Abstract: The number of connected wireless devices and the amount of generated digital information continue to grow exponentially, which create challenges in data acquisition, processing, transfer, and storage. For instance, in wireless communications, we are forced to shift our attention to newer frequency bands and rely on large antenna arrays to support many more users and the increased demand, creating challenges to incumbent users and increasing signal interference. At the same time, in digital storage, Moore’s law no longer holds, and we are investigating new possibilities such as storing data in DNA molecules.
In this talk, we will present our theory-hardware co-design approach to the ever-increasing challenges of data networks. We will talk about unique joint hardware-algorithm designs for spectrum management and investigate the theoretical limits as well as practical implications. We also present new findings and channel models for out-of-order media such as macromolecular storage and frame the problem as coded sequence assembly. We will discuss the potential impact of the findings on other domains such as 3D printing and rank aggregation.
Bio: Alireza Vahid received his BSc in electrical engineering from Sharif University of Technology in 2009, and his MSc and PhD in electrical and computer engineering from Cornell University in 2012 and 2015, respectively. From 2015 to 2017, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Duke University. From 2017 to 2023, he was an assistant professor of electrical engineering at the University of Colorado Denver. He is currently a Gleason Endowed Associate Professor of electrical and microelectronic engineering at Rochester Institute of Technology. His research projects are in communication theory, information and coding theory, wireless networking and security, and sequence assembly. Dr. Vahid’s research is supported by multiple NSF (CNS, ECCS, and AST) and industry grants. He has received the 2010 Cornell Best Teaching Award, the 2013 Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship, the 2015 Cornell Best PhD Thesis Award, the 2019 Lab Venture Challenge Award, and the 2021 SONY Faculty Innovation Award. He is an IEEE senior member and serves as an associate editor for IEEE Communications Letters.