Professor Jaafar Elmirghani

Profile

Professor Jaafar Elmirghani is Fellow of IEEE, Fellow of the IET, Fellow of the Institute of Physics and is the Director of the Institute of Communication and Power Networks and Professor of Communication Networks and Systems within the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Leeds, UK. He joined Leeds in 2007 having been full professor and chair in Optical Communications at the University of Wales Swansea 2000-2007. 

He received the BSc in Electrical Engineering, First Class Honours from the University of Khartoum in 1989 and was awarded all 4 prizes in the department for academic distinction. He received the PhD in the synchronization of optical systems and optical receiver design from the University of Huddersfield UK in 1994 and the DSc in Communication Systems and Networks from University of Leeds, UK, in 2012. He co-authored Photonic Switching Technology: Systems and Networks, (Wiley) and has published over 550 papers.

He was Chairman of the IEEE UK and RI Communications Chapter and was Chairman of IEEE Comsoc Transmission Access and Optical Systems Committee and Chairman of IEEE Comsoc Signal Processing and Communication Electronics (SPCE) Committee. He was a member of IEEE ComSoc Technical Activities Council’ (TAC), is an editor of IEEE Communications Magazine and is and has been on the technical program committee of 43 IEEE ICC/GLOBECOM conferences between 1995 and 2022 including 21 times as Symposium Chair. He was founding Chair of the Advanced Signal Processing for Communication Symposium which started at IEEE GLOBECOM’99 and has continued since at every ICC and GLOBECOM. Prof. Elmirghani was also founding Chair of the first IEEE ICC/GLOBECOM optical symposium at GLOBECOM’00, the Future Photonic Network Technologies, Architectures and Protocols Symposium. He chaired this Symposium, which continues to date. He was the founding chair of the first Green Track at ICC/GLOBECOM at GLOBECOM 2011, and is Chair of the IEEE Sustainable ICT Initiative, a pan IEEE Societies Initiative responsible for Green ICT activities across IEEE, 2012-present. He has given over 90 invited and keynote talks over the past 15 years.

He received the IEEE Communications Society 2005 Hal Sobol award for exemplary service to meetings and conferences, the IEEE Communications Society 2005 Chapter Achievement award, the University of Wales Swansea inaugural ‘Outstanding Research Achievement Award’, 2006, the IEEE Communications Society Signal Processing and Communication Electronics outstanding service award, 2009, a best paper award at IEEE ICC’2013, the IEEE Comsoc Transmission Access and Optical Systems outstanding Service award 2015 in recognition of “Leadership and Contributions to the Area of Green Communications”, the GreenTouch 1000x award in 2015 for “pioneering research contributions to the field of energy efficiency in telecommunications", the IET 2016 Premium Award for best paper in IET Optoelectronics, shared the 2016 Edison Award in the collective disruption category with a team of 6 from GreenTouch for their joint work on the GreenMeter, the IEEE Communications Society Transmission, Access and Optical Systems technical committee 2020 Outstanding Technical Achievement Award for outstanding contributions to the “energy efficiency of optical communication systems and networks”. He was named among the top 2% of scientists in the world by citations in 2019 in Elsevier Scopus, Stanford University database which includes the top 2% of scientists in 22 scientific disciplines and 176 sub-domains. He was elected Fellow of IEEE for “Contributions to Energy-Efficient Communications,” 2021.

He is currently an Area Editor of IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications series on Machine Learning for Communications, an editor of IEEE Journal of Lightwave Technology, IET Optoelectronics and Journal of Optical Communications, and was editor of IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials and IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications series on Green Communications and Networking. He was Co-Chair of the GreenTouch Wired, Core and Access Networks Working Group, an adviser to the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, member of the Royal Society International Joint Projects Panel and member of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) College. 

He has been awarded in excess of £30 million in grants to date from EPSRC, the EU and industry and has held prestigious fellowships funded by the Royal Society and by BT. He was an IEEE Comsoc Distinguished Lecturer 2013-2016. He was PI of the £6m EPSRC Intelligent Energy Aware Networks (INTERNET) Programme Grant, 2010-2016 and is currently PI of the EPSRC £6.6m Terabit Bidirectional Multi-user Optical Wireless System (TOWS) for 6G LiFi, 2019-2024. He leads a number of research projects and has research interests in communication networks, wireless and optical communication systems.

Responsibilities

• Director of the Institute of Communication and Power Networks
• Member of the School Management Board
• Member of the School Research Board

Research interests

• Optical wireless systems and networks 
• WDM networks
• Optical fibre communication systems
• Energy efficient communication systems
• Wireless and cellular systems and networks

Related projects:

Communication Systems 

• Optical systems modelling, including impairments, modulation and coding with special interest in energy efficiency (HIPNet, TINA, INTERNET, TOWS) 
• RF and optical systems (PPM, CDMA, OFDM), fixed wireless RF-optical systems, Sensor systems (eg. RFID) (REACH, IRIS, TINA, VeSeL)
• Optical wireless systems, multi-beam optical systems, beam steering and adaptation (INSTANT, TINA, TOWS)

