Keynote speakers

Towards 6G: Advances in Wireless Communications and Signal Processing

Talk Abstract to follow...

Biography

Professor of Communication Systems in the University of Glasgow, Dean of Graduate Studies and Transnational Engineering Education, Head of Communications Sensing and Imaging (CSI) hub and Director of Centre of Educational Development and Innovation. He previously served as the Head of Autonomous Systems and Connectivity research division at James Watt School of Engineering and as Visiting Professor for Ajman University UAE. He also served as an affiliate Professor at the University of Oklahoma, USA and 5G Innovation centre, University of Surrey, UK.

He has led a number of multimillion-funded international research projects and led the "new physical layer" work area for 5G innovation centre at Surrey (2011 - 2016). He has a global collaborative research network spanning both academia and key industrial players in the field of wireless communications. Prof. Imran has supervised 60+ successful PhD graduates and published over 1000 peer-reviewed research papers including more than 600 published in IEEE venues. Link  to Prof. Muhammad Imran's webpage.

Micro-LEDs for optical wireless communication and digital lighting

Talk Abstract to follow...

Biography

Professor Martin D. Dawson FRS FRSE FIEEE FOSA FInstP is a physicist known for his work on lasers and compound semiconductors. He is Director of Research in the University of Strathclyde’s Institute of Photonics, which he helped establish 28 years ago, and he was also appointed inaugural Head and Scientific Director of the Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics (Fh-CAP), the UK's only Fraunhofer research centre, in 2012. Martin has over 35 years’ experience of applied research gained in academia and industry in the UK and USA and he has been involved in the formation and technical development of a number of spin-out businesses, most recently including mLED and Neuro-VLC. He gave the Rank Prize Lecture in 2014 and the Edwards Lecture in 2023 and he has received awards including Gabor Medal and Prize of the Institute of Physics; Aron Kessel Award of the IEEE Photonics Society; Nick Holonyak Jr Award from Optica/OSA; Global Solid State Lighting Award of Outstanding Achievement from ISA; Distinguished Service Award from the IEEE Photonics Society. He and his group have twice been awarded the IEEE Photonics Technology Letters Best Paper Award (2019 and 2022). He and his colleagues' contributions were recognised in the award of the 2023 Queen's Anniversary Prize to the University of Strathclyde for 'Excellence, Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Photonics'. Link  to Prof. Martin Dawson's webpage.

Energy sustainable IoT SWIPT and LEO satellite integration

Talk Abstract: 

The rapid proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT) has brought immense opportunities for global connectivity, but also significant challenges in terms of energy sustainability and reliable coverage-especially in remote and underserved regions. This talk explores an integrated approach combining Simultaneous Wireless Information and Power Transfer (SWIPT) with Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite networks to address these dual challenges.

We will present a vision for an energy-sustainable IoT architecture that leverages SWIPT to power ultra-low-power sensors and devices wirelessly, reducing the need for battery replacements and maintenance. Simultaneously, LEO satellite constellations are introduced as a means to ensure global coverage and data backhaul, enabling real-time communication and data collection from even the most isolated IoT deployments.

Key technical considerations such as energy harvesting efficiency, signal optimization and satellite-ground coordination will be discussed. Use cases in environmental monitoring, agriculture, and critical infrastructure will illustrate the transformative potential of this approach.

Biography

Prof Nuno Borges Carvalho (S’97–M’00–SM’05-F’15) received his Diploma and Doctoral degrees in electronics and telecommunications engineering from the University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal, in 1995 and 2000, respectively.

He is currently a Full Professor and a Senior Research Scientist with the Institute of Telecommunications, University of Aveiro, the director of the Department of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics at UA, and an IEEE Fellow. He coauthored Intermodulation in Microwave and Wireless Circuits (Artech House, 2003), Microwave and Wireless Measurement Techniques (Cambridge University Press, 2013), White Space Communication Technologies (Cambridge University Press, 2014) and Wireless Power Transmission for Sustainable Electronics (Wiley, 2020). He has been a reviewer and author of over 400 papers in magazines and conferences. He is the Editor in Chief of the Cambridge Wireless Power Transfer Journal, an associate editor of the IEEE Microwave Magazine, and former associate editor of the IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques and IET Microwaves Antennas and Propagation Journal.

