KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Wireless Communications in the Arctic: Challenges and Opportunities

Prof. David Michelson
University of British Columbia, Canada

Abstract

With the advent of climate change and the possibility of greater access to the Arctic for research, resources and commerce has come renewed interest in the providing better short and long-range wireless communications capabilities in the North. However, the combination of high latitude, a challenging geomagnetic environment, remoteness, and extreme cold during the winter have combined to make this a challenging task. In this talk, the historical evolution of Arctic wireless communications will be surveyed, challenges identified, past solutions described, and recently proposed initiatives, such as the Canadian Polar Communications and Weather Satellite, reviewed.

Biography of the Keynote Speaker

Prof. David G. Michelson has led the Radio Science Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, BC, Canada since 2003. He received his B.A.Sc., M.A.Sc. And Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the UBC. His current research interests include propagation and channel modeling for fixed wireless, ultra wideband, and satellite communications.
From 1996 to 2001, he served as a member of a joint team from AT&T Wireless Services, Redmond, WA, and AT&T Labs-Research, Red Bank, NJ, where he was concerned with the development of propagation and channel models for next-generation and fixed wireless systems. The results of this work formed the basis for the propagation and channel models later adopted by the IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Fixed Wireless Access Standards. From 2001 to 2002, he helped to oversee the deployment of one of the world’s largest campus wireless local area networks at UBC while also serving as an Adjunct Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Prof. Michelson is a registered professional engineer. He serves as the Chair of the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society Technical Committee on Propagation and Channel Modeling and as an Associate Editor for Mobile Channels for IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine. In 2002, he served as a Guest Editor for a pair of Special Issues of the IEEE JOURNAL ON SELECTED AREAS IN COMMUNICATIONS concerning propagation and channel modeling. From 2001 to 2007, he served as an Associate Editor for the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY. He currently serves as an Editor of IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS. From 1999 to 2007, he was the Chair of the IEEE Vancouver Section’s Joint Communications Chapter. Under his leadership, the chapter received Outstanding Achievement Awards from the IEEE Communications Society in 2002 and 2005 and the Chapter of the Year Award from IEEE Vehicular Technology Society in 2006. He received the E. F. Glass Award from IEEE Canada in 2009 and currently serves as Chair of IEEE Vancouver Section.