Centre for Systems, Technologies and Applications for Radiofrequency and Communications Systèmes, technologies et applications en radiofréquence et communications NEWSLETTER SPRING 2018

1 A WORD FROM THE DIRECTORS

The Centre for Systems, It is a pleasure to welcome you to the first edition of the STARaCom newsletter. Technologies and Applications We are very excited to have launched STARaCom, the union of SYTACom and for Radiofrequency and CREER. In this issue, we feature several exciting topics, including an introduction Communications (STARaCom) to the STARaCom Executive Committee and news from our members of recent is a Regroupement stratégique projects, awards and events. We also highlight STARaCom in numbers. funded by the Fonds de As we move forward into our first 6-year term, we will continue to mobilize and Recherche du Québec - Nature support ’s ICT expertise in order to produce internationally acclaimed et Technologies (FRQNT). research that addresses significant ICT research challenges. However, this is STARaCom drives only the tip of the iceberg: in support of our members’ research, STARaCom collaborative Information and continues to secure operating and infrastructure funding to achieve solutions Communication Technologies to these challenges. In addition, by virtue of its multidisciplinary research (ICT) systems research in agenda, STARaCom has and will continue to create a training environment Quebec, as measured unlike any other in Quebec. With a rich constellation of ICT research topics, an by research output, funding, exceptional degree of collaboration among researchers, access to world-class visibility, and level of activity. infrastructure, and strong links to industry, training future generations of ICT scientific and engineering experts will remain one of STARaCom’s top priorities. The Centre supports members’ Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to thank le Fonds de recherche du research activities in order Québec – Nature et technologies (FRQNT) for their support of our first mandate. to increase collaborative We are proud of the extraordinary research achievements of our members, of communications systems our success in obtaining funding, and of the unique training opportunities that research in Quebec and at we provide for our students. Thanks to FRQNT, STARaCom is the foundation on the national and international which our accomplishments will grow. level.

STARaCom comprises As always, we wish you 55 professors at 11 Quebec enjoyable reading. whose expertise spans the disciplines required – David V. Plant, for technology and system Centre Director development through – Jean-Jacques Laurin, scientific activities, sharing Center Co-Director of world-class infrastructure, interactions with industry and training of future generations of scientists and engineers.

2 CONTENTS

4 Poster Competition Winners 10 Meet STARaCom’s Executive Committee 14 NEWS- Projects, Awards, Events 20 MEMBERS

CREDITS

CONTRIBUTORS: Kay Johnson Maru Basanez Fabrice Labeau

STARaCom Research Centre McGill 3480 University #753 , Quebec, Canada Tel: 514 398-7475 www.staracom.mcgill.ca

3 POSTER COMPETITION WINNERS Implementation of resonant cavities based on substrate-integrated waveguide technology for environmental detection

Majid Ndoye Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières

AWARDED FIRST PRIZE

he constant quest for more comfort and safety in domestic and industrial areas over the last few years Thas led to the proliferation of environmental sensors such as temperature, gas, humidity, or air quality control sensors. Despite the efforts made in the development of environmental sensors, technologies currently available on the market have significant limitations in terms of performance and cost of implementation. Therefore, this work presents innovative concepts for the implementation of microwave sensors for environmental detection. These devices are designed using resonant cavity structures based on substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technology. Based mainly on the method of disturbed cavities, we derive analytical models of the behavior of electromagnetic fields within a SIW resonant • a multilayer structure including an air cavity for a very cavity. These models enable the development of methods sensitive detection of humidity, for optimal design and use of these devices for material • a monolithic structure integrating two resonant characterization and environmental detection purposes. cavities for the simultaneous detection of humidity and Based on the SIW microwave technology, we have temperature. developed devices with: • a rectangular resonant cavity including an inorganic Because of their designs using the resonant cavity dielectric material (SnO2) for the detection of hydrogen principle, our sensors have high sensitivity, and thanks to gas, their SIW-based design, these sensors are implemented • a circular resonant cavity incorporating a bio-degradable at a very low cost. material (nano-cellulose) for the detection of humidity,

