2023 6th IEEE 5G Workshop on First Responder and Tactical Networks
13 December 2023 || Free || Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, Laurel, MD, USA
On-Site Event Venue
The 2023 6th IEEE 5G Workshop on First Responder and Tactical Networks will take place at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) on 13 December 2023 at Building 201-117 (Auditorium), 11091 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723 USA. More information about the traveling to the center (Google Map) can be found on the Applied Physics Laboratory webpage.
Virtual Connections
5G is not just the next evolution of 4G technology; it's a paradigm shift. It is expected to enable fundamentally new applications — with much more stringent requirements in latency and bandwidth — and provide resiliency and flexibility to the underlying network. Several standards organizations and forums, namely IEEE, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project, and the International Telecommunication Union are working on defining the architecture and standardizing aspects of 5G technologies. However, few organizations are focusing on how such technologies can be useful to tactical and first responder networks.
IEEE is hosting the sixth workshop in this series on 13 December 2023 at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab in Laurel, MD, USA. In 2022-2021, it was the result of partnership and collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate (DHS S&T), the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab (JHU/APL), and the Office of Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD R&E) - 5G. This workshop will explore the applicability of 5G technologies for tactical and first responder networks, offer solutions, share use cases, and investigate research opportunities and challenges. The event will also provide an opportunity for 5G experts from industry and academia, and the standards, regulatory, homeland security, public safety, and defense communities to collaborate.
For any questions, please contact:
Ashutosh Dutta
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Phone +1 908-642-8593
| TIME | SESSION | SPEAKER | TITLE |
| 07:30-08:30 | Registration and Breakfast | ||
| 08:30-08:45 | Welcome and Introduction |
Ashutosh Dutta, IEEE Future Networks Co-Chair & Craig Polk, IEEE Future Networks |
|
| 08:45-09:00 | Welcome Remarks | Andy Oak, JHU/APL Executive | |
| 09:00-09:30 | Keynote Presentation 1: | Sridhar Kowdley, DHS | Emergency and Operational Communications for DHS Operations including Tactical Networks |
| 09:30-09:50 | Invited Talk 1 | Chunmei Liu, NIST | 5G New Radio Sidelink Simulations and Performance Analysis |
| 09:50-10:10 | Invited Talk 2 | Jorge Pereira, European Commission | 5G for Public Protection and Disaster Relief: towards a EU Critical Communication System. |
| 10:10-10:30 | Invited Talk 3 | Alex Marder, JHU | Securing 5G Against the Fragile and Malicious Infrastructure |
| 10:30-11:00 | Morning Break | ||
| 11:00-11:20 | Invited Talk 4 | Bob Stephens, Keysight | 5G Features and Considerations for Setting Up a Reliable First Responder Network |
| 11:20-11:40 | Invited Talk 5 | Venki Ramaswamy, MITRE | Can 5G help DoD overcome digital interoperability challenges? |
| 11:40-12:00 | Invited Talk 6 | Gordon Beattie, Viavi Solutions | Design, Testing and Operational Considerations for Mobile and Nomadic 5G Networks |
| 12:00-12:20 | Invited Talk 7 | Nikheel Pruthi, NIKSUN |
Redesigning First Responder Networks With A Unified Architecture for Robust Security, Availability, and Performance |
| 12:20-13:00 | Lunch Break | ||
| 13:00-13:30 | Keynote Presentation 2: | Tracy Van Brakle, AT&T | AI-enabled multi-operator orchestration for resilience, security, and QoE during crisis situations |
| 13:30-13:50 | Invited Talk 8 | Tommaso Melodia, Northestern University | Open 6G: Toward Open, Programmable, and AI-Driven NextG Systems |
