AUS hosts the First International Conference on Communications, Signal Processing and their Applications

The conference provides a forum for scientists and academics engaged in research and development to convene and present their latest scholarly work in communications and signal processing.

Organized by the Department of Electrical Engineering at the AUS College of Engineering (CEN), ICCSPA'13 has attracted 204 paper submissions by 446 scholars from 36 countries.

Almost 60% of the submissions were accepted, based on a rigorous peer review process by over 250 researchers from all over the world. The UAE had the highest number of submissions.

The 107 papers by 303 authors shortlisted for the conference will be presented through 22 technical sessions over the three-day conference.

At the opening ceremony, AUS Chancellor Dr. Peter Heath welcomed the guests on behalf of His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah. "I am gratified to see that more than 100 papers are being presented over the course of the conference, which will explore many of the aspects of this exciting field—from wireless and multimedia communications and speech recognition to image processing and biometrics," said Dr. Heath.

"We will hear how their applications could have a tremendous effect on everyday life, from air pollution monitoring to fraud prevention," he added.

Also present at the opening ceremony were Dr. Eisa Bastaki, Honorary President, IEEE UAE Chapter; Dr. Thomas John Hochstettler, AUS Provost; Salem Yousef Al Qaseer, AUS Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs; Dr. Gautam Sen, AUS Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Studies; AUS deans; and other senior officials.

"ICCSPA'13 is an important conference and we need such collaborations to improve technical networks and establish our research capabilities," said Dr. Bastaki.

"We have to create a research environment that will enable this country to move forward even after the oil reserve has run out. We have to work as a team to ensure that progress never stops. I salute you in organizing this conference and I know it will be a success," he concluded.

The conference includes four tutorial sessions and three keynote presentations that will be delivered by world- class speakers. A talk on "Robust Estimation in Signal Processing," by Dr. Abdelhak Zoubir, Professor and Head of the Signal Processing Group, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany, was delivered today.

Tomorrow's keynote addresses will be "Power Amplifiers and Transmitters for Software Defined Radio Systems" by Dr. Fadhel. M. Ghannouchi, Professor and Alberta Innovates and Senior Canada Research Chair, University of Calgary, Canada; and "Network Forensics - Finding the Needle in That Needle Stack!" by Dr. Nasir Memon, Professor, Polytechnic Institute of New York University, New York, USA.

According to conference co-chairs Dr. Khaled Assaleh, Director of Graduate Studies and Professor of Electrical Engineering, and Dr. Mohamed El-Tarhuni, Associate Professor and Department Head, Department of Electrical Engineering, ICCSPA'13 provides excellent opportunities for establishing collaborative research with participants from prestigious research centers around the world. It also offers a useful networking prospect for graduate students who are interested in pursuing their doctoral studies abroad.

ICCSPA'13 provides an opportunity for UAE academics, researchers, engineers and students working in the fields of communication and signal processing to interact and exchange research ideas with international participants from leading institutions and research centers.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a technical sponsor of the conference, which will continue through February 14.