4 Dielectric Conductor Air hole

Sub 1

Sub 2

Sub 3

Input port

Substrate Metalized posts

N = 2 Temperature sensor Sensor 1 Humidity sensor Sensor 2

N = 6 Sensor 6 Sensor 4 Sensor 2

Sensor 5 Sensor 3 Sensor 1

Conductor Dielectric Sensing materials

55 Horn Antenna Millimeter-Wave Substrate Integrated Dual Level Gap Waveguide Technology

Nima Bayat-Makou

AWARDED SECOND PRIZE

he SIW structures are fed by planar transmission wider impedance bandwidth, without the need to use any lines such as microstrip lines. As SIW horn antennas aperture transitions to widen the bandwidth. T are often required to be implemented on electrically As the horn aperture is surrounded by outer hard surfaces thick substrates to reach a wide impedance bandwidth, (conductor surfaces), back-traveling surface waves are exciting them with planar feed lines at millimeter-wave causing a strong interaction with the bulky connector frequencies causes lots of spurious radiations and un- and destroy the symmetry of the E-plane main beam. wanted surface waves inside the substrate. The proposed By covering the hard surfaces with planar soft surfaces, configuration of the integrated horn design, which is based which are realized by transverse strips grounded by on elevated substrate integrated gap waveguide (E-SIGW) conducting vias, we have isolated the antenna radiating technology, provides the antenna with a thick radiating aperture from the feeding circuitries. Therefore, the aperture which is excited with a standard thin transmission antenna far field patterns are only affected by the line at millimeter-waves. main radiating aperture without being distorted by the By taking advantage of multi-layer PCB technology, feeding components. Besides, a considerable reduction we have designed an E-SIGW with a three-layer unit is achieved in the antenna back radiations since the cell configuration. The advantage of using E-SIGW for aperture waves are prevented from traveling backward. the design of H-plane horns is that it enables having a As a result, the antenna radiates a more symmetric fan multi-level structure for the horn interior. This is very beam radiation pattern with suppressed back lobes. helpful at the millimeter-wave frequencies since it Isolating the radiating aperture from the other parts allows the integrated horn antenna to be fed by a thin of the antenna or feeding circuits is important at the feed line while keeping a thick radiating aperture. In millimeter-wave frequencies because the volume of the this design, the H-plane integrated horn is excited by a feeding components is comparable with the wavelength 10-mm-thick microstrip line and radiates with a three- and disturb the antenna performance. time thicker aperture; this is simply not possible when The proposed integrated antenna configuration and its using conventional substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) aperture shielding mechanism can be utilized in wireless technology. Our configuration also eliminates the need to devices operating at millimeter-wave frequencies which feed the integrated horn by SIW; this is very beneficial, need to have a compact geometry with symmetric as the SIW feeding has limitations at higher frequencies fan-beam radiation pattern. and forces the horn to have the same aperture thickness as the feed line. Applying transitions between the horn interior layers improves the coupling of the propagating waves between the layers and provides the antenna with

6 p E-SIGW Horn with Soft Surface

q Reflection Coefficient Comparison

0

-5

-10

S11 (dB) S11 -15

Single Level Horn -20 Double Level Horn without Transition Double Level Horn with Transition Measurement -25 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 Frequency (GHz)

Electric field distribution around the E-Field Distribution Inside Horn Levels connector fed E-SIGW horn at 60 GHz (a) at upper thin layer (middle of h1), (a) without soft surfaces (b) with soft surfaces. (b) at lower layer (middle of h2). q q

(a) (a)

(b) (b)

7 RF Bra for Early Breast Cancer Detection

Lena Kranold RF Breast Screening Research Lab Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Canada AWARDED THIRD PRIZE