| 13:50-14:10 | Invited Talk 9 | Arpit Joshipura, Linux Foundation | Open Source Networking and Edge Ecosystem - the next phase |
| 14:10-14:30 | Invited Talk 10 | Anwer Al-Dulaimi, Veltris Ashutosh Dutta, JHU/APL |
IEEE 5G/6G Innovation Testbed for Mission Critical Applications |
| 14:30-14:50 | Invited Talk 11 | Mayukh Roy Chowdhury, Virginia Tech. | Towards Prioritized Network Access for First Responders |
| 14:50-15:10 | Coffee Break | ||
| 15:10-15:30 | Invited Talk 12 | Arup Bhuyan, Idaho National Lab | Secure Roaming with 5G |
| 15:30-15:50 | Invited Talk 13 | Amr Haj-Omar, National Instruments | 6G research topics & the path towards prototyping testbeds |
| 15:50-16:10 | Invited Talk 14 | Kelly Krick, Ericsson | Mission Critical in the Skies |
| 16:10-16:30 | Invited Talk 15 | Ashish Kundu, Cisco Research | GraphBOM: Software Supply Chain Security Analysis |
| 16:30-16:50 | Invited Talk 16 | George Kannell, L3Harris | Get up to Speed with 5G |
| 16:50-17:00 | Closing Remarks | ||
| 17:00-18:00 | Networking Reception | ||
*NOTE: All times Eastern Time US
Sponsorship and Exhibit Opportunities
Exhibitors
Event Partners
IEEE Baltimore Section
All Past Events
2022 IEEE 5G Workshop on First Responder and Tactical Networks (WFRTN)
2021 IEEE 5G Workshop on First Responder and Tactical Networks (WFRTN)
2020 IEEE 5G Workshop on First Responder and Tactical Networks (WFRTN)
2019 IEEE 5G Workshop on First Responder and Tactical Networks (WFRTN)
2018 IEEE 5G Workshop on First Responder and Tactical Networks (WFRTN)
Event Speakers
Anwer Al-Dulaimi is currently a Senior Strategy Manager for Connectivity and Industry 4.0 at Veltris, Toronto, Canada. He received the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from Brunel University, London, U.K., in 2012 after receiving M.Sc. and B.Sc. honors degrees in communication engineering. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto, sponsored by Blackberry’s advanced research team. He is the chair of the newly established IEEE 5G/6G Innovations Testbed project working to develop a convergent testing platform for E2E network innovation. He is also Associate Professor at CAT-ZU teaching networking subjects. His research interests include 5G and 6G communications, cloud computing, and cybersecurity. Anwer is the editor of Future Networks Series on 6G in IEEE Vehicular Technology magazine, Editor of Vehicular Networking Series in IEEE Standards Magazine, Editor of IEEE ITSS Series on Intelligent Autonomous Transport, and guest editor for many IEEE journals. He was the recipient of the 2013 Worldwide Universities Network best paper for outstanding research in cognitive communications, best IEEE/WWRF VTM best paper award for 3 times, as well as many other awards and grants. He has published many papers in refereed publications and patents. He provided many talks about 5G/6G networks in academia, industry forums, O-RAN and ITU. He is the chair of the IEEE 1932.1 ‘Standard for Licensed/Unlicensed Spectrum Interoperability in Wireless Mobile Network’, invited expert to ITU-T SG11, and voting member of IEEE MobiNet Standards Committee. He is an IEEE ComSoc Distinguished Lecturer, Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (FIET), Fellow of the British higher education Academy (AFHEA) and registered as a Chartered Engineer (CEng) by the British Engineering Council since 2010.
Dr. Arupjyoti (Arup) Bhuyan is the Director of the Wireless Security Institute (WSI) and a Directorate Fellow in the Idaho National Laboratory(INL). The focus of his research is on secure implementation of future generations of wireless communications with scientific exploration and engineering innovations across the fields of wireless technology, cybersecurity, and computational science. Specific goals are to lead and focus wireless security research efforts for 5G and FutureG/6G with national impact, to secure 5G spectrum sharing with distributed scheduling, and communication for a nationwide unmanned aerial system.