Communication networks

• Optical storage area networks (INSTANT)
• Next generation IP core and access optical networks (switching node design, protection and restoration, impairment aware routing, architecture), (HIPNet)
• WDM networks including (PHOSPHOROUS, TDON)
• Wired-wireless networks (REACH, IRIS, TINA, VeSeL)
• Energy efficient networks (INTERNET, VeSel)  

Awards

• Elected Fellow of IEEE for “Contributions to Energy-Efficient Communications,” 2021.
• Received IEEE Communications Society Transmission, Access and Optical Systems (TAOS) technical committee Outstanding Technical Achievement Award for outstanding contributions to the “energy efficiency of optical communication systems and networks”, 2020, international competition.
• Named among the top 2% of scientists in the world by citations. Using data from Elsevier Scopus, Stanford University created a database that includes the top 2% of scientists in 22 scientific disciplines and 176 sub-domains. The database “assesses scientists for career-long citation impact up until the end of 2019” and “for citation impact during the single calendar year 2019”. 
• Awarded the IET 2016 Premium Award for best paper in IET Optoelectronics; the paper was rated the best paper published over the past 2 years in the renowned IET Optoelectronics.
• Shared with 6 GreenTouch innovators the 2016 Edison Award in the “Collective Disruption” Category for their work on the GreenMeter, an international competition, clear evidence of his seminal contributions to Green Communicationswhich have a lasting impact on the environment (green) and society.
• Received the GreenTouch 1000x award, GreenTouch 5 years celebrations, New York, 2015, competition among the GreenTouch 50 industrial and academic member organisations. The GreenTouch 1000x award recognises a GreenTouch member for “leadership in the creation, the organization and the promotion of the GreenTouch consortium and pioneering research contributions to the field of energy efficiency in telecommunications”.
• Received the IEEE Communications Society Transmission, Access and Optical Systems (TAOS) technical committee Outstanding Service Award, for “Leadership and Contributions to the Area of Green Communications”, 2015, international competition.
• Appointed an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer, 2013-2014, and 2015-2016. This prestigious honour “recognizes renowned authorities in their field who serve as distinguished speakers”.
• Received IEEE Comsoc flag ship conference, ICC 2013, best paper award.
• Received the IEEE Communications Society Signal Processing and Communication Electronics outstanding service award, 2009 in international competition.
• Received the University of Wales Swansea inaugural ‘Outstanding Research Achievement Award’, July 2006, a University wide competition.
• Received IEEE Communications Society 2005 Hal Sobol award for exemplary service to meetings and conferences.  The citation reads “For 10 years of outstanding service as a member of IEEE GLOBECOM/ICC Technical Programme Committees and Organiser/Chair of many technical sessions and Symposia”.  The award was received at IEEE GLOBECOM’05, November 2005, St. Louis, USA.
• Received IEEE Communications Society 2005 Chapter Achievement award “For achieving excellence in Chapter activities and for furthering the objectives of the Society”. The award was made to the IEEE UK&RI Communications Chapter I chair. The award was presented at IEEE GLOBECOM’05, November 2005, St. Louis, USA.

Recent Invited plenary addresses/ keynote papers at international conferences/ invited speaker