o increase survival rates for breast cancer patients, early detection is a key factor and established Tscreening technologies suffer from certain draw- backs (e.g., ionizing radiation, high cost, limited accessibility and invasiveness). We address these issues with the development of a wearable technology. Our approach utilizes low-power radio-frequency waves and multistatic radar embedded in a wearable device for frequent breast health monitoring. Several numerical and experimental studies report on successful application of multistatic microwave radars to detect abnormalities and here, we investigate a variety of antenna array configurations tested on numerical dispersive breast models. Each element of our antenna array is an ultrawide-band single- polarization rectangular patch, printed on a flexible, signal to clutter ratio (SCR). Namely, the maximum energy conformal substrate. We treat the simulated signals with intensity at the known tumor location is compared to the a delay-multiply-and-sum algorithm to qualitatively and next highest intensity outside the tumor region. Hence, quantitatively assess detection accuracy. Advances and a positive SCR reflects that the tumor is detected in the drawbacks of four different antenna arrangements lead correct location, whereas a negative SCR (in dB) results in a to a decision on a favorable array layout in the context of failed detection. Figure 2 shows that for the densest breast the detection capabilities. Finally, the noted layout was model (0-30 % adipose tissue), all array configurations fail implemented in a bra-shaped prototype for testing on to detect the tumor in the correct location. However, for experimental breast models and volunteers. the tissue groups 2 and 3 (31-84 % and 85-100 % adipose In our presentation, we report on comparison of four tissue), the cross, ring and asymmetric array successfully antenna arrangements: cross-shaped, ring-shaped, detect the tumor. Because of this, the two arrays deemed asymmetric regularly-shaped, and irregularly-shaped to be favorable are the ring and cross type, due to ease in (Figure 1). The simulations were carried out in HFSS [8] on fabrication but also due to quantified superior performance a simplified breast model: a hemispherical, homogeneous to the other two configurations. The advantageous layouts core surrounded by a 2-mm skin layer. The core was were implemented in prototypes and are presently being simulated to have different tissue properties corresponding tested on phantom models and with volunteers (Figure 3). to breast tissues of different densities (Group 1: 0-30 % adipose tissue, group 2: 31-84 %, and group 3: 85-100 % [9]). Quantitatively, the results were compared using a

8 p u 10 Figure 1:  Figure 2: cross-shaped (a), ring-shaped SCR for all four antenna arrays (b), asymmetric regularly-shaped and three tissue groups assigned 5 (c), and irregularly-shaped (d) to hemisphere. antenna arrangements. 0 Group 1 Group 2 Group 3

-5 SCR (db) -10

Figure 3: -15 Favorable array arrangements oCross Array oRing Array implemented in prototype: left ring and right cross design. oAsymmetrical Array oIrregular Array q

9 MEET STARACOM’S EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

François Boone His current research interests include reconfigurable antennas using EBG and FSS structures, dielectric received the Engineering Diploma resonator antennas, metamaterial antennas, adaptive in Electrical Engineering from École arrays, switched multibeam antenna arrays, ultra- Nationale Supérieure d’Électronique, wideband antennas, microwave and development for d’Électrotechnique, d’Informatique wireless communications systems. et d’Hydraulique de Toulouse (ENSEEIHT), France, in June Dr. Denidni was an Associate Editor of the IEEE Antennas 1992 and the DEA in microwave and Wireless Propagation Letters from 2005 to 2007. engineering from the Institut National Polytechnique de He was an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Toulouse (INPT) in 1993. In 1997 and 2000, respectively, Antennas and Propagation from 2008 to 2010. Since 2015, he received M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in microwave he has been an Associate Editor of IET Electronics Letters. engineering, both from École Polytechnique de Montréal, What STARaCom does for research at our institution Canada. In October 1999, he joined the Department STARaCom is a great platform providing different of Electrical and Computer Engineering of Faculty of opportunities in various dimensions, which are directly Engineering at the University of , Canada, or indirectly helping the research at our institute. As we where he is now a full professor. His research interests know the main objective and mission of STARaCom, is to concern analysis, modeling, and design of passive provide collaborative research environment, organizing (RF-MEMs) and active components and circuits on GaN. events/seminars/conferences/workshops, allocating He also conducts research up to terahertz frequencies. partial funds for members to hire the top research What STARaCom does for research at our institution oriented brains from the world seeking opportunity as a PhD student, and to offer equipment and travel grants to STARaCom is an important cluster for research towards the member organizations, if required. information technologies. For my University, STARaCom is very important as it gives us access to some very STARaCom is providing benefit to our institute in terms specialized equipment up to terahertz frequencies and I of partial financial support for our lab technicians, giving can work with more software-oriented people, giving us access to our research students for using the fabrication the opportunity to test physically some new ideas. and measurement equipment available at the institutes of other members, and allowing our students/researchers to attend their organized seminars/conferences/work- Tayeb A. Denidni shops free of cost. Beside these, STARaCom also give opportunities to our students and professors to create received the M. Sc. and Ph.D. collaborative research environment, through which our degrees in electrical engineering institute contribute our share in the advancement of from Laval University, Quebec technology by the quality research collaborative projects. City, QC in 1990 and 1994, respectively. From 1994 to 2000, he was a Paul Fortier Professor with the Engineering Department, Université received his B.Sc. degree and his du Québec à Rimouski, Rimouski, QC, where M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineer- he founded the Telecommunications laboratory. Since ing from Université Laval in 1982 2000, he has been with the Institut National de la Recherche and 1984, respectively, his M.S. Scientifique (INRS), Université du Quebec, Montreal, QC. degree in Statistics and his Ph.D. He founded the RF laboratory at INRS-EM, Montreal, QC. degree in Electrical Engineering He has extensive experience with antenna design and from Stanford University in 1987 leads a large research group consisting of three research and 1989, respectively. Since 1989, he has been with the scientists, eight Ph.D. students, and two M.Sc. students. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at He served as a Principal Investigator on many research Université Laval where he is currently a full professor and projects. dept. Chair.