Arup is currently the primary investigator (PI) of the 5G Threat Assessment program work in INL for the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD R&E) in the Department of Defense (DoD). He serves as a Member of the Advisory Board in Platform for Open Wireless Data-driven Experimental Research (POWDER), in the University of Utah. Arup has extensive industry experience in wireless communications from his work before he joined INL in October 2015. He received his Ph.D. in Engineering and Applied Sciences from Yale University. He is a senior member of IEEE.
Mayukh Roy Chowdhury is currently working as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI), Virginia Tech, USA. Prior to this, he worked in the 6G Lab, Samsung Research and Development Institute, Bangalore (SRI-B), India as a Research Intern. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, New Delhi, India.
Dr. Amr Haj-Omar received his Doctorate in Electrical Engineering in collaboration with UC San Diego & Morgan State – Dissertation Title: "Wireless Flexible Electronics for Biomedical Applications". In his journey, he contributed to over 10 publications and 5 patents. Pioneered and taught the first fully remote circuit lab course in 2010 using digilent discovery board. He has a passion for R&D and teaching as he found it the best way to learn! Emerging from his close work with researchers, he cofounded startup ‘IoTools’ in corollary. It accelerated prototyping and enabled professors to win funding. Currently, Dr. Haj-Omar is a Principal BDM for Wireless Research @ NI. His focus is on partnering with lead researchers to advance futureG AI innovation. His experience encompassing 2 decades of wireless research, product development, and strategic marketing. While at TI (Texas Instruments), Peregrine (Murata), Pericom Semiconductor and Tektronix as the 5G wireless telecom segment leader. In addition to work, Dr. Amr enjoys playing chess, football, base guitar, and being an active member of IEEE MTTs, IEEE MILCOM co-chairing demo track, NSBE, IMS-Connect and mentoring future engineers.
Arpit Joshipura is an executive leader and open source software evangelist across carriers, cloud and enterprise IT – spanning networking, orchestrations, operating systems, security, AI, edge, hardware and silicon. He was recently voted among the Top 5 Movers and Shakers in the Telecom Industry. At the Linux Foundation, Arpit leads open source networking, orchestration & edge/IOT, including LF Networking projects (ONAP, OPNFV, ODL, FDIO, OvS, DPDK, OpenSwitch, Akraino/Edge/IOT, etc.) as well as major industry disruptions including VNFs to CNFs (Cloud Native Network functions), 5G, AI, etc. Arpit brings 30 years of networking expertise and vision to The Linux Foundation, with both technical depth and business breadth. He has orchestrated and led major industry disruptions across enterprises, carriers, and cloud architectures, including IP, broadband, optical, mobile, routing, switching, L4-7, cloud, disaggregation, SDN/NFV, and open networking, and has been an early evangelist for open source. Arpit has served in CMO, VP, and Engineering roles within both startups and larger enterprises.
George Kannell works with and guides high performance design teams in the development of innovative high speed communication and custom systems working from low frequency to over 100GHz. In this role, George is responsible for simulation, architecture, systems engineering, features, competitive analysis, costing, contract management, customer vision and technical proposals. George identifies and plans new business opportunities and works with customers to match capabilities to customer solutions. George serves as an authority in wireless radios, cellular, phased arrays, high speed digital and general system design. He researches worldwide technology developments, participates in technical meetings and conferences and promotes strategic partnerships to achieve new evolutionary system capabilities. From 2000-2013, George was a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff, responsible for Architecture, Requirements and Realization of novel communication, spectrum monitoring & ID systems used in mobile and airborne applications. His skills includes Radio Design, Antennas, Filters, Transmitters, Receivers, GUI, VHDL and CAD simulation. Prior to Bell Laboratories, he worked in Software CAD as a Senior Engineer at Ansoft Corporation in simulation of wireless radios and communications networks. Before this, at KDI/Triangle, he managed an engineering team in the design of DOD EW electronics systems. He teaches courses in Digital Communications as an Adjunct Professor at NJIT. He received his MSEE degree from NJIT in 1988. He is a member of Eta Kappa Nu and Senior Member of the IEEE. For over 10 years, he’s chaired the technical sessions for the regional IEEE MTT and AP societies Mini Show. George received several Bell Labs President’s Awards and the IEEE Region 1 Award.
