Winners announced for IEEE competition on NTNs Beyond 5G and 6G

First place, and a prize of $10,000, was awarded to a proposed solution for integrating of terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks, dubbed Multi-Mode High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) for Future Wireless Networks (pictured).

It was the work of Safwan Alfattani (King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia & University of Ottawa, Canada), Wael Jaafar (École de Technologie Supérieure, Canada), Halim Yanikomeroglu (Carleton University, Canada) and Abbas Yongacoglu (University of Ottawa, Canada).

Involving high-altitude platform stations (right), it is based on their work “A vision and framework for the high altitude platform station (HAPS) networks of the future”, which was published in IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials (Vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 729-779, 2021).

“Access to affordable broadband connectivity should be the norm and not a privilege’, said Mohammed Altamimi, Governor, of the Communications, Space and Technology Commission of Saudi Arabia. “More than ever, we need to build bridges between industry, public and private sector to enhance collaboration and leverage innovative technology to ensure the global digital economy leaves no one behind.”

The global competition was organised by the IEEE Future Networks Initiative and sponsored by CST, as part of the CST NTN program.

In total 28 papers were submitted, the work of 100 plus participants, spanning 17 countries and 34 universities and research centres.

“Reaching the unconnected will require an innovative combination of fixed, terrestrial and satellite networks not only to provide service continuity but also reinforce service availability and provide ubiquitous seamless coverage everywhere,” added Mario Maniewicz, Director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau.

The space forum was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and online, over three days, hosted by the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) and the Communication and Information Technology Commission (CITC) of Saudi Arabia.

Winners

The winners are described as follows:

1st place – Multi-Mode High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) for Future Wireless Networks – Safwan Alfattani (King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia & University of Ottawa, Canada); Wael Jaafar (École de Technologie Supérieure, Canada); Halim Yanikomeroglu (Carleton University, Canada); Abbas Yongacoglu (University of Ottawa, Canada) for presenting a solution on integration of terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks, enriching the quality of the service.

2nd place – Toward Equitable 6G Access Service via Cloud-Enabled High-Altitude Platform Systems – Rawan Alghamdi (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia); Hayssam Dahrouj (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) & Center of Excellence for NEOM Research, Canada); Tareq Y. Al-Naffouri (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, USA); Mohamed-Slim Alouini (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia), for presenting a solution towards providing coverage in remote areas with wireless communication services through non-terrestrial networks.

3rd place – Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles Communications in Integrated Terrestrial and Non-terrestrial Networks – Mohamed Benzaghta and Giovanni Geraci (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain); Rasoul Nikbakht (Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC), Spain); David López-Pérez (Huawei Technologies France, France), for presenting a solution on 5G service development through integration with non-terrestrial networks, with the benefit of reducing the cost of wireless communication services.

You can find out more information on the Connecting the World from the Skies website.