ABOUT
"An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field."
“ Artificial Intelligence Enabled Self-Organizing Wireless Networks; Internet of Things; Cross-disciplinary Applications of Big Data; Control and Data Plane Split Architectures; Aerial platforms (Satellite/HAPs/Drones…) based connectivity; System Level Simulators. ”
Dr Ali Imran has over 14 years of research and development experience in areas listed above in both academia and industry. He has been and is currently leading over a dozen multinational projects focused on above topics for which he has secured highly competitive research grants totalling over $4 million as lead principal investigator. He is founding director of AI4Networks Research Lab ( www.ai4networks.com ) at the University of Oklahoma, where he leads a team of over a dozen researchers. AI4Networks Lab is also home to world-class 5G and beyond testbed TurboRAN .
He has published over 100 refereed journal articles and conference proceedings and has several granted/pending patents on the above topics. His publications include some of the most influential papers in the field. For example, his seminal paper presenting the first complete framework for leveraging AI to achieve an end to end automation in emerging networks titled “Challenges in 5G: How to Empower SON with Big Data for Enabling 5G”, is credited for triggering the current paradigm shift towards AI-based network automation in 5G and beyond. This paper was selected to feature in TECH FOCUS on 5G in Sep 2015. His other highly cited paper “A Survey Of Self-Organization In Future Cellular Networks” is the first paper in the field to lay the foundations and provide a systematic taxonomy of network automation and SON and is considered as the most influential and cited reference on this topic. In recognition of his outstanding contributions, in 2019 Dr Imran has been awarded William H. Barkow Presidential Professorship at the University of Oklahoma.
The multimillion-dollar mega research projects led by him over the past decade on the topic of AI and SON have resulted in a game-changing start-up AISON ( www.aison.co ). AISON is based on the pioneering research of his team in AI and Big Data Empowered Automation of Mobile Networks. AISON’s core product leapNET offers unprecedented gains over existing SON solutions while solving many key issues for network operators that current SON and classic machine learning paradigm fails to solve.
Before joining OU in Jan 2014, for three years he has worked as a Research Scientist at Qatar Mobility Innovations Center (QMIC), Doha, Qatar. QMIC is a national innovation centre embodying a unique initiative by the state of Qatar to carry out multidisciplinary applied research in the field of data science for applications in mobile networks. In this position, Dr Imran led the development of a wide range of innovative solutions in the domain of automated networked systems while coordinating a multidisciplinary team consisting of data scientists, software developers and research assistants and post-doctoral fellows.
Prior to joining QMIC, he has worked for five years as a research fellow on mobile networks automation and optimization at the Institute of Communications Systems (ICS), at the University of Surrey, UK. ICS is Europe’s largest and most reputed research centre in the field of cellular networks. In that position, Dr Imran has contributed to a number of pan-European and international research projects focused on automation of mobile networks. In these projects, he worked in collaboration with key industrial players such as NEC Europe Ltd. (UK), Telefónica (Spain), DOCOMO (Germany), Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa (Poland), Qualcomm (Germany), TTI (Spain), mimoOn (Germany), CTTC (Spain), CEA– LETI (France) and Surrey Space Center. In two years preceding joining ICS at the University of Surrey, UK, he has worked as RF data analyst and optimization engineer.
He is an Associate Fellow of Higher Education Academy (AFHEA), UK; president of ComSoc Tulsa Chapter; Member of Advisory Board for Special Technical Community on Big Data at IEEE Computer Society; board member of ITERA, and Associate Editor of IEEE Access special section on heterogeneous networks for 5G.
He has also designed and taught several extensive postgraduate courses, given tutorials at numerous international conferences on above-listed topics. He has also served as a keynote speaker on many international industrial fora on these topics. Dr Imran’s research tackles real-world problems and he is routinely invited to serve as a consultant to several major players in the field such as Google, Huawei, AT&T, T-Mobile, Ericson, Fujitsu, Vodafone, Telefonica and Orange.
He is a Member of Advisory Board for Special Technical Community on Big Data at IEEE Computer Society; an Associate Fellow of Higher Education Academy (AFHEA), UK; President of ComSoc Tulsa Chapter; board member of ITERA, Associate Editor of IEEE Access. Dr Imran’s team’s research has been recognized by numerous awards and honours that include William H. Barkow Presidential Professorship Award 2018, Dissertation Excellence Award, 2018, first prize in IEEE International Competition for Best AI-based Green ICT Solution, 2017, Paris, France; OU VPR Award for Outstanding International Impact 2017, Norman, OK; and most attended Tutorial Presentation PIMRC 2017, Montreal, Canada; Best Graduate Thesis Award at OU, 2016, Best Research Presentation Award at OU 2016 and 2015; and Best Paper Award IEEE CAMAD 2013.
GRA,Postdoc and Visiting Positions at AI4Networks Lab
At AI4Networks Lab were are already looking for top talent. Visit www.ai4networks.com for current opportunities and how to apply.
Contact
E. 41st Street, Building 4, Room 4209, Tulsa, OK 74135, USA; Ph: +1-(918)-660-3348; Email: ali.imran at ou.edu
Opportunities for Summer Internships in UK
For details visit IRES US-UK project