Sridhar Kowdley is a Technical Manager at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate Office for Interoperability and Compatibility Technology Center. With over 30 years of experience in communications and networking, he works and leads programs to help DHS Components as well as state and local first responders operate more effectively and safely through the pursuit of resilient, highly available and interoperable technology solutions. He forges and leads intra- and interdepartmental partnerships with other agencies including DoD, DoT, NSF, and DoJ. At DHS he leads several programs including the P25 Compliance Assessment Program which ensures that radios and solutions manufactured for public safety and federal agencies are built to standards and interoperable. In partnership with industry, public safety practitioners and standards development organizations, DHS provides policy and guidance to enable procurement of land mobile radio solutions by public safety practitioners. He provides technical leadership and guidance for the NG911 Interoperability and Compliance Program designed to ensure that NG911 solutions built by industry will be evaluated for compliance to standards and demonstrated interoperability. This engagement includes industry, academia, public safety practitioners and associations. federal agencies and partnership to ensure that NG911 are tested for nationwide deployment. He holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University NYC and an MS in Electrical and Computer engineering from George Mason University.
Kelly Krick is Director of Business Development for Mission Critical Networks in North America. He partners with various teams to execute solutions for Public Safety, Peacekeeping and Defense, Utilities and Rail. Mr. Krick has over 40 years of wide-ranging experience from wireline and wireless technologies and from design to operation roles. He has implemented many forms of telecom transformation – digital, wireless (2G through 5G), virtualized, and now cloudified. A Senior member of IEEE, Kelly is a former Chairman of IEEE ComSoc's Communications Quality and Reliability Technical Committee and currently serves on the Board of Advisors. Mr. Krick’s career began with Central Telephone Company in the US and subsequently included roles in Northern Telecom (Nortel) and Ericsson in the US, Japan, Singapore, and Sweden. Telecom and travel have been his life-long passions.
Dr. Ashish Kundu is currently at Cisco Research as its Head of Cybersecurity Research.He is a distinguished scientist, a leader in the area of Security, Privacy, Compliance. He worked at Nuro as its Head of Cybersecurity, and as Research Staff Member at IBM T J Watson Research Center. He has led security, privacy and compliance of self-driving cars, tele-operated driving, cloud-based healthcare, and cloud-based AI-driven education platforms. His research has led to more than 160 patents filed with more than 140 patents granted, and more than 45 research papers. He is an ACM Distinguished Member, and has also been an ACM Distinguished Speaker. He has been honored with the prestigious Master Inventor recognition multiple times by IBM Research. Dr. Kundu received his Ph.D. in Cybersecurity from Purdue University in 2010 and his doctoral research at Purdue University received the prestigious CERIAS Diamond Award for outstanding contributions to cybersecurity.
Chunmei Liu received her Ph.D. degree in Computer Systems from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2005. She has been working in the areas of wireless communications and networking since then. She is currently a researcher with the Wireless Networks Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Her research interests include public safety communications and automated vehicle in cellular networks and machine learning.
Alex Marder is an assistant professor of computer science and a member of the Institute for Assured Autonomy. Marder’s research covers a wide breadth of networking areas, including the use of empirical analyses and machine learning to evaluate and improve the security and performance of wired and wireless networks. His current work leverages a deep understanding of network architecture and deployment to design secure 5G communication networks for the Department of Defense, reveal security weaknesses in domestic internet access networks, and provide a better understanding of broadband inequity. He received a BS from Brandeis University and a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to joining Johns Hopkins, he was a research scientist at CAIDA at UC San Diego.
