Pedram Johari

Biography

Pedram Johari received the B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering (Electronics) from Azad University Central Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran, in 2006. He started his career at Mobile Communication Company of Iran (MCCI) -the largest wireless service provider in the Middle East-, as a cellular radio network planner and optimizer. He has been responsible for Mobile Broad Band (MBB) planning project of MCCI in one region (amongst six) of the country in 2013 and 2014. Pedram has also taught various courses during his career in industry, namely, cellular cell planning tools and theoretical classes of different generations of mobile communications (GSM, 3G and LTE) from 2010 until 2014 in the training center of MCCI.

Pedram received the M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering (Communication Systems) from Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), Tehran, Iran, in 2012, and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, USA, in December 2017, under the guidance of Professor Josep M. Jornet. Pedram was the recipient of the “SPIE Optics and Photonics Education Scholarship“ for his outstanding contributions to the field of optics and photonics in 2017. He has also received the “UB-Nano Lab Researcher of the Year Award” in 2016; the “Outstanding Graduate Student Award”, for his exceptional academic achievements in the Department of Electrical Engineering at UB for two consecutive years in 2015 and 2016; and the “UB Engineering Leaders in Excellence Award” in 2016. Pedram is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in UBNano Lab as well as an Instructor with the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University at Buffalo. His research interests are in Nano-photonic wireless communication, Electromagnetic nanonetworks, Intra-body Wireless Nanosensor Networks, In Vivo Nanoscale Optical Channel Properties, Terahertz-band communication networks, and the Internet of Nano-Things.

Selected Honors and Awards

“Best Lightening Talk Award (2nd Place)”, at the 4th Annual Career Perspective and Networking Conference (CPNC), Buffalo, NY, October 2017.

“Best Poster Award (1st Place)”, for poster presentation titled “Nanoscale Optical Communications for In Vivo Wireless Nanosensor Networks”, the 20th International Conference on Electron Dynamics in Semiconductors, Optoelectronics and Nanostructures (EDISON20), Buffalo, NY, July 2017.

“SPIE Optics and Photonics Education Scholarship“, for his outstanding contributions to the field of optics and photonics, SPIE, The International Society for Optics and Photonics, May 2017.

Full travel support to attend as a panelist in “Disruptive Technologies Student Panel Discussion“ at SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing (DCS) Conference, The International Society for Optics and Photonics, Anaheim, CA, Sponsored by ICF International, April 2017.

“School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Annual Poster Competition, 3rd Place“, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences of SUNY at Buffalo, April 2017.

“Electrical Engineering Outstanding Student – 1st Place, Graduate Student Poster Competition“, Electrical Engineering Department of SUNY at Buffalo, April 2017.

“Ultra-Broadband Nanoscale Communication and Networking Laboratory 2016 Researcher of the Year Award”, for his outstanding research achievements throughout the year, December 2016.

“UB Engineering Leaders in Excellence Scholarship”, University at Buffalo Engineering Alumni Association, September 2016.

“Student Travel Grant” by IEEE ComSoc, to attend IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 2016.

“Electrical Engineering Outstanding Student Award – Highest PhD Candidate Grade Point Average”, Electrical Engineering Department of SUNY at Buffalo, September 2015.

Awarded with scholarship “Ranked 1st among all M.Sc. Communication Systems Eng. Students”, Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), GPA: 18.16/20, April 2012.

“Graduate Research Financial Support”, Iran Telecommunication Research Center (ITRC), September 2010 – September 2011.

“Engineer of the year” Award, Department of Cellular Networks Planning and Optimization, Mobile Communication Company of Iran (MCI), February 2010.