• Invited talk and Panel Moderator: Elmirghani, J.M.H., “EU 6G Flagship project /IEEE Sustainable ICT Initiative Webinar on Green Networking in B5G,” 14 April 2022.
• Invited talk: Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Energy Efficiency in the 6G Era,” Global 6G Conference, International Panel II: 6G Mobile Networks and Applications, organized by Future Forum, 22 March 2022.
• Keynote talk: Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Greening ICT and Greening by ICT,” Q4Climate workshop 3 February 2022
• Invited talk: Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Sustainable Communication Networks, Cloud and Fog,” IEEE Summit on Communications Futures, 14-15 January 2022 (virtual event).
• Keynote talk: Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Energy Efficient IoT and Edge Processing,” 3rd IEEE International Conference on Sustainable Technologies for Industry 4.0 (STI 2021),” (virtual event), 18-19 December 2021.
• Invited talk: Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Terabit Optical Wireless Systems for 6G,” Huawei Strategy & Technology Workshop, 14-16 October 2021.
• Invited talk: Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Sustainable Cloud and Fog Processing and Networking,” Clean-IT openXchange 27 September 2021.
• Keynote talk: Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Energy Efficient Edge Processing in Smart Cities,” IEEE International Smart Cities Conference (virtual event), 9 September 2021.
• Keynote talk: Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Energy Efficient Fog, Cloud and IoT Networks,” 12th IEEE Comsoc Wireless Days, Paris (virtual event), 2 July 2021.
• Invited talk: Elmirghani, J.M.H., “The optical spectrum and Tb/s wireless systems in the 6G era,” UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and UK Spectrum Policy Forum (SPF) workshop on Radio Access Network Techniques for 6G, 1 July 2021.
• Invited paper and invited talk: Yosuf, B.A., Mohamed S.H., Alenazi, M.M., El-Gorashi, T.E.H. and Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Energy-Efficient AI over a Virtualized Cloud Fog Network,” Twelfth ACM International Conference on Future Energy Systems (ACM e-Energy) 2nd International Workshop on Energy Efficiency Learning at the Edge (WEEE), June 28 to July 2, 2021.
• Invited paper and invited talk: Alenazi, M.M., Yosuf, B.A., Mohamed S.H., El-Gorashi, T.E.H. and Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Energy-Efficient Distributed Machine Learning in Cloud Fog Networks,” IEEE 2021 World Forum on Internet of Things 2021 (WF-IoT 2021), Vertical/Topical Tracks, “TOP2: Communications and Networking,” 14 July 2021, New Orleans.
• Invited talk, Elmirghani, J.M.H., panel on “clean-IT: Towards Sustainable Digital Technologies” at 2021 “Global Solutions Summit”, 27 May 2021.
• Keynote talk, Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Sustainability of Communication Networks and Data Centres,” IEEE Climate Change Round Table 30 April 2021, virtual event.
• Keynote talk, Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Energy Efficiency Everywhere: Cloud, Fog, Virtualisation, RAN and IoT,” IEEE De-sign of Reliable Communication Networks (DRCN) conference, 20 April 2021.
• Invited short course talk, Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Sustainable Cloud and Fog Networks,” IEEE and clean-IT forum joint clean-IT MOOC: Towards Sustainable Digital Technologies, recorded 8 March 2021, offered continuously, 1243 attended the course in week1.
• Invited talk, Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Terabit Optical Wireless Systems and Energy Efficiency,” UK and Nordic-Baltic Countries 5G Forum, organized by 5G Testbeds and Trials Programme, Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), 8 Feb 2021.
• Invited talk, Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Future Internet Networks and Systems,” Ofcom, UK, 21 Oct 2020.
• Invited talk, Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Terabit Optical Wireless Systems for 6G Networks,” EPSRC Towards Ultimate Convergence of All Networks (TOUCAN) Programme Grant final workshop, UK, 4 November 2020.
• Alsulami, O.Z., Saeed, S.O.M., Mohamed S.H., El-Gorashi, T.E.H., Alresheedi, M.T. and Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Resource allocation in co-existing optical wireless HetNets,” invited talk and invited paper at IEEE 22nd International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON), Bari, Italy, 19-23 July 2020.
• Eltraify, A.E.A., Musa, M.O.I., Al-Quzweeni, A. and Elmirghani, J.M.H., “VM placement over WDM-TDM AWGR PON based data centre architecture,” invited talk and invited paper at IEEE 22nd International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON), Bari, Italy, 19-23 July 2020.
• Invited talk, Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Sustainable ICT: Greening ICT and Greening by ICT,” Invited talk at Comms4Italy, A solidarity initiative for Italy by telecom researchers during COVID-19 organised by IEEE Italy Joint ComSoc/VTS Chapter, 27 March 2020, online.
• Invited talk, Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Network Intelligence and Energy Efficient Resource Provisioning in 6G,” invited talk and invited paper at IEEE 6G Wireless Summit, MATILDA Workshop, Levi, Lapland, Finland, 17-20 March 2020.
• O. Z. Alsulami, A. A. Alahmadi, S. O. M. Saeed, S. H. Mohamed, T. E. H. El-Gorashi, M. T. Alresheedi and J. M. H. Elmirghani, “Optimum Resource Allocation in 6G Optical Wireless Communication Systems,” invited talk and invited paper at IEEE 6G Wireless Summit, Levi, Lapland, Finland, 17-20 March 2020.
• Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Network Intelligence and Software-isation in 6G,” invited talk at EPSRC ComNet2 and the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists workshop on ‘Software-isation The Challenges of Software Quality for ICT Intense Industries,’ 27 November 2019, London.
• Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Energy in the Digital Core,” invited talk at IEEE 5G World Forum, Dresden, 30 September 2019 – 2 October 2019.
• Alharbi, H., El-Gorashi, T.E.H., and Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Energy efficient virtual machine services placement in cloud-fog architecture,” Proc IEEE 21st International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON), Angers, France, 9-13 July 2019, invited talk and invited paper.
• Alahmadi, A.A., Musa, M.O.I., El-Gorashi, T.E.H. and Elmirghani, J.M.H., “nergy efficient resource allocation in vehicular cloud based architecture,” Proc IEEE 21st International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON), Angers, France, 9-13 July 2019, invited talk and invited paper.
• Invited talk, Hadi, M.S., Lawey, A., El-Gorashi, T.E.H., and Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Using Machine Learning and Big Data Analytics to Prioritize OutPatients in HetNets,” IEEE International Conference on Computer Communications (INFOCOM) Workshop on Sustainable networking through MachIne Learning and Internet of thiNGs (SMILING 2019), invited paper, 2019.
• Invited talk, Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Sustainable Internet Design,” IEEE Technology Time Machine (TTM), October 31-November 1, 2018, San Diego, invited talk.
• Keynote talk, Elmirghani, J.M.H., “GreenTouch – Yesterday, Today, & Tomorrow,” at IEEE 5G Energy Efficiency Tutorial San Francisco Bay Area PELS Chapter and co-sponsored by the IEEE Communications Society and the IEEE 5G Initiative, 19 September 2018.
• Keynote talk at 5^th IEEE International Workshop on Next Generation Green Wireless Networks, Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Greening big data IoT networks: Volume, Velocity, Variety, Veracity and the like,” Sheffield, 17-18 September 2018.
• Invited talk, Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Energy Efficient Processing and Virtualisation in Future Networks: The EEICT Standards Working Group Activities,” at IEEE 5G World Forum (5GWF'18), 9-11 July, 2018, Santa Clara, California.
• Invited talk, and invited paper, Younus, S.H. and Elmirghani, J.M.H., “VLC Systems with CGHs,” 13^th IEEE Pacific Rim Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO Pacific Rim, CLEO-PR 2018), Hong Kong 29 July - 3 August 2018.
• Opeyemi, A., El-Gorashi, T.E.H., and Elmirghani, J.M.H., “On energy efficiency of networks for composable datacentre infrastructures,” Proc IEEE 20th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON), Bucharest, Romania, 1-5 July 2018, invited talk and invited paper.
• Elterifi, A., Elgorashi, T.E.H., and Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Experimental evaluation of passive optical network based data centre architecture,” Proc IEEE 20th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON), Bucharest, Romania, 1-5 July 2018, invited talk and invited paper.
• Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Greening Cloud and Virtualised Communication Networks,” Tutorial at IEEE GLOBECOM 2017, (3.5 hours), (Short course), at IEEE Global Telecommunications Conference (GLOBECOM'17), Singapore, December 4-8, 2017.
• Mohamed, S., Elgorashi, T.E.H. and Elmirghani, J.M.H., “On the Energy Efficiency of MapReduce Shuffling Operations in Data Centers,” Proc IEEE 19th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON), Girona, Catalonia, Spain, 2-6 July 2017, invited talk and invited paper.
• Alani, R., Hammadi, A., Elgorashi, T.E.H., and Elmirghani, J.M.H., “PON Data Centre Design with AWGR and Server based Routing,” Proc IEEE 19th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON), Girona, Catalonia, Spain, 2-6 July 2017, invited talk and invited paper.
• Elmirghani, J.M.H., Nonde, L., Lawy, A.Q., El-Gorashi, T.E.H., Musa, M.O.I., Dong, X., Hinton, K., and Klein T., "Energy Efficiency Measures for Future Core Networks, IEEE/OSA Optical Fibre Communications (OFC 2017) conference, 19 - 23 March 2017, Los Angeles, California, USA, invited talk and invited paper.
• Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Greening ICT and Greening by ICT,” Closing Plenary, IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society, Trivandrum, Kerala, India, 21-22 Oct. 2016.
• Nonde, L., Lawy, A.Q., El-Gorashi, T.E.H. and Elmirghani, J.M.H., "Energy efficient cloud networks," IEEE International Workshop on Green ICT and Smart Networking (GISN 2016), in IEEE 12th International Conference on Network and Service Management, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Oct. 31 - Nov. 4, 2016; Invited Keynote talk and invited paper.
• Invited talk at IEEE 20th International Conference on Optical Network Design and Modeling (ONDM), workshop on Big Data for networking: opportunities, challenges, and requirements, Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Big Data Analytics in Support of Optimum Routing, Replication and Processing,”Cartagena, Spain, May 9-12, 2016.
• Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Greening Big Data Networks,” Tutorial at IEEE ICC 2016, (3.5 hours), (Short course), at IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC'16), Kuala Lumpur, 23-27 May 2016.
• Hammadi, A., El-Gorashi, T.E.H., Musa, M.O.I. and Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Server-Centric PON Data Center Architecture,” Proc IEEE 18th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON), Trento, Italy, July 10-14, 2016, invited paper.
• Musa, M.O.I., El-Gorashi, T.E.H., and Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Network Coding for Energy Efficiency in Bypass IP/WDM Networks,” Proc IEEE 18th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON), Trento, Italy, July 10-14, 2016, invited paper.
• Ali, H.M.M., El-Gorashi, T.E.H., Lawey, A.Q. and Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Energy Efficient Resource Provisioning and VM Migration Heuristic with Disaggregated Server Design,” Proc IEEE 18th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON), Trento, Italy, July 10-14, 2016, invited paper
