Spark Lab

At Spark Lab, I lead a team of researchers and students focused on advancing wireless networks. My training philosophy centers around clear communication, breaking barriers, and open sharing of knowledge. I believe these principles create a collaborative and inclusive environment where all students can contribute and learn.

The name Spark honors the technology used by Marconi for the first transatlantic radio transmission in 1902, which connected Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, to Poldhu, UK.

The lab combines theory, optimization, measurement, simulation, and learning-based methods to address current challenges in wireless IoT, mobile systems, and radio resource management.

Current Research Directions

  • Anomaly detection in wireless networks
  • Low Power Wide Area Networks for wireless IoT
  • Wireless coexistence in unlicensed spectrum
  • Seamless transitions between cellular networks

Faculty

  • Samer Lahoud — Associate Professor, Lab Director
  • Kinda Khawam — Adjunct Professor, Paris-Saclay University

Current PhD Students

  • Jingxiang Huang — Intelligent LPWAN coexistence techniques using machine learning
  • Juliana El Rayess — Modelling and optimization of reliability in LPWANs
  • Alexis Delplace — AI-driven techniques for radio map estimation and applications in the unlicensed sub-GHz spectrum
  • Xinyi Li — Federated anti-jamming techniques for low-power wide area networks

Current Undergraduate Students

  • Nathan Chappe — Halifax digital twin
  • Noah Jehanno — Halifax digital twin

Recent Undergraduate Students

  • Juliette Savard — Reproducible interference rejection for LPWAN technologies
  • Anas Alhadi — Robust header compression in wireless IoT networks
  • Maeva Donatien — AI/ML functions in 5G open radio access networks
  • Kenzo Froger — WiFi fingerprinting
  • Morgan Mootoosamy — WiFi fingerprinting
  • Daniel Faigle — Low power relays in LoRaWAN networks
  • Malek Achour — Prototype of an AI-enabled radio access network
  • Mohamed Djoncounda Sissoko — Jamming of frequency hopping communications in LoRaWAN networks
  • Quentin Henon — Jamming of frequency hopping communications in LoRaWAN networks

Recent Postdoctoral Researchers

  • Farah Yassine — Federated learning for channel sensing in wireless IoT networks
  • Hassan Fawaz — Multi-operator LoRaWAN deployments
  • Duc-Tuyen Ta — Machine learning for LoRaWAN

Alumni

PhD Alumni

  • Zeina Awada — Resource management for network slicing, March 2025
  • Ali Loubany — LoRaWAN performance optimization: toward efficient IoT networks, June 2023
  • Farah Yassine — Radio Resource Management in NB-IoT Networks, July 2023
  • Hussein Taleb — User Association and RRH Clustering Techniques in Cloud-Radio Access Networks, July 2021
  • Bachir Lahad — Joint Uplink and Downlink Radio Resource Allocation for Heterogeneous TDD Cellular Networks, December 2020
  • Hassan Fawaz — Radio Resource Allocation in Full-Duplex Cellular OFDMA Networks, November 2019
  • Rabah Guedrez — Traffic Engineering for Segment Routing, December 2018
  • Soha Farhat — Access Selection and Pricing in Multi-Operator Wireless Networks, July 2016
  • Mohamad Yassin — Interference Coordination in Wireless Cellular Networks, November 2015
  • Farah Moety — Joint Minimization of Power and Delay in Wireless Access Networks, December 2014
  • Melhem El Helou — Radio Access Technology Selection in Heterogeneous Wireless Networks, November 2014
  • Emna Salhi — Detection and Localization of Link-Level Network Anomalies Using End-to-End Path Monitoring, February 2013
  • Ahmed Frikha — QoS and Reliability for Next-Generation Networks: Multi-Domain QoS Routing and Multicast Reliability, September 2012
  • Nabil Djarallah — Network Architectures for Inter-Carrier QoS-Capable Services, November 2011
  • Alia Bellabas — Quality of Service Multicast Routing Subject to Multiple Constraints, October 2011

Master’s Alumni

  • Ronald Touma — Explainable and Privacy-Preserving Wi-Fi Fingerprinting for Urban Outdoor Positioning, 2025
  • Alexis Delplace — Radio Propagation Models for LPWAN: A LoRaWAN Deployment in Halifax, 2024
  • Ibrahim Ayoub — Machine Learning for Low Power Wide Area Networks, 2021
  • Zahraa El Attar — Comparison of resource abstraction methods in network virtualization solutions for network slicing, 2021
  • Juliana El Rayess — Irregular Repetition in Aloha for LoRaWAN, 2021
  • Ali Loubany — Adaptive Algorithm for Spreading Factor Selection in LoRaWAN Network with Multiple Gateways, 2019
  • Wissam Eid — Capacity and Coverage Planning for IoT Access Networks Based on LoRaWAN, 2018
  • Mahdi Yaakoub — Low Power Wide Area Wireless Networks for IoT: Performance Comparison between LoRaWAN and NB-IoT, 2017
  • Joe Saad — Power Control in 5G Full-Duplex Cellular Networks, 2016
  • Hassan Fawaz — Scheduling in 5G Full-Duplex Cellular Networks, 2016
  • Karen Boulos — Dynamic Clustering for Cloud Radio Access Networks, 2015
  • Mohamad Yassin — Dynamic and Distributed Radio Resource Allocation in Heterogeneous Wireless Networks, 2012
  • Farah Moety — Distributed Heuristics for Radio Access Technology Selection, 2011
  • Kamel Moad — Stability of QoS Routing, 2011
  • Siwar Said — Monitoring Multi-Domain Communications, 2010
  • Ahmed Frikha — QoS Path Computation in Multi-Domain Networks, 2009
  • Nabil Djarallah — Traffic Engineering in MPLS Multi-Domain Networks, 2008
  • Rasha Hasan — Toolbox for Traffic Engineering in MPLS Networks, 2008