Orchestrating NextG Networks at the Confluence of Communications, Computing, and Control
Overview
Next generation networks are evolving beyond their traditional role as communication platforms into intelligent infrastructures that must jointly manage connectivity, computing, and decision making. This shift is driven by emerging applications with stringent requirements on latency, reliability, energy efficiency, and adaptability, particularly in environments where resources are distributed across mobile, edge, and cloud systems. This talk explores the confluence of communications, computing, and control in NextG networks, with an emphasis on AI driven resource orchestration. It discusses how reinforcement learning and related optimization approaches can support adaptive decision making for problems such as UAV placement, computation task offloading, user association, and resource allocation in 5G edge cloud systems. These problems are inherently coupled, since changes in network conditions, application demands, and infrastructure availability directly affect where resources should be placed and how they should be allocated. The talk highlights a broader research vision for autonomous NextG networks that can continuously learn from their operating environments and coordinate communication and computing resources in a reliable, efficient, and resilient manner.
Presenters
Junaid Farooq, University of Michigan-Dearborn, USA
Brief Biography
Junaid Farooq is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. His research interests include modeling, analysis and optimization of wireless communication systems, cyber-physical systems, and the Internet of things. He received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (SEECS), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan, the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia, in 2013 and 2015, respectively. Then, he was a Research Assistant with the Qatar Mobility Innovations Center (QMIC), Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP), Doha, Qatar. He received a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Tandon School of Engineering, New York University, Brooklyn, NY in 2020.
