Award. The award, named in honour of Edwin H. Armstrong who was most notably the inventor and father of the complete FM radio system, is considered one of the most prestigious career awards bestowed by the IEEE Communications Society.

Professor Beaulieu was recruited to the University of Alberta from Queens University at Kingston, Ontario in September 2000 to take up a research chair offered by the Alberta Research Funding Agency iCORE. He is the Director of the iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory and was previously on the board of Directors of Eleven Engineering, an Edmonton based high technology wireless firm. An expert in wireless communications, Dr. Beaulieu was cited by the IEEE "For outstanding contributions to the analysis, design, and modeling of wireless communication systems."

For nearly a century, the IEEE Awards program has paid tribute to technical professionals whose exceptional achievements and outstanding contributions have made a lasting impact on technology, society and the engineering profession. The Awards program honours achievements in education, industry, research and service.

The IEEE is the world's leading professional association for the advancement of technology. Through its global membership, IEEE is a leading authority on areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power and consumer electronics among others. With more than 370,000 members in over 160 countries, the IEEE is one of the world's largest professional societies.

Professor Beaulieu Gives IEEE Distinguished Lecturer Tour in Europe on UWB Wireless

(November 2007)

Professor Norman C. Beaulieu gave an IEEE Communications Society Distinguished Lecturer Tour in Europe in late November. IEEE Distinguished Lecturer Tours are provided as a service to local chapters of IEEE; funding is provided by the IEEE and enables lecturers to address multiple groups during a lecture tour. Lecturers are approved by the Director - Membership Programs Development in conjunction with the appropriate Regional Director and, when needed, the Vice President - Technical Activities.

Dr Beaulieu lectured in Zagreb, Croatia, Thessaloniki, Greece and Istanbul, Turkey. The tour was initiated by Yildiz Technical University in Istanbul, who invited Dr. Beaulieu as the Distinguished Keynote Speaker for the inaugural HABTEKUS 07 Symposium. Professor Beaulieu lectured on nonlinear receiver designs for ultra-wide bandwidth wireless (UWB) systems operating in multiuser interference environments. The talk featured published and patent pending UWB technologies developed by the iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory.

Professor Norm Beaulieu Appointed Senior Editor of New Research Journal

(November 2007)

Wiley InterScience publisher has just launched a new technical journal titled Security and Communication Networks, which is focused on various aspects of communication security research. Security and Communication Networks is an international journal publishing original research and review papers on security and cryptographic mechanisms applied to all types of information and communication networks, including wired, wireless and optical transmission platforms. The journal provides a prestigious forum for the R&D community in academia and industry working at the inter-disciplinary nexus of next generation communications technologies with physical and upper layer network security implementations. iCORE Research Chair, Professor Norm Beaulieu has been appointed Senior Editor of this journal. The Senior Editor, the highest position on the editorial board, promotes and guides the direction of the journal as well as mentoring the Editor-in-Chief and the Co-Editor-in-Chief. The first issue of the journal is scheduled for publication in January of 2008 and initially it will publish six issues per year.

CFI Recognizes iWCL Achievements

(October 2007)

The iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory (iWCL) and the University of Alberta are recognized by the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) in its annual report for 2006. The Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) 2006 Report on Results highlighted the iWCL at the University of Alberta in a sidebox article on page 23 for facilitating leading-edge international research. This report highlights various projects from across Canada and includes 11 sidebox articles. The iWCL sidebox is the only one for the University of Alberta. The article cites the international research collaborations, Alberta research collaborations, journal and conference publication activities and patent applications of the iWCL lead by iCORE Research Chair Norman C. Beaulieu. Recruitment of the best foreign graduate students and sponsorship of distinguished invited guests from universities, industry groups and research laboratories around the world were also lauded.

Canadian Workshop on Information Theory (CWIT) 2007

(July 2007)

Held in Edmonton Sponsored by iCORE

The 10th Canadian Workshop on Information Theory (CWIT 2007) was held on June 6 - 8 2007 at Lister Conference Centre on the campus of the University of Alberta. The conference was presented by the Canadian Society of Information Theory and co-chaired by Dr. Norman C. Beaulieu and Dr. Masoud Ardakani, both of the iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory. iCORE was a primary sponsor of this event which gave Alberta graduate students an opportunity to attend a high quality workshop and hear the leading lights in the field right in their own backyard. This was the first time this workshop has been held in Alberta.