• Keynote talk at 4th IEEE International Workshop on Next Generation Green Wireless Networks, Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Energy-efficient cloud networks,” Dublin, 12-13 September 2016.
• Invited talk at IEEE/OSA Asia Communication and Photonics Conference (ACP) 2015, Ali, H.M.M., Lawey, A.Q., El-Gorashi, T.E.H. and Elmirghani, J.M.H. “Disaggregated Data Centres,” Hong Kong, Nov. 19-23, 2015.
• Invited talk at IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS 2015), J.M.H. Elmirghani, “Greening ICT and Vehicular Communications,” Closing Plenary: Future Internet and Smart Cities, 12 November 2015, Dublin, Ireland.
• Invited talk at IEEE 2015 Green Comm, J.M.H. Elmirghani, “IEEE Green ICT Initiative,” Green ICT Open Forum, 11 November 2015.
• Invited talk at 15th IEEE International Conference on Ubiquitous Wireless Broadband (ICUWB 2015), J.M.H. Elmirghani, “Sustainability: Greening ICT and by ICT,” Panel on Sustainability through Ubiquitous Wireless Broadband, 7 October 2015, Montreal, Canada.
• Keynote talk at IEEE International Conference on Computing, Control, Networking, Electronics and Embedded Systems Engineering (ICCNEEE 2015), J.M.H. Elmirghani, “Energy Efficient Communication Networks,” 7 September 2015, Khartoum, Sudan.
• Invited talk at European Conference on Networks and Communications (EuCNC 2015), workshop on “State of the Art Research Results in Green and Energy Efficient Communications for the Exa-Scale Telecommunication Network of Tomorrow”, Elmirghani, J.M.H., “GreenTouch Core Network Energy Efficiency Improvement Measures,” Paris, June 29th – July 2nd, 2015.
• Invited talk at GreenTouch showcase, “Green Content Distribution Networks,” New York, 17-22 June 2015.
• Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Greening Cloud Networks,” Tutorial at IEEE ICC 2015, (3.5 hours), (Short course), at IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC'15), London, 8-12 June 2015.
• Elmirghani, J.M.H., and Hinton, K., “Can we ensure the long term sustainability of the Internet?,” Panel at IEEE ICC 2015, (1.5 hours), Speakers: Oliver Blume, Bell Laboratories Alcatel-Lucent, (Vendor, Wireless), Nagaraj Prasanth Anthapadmanabhan, Alcatel-Lucent, (Vendor, Access and Core Networks), Louise Krug, British Telecom, (Telecom Operator), Chris Chambers, BBC, (Content and Service Provider), at IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC'15), London, 8-12 June 2015.
• Invited talk at 17th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON’15), Al-Quzweeni, A., El-Gorashi, T.E.H., Nonde, L. and Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Energy Efficient Network Function Virtualization in 5G Networks,” Proc IEEE 17th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON), Budapest, Hungry, July 5-9, 2015, invited paper.
• Invited talk at 17th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON’15), Al-Salim, A.M., Lawey, A.Q., El-Gorashi, T.E.H., and Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Energy Efficient Tapered Data Networks for Big Data Processing in IP/WDM Networks,” Proc IEEE 17th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON), Budapest, Hungry, July 5-9, 2015, invited paper.
• IEEE Distinguished Lecturer Tour, Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Greening Core, Data Centre and Content Distribution Networks,” 11 November 2014 in Wellington, 13 November 2014 in Auckland and 14 November 2014 in Dunedin, New Zealand.
• Invited talk at GreenTouch workshop on Software-Defined Networks and Virtualization: Are the Energy Efficiency Benefits Obvious? During the Nantes Digital Week, Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Green Network and Data Centre Virtualization,” Nantes, France, 18 September 2014.
• Invited talk at OSA Photonics in Switching, Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Distributed Energy Efficient Clouds over Core Optical Networks,” 13 - 17 July 2014, San Diego, USA.
• Invited talk at 16th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON’14), Ding H., El-Gorashi, T.E.H. and Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Energy Efficient Traffic Scheduling in IP over WDM Networks,” Proc IEEE 16th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON), Graz, Austria, July 6-10, 2014.
• Keynote talk at IEEE 19th European Conference on Network and Optical Communications, NOC 2014, Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Energy Efficient Content Distribution Optical Networks,” 4-6 June 2014, Milano, Italy.
• Invited talk at, Joint Academic Network (JANET) Networkshop, Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Intelligent Energy Aware Networks - a Content Perspective,” 1-3 April 2014, Leeds, UK.
• IEEE Distinguished Lecturer Tour, Invited talk at IEEE Radio Wireless Week, Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Optical Wireless Systems: Challenges and Opportunities,” 20 January 2014, NewPort Beach, California, USA.
• Invited talk, “GreenTouch Green Meter and Core Network Modelling,” at EC E1 Future Internet Cluster Meeting: Green and Energy-efficient Networking Workshop, Brussels, 21-24 Oct. 2013.
• Invited talk, “Overview of the INTelligent Energy aware NETworks (INTERNET) project,” UK Photonics research showcase at European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC), London, 25 September 2013. 
• Invited talk, “Green Operator Networks: Topology, Routing and Data Centres”, IEEE 24th Tyrrhenian International Workshop on Digital Communications (TIWDC 2013), Genoa, Italy, 23-25 Sept. 2013. 
• Invited talk, “Energy Efficient Cloud Content Delivery in Core Networks Employing Renewable Energy”, IEEE 24th Tyrrhenian International Workshop on Digital Communications (TIWDC 2013), Genoa, Italy, 23-25 Sept. 2013.