Tommaso Melodia is the William L. Smith Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Northeastern University in Boston. He is also the Founding Director of the Institute for the Wireless Internet of Things, and the Director of Research for the PAWR Project Office. He received his Laurea (integrated BS and MS) from the University of Rome - La Sapienza and his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2007. He is an IEEE Fellow and recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER award. He received several best paper awards at major conferences, including at IEEE Infocom 2022. Prof. Melodia the Editor in Chief for Computer Networks and a co-founder of the 6G Symposium, the Technical Program Committee Chair for IEEE Infocom, and General Chair for ACM MobiHoc, among others. Prof. Melodia’s research on modeling, optimization, and experimental evaluation of wireless networked systems has been funded by many US government and industry entities.
Andrew C. Oak is the mission area executive for Homeland Defense at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). He oversees research and development (R&D) to protect the nation and its critical infrastructure from air, missile, and asymmetric threats. Previously, Mr. Oak served as APL’s mission area executive for both Homeland Protection and Special Operations, where he defined strategy and directed execution of research and development in service to sponsors across the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, national intelligence, and countering weapons of mass destruction communities. Earlier in his APL career, Mr. Oak held a variety of technical leadership and supervisory roles spanning the communications and cyber domains. He served on the Radio Frequency (RF) Panel of the National Intelligence University’s Emerging Technologies Conference on Foundational Cyber Technology, on a Defense Science Board panel addressing cyber supply-chain issues, and as a member of the board of directors for the National Institute for Hometown Security. Mr. Oak joined APL in 1996, after earning an M.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Virginia and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Dr. Jorge Pereira obtained the Engineering and M.Sc. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), Lisbon, Portugal in 1983 and 1987, respectively, and received the Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering-Systems from the University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, in 1993.
He is a member of the Advisory Board of John Wiley's Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing Journal, and of the Editorial Board of Kluwer Academic Publishers' Wireless Personal Communications Journal. He is a Member of the IEEE, where he is Associate Editor for Mobile Radio, including Vehicular Communications, for the IEEE VTS Magazine, and a member of the IEEE 5G Future Networks Steering Committee of the IEEE Communications Society, leading the Vertical track on 5G for CAM. He also served as Associate Editor of the ACM Transactions on Sensor Networks. He is a Chartered Electrical Engineer in Portugal. He received the Industry Achievement Award of the Software-Defined Radio (SDR) Forum in 2003, in recognition of his “outstanding contributions, research and development in the field of SDR”, and was inducted as life-member of the Wireless Innovation Forum. He was inducted in the IPv6 Hall of Fame, at the IPv6 Forum Summit in Nanjing, China, in October 2019.
Nik Pruthi is the current President & CFO of NIKSUN, Inc. Nik graduated with a Juris Doctor as a David M. Rubenstein scholar and member of the Doctoroff Business Leadership Program from The University of Chicago Law School. He is also a member of the State Bar of California.His prior experience includes working as a Management Consultant at Bain & Company, where he oversaw several strategy and transformation projects at Fortune 500 firms as well as dozens of Private Equity deals. He has also led an investment team at VestedWorld, a global Venture Capital firm focused on mid-stage startups, and served as a strategic and financial advisor for several companies to navigate the global COVID-19 pandemic.Nik is now leading NIKSUN's transformation to a hybrid and cloud environment, effectively bringing the powerful NIKSUN technology to the rest of America. On the request of federal and state administration, he has spearheaded the creation of a revolutionary new comprehensive cybersecurity and network-to-application management platform that allows small and medium-sized businesses to leverage the same technology that secures the U.S. DoD in their infrastructure. Recognized as one of the foremost thought-leaders in the industry, he is a frequent speaker at various institutes and closed-door events.
Dr. Venkatesh Ramaswamy is Chief Technologist for NextG at MITRE Labs in Bedford, Massachusetts, where he currently leads technical innovation and R&D activities in 5G/6G technologies. He has more than 22 years of experience in the telecommunications industry and has held technical leadership positions at top technology companies, startups, and research labs. Currently he serves as one of the active industry members of the ATIS/Next G Alliance Research Council, working on the development of a comprehensive North American 6G strategy. He is also an industry researcher at the NSF Edge AI Institute, where he explores synergies between networking and AI. He has published more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and holds numerous patents, served as a Technical Program Committee (TPC) member for various conferences, and participated in several technical panels. He received his PhD in Electrical Engineering in 2007.