In total, 61 papers were submitted to the CWIT 2007, of which 48 were accepted. Of those, 45 papers were ultimately presented by 41 authors from across Canada as well as international locations including the USA, France, and Iran. The presentations were divided into 7 technical sessions held over the course of the 3-day conference. The 48 accepted papers will also be appearing on IEEEXplore, a first in the history of the CWIT.

In addition to the technical paper presentations, the CWIT 2007 also included 4 keynote lectures from highly distinguished researchers, Dr. Toby Berger of the University of Virginia, Dr. Robert Calderbank of Princeton University, Dr. Vahid Tarokh of Harvard University, and Dr. Jack Wolf of UCSD.

There were 91 people in attendance at the CWIT 2007, of which 41 were technical paper presenters, and 29 were students. In addition to the technical sessions and keynote lectures, all registrants were invited to attend a registration reception, which was held on the evening of June 5. The conference also included a banquet buffet for technical paper presenters and full registrants, held on the evening of June 7.

iWCL Chair Selected to Appear on ISIHighlyCited.com

(June 2007)

iCORE Chair Norm Beaulieu has been selected to appear on ISIHighlyCited.com because of his exceptional citation count. His contributions to this field are evidenced by the high number of citations his publications have received from fellow scientists.

Thomson Scientific's ISIHighlyCited.com is a free, publicly available website intended to highlight the world's most cited authors from the last two decades and to create a network of highly cited researchers across diverse disciplines. ISIHighlyCited.com is the most recent in a series of projects at Thomson Scientific to identify and honor researchers whose collected publications have received the highest number of citations across the past two decades.

ISI Web of Science, a leading resource for authoritative citation information, provides the source data for ISIHighlyCited.com. Being acknowledged by Thomson Scientific as a Highly Cited Researcher means that an individual is among the 250 most cited researchers in the category for their published articles within a specific time-period. Citation is a direct measure of influence on the literature of a subject, and it is also a strong indicator of scientific contribution, since it is derived from pattern of interaction among millions of published articles. Less than one half of one percent of all publishing authors meet the criteria for inclusion on ISIHighlyCited.com. Only six University of Alberta researchers are presently listed on ISIHighlyCited.com.

iWCL Ph.D. Grad Xiaodi Zhang Wins Chinese Government Award

(June 2007)

Xiaodi Zhang Wins Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad

Xiaodi Zhang, a recent ECE Ph.D. graduate and Postdoctoral Fellow with the iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory has been announced as one of 29 Canadian University winners of the Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad.

This award recognizes top Chinese students undertaking full-time research training abroad leading to a research-based Doctoral degree in all areas of study. The award consists of a certificate which will be bestowed at an award ceremony and a $5,000 US cash prize.

Around 300 awards, each worth US $5,000 are issued each year. This year Chinese students studying in 27 countries, including the United States, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Australia, and other countries, competed for the award. There are 302 students selected from 407 finalists for the awards this year. Of these, 29 Chinese students from 15 Canadian universities received this year's award, three from the University of Alberta.

For detailed information of the award winners, please visit:
http://www.chinaconsulatevan.org/news/2006fellowship.html

Backgrounder:

Xiaodi Zhang, a Ph.D. graduate and 2007 NSERC PDF Recipient, trained under the supervision of iCORE Research Chair and Canada Research Chair, Professor Norman C. Beaulieu. Ms. Zhang has published 13 journal papers in leading international research journals and 15 conference papers in premier international meetings. Ms. Zhang was subsequently employed as WiMax System Engineer by NORTEL, WiMax Research & Development Group, Ottawa, ON.

iWCL Chair Named as IEEE Distinguished Lecturer

(April 2007)

Dr. Norman C. Beaulieu, chair of the iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory, has been selected as a Distinguished Lecturer by the IEEE Communications Society. His appointment runs through to December 2008.

The IEEE Distinguished Lecturer program provides a valuable service to local chapters of the IEEE, while recognizing the best speakers from its membership.

iWCL to Host Tutorial by Dr. Jack Silverstein

(March 2007)

The iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory is proud to host a Tutorial by Dr. Jack Silverstein, a professor with the Department of Mathematics at North Carolina State University. His tutorial will highlight recent results on the spectral properties of large dimensional random matrices. In particular, the application of the new mathematical results to signal-to-interference ratio studies of CDMA systems will be presented.

Due to limited space, please register for this Tutorial by March 28th, 2007 by contacting Amanda Ross

The 10th Canadian Workshop in Information Theory to be Held at the University of Alberta

(October 2006)

The 10th Canadian Workshop on Information Theory will be held on the campus of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, from the morning of Wednesday June 6 through Friday June 8, 2007. This workshop provides an opportunity for researchers in Information Theory to meet and discuss aspects of their work.

