U.S.-Pakistan Workshop: High Capacity Optical Networks and Enabling Technologies, Islamabad, Pakistan; December 2004

University Of North Carolina At Charlotte, Charlotte NC

Investigators

Abstract

0424384 Raja Description: This project supports a US-Pakistan Workshop on "International Workshop on "High Capacity Optical Networks and Enabling Technologies" to be held in Islamabad, Pakistan. The workshop will be jointly organized by Dr. Yasin Raja, Department of Physics and Optical Science, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina, Dr. Syed Zaidi, Institute of Information Technology (NIIT), National University of Science and Technology, Rawalpindi, Pakistan and Dr. Mohammad Afzal, Center for Information Technology, University of Arid Agriculture (UAR), Rawalpindi, Pakistan. The scope of the workshop will encompass certain areas of telecom sector including: the review of high-capacity optical networks, network security and privacy, standards and routing protocols, metro/edge networks, optical access and passive optical networks (PON), multi-agent systems, optical wireless networks, wavelength and optical burst switching, and broader implications thereof on higher education within the telecom and IT sectors. The major objective of the workshop will be the establishment of sustainable future collaborative research and education initiatives among researchers and engineers from U.S. and Pakistani institutions. Special organizational task group meetings will be held to identify the areas of mutual interest. A binational committee will be established with specific task assignments to follow up future progress and programs. Twelve U.S. contributors/participants, and some ninety professors, scientists, engineers, and graduate students from Pakistani institutions and surrounding industry are expected to attend. The workshop proceedings will be published. Scope and broader impact: The workshop will help in setting research and development priorities to meet the challenges due to the recent privatization steps taken in Pakistani Telecommunication sector. The new openness of telecom and information technology (IT) presents new opportunities for collaboration between US and Pakistani scientists and engineers, and will eventually pave the way for U.S. firms for extending global business to Pakistan, and for markets within the South Asian region. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the National University of Science and Technology have signed a cooperative agreement for joint research program that will help NUST to establish new Ph.D. program in the area of Telecom and Information Technology. The Higher Education Commission of the Government of Pakistan is sponsoring the workshop within that country. It is expected that future collaborative interactions between Pakistani educational and industrial institutions and U.S. counterparts will result. U.S. graduate students will be among the participants supported by this project.