Andrés García Saavedra

Telematics Engineer, Ph.D.

I received my B.Sc. (2009) in Telecommunication Engineering from University of Cantabria (UNICAN), M.Sc. (2010) and Ph.D. (2013) in Telematics Engineering from University Carlos III of Madrid (UC3M). Currently, I work as a Research Fellow at the Hamilton Institute at National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM).

My research interests lie in the application of fundamental mathematics to real-life computer communications systems, both wired and (specially) wireless; including resource allocation problems, energy efficiency, network coding, and design of network protocols and systems. I particularly enjoy building real prototypes and carrying out experimental performance evaluations of protocols and communication systems.

Publications

A pre-camera-ready version of some articles is available for personal use only.
You can also find the citations to these articles in Google Scholar.

Ongoing work

  1. "Adaptive Mechanism for Distributed Opportunistic Scheduling", A. Garcia-Saavedra, A. Banchs, P. Serrano, J. Widmer.
    2014. [ arxiv ]
  2. "Rigorous and Practical Proportional-Fair Allocation for Multi-Rate Wi-Fi", P. Patras, A. Garcia-Saavedra, D. Malone, D. J. Leith.
    2014. [ arxiv ]

Selected journal papers

  1. "Thwarting Selfish Behavior in 802.11 WLANs", A. Banchs, J. Ortin, A. Garcia-Saavedra, D. Leith, P. Serrano.
    IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, accepted for publication, October 2014.
  2. "Per-frame Energy Consumption in 802.11 Devices and its Implication on Modeling and Design", P. Serrano, A. Garcia-Saavedra, G. Bianchi, A. Banchs, A. Azcorra.
    IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, accepted for publication, April 2014. [ .pdf ][ .bib ]
  3. "SOLOR: Self-Optimizing WLANs with Legacy-Compatible Opportunistic Relays", A. Garcia-Saavedra, B. Rengarajan, P. Serrano, D. Camps-Mur, X. Costa-Pérez.
    IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, accepted for publication, April 2014. [ .pdf ][ .bib ]
  4. "Energy-efficient Optimization for Distributed Opportunistic Scheduling", A. Garcia-Saavedra, P. Serrano, A. Banchs.
    IEEE Communications Letters, vol.18, no.6, pp.1083-1086, April 2014. [ .pdf ][ .bib ]
  5. "A Game-Theoretic Approach to Distributed Opportunistic Scheduling", A. Banchs, A. Garcia-Saavedra, P. Serrano, J. Widmer.
    IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, vol.21, no.5, pp.1553-1566, Oct. 2013. [ .pdf ][ .bib ]
  6. "Device-to-device communications with Wi-Fi Direct: overview and experimentation", D. Camps-Mur, A. Garcia-Saavedra, P. Serrano.
    IEEE Wireless Communications Magazine, vol.20, no.3, pp.96-104, June 2013. [ .pdf ][ .bib ]
  7. "Balancing energy efficiency and throughput fairness in IEEE 802.11 WLANs", A. Garcia-Saavedra, P. Serrano, A. Banchs, M. Hollick.
    Elsevier Pervasive and Mobile Computing, vol.8, no.5, pp.31-645, Oct. 2012. [ .pdf ][ .bib ]

Selected conference articles

  1. "Energy consumption anatomy of 802.11 devices and its implication on modeling and design", A. Garcia-Saavedra, P. Serrano, A. Banchs, G. Bianchi.
    ACM CoNEXT 2012 - The 8th international conference on Emerging networking experiments and technologies , pp.169-180, Dec. 2012. [ .pdf ][ .bib ]
  2. "Distributed Opportunistic Scheduling: A control theoretic approach", A. Garcia-Saavedra, A. Banchs, P. Serrano, J. Widmer.
    IEEE INFOCOM 2012 - The 31st International Conference on Computer Communications , pp.540-548, March 2012. [ .pdf ][ .bib ]
  3. "Energy-efficient fair channel access for IEEE 802.11 WLANs", A. Garcia-Saavedra, P. Serrano, A. Banchs, M. Hollick.
    IEEE WoWMoM 2011 - The 12th International Symposium on a World of Wireless, Mobile and Multimedia Networks, pp.1-9, June 2011. [ .pdf ] [ .bib ]
  4. "CARMEN: resource management and abstraction in wireless heterogeneous mesh networks", N. Bayer, K. Loziak, A. Garcia-Saavedra, C. Sengul, P. Serrano.
    ACM SIGCOMM 2010 (demo) - ACM SIGCOMM 2010 conference , Demo session, pp.481-482. Aug. 2010. [ .pdf ]
  5. "On the energy efficiency of IEEE 802.11 WLANs", P. Serrano, A. Garcia-Saavedra, M. Hollick, A. Banchs.
    EW 2010 - The 16th European Wireless Conference, pp.932-939, April 2010 [ .pdf ]