The 10th Canadian Workshop on Information Theory Website

iWCL PDF Yunfei Chen Wins NSERC Award

(October 2006)

Yunfei Chen, a Ph.D. trainee under iCORE Chair, Professor Norman C. Beaulieu, has won an Honourable Mention Prize of $1000.00 in the NSERC Innovation Challenge Award competition for his work "Novel Technologies for Advanced Wireless Communication." NSERC's Synergy and Innovation Awards Gala was held October 16, 2006 in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The Innovation Challenge Awards honour students pursuing graduate studies in the natural sciences, engineering or computer sciences who have demonstrated an entrepreneurial flair by thinking of ways to transform their research thesis results into products and processes that will potentially benefit Canadians. These awards recognize and reward the power of imagination and innovation within Canada's brightest minds.

The awards are aimed at fostering, in master's or Ph.D. students who are in their final year or have recently graduated, an appreciation of real-world applications of their research.

This is only the second time a NSERC Innovation Challenge Award has gone to a Western Canadian University. Last year, a Runner-Up Prize went to Simon Fraser University.

iWCL Wins IEEE Best Paper Award

(September 2006)

iCORE Chair Norman C. Beaulieu and Post Doctoral Fellow Bo Hu received a CERTIFICATE OF EXCELLENCE from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for their paper, "An Adaptive Threshold Soft-Limiting UWB Receiver with Improved Performance in Multiuser Interference" presented at the 2006 IEEE International Conference on Ultra-Wideband.

The 2006 IEEE International Conference on Ultra-Wideband (ICUWB) was held in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, from 24 - 27 September 2006. This conference provides a forum for the latest UWB systems, technologies, and applications in both microwave and millimeter-wave bands. This conference is a continuation of a series of international UWB conferences held in Baltimore, USA (2002), Reston-VA, USA (2003), Oulu, Finland (2004), Kyoto, Japan (2004), and Zurich, Switzerland (2005).

iWCL Space-Time Code Adopted in IEEE 802.16e Standard

(April 2006)

The new amendment to the IEEE 802.16 standard written for Air Interfaces for Fixed and Mobile Broadband Wireless Access Systems specifies an optimized TAST (Threaded Algebraic Space-Time) code in an optional feature "Section 8.4.8 Space-Time Coding for Transmit Diversity". The document refers to Matrix C which is an optimized TAST code. TAST codes are a University of Alberta patent pending technology recently licensed by TEC Edmonton to an American WiMAX company. The TAST code inventors are Oussama M. Damen, previously of the iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory (iWCL) now of the University of Waterloo, Norman C. Beaulieu of the iWCL and Hesham El-Gamal of Ohio State University.

The IEEE Amendment 2 to IEEE Std 802-16 provides enhancements to support subscriber stations moving at vehicular speeds and thereby specifies a system for combined fixed (stationary) and mobile broadband wireless access. The purpose of this standard is to increase the market for broadband wireless access solutions by taking advantage of the inherent mobility of wireless media. It is intended to fill the gap between very high data rate wireless local area networks and very high mobility cellular systems. It will support fixed and mobile services for both enterprise and consumer markets. The February 28, 2006 amendment updates and expands IEEE Std 802.16 to allow for mobile as well as fixed subscriber stations.

Professor Beaulieu Selected for Membership in The Canadian Academy of Engineering

(March 2006)

Professor Norman C. Beaulieu has been elected Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. The Canadian Academy of Engineering comprises a small number of distinguished engineers from all disciplines, who have undertaken to serve the country and the profession in matters of broad concern. The Canadian Academy of Engineering is an independent, self-governing and non-profit organization established in 1987 to serve the nation in matters of engineering concern. The Fellows of the Academy are professional engineers from all disciplines and are elected on the basis of their distinguished service and contribution to society, to the country and to the profession.

The mission of the Canadian Academy of Engineering is to enhance, through the application and adaptation of science and engineering principles, the promotion of well-being and the creation of wealth in Canada. The Canadian Academy is a full member of the Council of Academies of Engineering and Technological Sciences, which is an international federation of 25 such academies throughout the world.

UTEK Completes Technology Transfer with WebSky, Inc.

(February 2006)

The University of Alberta has licensed the threaded algebraic space-time code technology developed by the iWCL to an American WiMax Company, WebSky, Inc.

