Wireless Sensor Networks will Instrument the whole World: Experts said during the first World Moot on Wireless Sensor Networks for Developing Countries (WSN4DC13) held at MUET

05/05/2013 - 9:21pm


WSN4DC'13

After the huge success of two consecutive International Multi-topic ICT conferences ( IMTIC08 and IMTIC12) held at Mehran University, the 1st International Conference on Wireless Sensor Networks for Developing Countries (WSN4DC'13) was jointly organized by Mehran University of Engineering & Technology, Jamshoro, Pakistan, Erasmus Mundus Strong-Ties (Strengthening Training and Research thrOugh Networking and Globalization of Teaching In Engineering Studies) program and International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) from 24-26 April 2013 at Mehran UET, Jamshoro, Pakistan. The conference was sponsored by HEC, ICT R&D and PSF.

We have seen lot of WSN advancements during recent past in military domain. The world is now well aware of the power of WSN and its applications, which are endless. The WSN4DC conference aimed to bring together a wide spectrum of international experts to facilitate a creative environment for the promotion of collaboration and knowledge transfer under the domain of WSN usage for Developing Countries (DC). In particular it facilitated a dialogue between major industry players, entrepreneurs and academia to help create a road-map for the development of tangible research environment in the developing countries. It has become an  international forum for researchers to exchange information regarding novel aspects of technology, application and service development within the WSN domain.

Prof Dr MA Uqaili, Conference general Chair and  Pro Vice Chancellor in his welcome address informed that this is the first of its kind the conference that has been organized by MUET in collaboration with International Islamic University Malaysia, Erasmus Mundus Strongties program, Springer CCIS, Higher Education Commission, Pakistan Science Foundation, National ICT R&D Fund Pakistan, and Pakistan Science Foundation.  It is a matter of contentment to mention that WSN4DC'13 aims at providing occasions for national and international researchers and practitioners to present the most recent advances and future challenges in the fields of Computer and Software Engineering, Electronics, Telecommunication, Green ICT, Energy Management, Simulation and Modeling and so on. WSN4DC'13 aimed to bring together a wide spectrum of international experts to facilitate a creative environment for the promotion of collaboration and knowledge transfer. In particular it will facilitate a dialogue between major industry players, entrepreneurs and academia to help create a roadmap for the development of tangible research environment in the country.

Prof Dr Manzoor H Soomro, Chairman Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF) and Chairman Economic Cooperation Organization Science Foundation (ECO-SF) Congratulated the conference team for organizing  such a mega event in the emerging area of Information and Communication Technology (lCT). With the emergence of electronics and nanotechnology the pervasive and ubiquitous environments are becoming reality, the key enabler technology for these environments is Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). He said that we have seen lot of WSN advancements during recent past in military domain. The world is now well aware of the power of WSN and its applications in agriculture, roads and traffic monitoring, body health area monitoring, water conservation, smart buildings, energy management and smart grid, and so on.  Worldwide research shows that those organizations unable or unwilling to understand, use, adapt or implement most innovative information and communication technology will have little chance of survival. The mega international conference event WSN4DC'13 brings together researcher, industry professionals and academics in a pleasant environment to exchange information on advances in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) and its diversified applications.  It will also support in conducting collaborative research projects as per requirements of local ICT and telecom sector needs and exchange of academia/ faculty staff/exchange of undergraduate students/joint supervision of undergraduate and master's projects. The participation from industry and academic will result in developing special projects aimed at furthering close linkage with ICT and Telecom industry in Pakistan. In addition expert's exposure to students and their face to face interaction will enhance student's technical growth and vision at much higher level that will create a deep thrust in students for acquiring technical advancement. Ultimately they will be utilizing their skills needed for reducing digital divide gap.

