6G for Connected Sky: From LEO Mega-Constellations to Airspace Communications

CREATE TRAVERSAL, SITE-CAV and Lunch&Learn series of IEEE Young Professionals Ottawa is taking it to the sky! Join us as Prof. Cicek Cavdar from KTH Sweden, a leading expert in the field, presents state-of-the art research and the upcoming challenges in satellite communications and 6G.

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6G for Connected Sky: From LEO Mega-Constellations to Airspace Communications

Abstract: Future 6G systems will extend across terrestrial, aerial, and non-terrestrial platforms to support seamless, resilient, and intelligent connectivity for users in the sky, on the ground, and in remote areas. In this talk, I will present our recent work toward this vision of 6G for Connected Sky, covering three main research directions: (i) design and resource allocation in LEO mega-constellations, including handover management, Open RAN architectures, interference, and hybrid terrestrial-satellite networking; (ii) satellite-assisted IoT and edge intelligence, where learning-based methods support data collection and task offloading in highly dynamic environments; and (iii)airspace communications, including UAV connectivity, reliability, sensing, and spectrum/regulatory challenges in integrated 3D networks. Together, these works highlight how future connectivity must be designed jointly across communication architecture, mobility, compute, and intelligence to enable reliable and scalable 6G services for the connected <a href="http://sky.

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Bio: Cicek Cavdar is a Full Professor at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, where she serves as Vice Head of the Department of Communication Systems and Founding Director of SMART-6GSAT, Sweden’s first national 6G satellite communications center. She leads the Intelligent Network Systems research group and works on AI-native and cloud-native network design and orchestration, with a focus on cell-free massive MIMO, integrated sensing and communications, drone communications, and the convergence of terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks. Her research addresses the trade-off between resiliency and energy efficiency through an end-to-end perspective spanning cloud, transport, and radio access networks. She has led major EU academia–industry initiatives, including 6G-SKY and RAI-6Green, and previously coordinated AI4Green, which received the 2024 EUREKA Innovation Award and Celtic Excellence Award. Her team received the Scientific Excellence Best Paper Award at ASMS/SPSC 2025 for work on disaggregated RAN in space and handover management in LEO mega-constellations. Professor Cavdar has authored more than 160 publications, holds several patents, and serves on the editorial boards of IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications and IEEE Transactions on Green Communications and Networking. She is also an active organizer, editor, and keynote speaker in the areas of 6G, AI-native networks, green communications, and non-terrestrial <a href="http://networks.

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Co-sponsored by: Smart Connected Vehicles Innovation Centre (SCVIC) and the Next Generation Communications and Computing Networks Lab (NEXTCON)

Speaker(s): Cicek,

Agenda:
– Introductions
– Talk by Prof. Cicek Cavdar
– Lunch and networking

Bldg: Hub 350, 350 Legget Dr, Smart Connected Vehicles Innovation Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K2K 3N1