PDF of Websky News Release

Dr. Norman C. Beaulieu wins the Kaplan Award for Excellence in Research

(December 2005)

It is my pleasure to announce that Dr. Norman Beaulieu has been selected as the recipient of the 2006 J. Gordin Kaplan Award for Excellence in Research.

The Kaplan award is the most prestigious University of Alberta research award. Only 3 members of the Faculty of Engineering have received the award since 1982 and Dr. Beaulieu becomes the first member of our Department to receive this award.

Past recipients from the Faculty of Engineering are:
Dr Jacob Masliyah (1995), Chemical and Materials Engineering
Dr. James McGregor (1990), Civil Engineering
Dr. Norbert Morgenstern (1984), Civil Engineering.

Congratulations Norm!

Horacio J. Marquez, PhD
Professor and Department Chair,
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Alberta Venture Magazine: Applying Math Theory to Improve Communications

(November 2005)

The ideal researcher is one who is able to create entirely new theories that can be applied to problems faced by people around the world. Exemplifying this trait is Dr. Norman Beaulieu, iCORE research chair in broadband wireless communications, and this year's recipient of the ASTech Foundation's award for Outstanding Leadership in Alberta Technology.

As the head of the iCORE's wireless communications lab at the University of Alberta, Beaulieu leads a team of faculty colleagues and graduate students that has established Alberta as one of the strongest centres for wireless research in the world.

As populations grow, demand for wireless technology explodes. Beaulieu says that there are more users of wireless technology than there is technology to handle them. Three main problems, he says, are outages or "drops" in communications; coverage - the area of transmission; and interference control, which is the ability to filter out other, interfering, users from the signal before it is received by the end user.

Beaulieu and his team create analytical models for wireless systems that test new designs in practical applications with mathematical theory, without incurring the huge expense of trial and error normally faced by industry. Already, researchers around the world use an ingenious mathematical method that has been dubbed the "Beaulieu series" to compute the outage and coverage of cellular telephone systems. His work has assisted research in areas as diverse as environmental management, resource economics, agriculture and commerce.

Beaulieu is also a Canada Research Chair, a testament to his national leadership in this field.

Beaulieu, a professor at the University of Alberta, and his team in the Faculty of Engineering have filed several patent applications and plan to bring their new technologies in the marketplace.

Beaulieu is continuing to lead the pursuit of practical wireless solutions in an increasingly congested "wired" world. Beaulieu's tireless exploration is also an inspiration to researchers in any field who wrestle with theoretical solutions that may take decades to evolve before they can be translated into innovations that benefit people in Alberta, Canada ... and around the world.

PDF of Alberta Venture Magazine Article

U of A Researchers Earn Science and Technology Awards

(October 2005)

Three University of Alberta researchers were among those honoured last week for outstanding innovative contributions to science and technology in the province. The 16th annual Alberta Science and Technology (ASTech) Foundation's Leadership Awards Gala took place in Calgary on Friday, Oct. 14.

Dr. Norman Beaulieu, a professor of electrical engineering, iCORE Chair and Canada Research Chair in broadband wireless communications at the U of A, received the Outstanding Leadership in Alberta Technology Award. The AVAC/Dow Agrosciences/ASTech Innovation in Agricultural Science Prize went to Dr. Thava Vasanthan and Dr. Feral Temelli, researchers in the U of A's Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science who co-founded Cevena Bioproducts, a company that makes a high-fibre concentrate called Viscofiber.

Beaulieu is a leader in the analysis and modeling of wireless communications systems. He has made groundbreaking contributions on a number of fronts, from performance analysis of wireless systems and modeling of fading channels to novel electrical pulse shapes for data modems. His results and techniques have been used internationally by researchers in many fields, including environmental management, resource economics, agriculture and commerce.

"It's nice to have your achievements acknowledged by your peers and I think the ASTech award has a lot of prestige, a lot of credibility and a lot of public awareness that even some national awards don't have," Beaulieu said.

Beaulieu said he wanted to thank his 22 hard-working graduate students, as well as iCORE and its president, Dr. Randy Goebel, who have been key contributors to his accomplishments since arriving at the U of A in 2000.

ASTech is a not-for-profit organization supported by 21 private and public sector patrons. The foundation identifies and celebrates outstanding science and technology accomplishments across a range of industries.

Leaders of Tomorrow Award

(September 2005)

Finalists for the ASTech Leaders of Tomorrow Award, sponsored by Alberta Innovation and Science have been announced and ECE Graduate Student Jeremiah Hu from the iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory is one of them.