Bob Stephens is a 5G/NextG Senior Solution Architect in Keysight’s Aerospace and Defense Government Solutions Group. His background is in wireless hardware and software development, where he has been in product development for his entire career, starting with Motorola's Land Mobile Products Sector, Motorola Cellular Phone Division, Motorola Networks, and most recently Nokia 5G mmWave and Small Cell R&D through Nokia's acquisition of Motorola Networks. At Nokia, he enjoyed bringing new products to market quickly by working with diverse R&D teams, research groups, and customers to resolve difficult problems and deliver high performance products.
Tracy Van Brakle is a Member of Technical Staff within AT&T CTO - Wireless Technologies. She is a co-chair and/or contributor within several open source projects and standards development organizations (SDOs) as well as Principal Investigator of INDIGO (Intelligent 5G Networks Designed and Integrated for Globalized Operations), which is a recent recipient of a grant from the NSF Convergence Accelerator program. Tracy’s areas of interest include Artificial Intelligence Planning, open-source and commercial Service Management & Orchestration Frameworks, RAN Intelligent Controllers, and RAN intelligent automation consistent with the O-RAN definitions for xApps and rApps. Before joining AT&T, Tracy was a Senior Technologist with Goldman Sachs. She holds 17 active US patents in Wireless.
Sean Brassard is the Program Manager for the Special Operations Resilient Communications program at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab where he serves as a lead for various 5G and Cognitive Radio projects for the DoD. He has over 20 years of experience working in telecom and DoD tactical radio industries with a focus on systems engineering, radios, anti-jam/signal cancellation techniques, and geo-location systems. He holds a B.E. in Electrical Engineering from Vanderbilt University and a M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University.
Susan Lepple is the Group Office Administrator for the Mission Critical Communications Group at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). In addition to her responsibilities at the group level, she is also involved with sector and lab level administrative initiatives. She joined APL in 2016 and holds a MS in Administration from Shenandoah University. She has over 15 years of professional administrative experience.
David M. Coleman is the chief scientist for the Communications Branch in APL’s Asymmetric Operations Sector and also serves as the lead for the Spectrum Operations research portfolio in the Cyber Operations Mission Area. He earned a BS in computer engineering from Elizabethtown College, an MS in computer engineering from the University of Arkansas, and a PhD in electrical engineering from University of Maryland, College Park. Dr. Coleman has presented at many conferences for tactical networks and has been published in journals and proceedings.
Cherita Corbett is the Chief Scientist for the Communication and Networking Systems Group at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. She guides research and development strategy and activities focused on resilient communications for military operations and critical infrastructure. Her current research interests include: secure mobile technologies, secure tactical communication systems, and insider threat protection. Prior to joining APL, Dr. Corbett was a Senior Computer Scientist at SRI International where she performed research on self-healing cellular networks, vehicular security, and IoT security. She also provided programmatic support to the Cyber Security Division of DHS S&T in the area of mobile technology. She has published over 30 technical manuscripts and holds a U.S. patent in cyber security. She holds a Ph.D. in Electrical & Computer Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology.
Christine M. Krider is currently Conference Facilities Manager, Production and Operations, Client Services, Creative Event and Project Management in the Communications Department at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, She has over 10 years in facilities management at APL overseeing enterprise conference facilities; including the Kossiakoff Center, Parsons Auditorium, 200-E100, 201 Auditorium and attached breakout rooms and over 25 conference rooms. Manage calendars and assist with meeting and event logistics. APL Room Reserve application expert. Design floor plans for the Kossiakoff Center and Building 201 auditorium and breakout rooms. Extremely detail oriented, manage schedules, troubleshooting, writing procedures and reports. Supervisory experience, ensuring adequate coverage on shifts/locations. Diverse background in financial, investigative, and science disciplines.
