Best moments of 2020

 Best moments of 2020

Last year was truly unconventional. It all started with my wife and me moving to Stuttgart/Germany to start my external research activities at Nokia Bell Labs and she continuing her architecture master's degree activities at Stuttgart University.  Leaving the fantastic Copenhagen and all the people I was lucky to know on DTU was hard, but I was also excited to start this new chapter. After a few nights without good sleeping and a lot of luggage, we start settling in Stuttgart and - it is an incredible city!

The FONTE project (name of my Ph.D. project) has several activities planned for the students and in 2020 started with 2 of them. The Nonlinear Fourier Transform Workshop (NFT) and the second transferable skills workshop at Aston University (TSW2). Both well-prepared events and you can check the list of speakers in the links I shared. I especially enjoy the set of new skills I learned in the TSW2! Here I take a moment to thanks Christiane, my project manager, for being able to organize such events.

Shortly after that, because of the COVID-19 situation, all on presence activities were canceled. This forced the community to adapt to this new way of social interaction. Most of the activities started to be online, especially conferences. On the bright side, because of this new organization, they also started to be free to join. Therefore, I was able to watch several different conferences, which I would not be able to do otherwise. This also required a new way to watch and participate in these activities that, I must confess, I am still perfecting. 

In July, as I mentioned in one of my last blogs, I was able to learn a new set of skills with Nokia Bell Labs for 5G. This was a really amazing opportunity, mostly because I am concentrating on optical communications for the last 10 years, and understanding the 5G and the upcoming challenges in this detailed course given by Nokia Bell Labs broadened my view.

I think all these training events, together with the excellent guidance of my advisor Darko Zibar and co-advisors Francesco Da Ros, Henning  Bülow, and Vahid Aref paid off. In 2020, I was able to also have a great research output with 3 journals (Applied Science, Journal on Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, and Journal of Lightwave Technology (JLT)) and 2 conference papers (22nd International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks and  46th European Conference on Optical Communication). You can check in this link: 2020 publications. The JLT publication was a farewell good news from 2020 as I received the acceptance on 31/12/2020 - I still need to tell my project manager - sorry Christiane!

Despite all the above-mentioned events, other training sessions were prepared within the framework of FONTE, and which I was glad to attend, such as the Machine Learning Symposium (link), Bayesian Filtering Symposium (link), and a few others. I won't even start to tell on my adventure in trying to learn the German language. Hoffentlich werden wir ein schönes Jahr haben! 😁

I am leaving it open so we can talk about it personally at some conference in the future!

 

Mini-Symposia: ‘Introduction to Machine Learning’

Mini-Symposia: ‘Introduction to Machine Learning’

Two weeks ago (7th-8th September 2020), I attended an online mini-symposia that was co-organized by four different H2020 ITN projects (FONTE, REAL-NET, MOCCA, and WON) about machine learning in optical communications.

It was a 2-day symposium where the students could enjoy on the first day am enlightening introduction about machine learning from Prof. Dr. Darko Zibar, with hands-on in small problems and discussions afterward. Right next, Dr. Kamalian-Kopae Morteza showed us different Machine learning-based equalization in fiber-optic communication, and to close the first day, Dr. Milad Sefidgaran showed us the information theory of the optical fiber. We were exposed to several equations and discussions, which was marvelous to me.

The second day Prof. Dr. David Saad gave us a remarkable didact talk about different approaches to machine learning techniques (Bayesian approach, Support vector machines, Markovian dynamics, and much more). Dr. Jelena Pesic & Dr. Matteo Lonardi from Nokia Bell Labs France talked to us about the trade-of of using machine learning in optical communications. Specifically, answer the following question: Will Machine Learning mitigate the extra cost of an increase in capacity in optical fiber?

Finishing the symposium, Prof. Dr. Nathan Kutz (University of Washington) presented us with an exceptional technique to find an optimal coordinate system and to discover governing equations, especially for dynamic systems. 

I am grateful to have had the opportunity to learn so much and to get in contact with so many competent professionals in our field. Hope to keep in touch!

Nokia Bell Labs 2020 Global Internship Program

Since the beginning of 2020, I am working inside Nokia Bell Labs (NBL), as part of my European Industrial Doctorate [EID] program, which requires that half of my Ph.D. (18 months) be inside an industrial research institution. It is a unique opportunity, since NBL is one of the strongest institutions in the field of optics worldwide, with no less than 9 Nobel prize awardees in several areas of research.

This summer, the interns of NBL had the pleasure to attend the first online Nokia Bell Labs 2020 Global Internship Program. It was a 2-month schedule where we were able to talk and discuss with the Nokia Bell Labs President Marcus Weldon in person! Firepit chats with Industry Luminaries! Fun puzzle games in the UNIX platform (which, by the way, is open to anyone who would like to enjoy: https://lnkd.in/dJbASwQ). Finally, the lab. talks where we learned what all departments at NBL are doing and planning to do.

Through the duration of the summer program, I could learn about 5G networks, develop my skills in artificial intelligence, security, and much more. I could also take part in a course on End to End 5G Foundation, which expanded my perspective on the subject. Truly appreciate the summer program #NokiaBellLabs, it was well organized, fun, and informative! #5g

 

Nonlinear Fourier Transform Workshop

This was a 2-day workshop located in TU Delft in the Netherland on 3th-4th February 2020. One of the main organizers was the FONTE project (https://fonte.astonphotonics.uk/) in which I am one of the ESRs (early-stage researchers). 

The topics that were discussed in the workshop can be found in this link (https://nft-workshop.astonphotonics.uk/schedule/), together with abstracts. The atmosphere was pleasant, fulfilled with engaged researchers actively answering numerous questions and starting state-of-art discussions. For those who engaged recently in the topic and those who were like to review and rethink the concepts, we had the opportunity to have a great introduction in the theme given by Professor Sander Wahls. 

The nonlinear Fourier transform, in a few words, is a method to solve some non-linear partial differential equations such as the nonlinear Schrodinger equation, which describes the propagation of light in optical fibers.  In other words, solving/understanding this equation allows us to design signaling schemes tailored to optical fibers and thus increase the speed of communications (more speed for the internet!).

It was also my first time in Delft and I must say I really enjoyed the event and of getting to know so many brilliant minds. The city itself is a must see- a small and cozy urban area painted with several canals. The historical center is a joyful place to visit and to have great traditional meals. The university is stupendous and I was really impressed by the mixture of traditional and contemporary architecture. It was a great experience!

PhD Workshop on Next-Generation Cloud Infrastructure - Microsoft Cambridge

The workshop in Microsoft Cambridge was a two-days of multidisciplinary topics for the next-generation of cloud infrastructure in Europe. I was able to talk to researchers of different fields about the common topic of data-center, which is one of the goals of my current research. We were hosted in a hotel in Cambridge/UK near the event location, and it was easy to arrive and have a good rest in the night.

The first lecture was about "how to give a research talk" with Simon Peyton Jones, which was informative and fun! We also heard about optical storage for long-term using ultrafast laser optics to store data in quartz glass (project silica). The honeycomb project which proposes specialized hardware for storage systems (project honeycomb), and the iris project to use new hardware and optical technologies for regional and Wide Area (WAN) cloud networks (project iris). It was well organized, and the topics of the lectures were enlightening.

Besides the Microsoft research lectures, we had two poster sections. It was an informal and enjoyable part of the workshop about the general topic of cloud infrastructure. I was also able to present some of the results of my research project (link to Stenio's poster).