At the age of 23, Jeremiah Hu tackled a mathematical problem that had engineers at Texas Instruments stumped and had even given a Nobel laureate pause. His ingenious solution will save considerable time and effort for engineers who design network protocols for cellular telephones. It also formed the basis for his Master's thesis at the University of Alberta.

Texas Instruments contacted Hu's thesis advisor in the Department of Electrical Engineering in 2003 seeking a simpler solution to a mathematical formula used in cellular system protocols. In technical jargon, the challenge was to find the distribution of a sum of Rayleigh random variables, a problem that has many applications in wireless communications and which puzzled John William Strutt (Lord Rayleigh), winner of a Nobel prize in 1904. There is no known analytical solution to the problem, but Hu came up with a simple, highly accurate analytical approximation to the original problem that engineers can use to study the performance of wireless communication systems without resorting to time-consuming computer simulations.

Two papers based on Hu's work were published in the journals of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), the world's leading technical society in electrical engineering. Hu also presented the results from his thesis at two international conferences, a remarkable achievement for a Master's student. Now working on his PhD, Hu is investigating ways to meet the increasing demand for higher data rates in wireless communications while maintaining low error rates.

Hu has won numerous awards including the prestigious Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Canada Graduate Scholarship, which is reserved for outstanding scholars expected to be the research leaders of tomorrow. He is already a "lab leader" among the graduate students in the university's iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory and is rated one of the top instructors in the Department of Electrical Engineering, recently scoring an impressive 4.8 to 4.9 out of 5 in student evaluations. In addition to teaching, he volunteers to mentor undergraduates.

Hu recently attended an iCORE boot camp for entrepreneurial students in science and technology and has ambitions to start a company soon to commercialize his discoveries. He is already showing an entrepreneurial bent. An avid cyclist, he runs a successful part-time business selling bike parts on eBay. He also competes provincially and nationally in road cycling and finished fourth over all in Alberta in the Elite category in 2004.

Professor Beaulieu Appointed Adjunct Professor of Mathematics and Statistics at Queen's University.

(August 2005)

The appointment recognizes Professor Beaulieu's supervisory work in the Graduate Program in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, and in addition his collaboration with the Queen's Communications Group, and the great value of his position as Advisor on a number of professional and research issues in the Queen's Department. The appointment is for the period September 2005 to August 2008.

TIME Magazine: Canadian Edition : "Beaulieu's Models Help Accommodate the Growing Number of People Using Cell-Phone Networks."

(August 2005)

When cell networks jammed in the aftermath of the London transit bombings, the urgency of devising a way to accommodate more uses and users became apparent. The problem is that the amount of available bandwidth-the frequency spectrum-is finite. Enter electrical engineer Norman Beaulieu, who is modeling ways to allocate bandwidth more efficiently and ensure quality of communications by reducing interference and outages.

The challenge is in building a bandwidth-distribution model that is comprehensive yet simple enough to produce answers. 'There's more creativity in how you construct the model than in how you solve it," says Beaulieu, who holds the Informatics Circle of Research Excellence (iCORE) chair in broadband wireless communications at the University of Alberta. "As a child, I had a passion for puzzles and I was fascinated by wireless communications, radio waves traveling for hundreds or thousands of miles. This inquisitiveness grew into scientific curiosity."

Beaulieu is known internationally for designing computer-simulation techniques that halve the time and resources required for the task. He has applied those techniques to the way cell phones work, which is by converting the voice into electrical pulses and transmitting them. His 22- member team has designed pulses whose shape causes them to interfere less with one another, so each voice is clearer. It has also established space-time block codes so future cell phones will process a signal across multiple antennas, again for clarity.

"His work has improved the design and analysis of wireless systems" says Massachusetts Institute of Technology ultrawide-bandwidth radio pioneer Moe Win. "He is clearly a leader. The wireless-research program in Alberta has become very visible, and he has successfully produced a new generation of researchers."

Born in 1957 and raised in Vancouver, Beaulieu was recruited to Alberta from Queen's University when iCORE was launched five years ago. "I see science as the search for understanding of our universe -which is a form of truth-and engineering as the application of this understanding of nature, to make our surroundings and our environment serve us to improve the quality of life," he says. "I do research because I love it."

Royal Society of Canada Honours Broadband Wireless Researcher

(May 2005)

For his many contributions to the research of wireless technology, the University of Alberta's Dr. Norman Beaulieu has been named the winner of a prestigious national award from the Royal Society of Canada.

