HAPS and Near-Space Communications: Enabling Technologies and Research Challenges

Professor Mohamed-Slim Alouini
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia

Description

WILLIAM MONG DISTINGUISHED LECTURES: RPG SHARING SERIES:

High-Altitude Platform Stations (HAPS) are emerging as an important layer of future non-terrestrial networks, bridging the gap between terrestrial infrastructure and satellite systems. This talk will take a technical perspective on the communication challenges and enabling technologies for HAPS and near-space networks. Topics will include radio-frequency access and beamforming, spectrum sharing and interference management, as well as free-space optical links for high-capacity feeder and inter-platform connectivity. The talk will discuss how these technologies can be jointly designed to address the distinctive propagation, mobility, coverage, and resource-allocation challenges of near-space systems, and will highlight open research problems and opportunities for future 6G integrated terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks.

About the Speaker

Professor Mohamed-Slim Alouini, was born in Tunis, Tunisia. He earned his Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1998 before serving as a faculty member at the University of Minnesota and later at Texas A&M University at Qatar. In 2009, he became a founding faculty member at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), where he currently is the Al-Khawarizmi Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the holder of the UNESCO Chair on Education to Connect the Unconnected. Professor Alouini is a Fellow of the IEEE, OPTICA, NAE, and SPIE and his research interests encompass a wide array of research topics in wireless and satellite communications. He is currently particularly focusing on addressing the technical challenges associated with information and communication technologies (ICT) in underserved regions and is committed to bridging the digital divide by tackling issues related to the uneven distribution, access to, and utilization of ICT in rural, low-income, disaster-prone, and hard-to-reach areas.