Special Title: Facilitating Next-Gen Networking through Big Data and Artificial Intelligence
Abstract: From the very advent of mobile communications, modern networking has witnessed several generational leaps, each facilitated by equally significant paradigm shifts at both the hardware and software level at the networking infrastructure as well as the user equipment. The next two decades will perhaps usher in the most revolutionary transformation of all necessitated by the unprecedented integration of radio access technologies and non-terrestrial networks to support a vast range of highly diverse and sensitive applications and services, each a small cog with its unique set of complexities and open challenges. While several advances will play major roles in this highly anticipated leap, it can be rightfully argued that Big Data and Artificial Intelligence will be among the two key-enablers for the next-generation networks. Thus, in this talk, we trace our way through the history of Big Data, its resurgence to the current state, how it can be harnessed, and the open challenges that need to be addressed. To fully exploit such massive volumes of data which are already being generated at unparalleled rates, artificial intelligence-based solutions that are crucial for holistic network automation and optimization have been proposed at both the subscriber and network operator ends. To this end, we augment our talk with a discussion of a few of the promising AI implementations that can be considered for both the access end and core networks.

Biodata: Nirwan Ansari, Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), received his Ph.D. from Purdue University, MSEE from the University of Michigan, and BSEE (summa cum laude with a perfect GPA) from NJIT. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) as well as Fellow of National Academy of Inventors (NAI). He authored Green Mobile Networks: A Networking Perspective (Wiley-IEEE, 2017) with T. Han, and co-authored two other books. He has also (co-)authored more than 600 technical publications, over 340 published in widely cited journals/magazines. He has guest-edited a number of special issues covering various emerging topics in communications and networking. He is Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Wireless Communications and has also served on the editorial/advisory board of over ten journals. His current research focuses on green communications and networking, cloud computing, drone-assisted networking, and various aspects of broadband networks.
He was elected to serve in the IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc) Board of Governors as a member-at-large, has chaired some ComSoc technical and steering committees, is current Director of ComSoc Educational Services Board, has been serving in many committees such as the IEEE Fellow Committee, and has been actively organizing numerous IEEE International Conferences/Symposia/Workshops. Some of his recognitions include several excellence in teaching awards, a few best paper awards, NCE Excellence in Research Award, several ComSoc TC technical recognition awards, NJ Inventors Hall of Fame Inventor of the Year Award, Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award, Purdue University Outstanding Electrical and Computer Engineering Award, NCE 100 Medal, NJIT Excellence in Research Prize and Medal, and designation as a COMSOC Distinguished Lecturer. He has also been granted more than 40 U.S. patents.

Speech Title: Multi-modal Sensing and Understanding for Medical Devices and Systems
Abstract: It requires innovative technologies and theoretical foundation of sensing and understanding to meet increasing complexity of modern medical human-centred systems. The state of the art in medical devices and sytems is largely dominant by solutions that are ad-hoc and applications dependent. This talk attempts to summarize challenges of sensing and analytics from the perspective of two medical applications. Two projects will be presented to showcase stroke rehabilitation and stroke rehabilitation and interaction with autism children. The talk will be concluded with open issues and challenges.

Biodata: Honghai Liu received his Ph.D from King’s College, University London, UK. He is a Professor at Haribin Institue of Technology, Shenzhen, China. He previously held research appointments at King’s College London, University of Aberdeen, and project leader appointments in large-scale industrial control and system integration industry. He is interested in sensing and understanding for medical systems and applications with an emphasis on approaches that could make contribution to the intelligent connection of perception to action using contextual information. He has authored/co-authored more than 200 per-reviewed journals and conference papers. He is an IET Fellow and IEEE Fellow.

Speech Title: Artificial Intelligence: Past, Present and Future
Abstract: The quest for building human-like intelligence has gained enormous momentum in recent decades. Since the seminal works on Artificial Intelligence (AI), the desire of realizing the quest has become stronger. With the rapid developments in Science, Engineering and Technology, machines that mimic human intelligence have become a reality and sometimes indispensable parts in our daily life, such as Apple Siri and Google Voice. AI is concerned with the theory and practice of developing systems that exhibit the characteristics we associate with intelligence in human behavior: perception, natural language processing, reasoning, planning and problem solving, learning and adaptation. In this talk, recent developments of AI with applications in autonomous driving, marine vehicles, healthcare industry, domestic services, etc will be reviewed. Futuristic trends and research challenges will also be discussed.