10 His research interests include digital signal processing His research interests focus on wireless communications. for communications and the study of complexity and Dr. Despins is a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of performance trade-offs in hardware implementations, Canada and a recipient (2006) of the Outstanding Engineer with applications in wireless. He has been involved in the award from IEEE Canada. He is a former recipient of the organization of national and international conferences “Best Paper of the Year” award in IEEE Transactions on and workshops in these fields. He has done consulting Vehicular Technology. He is currently a frequent advocate work for several companies and government agencies in on issues regarding the opportunities ICT offer to achieve Canada. sustainability in the 21st century. Dr. Fortier is a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada and a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). From 2007 to 2009, he François Gagnon was Vice-President Scientific Affairs and Partnerships at le Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la nature et François Gagnon holds a B.Ing. les technologies (FQRNT). Professor Fortier was Vice- and Ph.D. from the École President for Research and Innovation at Université Laval Polytechnique de Montréal, and in from 2010 to 2012. has been a professor at the École de technologie Supérieure (ÉTS) What STARaCom does for research at our institution since 1991. He has held industrial At Université Laval the support from STARaCom is used research chairs since 2001. In addi- to pay for part of a research professional. This research tion to holding the Richard J. Marceau Industrial Research professional maintains our programmable wireless plat- Chair for Wireless Internet in developing countries with forms. In this capacity, he is sometimes asked to program Media5, François Gagnon also holds the NSERC-Ultra demos. He also helps new students with this equipment Electronics Chair in Wireless Emergency and Tactical since the learning curve is often quite steep. Another of Communication. He also founded the Communications his tasks is to support us in the writing of research grant and Microelectronic Integration Laboratory (LACIME) and or contract proposals. Finally, he acts as an interface with was its first director. industry. Because of STARaCom, the four researchers He has been very involved in the creation of the new at Laval University receive a small budget from their generation of high-capacity line-of-sight military radios institution to pay for various expenses linked to their offered by the Canadian Marconi Corporation, which is now research (travel, software licenses, small equipment, etc.) Ultra Electronics Tactical Communication Systems. Ultra- Electronics TCS and ÉTS have obtained the NSERC Synergy prize and an ADRIQ partnership prize for this collaboration. Charles Despins’ He is actively involved in the SmartLand project of UTPL, career has spanned 30 years in Ecuador, the STARACOM strategic research network and both the academic and industry the Réseau Québec Maritime. segments of the information and What STARaCom does for research at our institution communications technologies The STARACOM funding is essential for professionals (ICT) sector. Following academic in that it supports our research programs with Ultra work as a faculty member of the Electronics, Cienna, Media5, Ericsson and Videotron. Institut National de Recherche In particular, we have maritime wireless networking , he held various posts Scientifique (Université du Québec) measurement campaigns with the Canadian Navy. We in the private sector, namely at Bell Nordiq Group as vice- tested Ad-Hoc meshed MIMO Heterogeneous Networks president and chief technology officer, as a consultant with the UK and Canadian Army in October. We are currently for wireless network deployments in India and China and building communication hub to provide efficient internet for 13 years, as President and CEO of Prompt inc., an ICT in Ecuador’s Amazonia. We support extensive optical research and development consortium. networking research. Finally we are supporting the Smart In 2016, he returned to academia and is currently Sustainable ECO-Cloud Canadian Research Chair which Professor of Electrical Engineering at École de Technologie has just inaugurated the Open-Air Laboratory for Smart Supérieure (Université du Québec) in Montreal, Canada. living. This laboratory offers researchers, companies and

