Introduction to the laboratory

With today’s massive numbers of IoT devices, both wired and wireless communication plays a significant role in delivering a plethora of services to end-users. It can be said that such communication and networking technologies have become an essential part of daily life, influencing Individuals, institutions, governments, and the industry. Nevertheless, as Artificial Intelligence (AI) is expected to gain greater presence and play a more critical role in the future, developing intelligent communication and networking techniques will enhance the service provisioning process. As such, the focus in the upcoming years will be on wireless connectivity, namely, beyond 5G mobile telecommunication systems and their supportive technologies such as ad hoc networks, Software Defined Networking (SDN), Network Function Virtualization (NFV), and Mobile Edge Computing (MEC). Together, through intelligent cooperative approaches, heterogeneous communications for both wired and wireless networks will be achieved resulting in unprecedented growth and advances for Next Generation Networks (NGN).

The advances in Machine Learning (ML) technologies have led to the advancements in smart city applications and services. Together with ultra-fast wireless communication, applications that were once considered ‘science fiction’ have become something we use on a daily basis. The advances in Automated and Connected Vehicles have reached new levels in autonomy. This is achieved through Federated Learning (FL), distributed, decentralized, and cooperative techniques. Moreover, new areas of research and development are being considered for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), where a swarm of intelligent drones are deployed to not only provide new and state-of-the-art services, but also assist core network infrastructures in the communication process. UAVs may be deployed in areas with sudden communication loss or in densely crowded environments for limited periods. Such scenarios are all examples of research being conducted and developed at iCNeT laboratory.

Our vision

The research work developed in iCNeT Laboratory is a fundamentally new vision based on technology trends that will drive significant disruption and opportunity in the upcoming years. The international collaboration among highly qualified university professors and scientists provides a new way of discovering state-of-the-art solutions to contemporary telecommunication and networking challenges and visions. We envision iCNeT to be a renowned laboratory for global knowledge creation and dissemination that focuses on creativity, innovation, and critical thinking. Ethically responsible leadership and entrepreneurship is among the core values of iCNeT. We believe that new and innovative technology should consider the core values of humanity and should adhere to respect and diversity.