Prof BS Chowdhry, Dean FEECE and the Chief Organizer of the event stated that  for WSN4DC'13 they  received over 100 submissions – confirming a trend of increasing interest in WSN4DC – coming from 30 different countries. After going through review process by the experts, only 23 papers were selected for conference which gives about 23% acceptance rate. This is the fourth time that Springer Verlag Germany has published conference proceedings from Mehran UET in their CCIS  (Computer & Communication Series)series which is a big accomplishment. Its aim is efficiently disseminate original research results in printed and electronic form globally. The extended version of selected papers will be published in reputed indexed journals. This time conference includes 05 important technical sessions, 04 keynotes by well-known academicians from developed countries, a poster session competition, PhD symposium and 3 tutorials on most emerging technological fields.

On this occasion Prof Javier Poncela from University of Malaga Spain  gave  key note presentation on  Wireless underwater acoustic communication system  which has  become one of the most promising technologies for the development and deployment of future ocean observation and sensor networks. Applications range from oil prospecting and transportation to aquaculture, and include pollution control, climate recording, prediction of natural disturbances, search and survey missions, etc.

In the concluding ceremony of the moot, the  Chief guest, advisor of energy, Science and Technology Government of Sindh Dr Shafqat Abbasi addressed the august gathering. He said that it is heartening  to know that this is first kind of international conference being held on this emerging technology  in Pakistan. This makes us more proud and we feel that our Institutions are not lagging behind in the area of science and technology.  It is good to know that the WSN4DC conference aimed at bringing together a wide spectrum of international experts to facilitate a creative environment for the promotion of collaboration and knowledge transfer under the domain of WSN usage for Developing Countries (DC).  He congratulated the Mehran University Leadership for taking great lead in organizing this event in befitting manner. He called upon the young generation and researchers  to come forward with zeal and zest to provide beacon light to solve the problems that we confront today due to lack of appropriate  technology, data and information in our country.

Prof Dr MA Uqaili Pro Vice Chancellor of the university said that such events will facilitate a dialogue between major industry players, entrepreneurs and academia to help create a road-map for the development of tangible research environment in the developing countries.                      

Prof Dr BS Chowdhry told that the conference program consisted of keynote speakers from both industry and academia, International Tutorials, panel discussion by experts on  “Future Wireless Networks – Opportunity and Challenges for Developing Countries”, PhD consortiums and poster competition by undergraduate and masters students. He said that participants from various countries including USA, Sweden, Germany,  Srilanka, Poland and Malaysia participated in the event and its proceedings is being  published by springer Verlag Germany. I hope our young generations must have learnt new things in this emerging technology from the expert’s presentations and tutorials.

On this occasion, Swedish researcher from Networked Embedded Systems Group (NES) gave key note on “Smart Cities – Europe’s NOBEL prize”. Nothing to do with the Prize – it refers to the Neighborhood Oriented Brokerage Electricity and monitoring system.

WSN4DC'13

 Key Note speaker Madam Prof Nadia Qadri showed in her presentation that WSN technology can play major role for various applications such as energy management, water conservation, pollution detecting, earth quake monitoring, agriculture crops monitoring, smart buildings and disaster management and so on. 

A panel discussion was also part of this conference. Various international experts including Prof Dr. Abdul Wahab Bin Abdul Rahman from  International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) discussed on theme of “Future Wireless Networks – Opportunity and Challenges for Developing Countries” . Experts recommended that developing countries must focus their research and develop applications and not to miss opportunities in this emerging technology.

Dr Faisal Karim Shaikh, Technical program Committee informed that The conference program consists of keynote speakers from both industry and academia and panel discussion. It provided  opportunities to attend interactive, high quality, peer reviewed sessions which will provide detailed insights from forward thinkers working in the themes of the conference. Additionally, there was Poster Competition and Ph.D Consortium presentation and a range of networking opportunities.  The proceedings of WSN4DC'13 conference will be published by Springer, Communications in Computer and Information Science (CCIS) Series. Additionally, the extended version of selected short papers are expected to be published as especial issue in Mehran University Research Journal of Engineering & Technology (MURJET) which is HEC recognized journal in ‘X’ Category.

On this occasion experts announced the launching of  “Global Society for WSN4DC” .