11 STARACOM’S EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

residents a unique environment and the infrastructure for and modeling, wave processing surfaces, near-field on-the-ground, real-world tests of technologies aiming to antenna measurement techniques, and electromagnetic improve and simplify the daily life of Quebecers. compatibility. What STARaCom does for research at our institution As many STARaCom members active in radiofrequency Ferhat Khendek research, my work heavily relies on prototype design, received his Ph.D. from University fabrication and testing requiring sophisticated software, of Montreal, Canada. He is a full equipment and skilled research professionals. STARaCom professor in the department of provides support for technical staff at the Poly-Grames Electrical and Computer Engineer- Centre of Ecole Polytechnique, which is providing ing of Concordia University where services to many researchers in the cluster, including my- he also holds since 2011 the self and my team. It also gives me an opportunity to initiate NSERC/Ericsson Senior Industrial collaborations with partners from other universities. Research Chair in Model Based Management, a major collaboration between Ericsson and Concordia University. Ferhat Khendek has published more than 200 conference/ David V. Plant journal papers. He is a co-inventor of six granted patents and of 12 patents currently under review. Ferhat received the Ph.D. degree from Khendek‘s research interests are in model based software Brown University, Providence, engineering and management, formal methods, validation RI, USA, in 1989. From 1989 to and testing, cloud computing, real-time software systems, 1993, he was a Research Engineer and service engineering and architectures. at the University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, What STARaCom does for research at our institution USA. Since 1993, he has been At Concordia, STARaCom brings several researchers a Professor at McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada, together. These researchers cover a wide range of where he holds a James McGill Professorship. He was complementary topics in the domain of Information Chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Technology, ranging from lower layers like microwave Engineering from 2006 to 2011. He has received five and electromagnetics to software systems/applications. teaching awards and numerous other awards including Through the research professionals supported by the the IEEE Photonics Society Distinguished Lectureship, regroupement and Concordia, these researchers can the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society collaborate in “multi-disciplinary” projects and therefore Microwave Prize, a Killam Research Fellowship, and the strengthen and broaden their research endeavors. IEEE Photonics Society Engineering Achievement Award. He is a Fellow of the OSA, IEEE, the Engineering Institute of Canada, the Canadian Academy of Engineering, and the Jean-Jacques Royal Society of Canada. Laurin What STARaCom does for research at our institution At McGill, STARaCom brings researchers together, received the B.Eng. degree in working on Information and Communication Technologies engineering physics from École (ICTs). A key enabler for these research endeavours are the Polytechnique de Montréal, Research professionals supported by the regroupement Montreal, QC, Canada, and the and McGill. Research professionals provide technical M.A.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in guidance and continuity to many of our ongoing ICT electrical engineering from the University of Toronto, projects. They are also instrumental in working with our Toronto, ON, Canada, in 1983, 1986, and 1991, respectively. industry and government collaborators. In 1991, he joined the Poly-Grames Research Centre, Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, where he is currently a Professor. He was the Director of CREER (Centre de Recherche en Électronique Radiofréquence) from 2014 to 2017. His research interests include antenna design

12 Fabrice Labeau Ke Wu is the Associate Dean (Faculty is NSERC-Huawei Industrial Affairs) in the Faculty of Research Chair in Future Wireless Engineering of McGill University, Technologies with Polytechnique where he holds the NSERC/ Montréal, and Director of Poly- Hydro-Québec Industrial Research Grames Research Center. He Chair in Interactive Information has authored over 1200 referred Infrastructure for the Power papers and more than 50 patents. He was Founding Grid. His research interests are in applications of signal Director of CREER and Senior Canada Research Chair in processing to healthcare, power grids, communications RF/Millimeter-Wave Engineering. He is a Fellow of the and signal compression. He has authored more than IEEE, Canadian Academy of Engineering, Royal Society 175 refereed papers in refereed journals and conference of Canada. He was General Chair of the 2012 IEEE MTT-S proceedings in these areas. International Microwave Symposium, 2016 IEEE MTT-S He is the director of operations for STARaCom. He is senior President, and IEEE MTT-S Distinguished Microwave past president of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Lecturer. Dr. Wu was the recipient of many awards and Engineers (IEEE) Vehicular Technology Society, President prizes including the 2014 Prix du Quebec. of the IEEE Sensors Council, and the past chair of the What STARaCom does for research at our institution Montreal IEEE Section. He was a recipient in 2015 and 2017 of the McGill University Equity and Community Building As a core member of Poly-Grames Research Center Award (team category), of the 2008 and 2016 Outstanding affiliated with STARaCom, my research projects and Service Award from the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society professional activities are significantly strengthened, and of the 2017 W.S. Read Outstanding Service Award expanded and highly publicized through STARaCom- form IEEE Canada. enabled inter-institutional collaborations, mutual supports, technical exchanges and social networking. Our He was the general co-chair of IEEE VTC 2016 Fall, URSI active involvement and participation in various STARaCom General Assembly and Scientific Symposium 2017, IEEE programs and meetings allows my group members to SENSORS 2019, IEEE EPEC 2019 and ICIP 2021, and get inspired from cross-sectorial expertise, and to benefit Technical Program Co-chair for IEEE VTC 2006 Fall, VTC from multiple research facilities made available from other 2012 Fall, ICUWB 2015, ICIP 2015 and CCECE 2018. institutions within the STARaCom community. Collective critical mass, outstanding research infrastructure, and lofty international visibility allow our graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and research personnel to strive to succeed in their career developments.

