Overview
The Interdisciplinary Research Center for Communication Systems and Sensing (IRC-CSS) is established as part of the University's plan to focus on research that spans multiple disciplines on areas that are dearly needed in the Kingdom and even globally.
The IRC-CSS is established to advance knowledge in the areas of communication systems and sensing; including electrical, optical, acoustic systems for localization and radar systems, and to facilitate the transformation of this knowledge into commercial innovations.
The IRC-CSS seeks sustainable and robust solutions to problems of regional and global importance. To address the new challenges imposed by next generation communication and sensing systems, holistic designs that spans multiple disciplines of signal processing, wireless communications, networking, optimization, radar, localization, machine learning, big data, and cyber security are required. This necessitates developing new foundations, mathematical models, and experiments that can capture the new characteristics of next generation networks (e.g., high node density, wide spatial existence, multitude heterogeneity, context awareness, diverse QoS constraints) and jointly account for the multidisciplinary design perspectives. The research center focuses on laying the foundations to achieve intelligent, self-organized, self-optimized, and context-aware management/operation for next generation communication and sensing systems, and hence, realizing and unleashing the potentials of the foreseen smart world era. In addition to the advanced signal processing techniques, application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine learning (ML) are among the tools to achieve these objectives. The center is also committed to contribute to the development in sensing, including remote sensing, biosensing, and wearable sensors.
Applications covered by the center include wired and wireless communications (5G/6G) and networking, Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications, sustainable and reliable communications for Autonomous Unmanned Vehicles (AUV), virtual and augmented reality, collision avoidance, localization, navigation, and remote sensing. The initiative will also examine public safety requirement and energy constraints (Green Communications). The IRC-CSS will be a major contribution towards the Saudi Green Initiative and the Middle East Green Initiative that were announced recently by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The center begins by building the infrastructure, developing the required competencies, and eventually performing research. The center contributes to the campus by providing quality education and training by enriching the undergraduate and graduate curricula in sensing, wireless communications, computer networks and distributed systems. It also extends its arm to outreach the community at large and increases awareness by publishing its finding in various forms including archival publications, tutorials, and web-based resources. The center is planning to build a strong network with the industry. The targeted sectors include telecommunications and Information Technology (IT), defense, oil and gas, healthcare, consumer electronics, social, and automobiles.