As a part of the departmental Distinguished Lecture Series, the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering at SRM University-AP is organising the first lecture on the topic “Queueing theoretic models for wireless multicast systems and power control via deep reinforcement learning”. Dr Vinod Sharma, Professor in Electrical Communication Engineering, IISc, Bangalore will be the keynote speaker of the session which will be held on July 29, 2021, at 4.00 pm.

Abstract:
We consider a wireless Base station (BS) transmitting on a downlink to multiple users. The BS has a finite number of files that the users can request. The users may have their own local caches. If a user requests a file and it is not in its cache, the request goes to the BS. This model is the practical scenario of downloading/streaming videos from Netflix. In order to reduce the transmission load on the downlink, we exploit the fact that the downlink is a broadcast channel and multiple users may be requesting the same file. This is accomplished by designing a novel multicast scheme in which all requests at the BS for the same file are merged together and are satisfied by a single transmission from the BS. This simple and natural scheme is shown to provide lower mean sojourn time compared to the currently popular coded caching schemes in literature and is much simpler to implement. We have also theoretically studied this queue and obtained approximate mean sojourn times. Next, we have shown that considering the channel fading can actually wipe out most of the benefits of our multicast scheme. However, we suggest a simple modification to the scheme which restores most of the gains. Furthermore, we show that adaptively changing the transmit power at the BS based on the instantaneous channel gains of the users can further significantly reduce the mean sojourn times. To get optimal power control, we use DQN, a Deep Reinforcement Learning algorithm. It is modified to ensure that the long term power constraint is satisfied and that it tracks the time-varying channel and request statistics.

About the Speaker:
Vinod Sharma completed his B.Tech Electrical Engineering from IIT Delhi, in 1978, PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering, from Carnegie Mellon University, in 1984. He is Professor in Electrical Communication Engg., IISc, since March 2000. Prior to it, he was Associate Professor in Electrical Engineering, IISc Bangalore. He was Chairman of the Department of Electrical Communication Engineering from July 2007 to November 2011. He was Assistant Professor, Electrical and Communication Engg, Northeastern University; and Visiting Faculty, Electrical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles. Dr Vinod’s research interests are in the area of Communication and Computer Networks, Wireless Communication, Sensor Networks, Queueing Theory, Information Theory and Statistical Estimation Theory.

Join this free informative webinar on July 29, 2021, from 4.00 pm onwards to gain research insights from the field expert.

Register here:https://srmap.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_npqiEhMbSZebRzIj_VmRrA

Ever wondered how Netflix recommends movies or how Amazon recommends products or how Crystal is such a big virtual advisor? The Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at SRM University-AP organises a guest lecture by Mr Jayaram Kollipara, Head of Recommendation Systems in http://igenius.ai/ on July 24, 2021, at 10.00 am. SRM E-Cell aims to foster an entrepreneurial spirit and incubate the ideas into startups through its events, programmes, and initiatives.

Technology makes life easier for us in many ways. Machine Learning and Recommendations Systems have become the backbone of the entertainment industry varying from video streaming apps to social media platforms. Inventor’s Village, a student community of SRM E-cell has taken this initiative to reimagine data interaction. Mr Sai Navven Katla, Lead at Inventor’s Village will be the host and Mr Segu Sunil Kumar will be the moderator of the event.

About the Speaker:
Mr Jayaram Kollipara has wide industry experience in Networking, AI, and ML. He is currently working as a Machine Learning Engineer in IGenius.AI and he is also one of the founding members of that startup. Currently, Igenius.ai is one of the Top-5 Startups in Italy. As a young innovator, his life inspires engineering students in universities for creative experiments.

SRM E-Cell cordially invites you to this event on July 24, 2021, at 10.00 am wherein you can learn more about the future and scope of Machine Learning from the industry expert.

Yoganand B, Parshal Chitrakar, Agniswar Paul, Abirami Ravishankar are four brilliant students from the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering at SRM University-AP who have successfully completed an international internship with EION Wireless Inc, Canada. The students worked as engineering interns with this reputed wireless solutions firm in Canada for five and a half months (Jan 15- June 30) obtaining an internship salary of 500 CAD per student every month. Through this opportunity, the students could build a system that is able to send data to long distances.

Selection Process:
a. Internal selection: Based on the CV and projects undertaken, the ECE Faculty conducted interviews and shortlisted the students.
b. Personal Interview: The shortlisted students attended the interview with the company in which, the company scrutinised their project, skills, and whether they were relevant to the company’s requirements.
c. Techincal Interview: This round focused on analysing technical skills. A technical problem statement was given to members and was asked to come up with a solution in 10 minutes.
d. Coding test: In this round, coding questions were distributed and students had to submit documents of output and on how the code was processed.