13 NEWS

Official STARaCom Launch, December 14, 2017

STARaCom faculty members, students, university the Centre’s ambitious long-term agenda—to provide a personnel and industry affiliates gathered at McGill dynamic research and training environment that promotes University for the official launch of theRegroupement collaborative approaches to producing large-scale ICT stratégique. systems and applications solutions. More than 230 registered attendees comprised of 157 Eighty-five posters were presented in the student poster students, 35 member professors, 25 academic personnel competition and prizes were awarded for the three winning and 20 industry affiliates gathered for a day of introductions posters. An Apple watch, Bluetooth speakers and a Fitbit and presentations outlining some of the exciting research Smartwatch were presented to Majid Ndoye (Université from member institutions. du Québec à Trois-Rivières), Nima Bayat-Makou (Poly- STARaCom director David Plant and co-director Jean- technique Montréal), and Lena Kranold (McGill). Jacques Laurin welcomed the attendees and outlined A cocktail reception ended the day.

14 15 NEWS NEWS

PROJECTS

Quebec-China Investing in project long-term STARaCom member Odile Liboiron- partnerships Ladouceur was recently awarded one of four 2-year grants under the STARaCom member Christine FRQNT-NSFC bilateral Team Research Tremblay will be presenting an invited Quebec-China program. The objective of this program is talk at the upcoming OFC’18 (March 12, San Diego) on to support innovative bilateral team research projects filterless optical networking, in which she will be presenting involving Québec and Chinese scientists, including in the the latest results of a 10-year long collaborative research field of photonics. The project will investigate Energy- in this area. The research started with Nortel, then Ciena efficient photonic integrated switches for high throughput and KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden after data computing. 2010. Several people contributed to this work over the years including STARaCom members David Plant and François Gagnon, leading to many students being trained New and several papers including one patent application being published. The new networks trialed and deployed in interdisciplinary the last years by Deutsche Telekom and other network collaboration operators in Europe are based on filterless architectures. In the context of a new NSERC Strategic grant, Prof. Sébastien Roy New major CFI investment will be collaborating with civil engineering specialists from Sherbrooke and University of British Columbia to develop at STARaCom a new tool for monitoring bridge structures. Prof. Roy will Following the last CFI competition, a grant of $ 6.2M bring to the partnership his expertise in sensor networks was awarded in June 2017 to Professor Ke Wu and and smart antennas, leading to the development of a real- 7 other STARaCom researchers (Poly : C. Caloz, J.-J. time diagnostic system to enhance safety. Laurin, Sherbrooke : F. Boone INRS : S. Tatu, McGill : M. Popovic, ETS : A. Kouki, Concordia : A. Kishk) for the U-FAME (Upgrade of Facility for Advanced Millimeter- Ciena collaboration Wave Engineering) project. The new equipment reinforces the Center Poly-Grames’ vanguard position among Prof. Larbi Talbi (UQO) was recently Canadian university infrastructures for millimeter and awarded a 3-year grant from Mitacs to sub-millimeter waves. The new equipment opens new support Graduate and Postdoctorate research directions for STARaCom members in the students in collaboration with Tremendously High Frequencies (THF) bands. industrial partner Ciena on Compatible digital modeling of analog / RF / optical circuits. Their The ICI Technology Transfer Center of Cegep de Ahuntsic contribution is on surface engineering techniques and is a partner of the project (C. Bois), and there the funds their applications. will be used for the acquisition of a continuous flow silkscreen printing unit, with a potential for radiofrequency applications using conductive inks.

