Hany Elgala

• PhD
• Professor (Assistant) at University at Albany, State University of New York

Spatial Modulation (SM) has been proposed as a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO)-based technique to overcome the inter-channel interference experienced in conventional MIMO systems. It has been further shown that SM enhances energy efficiency and reduces the receiver’s complexity. Nevertheless, under high antenna correlation scenarios, the dete...

Visible light communication (VLC) is a key enabler for high-speed indoor connectivity and the Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Unlike radio frequency (RF) communication systems, the VLC coverage is typically not uniform, which means that the user equipment’s (UEs) orientation and obstacles significantly affect the communication performance. Specif...

In the rapidly evolving landscape of wireless communication, visible light communication (VLC) stands out for its potential to redefine high-speed data exchange. Recently, VLC has utilized waveforms that combine multiple bitstreams in a unified physical layer, allowing for high-speed data exchange, precise localization, and robust control simultane...

The widespread deployment of white light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for lighting offers a unique opportunity to develop ubiquitous indoor communication based on visible light communication (VLC) technology and accurate localization based on visible light positioning (VLP) technology. However, the implementation of such systems in crowded indoor environ...

Visible light (VL) for optical wireless communication (OWC) in indoor environments is a promising approach to achieving high-speed and energy-efficient wireless connectivity and sensing. Unlike traditional radio frequency (RF) systems, the OWC channel is not isotropic, making the orientation of the user equipment (UE) and the existing obstacles sig...

The demand for intelligent networks and diversified computing applications is driving the need for 6G communication networks. Additionally, the innovative 6G applications will impose stringent requirements that will be difficult to satisfy with fixed, pre-deployed infrastructures. The characteristics of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) make them an...

The recent developments in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and indoor hybrid LiFi–WiFi networks (HLWNs) present a significant opportunity for creating low-cost, power-efficient, reliable, flexible, and ad-hoc HLWN-enabled indoor flying networks (IFNs). However, to efficiently operate and practically realize indoor HLWN, a unified physical layer (Un...

p>Spatial Modulation (SM) has been proposed as a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO)-based technique to overcome the inter-channel interference experienced in conventional MIMO systems. It has been further shown that SM enhances energy efficiency and reduces the receiver’s complexity. Nevertheless, under high antenna correlation scenarios, the de...

p>Spatial Modulation (SM) has been proposed as a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO)-based technique to overcome the inter-channel interference experienced in conventional MIMO systems. It has been further shown that SM enhances energy efficiency and reduces the receiver’s complexity. Nevertheless, under high antenna correlation scenarios, the de...

Due to their distinctive features, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been recently exploited to support a wide range of applications. The features include low maintenance cost, compact size, and excellent capability of maneuvering. In particular, UAVs have the potential capabilities to support different technologies such as Internet-of-things (I...

The practical deployment of VLC (visible light communication)-enabled flying networks could be accelerated via the simultaneous services offered by mixed carrier communication (MCC). The MCC is a unified physical layer waveform that uniquely integrates various communication streams for data/control and signaling to support localization and dimming....

The era of the Internet-of-things (IoT) comes with tremendous burdens on pre-existing network infrastructures and protocols due to spectrum scarcity and reliability concerns. Cognitive radio (CR) technology is proposed for IoT applications to alleviate the spectrum scarcity paradigm. In CR-IoT-based networks, the IoT devices/nodes share the spectru...

UAVs can be used as aerial relays to provide communication services in remote uncovered areas or dense environments with occasional high capacity demands. However, due to the low power of Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, UAV-based IoT applications, such as precision agriculture and environment monitoring, may experience high shadowing or equipment...

p>UAVs can be used as aerial relays to provide communication services in remote uncovered areas or dense environments with occasional high capacity demands. However, due to the low power of Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, UAV-based IoT applications, such as precision agriculture and environment monitoring, may experience high shadowing or equipme...

p>UAVs can be used as aerial relays to provide communication services in remote uncovered areas or dense environments with occasional high capacity demands. However, due to the low power of Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, UAV-based IoT applications, such as precision agriculture and environment monitoring, may experience high shadowing or equipme...

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is a modern network approach that replaces the conventional network architecture with a flexible architecture by separating the control plane from the data plane. SDN simplifies network management and monitoring through logically centralized intelligence, programmability, and abstraction. SDN architectures are vuln...

Cognitive radio (CR) technology is proposed to provide huge spectrum opportunities to enable a large-scale deployment of Internet-of-Things (IoT) sensing-based applications. An important challenge in this domain is how to design efficient channel assignment algorithms for delay-sensitive CRIoT-based sensor networks while being resilient to jamming...