Biodata: Meng Joo Er is currently Changjiang Scholar Distinguished Professor and Director of Institute on Artificial Intelligence and Marine Robotics， School of Marine Electrical Engineering, Dalian Maritime University (DMU)， China. He was a Professor in the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore from 1992-2020. He served as the Founding Director of Renaissance Engineering Programme and an elected member of the NTU Advisory Board and from 2009 to 2012. He also served as a member of the NTU Senate Steering Committee from 2010 to 2012.
His research interests include Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Fuzzy Neural Systems, Robotics and Automation, Object Detection, Intelligent Control and Marine Engineering. He has authored 6 books, 21 book chapters and more than 500 refereed journal and conference papers in his research areas of interest achieving a total citation count of more than 13,700 and a h-index of 57 based on Google Scholar. He is ranked first in Google citation count and h-indeProfessor Er was bestowed the Web of Science Top 1 % Best Cited Paper and the Elsevier Top 20 Best Cited Paper Award in 2007 and 2008, respectively. In recognition of the significant and impactful contributions to Singapore’s development by his research projects, Professor Er presented the Institution of Engineers, Singapore (IES) Prestigious Engineering Achievement Award twice (2011 and 2015). He is also the only dual winner in Singapore IES Prestigious Publication Award in Application (1996) and IES Prestigious Publication Award in Theory (2001). He was bestowed the title of Amity Researcher in 2018 for his outstanding and significant contributions in Robotics and Automation.
He received the Teacher of the Year Award for the School of EEE in 1999, School of EEE Year 2 Teaching Excellence Award in 2008, the Most Zealous Professor of the Year Award in 2009 and the Outstanding Mentor Award in 2014. He also received the Best Session Presentation Award at the World Congress on Computational Intelligence in 2006, Best Paper Award (First Prize) at the International Automatic Control Conference 2016, Best Presentation Award at the IEEE-sponsored International Conference on Intelligent Control, Power and Instrumentation (ICICPI) 2016, Best Presentation Award at the IEEE-sponsored International Conference on Intelligent Autonomous System (ICoIAS) thrice (ICoIAS’2018, ICoIAS’2019 and ICoIAS’2021) and the Best Presentation Award at the 2021 6th International Conference on Automation, Control and Robotics Engineering (CARCE). On top of this, Professor Er has been invited to deliver more than 100 keynote speeches and invited talks overseas and has won more than 70 awards at international and local competitions.
Currently, Professor Er serves as the Editor-in-Chief of 2 international journals, namely Transactions on Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence and the International Journal of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Telecommunications. He also serves an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics-Systems, IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems, Sensors, Asian Journal of Control, Sensors, ETRI Journal and International Journal of Modelling, Simulation and Scientific Computing. Professor Er has been active in professional bodies. Under his leadership, the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society (CIS) Singapore Chapter won the CIS Outstanding Chapter Award in 2012 creating history of making CIS Singapore Chapter becoming the first Asian CIS Chapter to win such prestigious award. In recognition of his outstanding contributions to professional bodies, he was bestowed the IEEE Outstanding Volunteer Award (Singapore Section) and the IES Silver Medal in 2011. He was also presented the Distinguished Service Award by the Institution of Engineering Technologists (IET), Singapore Branch Management in recognition of his services as Chairman of the IET Branch from 2002 to 2004.
He served as Chair of the Technical Track on Artificial Intelligence and Digitization, World Engineers Summit held from 10 to 12 October 2021 in Singapore. He was first elected as a member of the IES Council in 2004 and has served as Chair of the IES Electrical and Computer Engineering Technical Committee since then. Currently, he serves as General Chair of the 5th International Conference on Intelligent Autonomous Systems (ICoIAS’2022), a premium internationally conference which is technically sponsored by the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society and the IES.
He is listed in Who’s Who in Engineering, Singapore, Edition 2013.

speakers in 2023 to be announced soon......