• Invited tutorial, “Energy Efficient Core and Content Distribution Networks,” IEEE 21st International Conference on Software, Telecommunications and Computer Networks (SoftCOM’2013), split, Croatia, 18-20 Sept, 2013. 
• Invited talk at IEEE 15th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON'13), Dong, X., El-Gorashi, T.E.H. and Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Core Network Physical Topology Design for Energy Efficiency and Resilience,” Proc IEEE ICTON 2013, Cartagena, Spain, June 23-27, 2013.
• Invited talk at EU Future Internet Assembly, “Green ICT: What would be the cost of doing nothing?”, 9 May 2013, Dublin. 
• Invited talk at IEEE INFOCOM 2013, TERND/GreenTouch® workshop on Green Communications, Lawey, A.Q., El-Gorashi, T.E.H. and Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Distributed Energy Efficient Resources,” Torino, 19 April 2013. 
• Invited talk at CHIST-ERA Projects Seminar 2013, Elmirghani, J.M.H., “SwiTching And tRansmission (STAR),” Brussels, 27 March 2013.
• Keynote talk at Celtic-Plus Event 2013, “GreenTouch vision, Targets and Research Activities,” Kayseri, Turkey, 6 March 2013.
• Invited talk at EPSRC Workshop on 'Vision for Future Wireless Research,' “INTERNET Project: Achievements and lessons learnt,” Elmirghani, J.M.H., organized by the EPSRC Network in Communications and Networking, Royal Academy of Engineering, 19 October 2012, London. 
• Invited talk at the TREND (Towards Real Energy-efficient Network Design) European Network of Excellence 2012 meeting, Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Energy Efficient Network Topology Design with Restoration Considerations,” 2 October 2012, Volos, Greece.  
• Invited talk at ‘EU Sustainable Energy Week’ GreenTouch® Workshop on ‘ICT Sustainable Networks for Sustainable Life-styles’, Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Dynamic Resource Management in Core Networks,” Brussels, 20 June 2012.
• Invited talk at Communications, Networking and Photonics Summer School organized by the EPSRC Network in Communications and Networking, Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Energy Efficient Core Networks,” Edinburgh, 19 June 2012.
• Invited talk at GreenTouch® Green IT and Telecom workshop, Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Energy efficient VoD, IPTV and Peer-to-Peer Communication Networks,” Bangalore, 5 April 2012.
• Invited talk at 16th IEEE Conference on Optical Network Design and Modelling (ONDM’12), Dong, X., Lawey, A.Q., El-Gorashi, T.E.H. and Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Energy Efficient Core Networks,” Proc 16th IEEE Conference on Optical Network Design and Modelling (ONDM’12), 17-20 April, 2012, UK.
• Invited talk at IEEE Optical Fibre Communications (OFC’12) conference, Elmirghani, J.M.H., “LTE: Driving Changes in Mobile Backhaul Networking,” OFC’12, Los Angeles, 4 March 2012. 
• Invited talk at 16th IEEE Conference on Optical Network Design and Modelling (ONDM’12), Dong, X., Lawey, A.Q., El-Gorashi, T.E.H. and Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Energy Efficient Core Networks,” Proc 16th IEEE Conference on Optical Network Design and Modelling (ONDM’12), 17-20 April, 2012, UK.
• Invited talk at 14th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks(ICTON’12), Lawey, A.Q., El-Gorashi, T.E.H. and Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Impact of Peers Behaviour on the Energy Efficiency of BitTorrent over Optical Networks,” Proc IEEE 14th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks ICTON 2012, 2-5 July, 2012, UK.
• Invited talk at the GreenTouch® Open Forum, J.M.H. Elmirghani, “Renewable Energy in Core and Data Centre Networks,” 17 Nov. 2011, Seattle, USA.
• Invited keynote address at the 2011 conference of the European Coordinated Research on Long term Challenges in Information and Communication Sciences & Technologies (ERA-Net), (CHIST-ERA) “Green ICT: Beyond sleeping memories”, sponsored by EPSRC and the national research councils in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Ireland, Austria, Poland, Switzerland and Belgium, Cork 5-6 September 2011.
• Invited talk at 13th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks(ICTON’11), Dong, X., El-Gorashi, T.E.H. and Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Energy-efficient IP over WDM networks with data centres,” Proc IEEE 13th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks ICTON 2011, 26-30 June, 2011, Stockholm, Sweden.
• Invited talk at 13th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks(ICTON’11), Alresheedi, M. and Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Adaptive multibeam spot diffusing optical wireless system with imaging receivers,” Proc IEEE 13th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks ICTON 2011, 26-30 June, 2011, Stockholm, Sweden.
• Invited talk at Bell Labs, Alcatel-Lucent, “Intelligent Energy Aware Networks,” Murray Hill, New Jersey, 2 June 2011.
• Invited talk at University of Oxford Balliol College, “Creating the Green Internet,” September 2011.
• Invited talk at University of Bristol, “Towards a Carbon-Free Internet,” July 2011.
• Invited Keynote talk at International Conference on Sustainable Data Centre Design and Operation, June 2011, Leeds, “Data Centres, Renewable Energy and Green Communication Networks”.
• Invited talk at GreenTouch® members meeting, “Green IP over WDM Networks with Data Centres,” packet versus circuit switched architectures session, Amsterdam, November 2010.
• Invited panel member, panel “GreenTouch® and Green Wireless Communications” at 21st Annual IEEE International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC 2010), Istanbul, Turkey, 26 – 30 September 2010.
• Invited talk at 12th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks(ICTON’10), Dong, X., El-Gorashi, T.E.H. and Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Renewable Energy in IP Over WDM Networks,” Proc IEEE 12th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks ICTON 2010, June 27 - July 1, 2010, Munich, Germany.

