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Abla Kammoun receives IEEE Wireless Communication Letters Award

Apr 10, 2018 Faculty Focus

KAUST Research Scientist Abla Kammoun recently received the IEEE Wireless Communication Letters Award. She is pictured here with her colleagues from KAUST Professor Mohamed-Slim Alouni's Communication Theory Lab group. Photo by Asharaf K. AbdulRahman.

​-By David Murphy, KAUST News

Abla Kammoun, a research scientist based in the Computer, Electrical, and Mathematical Science and Engineering (CEMSE) division, recently received the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Wireless Communication Letters (WCL) top editor award. Kammoun's achievement is a significant honor, as every year no more than five editors are selected for this award for their significant contributions and exemplary services to the IEEE WCL. The goal of the IEEE WCL is the rapid dissemination of original, cutting-edge ideas and timely, significant contributions in the theory and applications of wireless communications.

Kammoun, whose research interests lie in random matrix theory, performance analysis of wireless communication systems, signal processing, big data processing and machine learning, said that her award is a recognition of her continuous efforts to ensure a fast, fair and valuable review process.

"I joined the editorial board of WCL in October 2015. In my role as editor, my duties are to assist in the review process. For each paper that I handle, I need to select expert reviewers prior to making a decision of acceptance or rejection based on their reports and my own reading. This award comes in recognition of my efforts to ensure a fast, fair and valuable review process. I am very proud of it because it was just my first experience as an editor," Kammoun said.

IEEE Fellow Mohamed-Slim Alouini, KAUST professor of electrical engineering in the Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences & Engineering (CEMSE) Division, said that on behalf of the Communication Theory Lab research group, Kammoun's IEEE WCL top editor award was richly deserved.

"Our best wishes to Abla—she has set a standard of excellence. Her example is most inspiring to all the Communication Theory Lab group members," Alouini said.

Research focus

Kammoun's main research activity mostly concerns the mathematical study of large dimensional random matrices in view of their applications to signal processing and wireless communications and recently to machine learning applications.

"During my Ph.D., my focus was on the performance analysis of multiuser communication systems as well as on semi-blind channel estimation algorithms. Random matrix theory along with advanced probability tools have been extensively used in most of my major contributions. These tools are now becoming among the essential tools in signal processing, allowing us to achieve unprecedented progress in several applications related to detection, estimation and design of high-speed wireless communication systems," she said.

"Recently I have become interested in the application of the tools of random matrix theory to the field of machine learning," Kammoun noted.

Path to KAUST

In 2012, Kammoun joined École Supérieure d'Electricité (Supélec) as a postdoctoral fellow and contributed to a project with the Telecommunications Corporation Orange S.A. (formerly France Télécom S.A.) regarding the standardization of 5G wireless communication networks.

"My experience with Orange—although not being theoretically oriented—has allowed me to acquire a good understanding of several practical concerns posed by 5G networks. This has helped me to come up with new research ideas, some of which I am working on with colleagues and students at KAUST," she said.

Two years later she joined the CEMSE Division after completing her Ph.D. in electrical engineering and her master's degree in digital communications at Télécom Paris-Tech. Prior to her time in France, she completed her Diplôme d'Ingénieur at the Ecole Polytechnique de Tunisie, La Marsa, in her native Tunisia.

Kammoun said that she decided to join KAUST because of its excellent research environment, which allows her space to deep-dive into her research interest and has given her the possibility to lead and manage many research projects. Over these past three years, Kammoun has had 25 journal papers accepted.

"I decided to join KAUST because of its excellent environment that allows me to steer my focus to many research fields I found interesting. Here I also have the opportunity to take the lead in the mentoring and guidance of many students at various levels. This has helped me to achieve an excellent record in terms of publications during my stay at KAUST," Kammoun concluded.

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