Education

Faculties at the center offer one of the most comprehensive curricular in wireless communications among US universities. The center also holds an annual symposium on wireless communications as well as a wireless summer school as an educational outreach activity to industry. In addition, there are numerous short courses, seminars, workshops, and conferences offered or organized by the faculty members at the center to support industrial education.

 

2008 Symposium & Wireless Summer School, June 4-6

 

AUTHOR’S KIT

COMPLETE PROGRAM BROCHURE

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Dr. Joseph Mitola III, The MITRE Corporation, will give the keynote address on Wednesday, June 4, at 8:00 AM. Dr. Mitola will speak on “The Future of Cognitive Radio.”  Dr. Rajiv Laroia, Senior VP of Technology, Qualcomm, Inc., will be delivering the keynote address on Thursday, June 5, at 8:00 AM.  Dr. Laroia will be sharing his experiences on “Lessons Unlearned in Wireless.”

 

SYMPOSIUM HIGHLIGHTS
A wireless researcher frozen in a glacier 20 years ago and conveniently defrosted to attend our symposium would hardly recognize the wireless communications and networks landscape. What exactly are IEEE 802.11, 802.16, 802.15, and the endless strings of letters that follow those numbers? Is a global positioning system realistic for commercial applications? And how can a radio be cognitive? Of course we don’t face the twin challenges of catching up with 20 years of wireless research and development and dealing with frostbite, but, like the unfortunate researcher in the example, we are often surprised by the dizzying pace of the area.

On June 4-6, 2008, Wireless@Virginia Tech will host its annual symposium and summer school on wireless communications.  This year’s summer school offers 12 tutorials in key areas of wireless communications and networks. Dr. James Neel and Dr. Jeffrey Reed will help us tell the difference between WiBro and Wibree, as well as a host of other wireless standards that have emerged over the past few years. Cognitive radios and networks are the topic of several tutorials, given the interest the topic has recently attracted. Dr. Luiz DaSilva and Dr. Allen MacKenzie will provide an overview of the state of the art in cognitive radios and cognitive networks; Dr. Behrouz Farhang-Boroujeny will discuss signal processing techniques for those radios; and Dr. Shubha Kadambe will focus on the important issue of signal detection and classification. In a related area, Software Defined Radio is the topic of two tutorials: Philip Balister will tell us about open-source SDRs and Dr. Frank Kragh and Dr. Carl Dietrich will provide us with some hands-on experience on SCA-based SDRs. Tutorials are also offered in areas as diverse as wireless positioning systems, simulation of wireless systems, and intellectual property in the wireless market.  These tutorials provide an excellent opportunity for wireless professionals to learn about both the basics of each technology and recent breakthroughs in each area.

We are honored to have two distinguished keynote speakers. Dr. Joseph Mitola’s Ph.D. dissertation famously introduced the idea of cognitive radios, and he will present his vision of the future of the area on Wednesday morning, June 4.  Dr. Rajiv Laroia will describe the lessons that needed to be “unlearned” in the process of designing flash-OFDM systems and will share these lessons with us on Thursday morning, June 5.

Oral presentations of technical papers in the areas of adaptive and cognitive radios, wireless sensor networks, and OFDM will be presented.  An expanded poster session including academic and industrial presentations will allow one-on-one technical discussions of recent advances in the field of wireless.  Poster sessions will be held during all daily refreshment breaks. The paper and poster presentations, from researchers working in four continents, discuss the latest breakthroughs in wireless communications and networks research.

The Wednesday afternoon schedule will kick-off the tutorials and will feature concurrent half-day courses. Wednesday evening will be a time of relaxing and socializing with colleagues and friends during a reception from 6:30-8:30 PM at the conference center. Thursday’s schedule will continue with concurrent half-day courses in the morning and afternoon. As always, we look forward to the symposium party at the German Club on Thursday evening.  The wireless summer school will conclude on Friday with three concurrent tutorials scheduled in the morning.

We are confident that our discussions of cutting-edge topics will appeal to academic, as well as industry, professionals.  Don’t miss out – register today!  

 

HOW TO REGISTER
The registration fee for the symposium is $720.  The fee for presenters of technical and poster presentations is $625. Employees of affiliate companies receive a special reduced fee of $500. Full-time students may register at a rate of $460. A group rate of $525 per person is available to 5 or more attendees from one organization. All fees for registration include participation in all activities, including tutorials, CD-ROM proceedings from technical and poster presentations, a reception on Wednesday evening, lunch on Wednesday and Thursday, breakfast on Thursday and Friday, all refreshment breaks, and the Thursday evening party.

All presenters of technical papers and posters must register by May 4, 2008.  All other participants must register by May 21, 2008. You may register now by calling (540) 231-5182.

REGISTER ONLINE HERE

*NOTE: After the registration deadline of May 21, 2008, a late registration fee of $50 will apply.

Refund Policy:  Requests for refunds will be honored when received seven calendar days prior to the program; however, another person may be substituted at any time.  A $100 administrative fee will be deducted for cancellations.  In the unlikely event that this program is cancelled or postponed due to insufficient enrollment or unforeseen circumstances, the university will fully refund registration fees, but cannot be held responsible for any other expenses, including cancellation or change charges assessed by airlines, hotels, travel agencies, or other organizations.  Refunds will not be made to technical or poster presenters once the proceedings have been sent to media services for production.

LOCATION & LODGING
The Inn offers casual elegance and state-of-the-art wireless networks. The Skelton Conference Center has nearly 24,000 square feet of conference space, including a 700-seat ballroom, and 10 conference rooms, in addition to 147 hotel rooms and suites for your convenience at The Inn.

Blacksburg is southwest of Roanoke, Virginia, on U.S. 460.  Route 460 is reached by Interstate 81, Exit 118B (U.S. 460W, VA Tech) at Christiansburg, Virginia.  Follow 460 West to the Prices Fork-Downtown Exit.  Turn right at the first traffic light into the hotel entrance.  Convenient guest parking is available for conference participants.  A shuttle bus will be available to provide transportation between the conference center and local hotels.

For your convenience, a block of discounted lodging rooms, $103.00 single/$123.00 double, per night plus tax, are being held at The Inn.  To make reservations, please call The Inn at (540) 231-8000 or (877) 200-3360.  Be sure to mention the name of the symposium when making your reservations. Lodging reservations for The Inn must be made by May 4, 2008. Lodging accommodations may also be acquired at Hawthorn Suites, (540) 552-5636, or at University Holiday Inn, (540) 552-7001.  However, lodging discounts apply only to The Inn.

TRANSPORTATION
The SmartWay Bus commuter service is an excellent alternative for traveling between the Roanoke Regional Airport and Virginia Tech.  The service operates Monday through Saturday with special limited Sunday service, and the fare is only $3.00 each way.  For more information, please visit their website at www.smartwaybus.com. If you plan to travel on the SmartWay Bus, please notify The Inn at 540-231-8000 and their shuttle service will pick you up at the SmartWay Bus stop.

EXHIBITORS
If you are interested in having an exhibit at the symposium, please contact Jenny Frank via email at mprg@vt.edu.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
If you need additional information regarding the symposium, please contact Jenny Frank, Conference Coordinator, via email at mprg@vt.edu or by telephone at (540) 231-2971.

 

2007 Symposium

2006 Symposium