 Recent Tutorials and Short Courses

• Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Greening the Internet,” Short course at IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC’13), Budapest, 9-13 June 2013.
• Elmirghani, J.M.H., invited tutorial, “Energy Efficient Core and Content Distribution Networks,” IEEE 21st International Conference on Software, Telecommunications and Computer Networks (SoftCOM’2013), split, Croatia, 18-20 Sept, 2013.
• Elmirghani, J.M.H., "Greening Core, Data Centre and Content Distribution Networks," Tutorial at IEEE ICC 2014 (3.5 hours), (Short course) at IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC'14), Sydney, 10-14 June 2014.
• Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Greening Cloud Networks,” Tutorial at IEEE ICC 2015 (3.5 hours), (Short course) at IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC'15), London, 8-12 June 2015.
• Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Greening Big Data Networks,” Tutorial at IEEE ICC 2016, (3.5 hours), (Short course), at IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC'16), Kuala Lumpur, 23-27 May 2016.
• Elmirghani, J.M.H., “Greening Cloud and Virtualised Communication Networks,” Tutorial at IEEE GLOBECOM 2017, (3.5 hours), (Short course), at IEEE Global Telecommunications Conference (GLOBECOM'17), Singapore, December 4-8, 2017.

Impact

INTelligent Energy awaRe NETworks - Making the Internet green

Led through a £6 million six-year project funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) – the UK’s attempts to green the Internet and improve the energy efficiency of communication networks by a factor of 1000.

The project aptly named INTERNET (INTelligent Energy awaRe NETworks), which took place between 2010 and 2016, has been an academic collaboration between the University of Leeds and the University of Cambridge with industrial partners including:

• Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs (now Nokia Bell Labs)

• Avago Technologies

• BBC

• Broadcom Corporation

• BT

• Cisco

• Ericsson

• O2

• Oclaro Technology UK

• Solarflare Communications

• Telecom New Zealand Limited

During the same time frame, Professor Elmirghani has also spearheaded the international effort to green the Internet with over 50 partner international organisations through the consortium GreenTouch. The aim of GreenTouch is to reduce Net Energy Consumption in Communications Networks by up to 98% by 2020.

‘ICT networks and systems consume about two per cent of the world’s energy and have carbon emissions comparable to the global aviation industry. Unlike aviation, whose growth is flat, the networks are growing at 30 to 40 per cent per year. This is huge growth. The Internet and everything attached to it emits as much carbon emission as everything flying around the world. At this growth rate, if nothing is done, the Internet power consumption will increase by a factor of 30x in 10 years and by a factor of 1000x in 20 years. So, to put it another way, in just 10 years if this level of growth continues then it will be consuming up to 60% of the world’s energy and this is not sustainable.

Our research has not only looked at ways in which we can green ICT but has also examined how ICT can green other areas of our lives. This is particularly important as we head into an “Internet of Things” world. The public are not aware as much as they should be about the impact of their internet use. People can relate to aircraft damage but not to Internet damage. The concept of carbon offsetting and flying is understood but how do you get a provider to offset? There is still a lot more to do. Our findings are feeding into national and international government policy and our white papers form the basis of the industry standards.’

Professor Elmirghani was appointed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) president as Chair of a pan IEEE Societies Green ICT initiative, 2012-present overseeing all the Green ICT research in the IEEE. The IEEE, with more than 430,000 members worldwide, is the world’s largest professional association advancing innovation and technological excellence for the benefit of humanity. Through this initiative Professor Elmirghani introduced several new IEEE products, for example the new IEEE Transactions on Green Communications and Networking (January 2017 first issue), and several new conferences.

Professor Elmirghani’s work in greening the Internet has had significant industrial and academic impact bringing enormous economic and environmental benefits. With his team, he has introduced new network architectures, protocols and hardware techniques to the core network, the central wired part of the Internet. This has led to an energy efficiency improvement in the core network of 316x, more than the level required to achieve 1000x energy efficiency improvement in the overall wired and wireless network.

Moreover, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), USA, has recently approved 5 new standards based on the world leading research carried out in the £6m EPSRC INTelligent Energy awaRe NETworks (INTERNET) Programme Grant. This is a most significant achievement, many IEEE standards are very well known and have had significant impact through uptake by equipment vendors, network operators and end users to ensure functionality, capability and interoperability of products and services. For example the IEEE 802.11 (WiFi standard) and IEEE 802.3 (Ethernet Standard). These are the 802 family. Each of the new 5 standards is a new family.

The 5 new standards are based on Professor Elmirghani’s research in GreenTouch Green Meter where he chaired the GreenTouch Wired, Core and Access Networks (WCAN) working group. Prior to its standardisation, the work led to the current world record 316x energy efficiency improvement in the core network, a significant contribution towards the GreenTouch 1000x energy efficiency improvement target. Professor Elmirghani and his group’s work in energy efficiency was recognised through 4 International awards, the 2015 GreenTouch 1000x award for “pioneering research contributions to the field of energy efficiency in telecommunications”, the IEEE Communications Society 2015 outstanding service award for “leadership and contributions to the area of green communications”, the prestigious 2016 Edison award in the Collective Disruption category for work on the GreenTouch GreenMeter and the 2016 IET Optoelectronics premium award. 