Research

Ph.D. Research Summary

My Ph.D. research has been focused on nanoscale wireless communication and networking, specifically on intra-body electromagnetic (EM) nanonetworks at THz and optical frequencies. Intra-body nanonetworks consist of miniaturized nanomachines, e.g., nano-biosensors, that are either implanted or floating inside the body fluids such as blood. These nanosensors are capable of measuring vital parameters at (sub) cellular levels and communicate the obtained data between them or to an external interface, e.g., a wearable medical device. This novel technology enables a plethora of applications including cutting-edge diagnostic and therapeutic techniques, enhanced sport and fitness wearable devices, and unrivaled bio-identification mechanisms for authentication and secure access. Moreover, the interconnection of intra-body nanonetworks with classical wireless networks, and ultimately the Internet, will lead towards the Internet of Nano-Things, the ultimate cyber-physical system enabling unprecedented human-machine, machine-machine and human-human interactions. The Internet of Nano-Things is a new converging discipline that spans several branches in Engineering, Science, Nanotechnology, and Biology.

The applications of EM nanoscale wireless communication and networking are not limited to intra-body communications. For example, the knowledge, tools and skills that I have acquired to investigate the interaction of EM-waves at THz and optical frequencies with (sub) cellular components to develop new wireless channel models; the dual-physics EM-thermodynamic analysis needed to define optimal modulation and coding strategies; and the optimization algorithms developed to maximize reliability and range in nano-communications, can be extended to different scenarios that can evolve into a plethora of interesting state-of-the-art research in this discipline.

Current Research Interests

• Electromagnetic Nanonetworks in the Terahertz Band (0.1-10~THz) and Optical Window.
• Nanoscale optical communications, with applications on in-vivo wireless nanosenor networks (iWNSNs) and Wireless Network-on-Chip.
• New physical, link and network layer protocols and theory for ultra-fast Terahertz band networks.
• Internet of Nano-Things.

Other Publications

Peer-reviewed Journals

1. P. Johari and J. M. Jornet, “NanoScale Optical Wireless Channel Model for Intra-Body Communications: Geometrical, Time, and Frequency Domain Analyses,” IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. 66, no. 4, pp. 1579-1593, April 2018.
2. H. Elayan, P. Johari, R. M. Shubair and J. M. Jornet, “Photothermal Modeling and Analysis of Intra-body Terahertz Nanoscale Communication,” IEEE Transactions on NanoBioscience, vol. 16, no. 8, pp. 755 – 763, December 2017.
3. H. Elayan, R. M. Shubair, J. M. Jornet, P. Johari, “Terahertz Channel Model and Link Budget Analysis for Intrabody Nanoscale Communication,” IEEE Transactions on NanoBioscience, vol. 16, no. 6, pp. 491-503, September 2017.
4. H. Guo, P. Johari, J. M. Jornet, Z. Sun, “Intra-body Optical Channel Modeling for in-vivo Wireless Nanosensor Networks,” IEEE Transactions on NanoBioscience, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 41-52, January 2016.
5. P. Johari, V. Tabataba-Vakili, “Weighted Sum Rate Maximization in OFDM-Based Cooperative Cognitive Radios: A Joint Optimization Approach,” International Journal of Communications, Network and System Sciences (IJCNS), May 2012.