Beaulieu, a researcher in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has received the Thomas W. Eadie Medal from the Royal Society of Canada in recognition of major contributions to engineering and applied science.

While the iCORE Chair and Canada Research Chair in broadband wireless communications has won many awards during his career, he says that this prize is quite different from his previous accolades.

"The Royal Society of Canada is a much esteemed group that recognizes scholarship broadly, in all areas - including medicine, sciences, arts and engineering," he said. "Many of the recognitions I've received in the past have been from engineering organizations."

The Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian academy of the sciences and humanities, presents medals and awards to Canadians for extraordinary achievement in the social sciences, humanities, and pure and applied sciences. These awards come as a culmination of a lengthy nomination and selection process and are a tribute to the outstanding contributions being made by Canadians in all areas of research and scholarship.

The award citation describes Beaulieu as a leader in the analysis and modeling of wireless communications systems.

"He has discovered ingenious mathematical solutions and models for a wide range of digital communications components and applications," the citation said.

"International researchers have widely used his methods, models and results to design wireless communication components and systems, and to predict the quality of service experienced by users of wireless networks."

For Beaulieu, the nod from his peers means a great deal, as it does for all academics.

"Research and academic endeavors are continually cutting new ground, so the recognition of your peers tells you you're on the right path," he said.

In many occupations, there are clear indicators of success, Beaulieu noted, but for university researchers, success is more difficult to measure.

"Sales is easy - you measure sales in dollars," he said. "But in university-based research, you're dealing with a lot of less quantifiable things that require validation by your peer group as measures of your success."

U of A Researchers Receive $30 Million in NSERC Funding

(May 2005)

A $30 million disbursement of grants and scholarships to University of Alberta faculty and students from Science and Engineering Research Canada (NSERC) will not only fund current research, but will bolster training for future researchers in dozens of fields, including chemistry, engineering, life and material sciences, and mathematics.

NSERC announced $380 million in funding for 3,040 professors across Canada, as well as $111 million in graduate student and postdoctoral scholarships and $19.1 million in undergraduate student research awards (USRA) earlier this month. At the University of Alberta 173 grantees will receive a total of $22,508,500, while 157 graduate students will receive $6,460,800 in scholarships, with an additional $949,000 in USRAs.

Dr. Norman Beaulieu, the iCORE Research Chair and Canada Research Chair in Broadband Wireless Communications and a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, received the largest NSERC discovery grant for electrical and computer engineering in Canada at $85,000.

"The discovery grant is significant because it means that, in a peer-review process that's very rigorous, their committees have placed you above all the other researchers in all areas of electrical and computer engineering," Beaulieu said.

He noted that the three largest NSERC discovery grants in electrical and computer engineering have been awarded to Alberta researchers, and said that the funding he receives will help him continue that tradition of excellence in his lab.

"I have 22 research trainees right now," he said. "I think 84 per cent of my research funding goes toward students."

Beaulieu said the research in his lab is focused on improving the science and technology of wireless communications.

"We're primarily a communications theory group - we work on the theory of wireless, the mathematical solutions and modeling of wireless systems," he said. "Other international researchers have cited our work a lot. You could say we develop mathematical tools and those tools are used frequently by other international researchers."

NSERC president Dr. Tom Brzustowski said the recent round of funding is an investment in the future of research in Canada.

"Canadian universities are appointing hundreds of new professors to replace those who are retiring. It is also very good for Canada that these new people are not only eager but well qualified to do research," he said.

Professor Beaulieu Awarded NSERC's Largest Discovery Grant in Electrical & Computer Engineering

(April 2005)

iCORE Chair Norman Beaulieu has been awarded the largest NSERC Discovery Grant in Electrical and Computer Engineering, (both Committees 334 and 335).

NSERC Discovery Grants support ongoing programs of research. These grants recognize the creativity and innovation that are at the heart of all advances in research, whether made individually or in groups.

The Discovery Grant in the amount of $85,000 awarded in this year's competition surpasses the previous largest ECE Discovery Grant of $81,250 awarded in last year's competition.

Toshiba Lab Reports Superiority of iCORE Designed Codes for Space-Time MIMO Applications

(April 2005)

In an article published in the December 2004 Issue of IEEE Communications Magazine, Toshiba Research Europe reports the results of a experimentally-based channel sounding campaign, used to scope the expected performance of selected space-time codes in realistic deployments. The goal, being to evaluate space-time codes that are contenders for commercialization in future WLANs.