The first standard, IEEE P1925.1, is a Standard for Energy Efficient Dynamic Line Rate Transmission System. This standard specifies an energy-efficient rate-adaptive transmission system that can be used to deploy mixed line rates. This standard introduces the architecture and mechanisms needed to enable the use of an optimal combination of line rates to accommodate the traffic while reducing power consumption.

The second standard, IEEE P1926.1, is a Standard for a Functional Architecture of Distributed Energy Efficient Big Data Processing. This standard specifies a functional architecture that supports the energy-efficient transmission and processing of large volumes of data, starting at processing nodes close to the data source, with significant processing resources provided at centralised data centers.

The third standard, IEEE P1927.1, is a Standard for Services Provided by the Energy-efficient Orchestration and Management of Virtualised Distributed Data Centers Interconnected by a Virtualised Network. This standard specifies an architecture for a service composed of distributed data centers interconnected by a network. It specifies the interfaces and the dynamic orchestration and management mechanisms for energy-efficient allocation of resources from data centers and network.

The fourth standard, IEEE P1928.1, is a Standard for a Mechanism for Energy Efficient Virtual Machine Placement. This standard specifies an algorithm for energy-efficient virtual machine placement strategies considering network and computational power consumption. It also considers the geographic distribution of user demand.

Finally, IEEE P1929.1 is An Architectural Framework for Energy Efficient Content Distribution which specifies a framework for designing energy efficient content distribution services, such as migration, placement, and replication, over networks.

Professor Elmirghani said, “I am delighted that our work in the INTERNET project has led to worldwide impact through GreenTouch, but more significantly now through these 5 new IEEE standards. I am looking forward to working with colleagues in industry and academia over the coming years to maximise the impact of these standards. I am also delighted that we are able to contribute to the next Research Excellence Framework in this way.”

More details about the standards can be found on the IEEE Standards Association website. 

Awards

In recognition of this pioneering work, and its global impact and reach, Professor Elmirghani has received five prestigious awards:

• The IEEE Communications Society Transmission, Access and Optical Systems technical committee Outstanding Technical Achievement Award for outstanding contributions to the “energy efficiency of optical communication systems and networks”, 2020, international competition.
• The IET 2016 Premium Award for best paper in IET Optoelectronics.

• The 2015 GreenTouch 1000x Award – given out biannually to a GreenTouch member for leadership in the creation, the organisation and the promotion of the GreenTouch consortium and pioneering research contributions to the field of energy efficiency in telecommunications.

• The 2016 Edison Award – an annual, global competition honouring excellence in new product and service development, marketing, human-centred design, and innovation. Winners represent ‘game-changing’ products, services, excellence and leadership in innovation around four criteria: Concept, Value, Delivery and Impact. The work on the GreenTouch GreenMeter was awarded under the ‘Collective Disruption’ Category.

• The 2015 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Communications Society Comsoc outstanding service award for  leadership and contributions to the area of green communications.

Feeding into Research and Teaching

The project has fed directly into daily research and teaching at the University. Many students completing their final year MEng and MSc projects have worked on elements of this research and have worked alongside postdocs and companies.

The research group itself at the University of Leeds currently has 20 PhD students and five post-docs. The INTERNET project research team won the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) 2016 Premium Award for Best Paper in IET Optoelectronics. They were also recognised over the past 5 years in the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering through 4 Carter best PhD thesis awards (X. Dong, A. Lawey, F. Alsaadi and M. Hafeez) and 4 Carter best paper awards (O. Alsulami, L. Nonde, A. Lawey and A. Hussein). Two academics have also seen career progression following their work on the project.

Facilities

Much of the research has been conducted in new £2m state-of-the-art laboratories at the University of Leeds. These were funded by grants and subsequently match funded by the University.

Post Doctoral Research Fellows

• Dr Sanaa Hamid Mohammed
• Dr Barzan Yosuf 
• Dr Ahmed Adnan Qidan
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Qualifications

• BSc (Honours) First class, Electrical Engineering, University of Khartoum, 1989
• PhD, Electrical Engineering, University of Huddersfield, 1994
• DSc in Communication Networks and Systems, University of Leeds, 2012

Professional memberships

• Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)
• Fellow of Institution of Engineering and Technology (FIET)
• Fellow of the Institute of Physics (FInstP)
• Member of EPSRC College, 2006-2009, 2009-2012, 2012-present
• Invited and appointed advisor to the Commonwealth Scholarships Commission, 2008-present.
• Invited and appointed member of the Royal Society International Joint Projects Panel, Jan. 2011 to Dec. 2013.  

Student education

MSc teaching and project supervision in the area of communication networks.

Research groups and institutes

• Institute of Communication and Power Networks

Current postgraduate researchers

• Mr Xingyu Chen
• Miss Yanyan Ge