Peer-reviewed Conference Proceedings

1.  P. Johari, H. Pandey, A. Sangwan, J. M. Jornet, “Increasing the Communication Distance between Nano-boisensing Implants and Wearable Devices,” to appear in Proc. of the 19th IEEE International Workshop on Signal Processing Advances in Wireless Communications (SPAWC), Kalamata, Greece, June 2018.
2. S. Wu, P. Johari, N. Mastronarde, J. M. Jornet, “On the Photo-thermal Effect of Intra-body Nano-optical Communications on Red Blood Cells,” in Proc. of IEEE International Workshop on Wireless Communications and Networking in Extreme Environments (WCNEE), IEEE INFOCOM, Honolulu, HI, April 2018. [Best presentation award]
3. S. Wirdatmadja, P. Johari, S. Balasubramaniam, Y. Bae, J. M. Jornet, M. K. Stachowiak, “Light Propagation Analysis in Neural Tissue for Wireless Optogenetic Nanonetworks,” to appear in Proc. of the SPIE Photonics West: BiOS, International Society for Optics and Photonics, San Francisco, CA, January 2018.
4. P. Johari, H. Pandey, J. M. Jornet, “Interconnecting Wearable Devices with Nano-biosensing Implants through Optical Wireless Communications,” to appear in Proc. of the SPIE Photonics West: BiOS, International Society for Optics and Photonics, San Francisco, CA, January 2018.
5. H. Elayan, R. M. Shubair, J. M. Jornet, P. Johari and R. Mittra, “Terahertz Electromagnetic Communication for In-Vivo Wireless Nanosensor Networks,” in Proc. of the 39th Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium, Singapore, November 2017.
6. P. Johari and J. M. Jornet, “Nanoscale Optical Channel Modeling for In Vivo Wireless Nanosensor Networks: A Geometrical Approach,” in Proc. of the IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), Paris, France, May 2017.
7. P. Johari and J. M. Jornet, “An Optofluidic Channel Model for In Vivo Nanosensor Networks in Human Blood,” in Proc. of the SPIE Defense + Security, International Society for Optics and Photonics, Anaheim, CA, April 2017.
8. P. Johari and J. M. Jornet, “Packet Size Optimization for Wireless Nanosensor Networks in the Terahertz Band,” in Proc. of the IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC),Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 2016.
9. P. Johari, V. Tabataba-Vakili, “Throughput Improvement for OFDM-Based Cognitive Radios: An Adaptive Interference Temperature Approach,” in The Second International Conference on Advances in Cognitive Radio (COCORA), Mont Blanc, France, April 2012.
10. Mohsen Rahnavard, Ahmad Chitsazan, Amir Hossein Soltanzadeh, Pedram Johari, Ehsan Abbasi, Mahdi Emami, Mahdi Ramezani, “Team Description Paper of AriAnA (Rescue Robot League),” in Proc. of the RoboCup World Championship, Bremen, Germany, June 2006.
11. Mohsen Rahnavard, Ahmad Chitsazan, Amir Hossein Soltanzadeh, Pedram Johari, Ehsan Abbasi, Mahdi Emami, Mahdi Ramezani, “Team Description Paper of AriAnA (Rescue Robot League),” in Proc. of the RoboCup Iran Open International Competition, Tehran, Iran, April 2006.
12. Meysam Radmanesh, Asadollah Norouzi, S.M. Mohammadzadeh, Zahir Barahmand, S. Behzad Ejlali, Pedram Johari, Ehsan Abbasi, Mahdi Emami, “Team Description Paper of Persian Gulf (Rescue Robot League),” in Proc. of the RoboCup World Championship, Osaka, Japan, July 2005.

Patents

1. Pedram Johari, “Sending Vital Signs of the Human Body through Telephone Line (Voice Channel),” Iran Patent No. 40757, Iran, Issued 2007.

Other Teaching

Instructor

Spring 2018:

Teaching Assistant

• EE312/EE352: Introduction to Electronic Instrumentation (Laboratory), Fall 2015, Fall 2016.
• EE413/EE513: Communication Electronics (Lecture & Laboratory), Spring 2015, Spring 2016

Service

1) Professional Activities and Service to the Scientific Community

• Session Chair, Session on Vehicular Networks, Ad-Hoc and Sensor Networking, at the IEEE International Conference on Communications, IEEE ICC 2017, Paris, France, May 2017.
• Reviewer for: IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, IEEE Internet of Things Journal, IEEE Access, Nano Communication Networks (Elsevier) Journal, IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM), IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), ACM International Conference on Nanoscale Computing and Communication (NanoCom), IEEE International Performance Computing and Communications Conference (IPCCC).

2) Departmental, School and University Service

• Graduate Student Ambassador, Department of Electrical Engineer of SUNY at Buffalo, 2016 – Present.
• Senator, Electrical Engineer Graduate Student Association (EEGSA) of SUNY at Buffalo, 2015 – Sep. 2017.