ETSI NFV ISG Directions and Priorities

The presentation provides an introduction to the rationale and work program for key concepts in the industry transformation towards virtualized network functions.

 

 

Dr. Steven Wright short CV

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Engineering Optical Fibers

The revolution in electronic commerce and social networks would not have been possible without the internet, which itself was made possible and of worldwide reach and efficient due to the use of optical fibers within the internet. The phenomenal progress in the optical fiber manufacturing which delivered high quality optical fibers for long distance communications was made possible from the theoretical understanding of how light is guided efficiently in an optical fiber. Designs of optical fibers were optimized and standardized for telecommunications. Such designs were achieved by adopting a refractive index profile and solving the guiding electromagnetic problem inside the fiber optic profile and working out the optical properties of the optical fibers. This ‘forward’ problem has been dealt and numerous algorithms have been developed to do this. Our work has more recently focused on the opposite approach. We wish to design optical fibers starting from their optical properties, without the knowledge of the refractive index profile. In this talk I will develop the argument and our solution which is based on Transmission Line Models of the optical fiber, which allows Inverse Design and starting from Optical Properties we try to reverse engineer optical fibers, i.e. refractive index profiles which offer those properties. This is engineering an Optical Fiber to suit our needs. What is especially exciting is the fact that we can derive the optical properties of waveguides with complex refractive index profile, opening the door for things such as optical gain tailoring in optical amplifiers. Inversely, this most general technique allows the determination of complex refractive index profiles which allow us for arbitrary shape modal electric field distributions. This is most important for applications such as very high power lasers and particle accelerators.  We will present examples.

 

Prof. Anthony C. Boucouvalas short CV

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supporting video streaming over Internet: a constant evolution

For more than 20 years now, video content is being streamed using the Internet protocol. First, dedicated networks have been deployed by network operators to this end. It has been for several years the unique possibility to reach sufficient quality for premium services, such as live TV or VOD. But new Over-The-Top (OTT) technologies have progressively emerged and have taken the lead for video delivery: CDN and P2P. The market has strongly evolved and CDNs are taking a very large share today, since all the Content Providers are willing to see their content distributed easily on any mobile platform, not only on TVs/Set-top-boxes. Indeed, it is foreseen that more than 85% of Internet traffic will be video in 2018, most of it being distributed by CDNs. The Network Providers are loosing all the control over this content. Technologically-speaking, the advent of « adaptive streaming » techniques and especially HLS and DASH today is completely changing the way videos are being streamed, focusing almost entirely on HTTP. The talk will outline this progress and will bring out a potential evolution, permitting a strong improvement in quality of experience for the End-User but also strong advantages for Network Operators to come back in the game.

    Prof. Daniel Negru short CV

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    The Phaistos Code – The Enigma of Minoan Crete

    The Phaistos Disk, c.1700 B.C., is the Enigma of Minoan Crete (c.3200-1200 B.C.). It was found in 1908 by Italian Archaeologists in South Crete and dates to c.1700 B.C., i.e., half a millennium before the Trojan War. Minoan Crete is where mythology meets history. The Phaistos Disk has 242 signs, 61 words, on sides A and B, and probably consists of 18 rhyming verses. It has now been possible to literally ‘Read’ more than 90% of the Disk, by using Mycenaean Linear B and epigraphic continuity. While it is also certain that the text is religious due to parallel texts, i.e., other Minoan Linear A syllabic inscriptions of a religious nature. This talk will present the ongoing results of 8 years of collaboration between the TEI of Crete and Oxford University, in trying to crack the Enigma of the Phaistos Code, the Holy Grail of Minoan Religion and hopefully to “Understand’ it as well.

     

    Dr. Gareth Owens short CV