Ashutosh Dutta is currently senior scientist and 5G Chief Strategist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL). He is also a JHU/APL Sabbatical Fellow and adjunct faculty at The Johns Hopkins University. Ashutosh also serves as the chair for Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of Engineering for Professional Program at Johns Hopkins University. His career, spanning more than 30 years, includes Director of Technology Security and Lead Member of Technical Staff at AT&T, CTO of Wireless for NIKSUN, Inc., Senior Scientist and Project Manager in Telcordia Research, Director of the Central Research Facility at Columbia University, adjunct faculty at NJIT, and Computer Engineer with TATA Motors. He has more than 100 conference, journal publications, and standards specifications, three book chapters, and 31 issued patents. Ashutosh is co-author of the book, titled, “Mobility Protocols and Handover Optimization: Design,Evaluation and Application,” published by IEEE and John & Wiley that has recently been translated into Chinese Language. Ashutosh is the founding co-chair for IEEE Future Networks initiative and serves as IEEE Communications Society’s Distinguished Lecturer for 2017-2018 and Distinguised Speaker for ACM from 2020-2022. He was recipient of the prestigious 2009 IEEE MGA Leadership award and 2010 IEEE-USA professional leadership award. Ashutosh obtained his BS in Electrical Engineering from NIT Rourkela, India, MS in Computer Science from NJIT, and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University under the supervision of Prof. Henning Schulzrinne. Ashutosh is a Fellow of IEEE and senior member of ACM.
Jared Everett is a senior wireless communications research engineer in the Wireless Cyber Capabilities group at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (Johns Hopkins APL). Since joining APL in 2009, his research has focused broadly on the use of cellular technologies for defense and national security applications. He has a deep knowledge of LTE and emerging 5G standards, specializing in cellular air interfaces and end-to-end systems. He is a co-author of the book, “Wireless Networking: Understanding Internetworking Challenges,” published by Wiley/IEEE Press. His current research interests include innovative approaches to spectrum sharing in 5G networks. Jared holds M.S. and B.S. degrees in electrical engineering from North Carolina State University. He also holds a B.A. degree in music.
Don Herres, IEEE Region 2 South Area Chair
Don Herres does contract design for electrical, electronic, and embedded software design for consumer & industrial products, sharing knowledge and mentoring based on more than 35 years of successful product introductions. He is a Licensed Professional Engineer in MD, PA & NY, has a BSEE from SUNY Buffalo and MSEE from Syracuse University. He is inventor on 4 patents. Don is currently IEEE Region 2 South Area Chair and is a Senior Member.
Douglas Holly, Principle, Eagle Management Group
Doug brings a broad range of telecommunications, business leadership and management skills with a particular focus on project management, operational improvement and M&A. He currently heads up Eagle Management Group a consulting firm that provides general management, project management and strategic planning to improve operational performance. EMG also provides M&A selection, diligence support and integration services to businesses. He is a director of the Washington Section and chair its chapter of the Communications Society and also chair of the joint Washington/Northern Virginia chapter of the TEMS. He was finance chair for the IEEE GLOBECOM 2007 and 2016. Doug holds a bachelor's and master's dress in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Narendra Mangra is a wireless mobility advisor at GlobeNet. His diverse experience extends across the wireless mobility ecosystem and mobile network deployment lifecycle within academia, government and industry. He is an Adjunct Professor at the Volgeneau School of Engineering at the George Mason University. Narendra is also the Applications and Services Co-Chair and Summer School Chair for IEEE Networks. He leads the Smart Cities roadmap development initiative and recurring i educational sessions for Young Professionals.
Narendra has extensive consulting experience in the mobile satellite and cellular communications, public safety communications, information technology, higher education, and federal & local government sectors. He holds an MSEE and BSEE from Polytechnic University, MBA from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, and a Project Management Professional (PMP) Certificate. His current interests include the 5G ecosystem, Smart Cities and interconnected ecosystems.