The increased capacity of the multiple input multiple output (MIMO) radio channel will revolutionize future wireless local area networks (WLANs). Meanwhile, Space-Time Coding and Decoding Technologies must be employed to capitalize on the increased capacity of the MIMO radio channel. As would be expected, the design of space-time codes is a current hot topic in wireless research; for example, a search on the digital library, IEEE Xplore with the keyword phrase "space time coding" turns up 1876 documents.

Much of this work is focussed on finding the best space-time codes and methodologies for designing superior space-time codes. iCORE Research Engineer Oussama Damen working together with iCORE Chair Norm Beaulieu in the iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory at the University of Alberta, and in collaboration with Professor Hesham El Gamal of the University of Ohio, have discovered families of superior space-time codes and a design methodology based on number theory for the generation of superior space-time codes.

The Toshiba researchers investigated the performances of the famous Alamouti space-time code (the original space-time code), the famous Bell Labs V-BLAST space-time codes and the linear threaded space-time codes invented by Damen, Beaulieu and El Gamal. The results show that, in general, the threaded code performs significantly better than V-BLAST and Alamouti codes. The former outperformed the other two codes in 19 of 21 practical office environments. The threaded algebraic space-time codes of Damen, Beaulieu and El Gamal are the subject of a joint University of Alberta and University of Ohio Patent Application.

Dr. Beaulieu an Outstanding Leadership in Alberta Science Award Finalist

(October 2004)

Dr. Norman C. Beaulieu is one of three finalists for the Alberta Science and Technology (ASTech) Foundation's "Outstanding Leadership in Alberta Science" award.

He is credited with putting Edmonton and Alberta on the map as an international capital of wireless research. One of the preeminent world experts in wireless communications, Dr. Beaulieu has distinguished himself as a leader in his field on a number of fronts, both through his groundbreaking research and his high level of involvement in international engineering organizations.

This award is presented to an individual or team that has played a leadership role in a scientific innovation or breakthrough, and is based on criteria such as general contribution to knowledge, solution of novel or practical problems, international peer recognition and overall impact on science, medicine, mathematics or engineering. The award recipient will receive $10,000 and an ASTech sculpture. Finalists receive $500.

Dr. Beaulieu conducts research in communication theory and wireless communications systems and is internationally recognized for finding ingenious mathematical solutions to digital communications problems. Researchers around the world use his mathematical technique, known as the "Beaulieu series," to compute the outage and coverage of cellular telephone systems. He is also widely known for his contributions to diversity combining techniques, modeling of fading channels, and performance analysis of wireless systems. His work has provided solutions to fundamental problems abandoned by others as too difficult and has seeded subsequent research by scientists around the world.

In 2000, Dr. Beaulieu was appointed iCORE Research Chair in Broadband Wireless Communications at the University of Alberta. This was followed in 2001 by his appointment as Canada Research Chair in Broadband Wireless Communications, making him one of the only researchers in Canada to hold two major chairs. In less than three years, Dr. Beaulieu has built the iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory into one of the strongest wireless research groups in the world, recruiting internationally known researchers from the United States and Australia as well as outstanding junior faculty.

Dr. Beaulieu is the only resident Canadian to become Editor-in-Chief of the world's premier research journal in communications, the IEEE Transactions on Communications. Under his leadership, the journal prospered to such an extent that he was invited to serve a second term. He has also served in editorial positions or on the board with other publications of the IEEE, the largest professional organization in the world.

Dr. Beaulieu has received numerous honours for his contributions to science, most recently the 2004 K.Y. Lo Medal of the Engineering Institute of Canada for his international leadership in science and engineering. In 1999, he was elected Fellow of the IEEE for "contributions to the analysis and modeling of wireless data and digital communication systems." That same year he was awarded the coveted E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship. At the time, this honour was presented in Canada to only four researchers in all areas of natural sciences and engineering. After 2001, six fellowships have been awarded each year.

The Engineering Institute of Canada Awards Dr. Norman C. Beaulieu the 2004 K.Y. Lo Medal, for "Significant Contributions to Engineering at the International Level."

(December 2003)

This is the first time in the history of the award that the award is not being bestowed upon a Geotechnical Engineer.

This Medal was established in 1997 to recognize and encourage Canadian contributions in the field of engineering at the world stage and also to honour K.Y. Lo, Professor Emeritus of the University of Western Ontario, for his outstanding contributions to the field of geotechnical and civil engineering.

