Research Interests: Antoine Bagula

Dr Bagula is looking for PhD and MSc students to work on the following projects at four different levels

• Analytical modeling
• Simulation experimentation
• Middleware software
  
• Testbed Implementation
  

Project 1. Improving Pan African Research and Education Infrastructures

Compared to the rest of the world, Africa is one of the continents which lacks affordable communications,  has poor access to information and knowledge  and thus misses significant opportunities for social and economic development. The main goal of this project is to design the Pan African Research and Education Network topology and building upon this topology to propose new and extend existing network management methods to improve the African research and education infrastructures. The focus of this project lies on (1) discovering network resources within African Research and Education Networks and (2) proposing trans-border connectivity strategies and network management methods to improve connectivity and information dissemination at the campus, country and continental levels.

Project 2. End-to-end Traffic Engineering wired/wireless (G)MPLS networks

The suite of (G)MPLS protocols has won the battle of the core of the Internet and is making its way into Metropolitan, Access and even some private fixed networks to deliver different Quality of service (QoS) requirements  through Traffic Engineering (TE) and Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). However (G)MPLS deployment in wireless networks is still in its infancy. The focus of this project is to extend (G)MPLS protocols for wireless networks and propose new network management methods to be used for end-to-end delivery of traffic in hybrid networks combining wireless and fixed networks. It is predicted that these extensions will lead to cost-efficiency in service provider networks and private networks by reducing operational expenditures (OPEX) and capital expenditures (CAPEX).
   
Project 3. Smart Networking using RFID tag-based Wireless Sensor Networks

A new generation of smart networks is emerging where RFID-based items are combined with sensors to form hybrid networks where smart devices such as smart cards, toll road + parking transponders, and biometric devices are used as components of a communication network and the sensor plays the role of engine in the device’ s function. It is predicted that systems of RFID tags will constitute the first mile connectivity used to identify “ Things”  in these emerging hybrid combining RFID and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) networks.  It is believed that some of the network management methods previously designed for WSNs will be reinvented and other extended to be applied in these emerging networks. The focus of this project lies on routing architectures, protocols and network management mechanisms to be deployed in RFID tag-based WSNs with application to proactive Habitat monitoring, disaster management and electronic Healthcare networks.

Project 4. Frequency Management for Emergency and Rural Communications

A new radio communication paradigm referred to as Cognitive Radio is emerging where radios that can take advantage of the inefficiency of  the fixed spectrum allocation can be used to improve frequency allocation through dynamic spectrum allocation. This might be used to improve access to information and knowledge in both developed and developing countries by extending the last mile of the Internet in emergency situations and in rural and  difficult to access  areas. Building upon the cognitive radio paradigm, this project will propose dynamic spectrum management strategies to be deployed for emergency, public safety, rural communications and medical assistance.