Mithun Mukherjee received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Patna, Patna, India, in 2015. He is currently a Professor with the School of Artificial Intelligence, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, China. He has (co)authored more than 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals and conferences. Dr. Mukherjee was a recipient of the 2018 IEEE International Conference on Advanced Networks and Telecommunications Systems (ANTS) Best Paper Award. He also served/will serve as the Publicity Co-Chair of IEEE 5G World 2018, 2019, and 2020. His current research interests center around fog computing and edge intelligence.
Francis X. O’Connell P.E. is an electrical engineer in New Jersey. He works for Skylink Technology in Hamilton, NJ to design, build and integrate spacecraft test systems. Fran is a former Lockheed Martin employee from East Windsor, NJ. At Lockheed-Martin, his team designed and developed the avionics for weather satellites including TIROS and DMSP for NOAA and the Air Force respectively as well as science satellites such as GGS for NASA Goddard and the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft for JPL. Through his own company, FXO Inc, since 1999 Fran has worked on-site at spacecraft manufacturers to develop test plans, solve difficult test anomalies, and perform reliability analyses.
Fran is a Senior Member in the IEEE. He is a Past Chair of the Princeton / Central Jersey Section and its webmaster. Fran is a member of the Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society and the vice-chair of the PCJS Solid State Circuits Society. Fran has volunteered as treasurer for many recent IEEE Communications Society Conferences and Workshops.
Pamela Patton is a Principal Professional Staff at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab (APL). As a technical lead for the 5G Wireless Communications Lab, Pam is standing up a 5G security research environment utilizing Nokia and SDR RAN equipment to support non-standalone (NSA) and standalone (SA) network architectures connected to a virtualized core network utilizing NFV and SDN technologies. The lab builds on existing 4G/LTE infrastructure that she has utilized for various tactical use case studies, security architecture and vulnerability analysis, and performance assessments of secure VoIP in a contested RF and network environment. Prior to joining JHU/APL in 2012, she took on various communication engineering roles within the National Security Agency (13 years) and with defense contractors (12 years). Her focus has been primarily on network architecture, protocols, and security from 2G through the generations up to 5G and how those technologies may apply to DoD interests. She received her BS in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech and an MS in Telecommunications and Computers from George Washington University.
Ryan Pepito is an Associate Professional Staff II in the Mission Critical Communications Group (QKT) at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL). He has professional experience as a technical contributor in 5G research and development, 5G test and evaluation, and 5G testbed development. Additionally, he serves as a project manager and technical contributor for internet security research. He has a Master of Science degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Drexel University.
Mr. Oscar Somerlock joined the Applied Physics Laboratory in 2014, where he is currently Chief Scientist of the Communications and Networking Systems Group. Prior to joining APL, he worked in the cellular industry for more than 20 years holding engineering and technical leadership positions at Samsung, Motorola, and Qualcomm. He also founded and served as President of Comware, Inc. He has been awarded patents in digital beamforming, wireless networking and metamaterials. Oscar holds an M.S. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University and MBA from the University of Maryland.
Miguel Gutiérrez Gaitán is currently an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Engineering of the Andrés Bello University (UNAB), Chile. He received a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Porto, Portugal, in 2023, an MS in Telecommunications Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Turin, Italy, in 2009, and a BS in Electronics Engineering from the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso, Chile, in 2007. He is also the Chairman of the IEEE ComSoc Chile Chapter, for the 2023-2024 term, and a Research Associate at the Research Centre in Real-Time and Embedded Computing Systems (CISTER), Portugal. His research interests revolve around the fields of wireless networks, real-time communication, and the Internet of Things.
Craig Polk is currently a Program Manager for IEEE Future Networks. Craig receiving his Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology, his Masters of Engineering from Purdue University, and MBA from William Paterson University. Prior to IEEE, his career focused on telecommunications within Lucent Bell Labs, Alcatel-Lucent, and Nokia. Evolvng from an R&D engineer into quality and testing of products, customer support to maximize the benefit of networks, and innovation to led to create new work streams. Through the years Craig worked through the transformations from 2G through 5G. He has also worked with startups and small companies in Green Tech, optical communications, digital literacy and education programs to shape the future of STEM.