The K.Y. Lo Medal is awarded to a member of the EIC who has made significant engineering contributions at the international level. Such contributions may include:

  • promotion of Canadian expertise overseas;
  • training of foreign engineers;
  • significant service to international engineering organizations;
  • advancement of engineering technology recognized internationally
Dr. Beaulieu's Citation

University of Calgary Joins Edmonton-based iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory

(November 2003)

The iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory based at the University of Alberta in Edmonton is expanding to include a researcher at the University of Calgary as part of the core professoriate, iCORE Chair and laboratory director Dr Norman Beaulieu announced today.

Professor Abraham Fapojuwo is joining Dr Beaulieu, principal researchers Witold Krzymien and Ivan Fair, and iCORE research associates Chintha Tellambura and Xiaodai Dong on the research team. Dr. Fapojuwo brings additional wireless networks expertise to a world-class physical layer wireless research cluster.

In addition to appointment of Professor Fapojuwa, the iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory is funding one graduate student based at the University of Calgary and one graduate student based at the University of Alberta in collaborative research under this initiative, the former under the supervision of Professor Fapojuwo and the latter under the co-supervision of Professors Fapojuwo and Beaulieu.

This cross-university clustering is expected to seed further collaborations between the Edmonton and Calgary units.

Tim Poon, Engineering Grad Student Wins at ASTech

(November 2003)

A 24-year-old graduate student and a professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the U of A, hauled in a total of $20,000 at the Alberta Science and Technology (ASTech) Awards on November 7, 2003. The ASTech Awards recognize and honour individuals that have made significant contributions to the science and technology community. Tim Poon received the 2003 Leaders of Tomorrow Award.

The ASTech judges commended Poon on his research, activities, and record of academic excellence. Poon is performing significant research in the field of wireless communications theory. He attended the 2003 International Space University Summer Session Program. He was selected as one of ten students from across Canada to receive full funding ($20,000) for this prestigious program sponsored by the European Space Agency. He has a long-standing record of academic achievement. Recognized by the University as a top student leader in 1999, Tim receiving the U of A Peter Lougheed Leadership Scholarship. This award is the top leadership award offered to students in all faculties of the University of Alberta. Recognized by his student peers in 2001, Tim receiving the Engineering Students' Society (U of A) Golden Award for Leadership.

iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory Director Funds Full Access to IEEE/IEE Electronic Library (IEL Online) for the University of Alberta

(October 2003)

After the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia, the University of Alberta has now gained full access to the IEL Online service as of October 29, 2003 for a period of three years until November 30, 2006.

The current, limited University of Alberta subscription has been upgraded to provide complete access for all University of Alberta users to all IEEE/IEE journals, conference proceedings and technical standards back to 1988 (and selected content back to 1950's). Professor Norman C. Beaulieu has provided approximately $180,000.00 to fund the additional cost for the three year subscription period. The enhanced electronic library service will further the research activities in all Departments of the University of Alberta, notably, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Biomedical, Mathematics and Statistics, Physics, Chemistry, and Nanotechnology.

The University of Alberta Library's position on full access to the IEL Electronic Library is "IEL is definitely the next major subscription on the Science and Technology Library's wish list."

iCORE Research Team Awarded $1 Million NSERC Strategic Grant

(December 2002)

A team of iCORE wireless researchers consisting of N.C. Beaulieu, I. Fair, W.A. Krzymien, C. Schlegel and C. Tellambura, led by W.A. Krzymien as the principal investigator, has been awarded a major NSERC Strategic Grant to pursue research leading to bandwidth and power efficient solutions for broadband wireless access to the backbone telecommunication network. The project entitled "Enabling Technologies for Future Wireless High Throughput Packet Data Access" will be funded at $200,000 per year for five years, starting in October 2002. Nortel Networks and TRLabs are involved in the project as industrial partners.

Dr. Beaulieu Elected Fellow of The Royal Society of Canada

(June 2002)

Dr. Norman C. Beaulieu was elected to the ranks of the Royal Society of Canada in 2002. Fellowship in the Royal Society of Canada is considered Canada's most prestigious academic accolade to which scholars and scientists aspire. "These distinguished individuals have accomplished work of truly outstanding quality," said Howard Alper, President of the Royal Society of Canada. "They add enormous values to the extraordinary resource of talent and experience that constitute the Society.

The citations for the awards describe Dr. Beaulieu as "a scientific leader in the analysis and modeling of wireless communications systems. He has discovered ingenious mathematical solutions and models for a wide range of digital communications components and applications. Inter-national researchers have widely used his methods, models and results."