He is the co-inventor of six patents. His main research interests include software-defined radio front-ends, backscatter communications, wireless power transmission, nonlinear distortion analysis, and measurements in microwave/wireless circuits and systems. He has been involved in the design of dedicated radios and systems for newly emerging wireless technologies.

Dr. Borges Carvalho is a member of the IEEE MTT ADCOM, the past chair of the IEEE Portuguese Section, TC-20 and TC-11, and also belongs to the technical committees, TC-25 and TC-26. He is also the Chair of the URSI Commission A (Metrology Group). He was the recipient of the 1995 University of Aveiro and the Portuguese Engineering Association Prize for the best 1995 student at the University of Aveiro, the 1998 Student Paper Competition (Third Place) of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (IEEE MTT-S) International Microwave Symposium (IMS), and the 2000 IEE Measurement Prize.

He is a Distinguished Lecturer for the RFID Council and was a previous Distinguished Microwave Lecturer for the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society. In 2023 he was the IEEE-MTT President. Link  to Prof. Nuno Borges Carvalho's webpage.

A Giant Laser Pointer: The New Way to Watch Movies on the Moon

Talk Abstract: Coming soon...

Biography

Sébastien Bigo holds an engineering degree from the Institut d’Optique of Palaiseau in France. He received a PhD degree from the University of Besançon for his work on all-optical processing of solitons. He joined Nokia Bell Labs in 1993 where he reported 30 record WDM experiments at 10Gbit/s, 40Gbit/s, 100Gbit/s and 400Git/s channel rates, while pioneering on digital coherent optics and multimode transmission. He now leads the research activity on optical networks and free-space communications. He is particularly interested in ground-to space-links with coherent optics.

He has authored and co-authored more than 400 journal and conference papers, and 50 patents. Dr Bigo is IEEE Fellow (2017) and received several prestigious awards, including the General Ferrié Award and the IMT Grand Prize of the Academy of Science of France. He was elected Governor of the IEEE Photonics Society (2011, for three years) and Executive Board Member of the Photonics 21 European Technology Platform (2025), as Chair of the Digital Infrastructure workgroup.

Airborne Computation: The Next Leap for Wireless Networks and AI

Talk Abstract:

Airborne computation (AirComp) is emerging as a breakthrough approach to wireless networking by allowing devices to process data collaboratively in the air, rather than sending everything to centralized servers. By leveraging the natural superposition of radio signals, AirComp can instantly compute functions like sums or averages during transmission, reducing latency, conserving energy, and easing network congestion. This opens the door to transformative applications such as real-time coordination among autonomous vehicles, drone fleets, and faster AI training in federated learning or big data frameworks. While challenges like synchronization, interference, and waveform design remain, rapid research progress suggests AirComp could play a pivotal role in the future of 6G, IoT, and edge AI systems.

Biography

Ana Pérez-Neira is full professor at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in the Signal Theory and Communication department. Currently, she is the Director of Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya, Spain. Her research is in signal processing for communications, focused on satellite communications. She has been the leader of over 35 projects and has participated in over 50. She is the author of over 80 journal papers and more than 400 conference papers. She is co-author of 7 books and 13 chapters, and 8 patents, all contributing to the advancement of signal processing and communications. She has been speaker at 70+ invited talks, guest editor for 10 special issues. She was Vicerector for Research at UPC (2010-13). She created UPC Doctoral School (2011). She is a recipient for the 2018 EURASIP Society Award. She is IEEE Fellow, EURASIP Fellow, member of the Real Academy of Science and Arts of Barcelona, and of the Real Academy of Engineering. She is awarded the ICREA Academia and has the Narcis Monturiol award by the Catalan government due to her research trajectory. She has been recognized in 2025 the Salvà Campillo Award for Outstanding Personality of the 30th Night of Telecommunications and IT.