Dr. Scott Melvin is a former Postdoctoral Fellow in the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto. He received his BEng (Computer Option), MASc and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from Dalhousie University in 2001, 2005 and 2012 respectively. During his graduate studies he worked on the Communication Networks and Services Research (CNSR) project, a joint research project between Dalhousie University, the University of New Brunswick, the Université de Moncton and several industrial partners. He worked closely with Nautel Limited on Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) issues involving AM and FM transmitters. His doctoral work focused on network coding and its applications within relay networks for improved performance. His research interests include Wireless Ad-hoc and Sensor Networks, with a particular focus on Network Coding, Relay Selection and Energy Conservation.

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Below is a list of the reseach projects I have been involved with over my academic career.

Self-Powered Sensor Networks (SPSN) Project

Characterized as one of the key technologies contributing to the so-called "digital evolution", modern wireless sensor network (WSN) platforms are endowed with the ability to create networked artifacts (human and non-human) to sense their environment and adapt their behavior accordingly in beneficial manners. The potential applications are numerous, including effective monitoring and sustainable governance in structural health, disaster relief, transportation, law enforcement and public safety and security.

A major rationale for these WSN technologies is that they can enable the users to make decisions in a "smarter", more "aware" and "responsive" manner. Indeed, a distributed monitoring capacity provides a "novel" visualization of our environment that allows more effective planning, the ability to respond in a more timely fashion and to develop more effective actions to resolve environmental problems. The social and economic implications can be enormous, for not only the public but also private organizations. Evidently, this technological innovation impacts many aspects of human life: health and safety, information and communications, energy and environment, as well as security, to name a few.

However, while there are irrefutable advantages to be reaped with the WSN infrastructures, these strategic values are not without caveats. On the one hand, the larger a sensor network becomes, the smarter and more responsive we become, as our visualization becomes more global and informative. On the other hand, as the size of the network increases, so do the associated complexity and management. To facilitate deployment and acceptance of such networks, the network sensors must be inexpensive, non-intrusive, and communicate effectively. Together, these conditions imply two fundamental requirements that influence the operation of the network: scalability and sustainability. Without these two requirements, the operation and impact of the WSN would be questionably limited, if not short-lived.

Motivated by the WSN tremendous potentials, coupled with the technological limitations affecting the current WSN platforms as described above, a team of researchers at the University of Toronto and industrial partners from around the gloabe have endeavored to address the challenges from various perspectives, in order to deliver a complete WSN platform. The Self-Powered Sensor Networks (SPSN) Project is a multidisciplinary project funded by the Ministry of Research and Innovation, under an Ontario Research Fund - Research Excellence (ORF-RE) grant. The project has a total budget of over $9 million (CND), which is contributed in part by the industrial partners, and has a five-year plan to develope new research and work towards the commercilization of that research with the industrial partners.

The proejct team consists of seven faculty members at the University of Toronto from a wide wide varaity of areas, including communications, materials science, nanotechnology, computer science and biochemistry. The team is lead by Dr. Dimitrios Hatzinakos as the principle investigator. The team also includes a number of research associates, in the form of post-doctoral fellows, doctoral and masters students, and three industrial partners from around the world. They include AD Telecom based in Spain, SIRADEL based in France and OMESH Networks based in Canada.

More details can be found at the Project Website.

Communication Networks and Services Research (CNSR) Project

The Communication Networks and Services Research (CNSR) project was communications research project funded by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), under an Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF) grant. The project focused on communication networks and services, with a particular emphasis on wireless communications and tool development for increased efficiencies in delivery of Internetbased communication services.

The project consisted of three Atlantic Canadian universities, five principal researchers and a number of industrial partners. The total budget for the project was over $8 million (CND), with a portion of that contributed by the industrial partners, and had a five-year plan to performa research and develope solutions to issues facing the industrial partners, and to publish that work at an annual conference.

The universities involved in the project were Dalhousie University, the Université de Moncton, and the University of New Brunswick. The project was lead by Dr. Bradford Nickerson, and involved several faculty members from each university along with a number of PhD candidates and masters students. The industrial partners consisted of Aliant, Bell Canada Enterprises, Leadership International, Nautel, Nortel and Seimac.

• G. Goel, S. Melvin, Y. Lostanlen, and D. Hatzinakos, "Connectivity Analysis of Indoor Wireless Sensor Networks using Realistic Propagation Models", The 17th ACM International Conference on Modeling, Analysis and Simulation of Wireless and Mobile Systems (MSWiM 2014), pages 13-20, September 2014.
• S. Melvin, and J. Ilow, "Opportunistic Network and Erasure Coding for Asynchronous Two-Way Relay Networks", IEEE Global Communications Conference 2012 (GLOBECOM 2012), pages 1739-1744, December 2012.
• S. Melvin, and J. Ilow, "Relay Selection in Network Coded Communications with Power Control", IEEE International Conference on Communications 2012 (ICC 2012), pages 687-692, June 2012.
• S. Melvin, and J. Ilow, "Equi-spaced Relay Selection in Cooperative Communication Networks with Power Control", IFIP Wireless Days 2011, pages 1-3, October 2011.
• S. Melvin, and J. Ilow, "Network and Erasure Coding for Improved Packet Delivery", The 4th International Conference on Signal Processing and Communication Systems (ICSPCS 2010), pages 1-5, December 2010.
• S. Melvin, M. Baro, M. Jandali, and J. Ilow, "Improved Compensation of HPA Nonlinearities using Digital Predistorters with Dynamic and Multi-Dimensional LUTs", The 6th Annual Communication Networks and Services Research Conference (CNSR'08), pages 46-52, May 2008.
• S. Melvin, M. Goldy, and J. Ilow, "Antenna Load Mismatch Effects in EER-Based Transmitters for Digital Audio Broadcasting", The 5th Annual Communication Networks and Services Research Conference (CNSR'07), pages 41-46, May 2007.
• S. Melvin, and J. Ilow, "Compensation of Memory-Effects in PDM-based Transmitters for Digital Audio Broadcast", The 6th IEEE International Symposium on Signal Processing and Information Technology (ISSPIT 2006), pages 490-495, August 2006.
• C. Jamieson, S. Melvin, and J. Ilow, "Rapid Prototyping Hardware Platforms for the Development and Testing of OFDM Based Communication Systems", The 3rd Annual Communication Networks and Services Research Conference (CNSR'05), pages 57-62, May 2005.

Dr. Scott H. Melvin , BEng, PhD
Post-doctoral Fellow, SPSN Research Group

Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
St. George Campus, University of Toronto

Office Address: Bahen Center for Information Technology St. George Campus, University of Toronto 40 St. George Street, Room BA7206 Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2E4

Mailing Address: Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering St. George Campus, University of Toronto 10 King's College Road Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3G4

e-mail: scott.melvin@utoronto.ca
web: http://individual.utoronto.ca/scott_melvin/
tel: (647) 523-1049 (cell)