Room: RBCx Finance Quarter, Bldg: Hub350, 350 Legget Dr, Kanata, ON , Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K2K 3N1

Come to learn and stay for lunch! The kick-off event of the signature Lunch&Learn series of IEEE Young Professionals Ottawa will have Prof. Burak Kantarci, a highly distinguished expert on automated systems and communications, as well as surprises and treats including Turkish coffee!Title: Spectrum Intelligence for 6G and Uncrewed Systems (UxS): Security, Coexistence, and Edge AutonomyAbstract: Uncrewed systems (UxS) are moving from niche applications to large-scale deployments across logistics, infrastructure inspection, public safety, and defence-adjacent operations. What makes or breaks these deployments is not just the autonomy of the platform itself, but the reliability, security, and intelligence of its communications in a crowded and contested spectrum environment. This talk addresses exactly that problem. We show how machine learning is redefining the radio access layer for uncrewed systems operating in shared spectrum: detecting jamming and spoofing at the RF signal level, classifying interference from coexisting users, predicting spectrum occupancy, and enabling dynamic access decisions that protect command-and-control link integrity in real time. Drawing on recent work in deep ensemble learning and RF fingerprinting, we demonstrate how AI models trained on raw IQ and spectral data can expose threats and opportunities in the spectrum that are invisible to conventional signal processing. We then examine how fleets of uncrewed platforms can become active participants in spectrum coordination rather than passive spectrum consumers. Through federated learning and multi-agent reinforcement learning, uncrewed nodes collaboratively develop spectrum access policies adapted to their operational environment, without offloading sensitive mission data to centralized infrastructure. This is precisely the kind of distributed, scalable spectrum intelligence that next-generation shared-access frameworks, including those governing uncrewed systems operations in licensed bands, will require. The talk closes with a forward-looking discussion of how 6G, combined with embedded spectrum intelligence, can serve as the communications backbone for autonomous uncrewed systems ecosystems, enabling safe coexistence, resilient connectivity, and real-time threat response across complex, multi-stakeholder spectrum <a href="http://environments.Bio:" target="_blank" title="environments.Bio:">environments.Bio: Burak Kantarci is a Full Professor and University Research Chair of AI-Enabled Secure Networking for Smart Critical Infrastructures in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Ottawa. He is the founding director of the Smart Connected Vehicles Innovation Centre, the first academic-industry research laboratory in Canada's largest technology hub at Kanata North Technology Park. His current research focuses on machine learning for spectrum intelligence, RF security, and resilient 6G communications, with a particular emphasis on uncrewed aerial and ground systems operating in shared and contested spectrum environments. His work spans dynamic spectrum access, coexistence management, jamming detection, and distributed edge intelligence, with active industry collaborations aimed at enabling secure and autonomous uncrewed systems communications at scale. He is the author or co-author of more than 300 publications in established journals and conferences, and holds a PhD in Computer Engineering from Istanbul Technical University. He is a recipient of the King Charles III Coronation Medal (Canadian version), the Minister's Award of Excellence from the Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities (2021), and the 2023 Technical Achievement Award of the IEEE ComSoc Communications Software Technical Committee. Recent research honours include the 2024-2025 George S. Glinski Award for Excellence in Research in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Ottawa, the 2025 IEEE Ottawa Section Outstanding Engineering Educator Award, and the 2026 Professional Engineers Ontario-Ottawa Chapter Engineering Excellence Award. He holds the Exemplary Editor Award from IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials (2021) and multiple best paper awards from leading venues including IEEE Globecom 2024, IEEE VCC 2023, IEEE ICC 2023, Wireless World Research Forum 2022, and IEEE Globecom 2021. He serves as Editor of IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials and IEEE Transactions on Network Science and Engineering, Associate Editor of IEEE Networking Letters, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, and Vehicular Communications (Elsevier). He is a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Communications Society and the IEEE Systems Council, and was a Distinguished Speaker of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) from 2019 to 2021. He is a Senior Member of both the IEEE and the <a href="http://ACM.This" target="_blank" title="ACM.This">ACM.This event is co-hosted by IEEE joint Chapters of Signal Processing/Oceanic Engineering/Geoscience and Remote Sensing in Ottawa and IEEE Women In Engineering (WIE) <a href="http://Ottawa.Speaker(s):" target="_blank" title="Ottawa.Speaker(s):">Ottawa.Speaker(s): Prof. Burak KantarciAgenda: - Welcoming and introduction- Talk by Prof. Burak Kantarci- Lunch and networkingRoom: RBCx Finance Quarter, Bldg: Hub350, 350 Legget Dr, Kanata, ON , Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K2K 3N1