A Day in the Life of a Researcher – Noureddine Boujnah

Noureddine Boujnah joined the Walton team as part of the Emerging Networks Lab division four years ago. We asked Noureddine to describe his research and what it is like to be part of the Walton team.

Previous Experience

I was awarded an Engineering Diploma in Telecommunications and Masters of Science Diploma in Image Processing from the Higher School of Communication of Tunis, SUPCOM, Tunisia in 2002 and 2005 respectively. I was awarded a Professional Masters in Wireless Systems and related technologies under the TOPMED project and a PhD in Satellite Telecommunication from Polytechnic of Turin-TLC, Italy in 2006 and 2011 respectively. I spent 10 months as a postdoctoral researcher at the Technical University of Lodz- Poland under E-GOV-TN project.

I worked as a radio and optimisation engineer of the 2G/3G cellular network within telecommunication operator Tunisia Telecom for five years, and also as an assistant professor at Gabes University, Tunisia for three 3 years.

Outline your day to day

My day usually consists of follow-up activities in relation to research projects, project meetings to discuss progress and related issues. I also have a number of weekly lab meetings to discuss research progress or possible involvement in research proposals. In addition I work on problem solving, modelling and simulations, paper writing or reviewing, and I provide supervision and review research proposals for Master/PhD students.

How and why you got into research

My previous experience ranges from working as an RF engineer in a telecoms operator to teaching at a university and supervising bachelors and masters students. Now, I am conducting research in the field of telecommunications and multimedia. To grow my knowledge and improve my skills and competencies, I decided to take the research route, a field which is by nature is devoted to problem solving collaboratively, addressing new challenges based on hypothesis and producing outputs.

Briefly outline the research projects you are working on

The projects I am working on are:

5Gmediahub: mapping network 5G Quality of Service (QoS) to end users Quality of Experience (QoE) for multimedia services, using both mathematical modelling and machine learning techniques to classify and predict QoE.

V2GRAN: proposing a new solution to reduce energy consumption in 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) using virtual Base Band Unit (vBBU) migration strategy. Experiments are setup and performed at IRISTESTBED. The idea is to monitor the network traffic at RAN level and propose new solutions to reduce power consumption.

What areas do you see yourself working on in the future

In the near future, I will focus on integration of satellite and space communications in the 6G network, green communications and designing protocols for next generation communication systems.

I am also interested in new networking services and their impact on healthcare and agriculture sectors.

The big and little wins, anything you have learned

While reading newly published papers we can access new ideas and results, we can find answers to certain problems, or create new ideas. When I got involved in the H2020 projects, I discovered new fields linked to mine and learned new information. For example, during the TERAPOD project, a three-year H2020 project, not only did we develop techniques and protocols for THz communication networks, but I also learned that using THz waves it is possible to jointly perform communication and sensing to assess air quality.

The big win is how to acquire and transfer particular knowledge from other fields, which can be exploited by my field to build new multi-disciplinary concepts.  

The challenging and enjoyable aspects of being a researcher in your field

The challenging aspect is determining how to solve complex problems and set appropriate research questions. The enjoyable aspect is when we start to find a path to the right solution.

Outline why your research is necessary

We are trying to improve network connectivity and quality of service for end users, proposing a set of new use cases and applications, which contribute to improving energy efficiency, and also the reduction of CO2.

Mobile users and companies will benefit from new 5G and 6G technologies in the future by accessing enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC) and Machine to Machine (M2M) services designed to support ultra-high data rate connections, and reliable, ultra-low latency services.

Currently the 5G network is available to end users. In the future it will be extended, and enhanced, and new customers will benefit from a plethora of advanced services and applications such as virtual and augmented reality for healthcare, agriculture and education, and industry.

Integration of satellite communication on the future wireless systems (6G) will improve coverage and access to ultra-high data rate services by users in isolated regions.

How will it improve the current state

Enhancing network connectivity using wireless technologies will enable new services such as wireless augmented and extended reality, new healthcare services, and digital twins.

When will it be implemented

We start by modelling and link level and system simulation of the proposed solutions; models can be further improved using proof-of concept and generating data.

The theoretical and simulation study could last two to three years.

What are the real-world implications

New services supported by 5G and next 6G network, such as VR/AR and digital twins can be exploited by industries such as healthcare, environment, education, and tourism.