16 DNN-based Speech Enhancement for “Smarter” Home Devices Several smart home devices (SHD) are now available on the market (e.g. Amazon Echo, Google Home) that allow users to control various devices in their home or access the internet by issuing voice commands. These cloud- based assistants equipped with artificial intelligence can respond in real-time to the users’ needs through automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology. However, robustness to noise and reverberation remains a critical problem that limits the widespread acceptance of SHD, since ASR needs to operate under adverse acoustic conditions that can greatly degrade their performance. For instance, recognizing a command input in the living room at dinner time involves dealing with a wide variety of highly non-stationary noise sources, such as children’s voices, television or ambient music, etc., all of which made worst by room reverberation. Prof. Benoit Champagne (McGill University) and Prof. Wei-Ping Zhu (Concordia University) were recently research will ultimately provide Microsemi with improved awarded a 3-year Collaborative Research and Development speech enhancement algorithms for embedding in their IC grant from NSERC to work in close collaboration with product line targeting the SHD market. industrial partner Microsemi Semiconductor (Ottawa) on the development of new speech enhancement solutions based on artificial intelligence for SHD applications. Specifically, the proposed research program, entitled Smart Life Lab “Deep Neural Network-based Speech Enhancement for The Smart Life Lab at ETS is now open to everyone. Robust Speech Recognition in Smart Home Device,” The Smart Life Lab has a portal to showcase ongoing aims to develop new DNN algorithms to be used as projects and technologies available to the community; it speech enhancement preprocessors, to improve the allows researchers, as well as small and large-business overall performance of commercial and cloud-based ASR entrepreneurs, to submit their ideas for field testing in the systems employed in commercial SHDs. The proposed Laboratory’s unique ecosystem.

17 NEWS NEWS

PROJECTS AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

Innovation Award The 2017 Innovation Awards of the Quebec Association for the Development of Research and Innovation (ADRIQ) were announced on November 30 at the Palais des congrès de Montréal, as part of the 27th Innovation Awards Gala. Prof. François Gagnon received the « Technology Partnership » Award along with his long-time partner, Ultra Electronics. STARaCom-France collaborations showcased Gold Contribution The newsletter of the Québec Government Office in Paris Award recently highlighted the activities of the International At the International Conference on Associated Laboratory (LIA) between the CNRS and several Computing, Networking and Communi- STARaCom entities. Created in 2014, the LIA associates cations (ICNC, March 5-8, Maui), the CNRS, Supélec, the National Institute of Scientific STARaCom member Sébastien Roy Research (INRS) and McGill University grouped under the receive the “gold contribution award” name SYTACom (renamed STARaCom in 2017). The LIA is a to recognize his frequent contributions to this conference. CRNS structure that formalizes French collaborations with foreign research teams, and funds visits by researchers and students between partner countries. The LIA is placed OSA Fellowship at the interface of the communication and electricity STARaCom member Maksim networks. Its research addresses two main themes : Skorobogatiy was recently elected on one hand, the upscaling of information transmission Senior Member of IEEE as well as generated by the evolution of energy networks and, on Fellow of the OSA, for pioneering the other hand, the adapted reuse of mathematical tools contributions to the development of used in communication networks for control or modeling micro structured and photonic crystal multi- of energy. material fibers and their applications to light delivery, Over the last three years, the structuring effect of the LIA sensing, smart textiles and arts. has led to a growth in the number of joint projects and joint scientific publications. It is also important to underline that Professor Pierre Duhamel, Scientific Director of the LIA, received the Chair of Excellence Jacques-Beaulieu awarded by the INRS. After a successful first edition, the LIA has seen an expansion of its membership during its renewal in 2017, with the integration of new partners such as the University of Montreal and Concordia University. The LIA entitled “Information, Command and Learning : The Ingredients of a Smart Network” was renewed for a four-year term.

