Centre for Networked Intelligence

Dear All, Networks Seminar, supported by the Centre for Networked Intelligence, is a technical discussion forum in topics including but not limited to computer networks, machine learning, signal processing, and information theory. The seminar series has a webpage hosted at https://cni.iisc.ac.in/seminars/. You are invited to the following seminar held as part of this series. Title: Near-Ground Precipitation Sensing for Next-generation Wireless Networks Speaker: Prof. Ashutosh Sabharwal, Ernest D. Butcher Professor, Rice University Time: 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM (IST) Date: 16 March 2026 Venue: Online on Zoom Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83388976389?pwd=XcpO3GhLxsR14a7SVbPx33HQQa1jbt.1 Zoom Meeting ID: 833 8897 6389, Pass Code: NSSIISc YouTube Livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hzt4ScSCpA Webpage Link: https://cni.iisc.ac.in/seminars/2026-03-16/ <https://cni.iisc.ac.in/seminars/2026-03-16/> Abstract: Sensing is emerging as a significant potential application for next-generation wireless networks. A key open question is what applications could uniquely benefit from the scale of wireless networks. In this talk, we explore the idea of using country-scale wireless networks for near-ground precipitation sensing, which could complement weather radar-based weather monitoring. We develop a physics-based signal model and propose a suite of methods to convert base stations into near-ground weather radars. Towards the end, we will also highlight other emerging sensing applications. Bio: Prof. Ashutosh Sabharwal is the Ernest D. Butcher Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at Rice University. He works in two independent areas - wireless networks and digital health. His ongoing work in wireless focuses on theory and methods for joint wireless communications & imaging, as well as large-scale experimental platforms. He was one of the inventors of in-band full-duplex communications, a technology used in wireline and wireless standards. He founded the WARP project (warp.rice.edu), an open-source project used by 150+ research groups worldwide. He also led Rice RENEW (renew-wireless.org), which developed an open-source software-defined massive MIMO wireless network platform. Concurrent with his wireless research, he also leads the Rice Digital Health Initiative (dhi.rice.edu) and is the Co-director of a new Methodist-Rice Digital Health Institute. His digital health research focuses on developing devices and applying data science to quantify behavior-biology pathways across many diseases. He received the 2017 IEEE Jack Neubauer Memorial Award, the 2018 IEEE Advances in Communications Award, the 2019, 2021, and 2025 ACM Test-of-time Awards, the 2019 ACM MobiCom Community Contribution Award, the 2023 ICC Best Paper Award, and the 2025 BHI Best Paper Award. His research has led to multiple startups and FDA-approved products. He is a Fellow of IEEE, ACM, and the National Academy of Inventors.
 More details: https://ashu.rice.edu ALL ARE WELCOME. Thank you, CNI Seminar Series Organizing Committee.

Dear All, Networks Seminar, supported by the Centre for Networked Intelligence, is a technical discussion forum in topics including but not limited to computer networks, machine learning, signal processing, and information theory. The seminar series has a webpage hosted at https://cni.iisc.ac.in/seminars/. You are invited to the following seminar held as part of this series. Title: Leveraging Analog Codes for Privacy and Robustness in Federated Learning Speaker: Prof. Harshan Jagadeesh, Associate Professor, IIT Delhi. Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM (IST) Date: 18 March 2026 Venue: GJ Hall and Online on Zoom Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83388976389?pwd=XcpO3GhLxsR14a7SVbPx33HQQa1jbt.1 Zoom Meeting ID: 833 8897 6389, Pass Code: NSSIISc YouTube Livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlpLFb1gJas Webpage Link: https://cni.iisc.ac.in/seminars/2026-03-18/ <https://cni.iisc.ac.in/seminars/2026-03-18/> Abstract: Federated learning enables multiple participants to collaboratively train machine learning models while keeping their datasets private. However, in untrusted environments, ensuring both privacy and robustness to malicious participants remains a fundamental challenge, particularly in the design of secure aggregation mechanisms. In this talk, we give an overview of recent developments in secure aggregation methods for federated learning, and then focus on a recent approach called FORTA, which leverages analog error-correction codes together with Krum-based outlier detection to achieve both privacy and robustness. We will discuss the key ideas behind the framework along with supporting theoretical and experimental results. Bio: Prof. Harshan Jagadeesh is an associate professor with the Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Delhi. His research interests lie in the broad area of network security, with a special focus on applying information security techniques to communication, storage, and computing systems. More details: https://sites.google.com/site/jharshan/ ALL ARE WELCOME. Thank you, CNI Seminar Series Organizing Committee.

Dear all, As decided during our meeting on Monday, I am blocking the calendar for the proposed half-day workshop to brainstorm possible collaboration topics. Here is the tentative agenda: 9:00 am - 10:00 am | Presentations from Google team (Vasumathy, Hari, Vikas, Atit?) 10:00 am - 11:20 am | Presentations from IISc faculty (Vinod, Yogesh, Parimal, Arpita?) 11:20 am - 11:40 am | Refreshments break 11:40 am onwards | brainstorming on the next steps. Please let us know if you'd like to suggest any changes to the above plan. With regards, -preetam