A machine learning (ML) based receiver for augmented spatial modulation (ASM) is constructed using a Naive-Bayesian classifier. The proposed approach reduces the system’s complexity. Its performance is compared with other eminent ML techniques.

An Autoencoder model for augmented communications based OWC is implemented for systems that utilize orthogonal frequency division multiplexing. Simulation results demonstrate the viability of engineered features and deep learning techniques in OWC.

Recently, research on sixth-generation (6G) networks has gained significant interest. 6G is expected to enable a wide-range of applications that fifth-generation (5G) networks will not be able to serve reliably, such as tactile Internet. Additionally, 6G is expected to offer Terabits per second (Tbps) data rates, 10 times lower latency, and near 10...

Wireless sensor network (WSN) technology is considered to be an integral part of large-scale and efficient deployment of Internet-of-Things (IoT). More specifically, in mission-critical IoT applications, trust in the sensor data is becoming increasingly important. Sensor nodes have limited processing, storage, and communication capabilities, which...

In this article, we propose a physical layer security (PLS) technique, namely security-aware spatial modulation (SA-SM), in a multiple-input multiple-output-based heterogeneous network, wherein both optical wireless communications and radio-frequency (RF) technologies coexist. In SA-SM, the time-domain signal is altered prior to transmission using...

This paper proposes a general framework for the energy efficiency analysis of a hybrid visible light communication (VLC) and Radio Frequency (RF) wireless system, in which both VLC and RF subsystems utilize non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) technology. The proposed framework is based on realistic communication scenarios as it takes into account...

The advancement in white light-emitting diodes (LEDs) technology makes it the most preferred highly efficient lighting solution. Not only LEDs consume less energy and reduce carbon emissions, but also their average life expectancy is above 10 years, i.e. 50,000 hours. Achieving more than 75% of energy savings has encouraged the widespread use of LE...

Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology aims to further the diversity/multiplexing gains of wireless communication systems. Spatial modulation (SM) is a renowned low-complexity MIMO scheme that jointly uses transmitting source indices along with the data stream to convey information. However, the reliability of the spatial stream i...

Cognitive radio networks (CRNs) are a propitious realization for Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications due to their superior utilization of spectrum and time-critical data delivery. With the expected widespread of IoT devices, security concerns are escalating; forcing additional challenges on network designers. Jamming attacks are one of the most c...

Excited to be giving a talk at the #OSA Career Lab in the #5G webinar series, Visible Light Communications for 5G and beyond! Held on 28 September at 13:00 EDT. https://www.osa.org/en-us/meetings/member_events/manage_visible_light_communications_for_5g-and-be/

Hybrid wireless networks are foreseen to play a major role in the visioning and planning of the sixth generation (6G) network. Most of the 6G applications are human-centric, and thus high security and privacy are key features. Recently, physical layer (PHY) security has become an emerging area of research. This work introduces a novel, to the best...

The fifth-generation (5G) wireless cellular network is expected to be ready for commercialization within this year. The huge spectrum enabled by the millimetre-wave (mm-Wave) technology is expected to introduce a hype in data usage per user. The 5G is also expected to concurrently support a wide variety of services; however, the practical trade-off...

The fifth-generation (5G) wireless cellular network is expected to be ready for commercialization within this year. The huge spectrum enabled by the millimetre-wave (mm-Wave) technology is expected to introduce a hype in data usage per user. The 5G is also expected to concurrently support a wide variety of services; however, the practical trade-off...

The present contribution proposes a general framework for the energy efficiency analysis of a hybrid visible light communication (VLC) and Radio Frequency (RF) wireless system, in which both VLC and RF subsystems utilize nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA) technology. The proposed framework is based on realistic communication scenarios as it takes...

The advancement in white light-emitting diodes (LEDs) technology makes it the most preferred highly efficient lighting solution. Not only LEDs consume less energy and reduce carbon emissions, but also their average life expectancy is above 10 years, i.e. 50,000 hours. Achieving more than 75% of energy savings has encouraged the widespread use of LE...

Federated Learning (FL) has been recently presented as a new technique for training shared machine learning models in a distributed manner while respecting data privacy. However, implementing FL in wireless networks may significantly reduce the lifetime of energy-constrained mobile devices due to their involvement in the construction of the shared...

Federated Learning (FL) has been recently presented as a new technique for training shared machine learning models in a distributed manner while respecting data privacy. However, implementing FL in wireless networks may significantly reduce the lifetime of energy-constrained mobile devices due to their involvement in the construction of the shared...