18 UPCOMING EVENTS

Wireless Power Week comes to Montreal This summer, Montreal will become the center of attention for anyone working on the leading edge of wireless power provision. Thanks to several STARaCom members, three major IEEE events related to this new technology will be collocated for the first time, in Montreal! Many researchers from all over the world will converge to the city to present and discuss cutting-edge advances in this technology that has applications in many areas, ranging from consumer devices to in-lane charging of electric cars. More information is available at http ://wirelesspowerweek.org/

Two software-related Young Scientist Awards events STARaCom graduate students Nima Bayat-Makou and Mohamed A. Moharram both received an URSI Young STARaCom member Ferhat Khendek Scientist Award at the XXXIInd URSI General Assembly will be chairing two conferences in and Scientific Symposium, for their work supervised by 2018 : the 6th IEEE International Work- Ahmed Kishk. shop on Formal Methods Integration (FMi 2018) to be held with IEEE IRI 2018 in Salt Lake Shoukry Shams, working under the superivison of City, Utah, USA from July 07 to July 09, and SAM 2018 STARaCom member Ahmed Kishk, won the 2017 doctoral (http ://sdl-forum.org/Events/SAM2018/index.htm) prize in Engineering and Computer Science, awarded to the most deserving graduate of the doctoral program Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science at Concordia University, for his dissertation titled “Analysis and Design Data Science Event of Microwave Devices based on Ridge Gap Waveguide STARaCom member Michael Rabbat Technology.” is part of the program committee of the 2018 IEEE Data Science Workshop and part of the steering committee of the Graph Signal Processing Workshop. These work-shops will take place back-to-back in Lausanne in June. For more information on these two conferences : IEEE Data Science Workshop : http ://2018.ieeedatascience.org Graph Signal Processing Workshop : https ://gsp18.epfl.ch

19 STARACOM MEMBERS

Beaubrun, Ronald Université Laval Boone, François Université de Sherbrooke Caloz, Christophe Polytechnique Montréal Champagne, Benoit McGill University Chen, Lawrence McGill University 55 Professors Cheriet, Mohamed École de Technologie Supérieure Chouinard, Jean-Yves Université Laval Universities Coates, Mark McGill University 11 Cohen-Adad, Julien Polytechnique Montréal Constantin, Nicolas École de Technologie Supérieure 25 Fellows Coulombe, Stéphane École de Technologie Supérieure Denidni, Ahmed Tayeb INRS-EMT 3 NSERC Synergy Awards Deslandes, Dominic École de Technologie Supérieure Despins, Charles École de Technologie Supérieure + Patents issued Domingue, Frédéric Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières 140 Dssouli, Rachida Concordia University Falk, Tiago INRS-EMT 29 Research Chairs Fortier, Paul Université Laval Frigon, Jean-François Polytechnique Montréal

Publications Gagnon, François École de Technologie Supérieure 13,286 Grenier, Dominic Université Laval + Kashyap, Raman Polytechnique Montréal 175,000  Citations Khazaka, Roni McGill University Khendek, Ferhat Concordia University 7 Research Axes Kirk, Andrew McGill University Kishk, Ahmed Concordia University Applications Research Kouki, Ammar École de Technologie Supérieure 6 Labeau, Fabrice McGill University Projects Laurin, Jean-Jacques Polytechnique Montréal + Le, Long INRS-EMT 500 Graduate students Leib, Harry McGill University Le-Ngoc, Tho McGill University Industry leveraged grants Liboiron-Ladouceur, Odile McGill University $5M per year Maher, Hassan Université de Sherbrooke Maier, Martin INRS-EMT Mehmet-Ali, Mustafa Concordia University 9 Industrial Research Chairs Nabki, Frederic École de Technologie Supérieure Nedil, Mourad Université du Qc Dozens of industry partners en Abitibi-Témiscamingue Paknys, Robert Concordia University  in research funding since Park, Chan Wang Université du Québec à Rimouski $120M 2010 Plant, David McGill University Popovich, Milica McGill University Psaromiligkos, Ioannis McGill University Rabbat, Michael McGill University Distribution of research funding to STARaCom Rochette, Martin McGill University Roy, Sébastien Université de Sherbrooke Other (foreign), Sebak, Abdel Concordia University 13.2% Quebec Skorobogatiy, Maksim Polytechnique Montréal Contracts, consortia, 2.0% Soleymani, M. Reza Concordia University CFI, 6.7% Szczecinski, Leszek INRS-EMT 18.6% Universities, Talbi, Larbi Université du Québec en Outaouais 1.9% Tatu, Serioja Ovidiu INRS-EMT Other, 9.2% Other QC Tremblay, Christine École de Technologie Supérieure Tri-Council, government, Wu, Ke Polytechnique Montréal 35.7% 3.0% FRQ, Zhang, Xiupu Concordia University 16.6% Other (Canadian), 2.3%

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