For engineering graduates, technical skills and hands-on experience with industry is inevitable. SRM University-AP ensures that every student grabs opportunities to excel in their respective disciplines.

Student Testimonial- Parshal Chitrakar:

I would like to thank the faculty of the ECE Department at SRM AP for this great opportunity. Being a part of this internship programme by EION wireless has been one of my first and best experiences in the industry. Being a fresher, this opportunity gave me a chance to apply my knowledge and skills in developing real-time applications. This five and a half months internship taught me different ways to look at things, work with people from diverse backgrounds, and helped me develop my technical as well as soft skills. Before this, I was focused only on personal achievements, but when we work for a company it has to be focused on the public demand and common good. I think this is the main difference between academia and industry. There is no such difference between academic-based projects and industry-based projects; it is just how we think, showcase our abilities and how our work reaches the target stakeholders.

It is the second time lucky for Rasheed Amina Karim Firdous who found exactly what he was looking for at SRM University, AP. After pursuing a semester in Computer Science Engineering, the young man from Vijayawada dropped out only to find his true calling. The B. Sc (Hons.) Economics, Class of 2023 student looks back on his first year at the university and tells us why he feels he is in the right place at the right time.

“Unlike most of my batch mates, my college journey began differently. I pursued a semester in Computer Science Engineering but realized that it wasn’t for me. Around that time, my father was seriously ill so I dropped out for a semester. The gap and space I had made me realize what I really wanted, and this time I found exactly that at SRM University, AP.

I enrolled for B. Sc (Hons.) Economics program and to my surprise my story resonated with that of our faculty Ms. Shrabani Mukherjee. When she shared her story with the class I felt instantly connected and knew that I was in the right place. Her encouragement has motivated me and made me more disciplined towards academics, especially at a time when I was feeling unsure and unsteady.

Everything at the university has been a pleasant surprise from day 1. Let’s start with the virtual campus tour, which had me mesmerized. It is wonderful to see that the campus has been built while keeping the balance between aesthetics and the environment. It has all the modern amenities that are designed keeping students’ needs in mind.

The virtual orientation was planned with activities on mental health, yoga, budget as well as some fun tournaments. It was particularly thoughtful to focus on mental health in the last year of uncertainties. I am grateful to be able to pursue my studies on a brilliant platform with caring faculty members to guide us along the journey.

We have a Google classroom where we can access all the notes, presentations shared by our faculty members. We have Zoom calls for meetings with breakout rooms that invariably lead to amazing discussions. We can connect with our batch mates on Zoom, whatsapp or regular calls. We discuss ideas, play games and have built camaraderie.

It’s one of the main reasons I want to get on the campus as soon as possible. We have students from various states, who bring their own cultures, traditions, view points to the campus. Everyone has their own talents; one is a singer, someone else is into cricket. It is such a stimulating environment and I can’t wait to participate in those thought provoking discussions in person.”

From the virtual tour of the campus to online learning and events, Sruti Poolla, student of Class of 2023 at SRM University, AP has been wowed by the experiences she has had. Bonding with her batch mates from around the country and participating in diverse discussions, she has learned the importance of looking at global problems from different perspectives. As she eagerly waits to explore the campus, Sruti offers her own perspective on her first year in college.

“Can you believe it; I have been doing my B.Sc. (Hons.) Economics from SRM University, AP for a year but haven’t visited the campus once! But we are playing with the cards we have been dealt with and it’s been a lot of fun.

We had a virtual tour of the campus again on the orientation day, and it just blew my mind. I saw the library and the hostel rooms and was completely bowled over. I cannot wait to get on the campus and visit the library, as well as the basketball court. Besides that, I want to sing on stage.

It has been a joyride right from the virtual orientation where we had all our queries about the University and department answered. The online Freshers event was a lot of fun, and I have also participated in carnivals.

As far as learning goes, I really didn’t think it was possible online. But our faculty members have gone to great lengths to make it engaging and exciting for us. We have our classes on Zoom and we have breakout rooms, polls, which encourage us to participate in the learning process.

It has also offered us the platform to interact with our peers and batch mates. We are connected on Whatsapp groups and have bonded quite well. Interacting with students from different states, backgrounds, and cultures is an enriching experience in itself.

I’d say that my friends are quite opinionated, which is great because you are always learning something new. In fact, that has been my biggest learning experience so far – knowing that there are many perspectives to any global problem.

I am really looking forward to being on campus so that I can explore my college years to the fullest. We have all the platforms to take on new challenges and grow into well rounded individuals and professionals. I am definitely ready for it.”