A plethora of physical-layer techniques aim to enhance the performance of communication systems in several ways. Spectral efficiency and security are on the top of the list of enhancements; however, both are isolated and antagonistic islands of research. Augmented communication (ACom) is introduced in this Letter as the first technique that aims to...

We are delighted to introduce the readers to this special section of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COGNITIVE COMMUNICATIONS AND NETWORKING (TCCN), which has the purpose of addressing the current state-of-the-art for research and new efficient schemes, techniques, and protocols to address fundamental and practical challenges in cognitive radio-optical ne...

Existing literature studying the access point (AP)-user association problem of heterogeneous radio-optical networks either investigate quasi-static network selection or only consider vertical handover (VHO) dwell time from optical to radio. The quasi-static assumption can result in outdated decisions for highly mobile scenarios. Solely focusing on...

The enormous growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) devices gave governments, businesses, and individual users new means to accomplish their missions. Several IoT applications require deployment at a large scale such as smart cities. Large-scale IoT applications help achieve better monitoring services and more efficient cities. IoT multimedia (IoTM...

A deep convolutional autoencoder (C-AE) for end-to-end adoption of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) based optical camera communications (OCC) is proposed and the feasibility of the neural network (NN) is verified by simulations.

An orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) based Autoencoder (AE) model for optical wireless communication (OWC) is implemented. Symbol-error performance demonstrates the viability of using neural networks (NNs) and deep learning (DL) techniques in OWC systems.

Novel systems and solutions are needed to meet the ultra-dense data demand expected in future wireless networks. Heterogeneous integration of radio and OW communications is one solution that promises to add wireless capacity where it is needed most (e.g., indoor environments). These coexisting radio and optical wireless deployments, or CROWD networ...

In this paper, we present an extension to NS3 that allows simulating different jamming scenarios for cognitive radio networks (CRNs). The extension includes an adjustment to the physical and MAC layers of the existing NS3 Wi-Fi module to include the unique features of CRNs including the licensed primary user activities and channel quality. Up to ou...

In this paper, we comprehensively investigate the achievable rates of selected band-limited intensity modulation schemes, which are important for optical wireless communication (OWC) applications, while accounting for the specific nature of their signal construction (non-negative, real and baseband), and imposing identical bandwidth and average opt...

A design framework is presented in this manuscript for a novel visible light communications (VLC)-based multi-tier waveform. Conventionally, VLC waveforms are designed to target specific services. In services that require high-speed access, multi-carrier modulation techniques, i.e., orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), is considered....

In this letter, an indoor spectrally and energy efficient orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (SEE-OFDM) based visible light communication (VLC) network with nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA) is studied. An exact expression of the outage probability for K NOMA users is derived. We also provide an upper bound of the data rate of the SEE-OF...

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) techniques are currently the de facto approach for increasing the capacity and reliability of communication systems. Spatial modulation (SM) is presently one of the most eminent MIMO techniques. As, it combines the advantages of having higher spectral efficiency than repetition coding (RC) while overcoming the...

Deep learning (DL) techniques have the potential of making communication systems more efficient and solving many problems in the physical layer. In this paper, an optical wireless communications (OWC) system based on visible light communications (VLC) technology is implemented using an autoencoder (AE). The proposed system is tested in different sc...

This paper presents CHRONOS, a Cloud based Hybrid RF-Optical Network Over Synchronous Links. The primary goal of this project is to design, build and maintain a multi-node, heterogeneous, wideband, scalable, hybrid and synchronous Cloud Radio Access Network (Cloud RAN or C-RAN), specifically to support emerging applications requiring both THz-optic...

In this paper, we propose a new paradigm in designing and realizing energy efficient wireless indoor access networks, namely, a hybrid system enabled by traditional RF access, such as WiFi, as well as the emerging visible light communication (VLC). VLC facilitates the great advantage of being able to jointly perform illumination and communications,...

In this paper, we propose a new paradigm in designing and realizing energy efficient wireless indoor access networks, namely, a hybrid system enabled by traditional RF access, such as WiFi, as well as the emerging visible light communication (VLC). VLC facilitates the great advantage of being able to jointly perform illumination and communications,...

In this paper, we investigate the performance of spectrally and energy efficient orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (SEE-OFDM) based visible light communications (VLC) systems. We propose to apply non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) for the downlink in SEE-OFDM based VLC network. Moreover, we provide a novel approach in decoding the compo...

In this paper, we introduce Identity Modulation (ID-M), a novel modulation technique proposed for Visible Light Communications (VLC). ID-M allows each transmitter to have its own identity or signature that is embedded in the waveform of the transmitted signal. The two key elements in ID-M is the waveform design and receiver architecture which allow...

Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) provides an effi- cient solution for IoT as it brings the cloud services close to the IoT device. This works well for IoT devices with limited mobility. IoT devices that are mobile by nature introduce a set of challenges to the MEC model. Challenges include security and efficiency aspects. Achieving mutual authentication...

The expected widespread usage of Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices and the associated diversity of applications will place extra pressure on network resources including bandwidth availability. In networking within IoT, spectrum scarcity requires the consideration of the adaptive cognitive radio (CR) technology to achieve interference-free and on-dem...

Visible light communications (VLC) based on intensity-modulation with direct-detection (IM/DD) is a promising technology to offer broadband wireless Internet access. A VLC system based on the well-known multi-carrier orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation has the potential to coexist with radio frequency (RF) technologies such...

In visible light communications (VLC) systems based on baseband intensity modulation (IM), the modulating signals are designed for a single-purpose to either support single-user access using single-carrier pulsed modulation such as On-Off keying (OOK) or multi-user access mainly using the multi-carrier orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OF...

Wide bandwidth and dense spatial reuse are of extreme importance for future wireless communication networks, including 5G and beyond. In particular, these properties are important to enable future wireless networks to cope with the explosive increase in the demand for high data-rate communications. Optical wireless communications (OWC) is a promisi...

Information-theoretic and signal processing aspects of some modulation schemes designed for intensity modulation/direct detection (IM/DD) optical wireless communication (OWC) systems are studied. Due to the constraints of IM/DD signals (non-negative real and baseband signals), the construction of these signals along with their time and frequency ch...

In this paper, an experimental investigation of adaptive bit-loading for DC-biased optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DCO-OFDM) is presented. The carried out measurements demonstrate performance enhancement with DCO-OFDM in a signal-to-noise (SNR) limited environment due to the use of silicon PN photodiode (PD). A PN photodetector...

In this paper, we consider the problem of designing energy efficient light emitting diodes (LEDs) layout while satisfying the illumination constraints. Towards this objective, we present a simple approach to the illumination design problem based on the concept of the virtual LED. We formulate a constrained optimization problem for minimizing the po...

Advances in high brightness light emitting diode (LED) technology are enabling myriad applications in lighting including visible light communications (VLC) technology that has the potential to complement RF technology to provide wireless data access for indoor coverage. This chapter reviews various dimming techniques suitable for VLC, and presents...

Visible light communication (VLC) backscatter has been proposed as a wireless access option for Internet of Things (IoT). However, the throughput of the state-of-the-art VLC backscatter is limited by simple single-carrier pulsed modulation scheme, such as on-off keying (OOK). In this paper, a novel pixelated VLC backscatter is proposed and implemen...

Visible light communication (VLC) backscatter has been proposed as a wireless access option for Internet of Things (IoT). However, the throughput of the state-of-the-art VLC backscatter is limited by simple single-carrier pulsed modulation scheme, such as on-off keying (OOK). In this paper, a novel pixelated VLC backscatter is proposed and implemen...

Smart phones, tablets, and the rise of the Internet of things are driving an insatiable demand for wireless capacity. This demand requires networking and Internet infrastructures to evolve to meet the needs of current and future multimedia applications. Wireless heterogeneous networks (HetNets) will play an important role towards the goal of using...

The IEEE 802.15.7 standard defines specifications for short-range optical wireless communication (OWC) using visible light. The standard specifies color shift keying (CSK) as the preferred modulation scheme for indoor OWC while simultaneously providing illumination. In light of illumination requirements, human eye’s optical perception introduces un...

The synthesis of visible light communication (VLC) and lighting state control necessitates data-light modulation that can accommodate intensity control. A number of techniques that enable both optical wireless data transmission and intensity control of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have been proposed as a response to this need. Relevant schemes leve...

In this paper, we consider the problem of designing energy efficient light emitting diodes (LEDs) layout while satisfying the illumination constraints in a given room. Towards this objective, we present a simple approach to the illumination design problem based on the concept of the virtual LED. We formulate a constrained optimization problem for m...

Spectrally and energy efficient orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (SEE-OFDM) is an optical OFDM technique based on combining multiple asymmetrically clipped optical OFDM (ACO-OFDM) signals into one OFDM signal. By summing different components together, SEE-OFDM can achieve the same spectral efficiency as DC-biased optical OFDM (DCO-OFDM) w...

Visible light communication (VLC) has wide unlicensed bandwidth, enables communication in radio-frequency-sensitive environments, realizes energy-efficient data transmission, and has the potential to boost the capacity of wireless access networks through spatial reuse. On the other hand, WiFi provides more coverage than VLC and does not suffer from...

In the next major phase of mobile telecommunications standards '5G,' Visible Light Communication (VLC) technology or light fidelity (Li-Fi) has great potential to be a breakthrough technology in the future of wireless Internet access. We propose a novel real-valued unIPolar version of orthogonal frequency division multIPlexing (OFDM) that is suitab...

Polar OFDM (P-OFDM) is an OFDM format that can double the spectral efficiency of existing real-valued and unipolar optical OFDM intensity-modulation with direct detection (IM/DD) optical communication systems. P-OFDM modulates the amplitude and phase of a complex OFDM signal to allow a real unipolar signal. In this paper, we investigate the effect...

Visible light communications (VLC) technology has a potential to complement the RF wireless technology for indoor coverage. It promises concurrent illumination control and wireless data transmission capabilities. The potential of advanced multi-carrier modulation techniques, i.e. orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), introduces new cha...

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is increasingly studied and adopted as a modulation technique for RF and optical communication systems. In this paper, we investigate challenges to the adoption of OFDM for use in lighting systems that support both intensity control and data communication based on the visible light communication (VL...

Visible light communication (VLC) has wide unlicensed bandwidth, enables communication in radio frequency (RF) sensitive environments, realizes energy-efficient data transmission, and has the potential to boost the capacity of wireless access networks through spatial reuse. On the other hand, WiFi provides more coverage than VLC and does not suffer...

Visible light communication (VLC) is achieved by modulation of one or more spectral compo-nents in the visible spectrum (≈380-780 nm). The use of this range provides an opportunity to exploit an otherwise untapped medium that is used in human lighting. Most VLC systems constructed to date focus on using a broad visible band generated by phosphor-co...

Recent studies have investigated the use of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and single carrier frequency-domain equalization (SC-FDE) for gigabyte per second (Gpbs) short-range optical wired and wireless access networks based on direct intensity-modulation with direct detection (IM-DD). OFDM systems have an inherent high peak-to-a...

In recent years, visible light communication (VLC) has emerged as a complementary technique to overcome limitations of the crowded radio frequency (RF) spectrum. Its superior characteristics include unlicensed wide bandwidth, high security and dual-use nature. Nevertheless, mobile devices are not equipped with illuminating components, which are uti...

Optical spatial modulation (OSM) is a multiple-transmitter technique that can provide higher data rates with low system complexity as compared with single-input single-output systems. Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is widely implemented to achieve better spectral efficiency in wireless channels. Asymmetrically clipped optical OFD...

Spatial modulation (SM) and spatial multiplexing (SMP) are two multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) techniques for transmitting data over an indoor optical wireless channel. Receivers for SM and SMP can be of the non-imaging type, in which case the channel matrix coefficients can be highly correlated, or of the imaging type, which can reduce the d...

A novel OFDM signal format, polar-OFDM (P-OFDM), is proposed. P-OFDM offers twice as much spectral efficiency as state-of-the-art real-value unipolar OFDM formats. Inherently, the high PAPR is reduced and the numerical evaluation of the BER performance under dynamic-range constraint of optical sources demonstrates superior results.

Advances in solid-state lighting (SSL) are enabling LEDs to be the dominant source for future human-made light. The adoption of LEDs is expected to significantly reduce energy consumption and facilitate precise intensity and color control of illuminated spaces. SSL also makes possible the use of visible light communications (VLC), in which data are...

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems using multiple light emitting diode (LED) sources and photodiode (PD) detectors are attractive for visible light communication (VLC) as they offer a capacity gain proportional to the number of parallel single-input single-output (SISO) channels. MIMO VLC systems exploit the high signal-to-noise ratio (S...

Visible light communications (VLC) technology permits the exploitation of light-emitting diode (LED) luminaries for simultaneous illumination and broadband wireless communication. Optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (O-OFDM) is a promising modulation technique for VLC systems, in which the real-valued O-OFDM baseband signal is used t...

Thermal management is a significant issue in the design of high power light emitting diodes (LEDs). In this letter, the effect of practical changes in the LED junction temperature on the performance of indoor optical wireless (OW) communication system based orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation is studied and analyzed. Juncti...

Compensating signal clipping distortions due to light-emitting diode (LED) operational constrains in optical wireless communication (OWC) systems based on orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation is achieved through the use of iterative signal clipping (ISC) and multiple LED transmitters.

Light emitting diode (LED) nonlinearities have a significant impact on the performance of optical wireless (OW) communication systems based on orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation. In this paper, different techniques to compensate for the induced nonlinearity distortions are presented and analyzed. First, single-carrier freq...