Other Publications

  1. "Investigating Bit Error Patterns for Radar Pulse Detection in IEEE 802.11", C. Pisa, A. Garcia-Saavedra, and D. J. Leith.
    ICWMC 2014 - The 10th International Conference on Wireless and Mobile Communications , pp.164-168. June 2014. [ .pdf ] [ .bib ]
  2. "Analysis and optimal configuration of distributed opportunistic scheduling techniques in wireless networks", A. Garcia-Saavedra.
    Ph.D. thesis, University Carlos III of Madrid (UC3M), Nov. 2013. [ .pdf ]
  3. "Greening IEEE 802.11 channel access", A. Garcia-Saavedra.
    IEEE WoWMoM 2011 (Ph.D. Forum) - The 12th IEEE International Symposium on a World of Wireless, Mobile and Multimedia Networks, pp.1,3, June 2011.
  4. "On the scalability of carrier-grade mesh network architectures", J. Lessmann, A. De La Oliva, C. Sengul, A. Garcia-Saavedra, M. Kretschmer, S. Murphy, P. Patras.
    The 20th Future Network and Mobile Summit Future Network & Mobile Summit, pp.1-8, June 2011. [ .pdf ]
  5. "Energy-efficient fair channel access for IEEE 802.11 WLANs", A. Garcia-Saavedra.
    M.Sc. thesis, University Carlos III of Madrid (UC3M), June 2010. [ .pdf ]

Collaborative projects

(I have actively participated in...)

FLAVIA 'FLexible Architecture for Virtualizable wireless future Internet Access' (2010-2013).
European Project, FP7 Call 5, Objective 1.1: The Network of the Future.

Partners: Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per Le Telecomunicazioni (CNIT), Alvarion, NEC Europe, Telefonica I+D, MobiMESH, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Institute for Information Transmission Problems Russian Academy of Sciences (IITP), IMDEA Networks, Hamilton Institute at National University of Ireland, Sequans Communications

Wireless networks importance for the Future Internet is raising at a fast pace as mobile devices increasingly become its entry point. However, today's wireless networks are unable to rapidly adapt to evolving contexts and service needs due to their rigid architectural design. We believe that the wireless Internet’s inability to keep up with innovation directly stems from its reliance on the traditional layer-based Internet abstraction. Especially, the Link Layer interface appears way too abstracted from the actual wireless access and coordination needs. FLAVIA fosters a paradigm shift towards the Future Wireless Internet: from pre-designed link services to programmable link processors. The key concept is to expose flexible programmable interfaces enabling service customization and performance optimization through software-based exploitation of low-level operations and control primitives, e.g., transmission timing, frame customization and processing, spectrum and channel management, power control, etc. FLAVIA’s approach is based on three main pillars: i) lower the interface between hardware-dependent layers and upper layers, ii) apply a hierarchical decomposition of the MAC/PHY layer functionalities, and iii) open programmable interfaces at different abstraction levels. To prove the viability of this new architectural vision, FLAVIA will prototype its concept on two wireless technologies currently available, 802.11 and 802.16, representing today’s two main radio resource allocation philosophies: contention-based and scheduled. Moreover, FLAVIA will assess the applicability of the proposed architecture concepts to the emerging 3GPP standards. FLAVIA’s concept will allow boosting innovation and reducing the cost of network upgrades. Operators, manufacturers, network designers, emerging third-party solution developers, and even spontaneous end users, will be able to easily and rapidly optimize and upgrade the wireless network operation, quickly prototype and test their new protocols, and adapt the wireless access operation to emerging scenarios or service needs.


CARMEN 'CARrier grade MEsh Networks' (2005-2009).
European Project, FP7 Call 1, Objective 1.1: The Network of the Future.

Partners: Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, British Telecom Plc., Deutsche Telekom AG, NEC Europe Ltd., Alcatel-Lucent Deutschland AG, Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems (FOKUS), University College Dublin, National University of Ireland, AGH University of Science and Technology Cracow.

CARMEN, CARrier grade MEsh Networks, studies and specifies a wireless mesh network supporting carrier grade triple-play services for mobile/fixed network operators. Future operator networks will be comprised of a common core network and several access networks, and the CARMEN access network will complement other access technologies by providing a low cost and fast deployment mesh network access technology. The project proposes the integration of heterogeneous wireless technologies in a multi-hop fashion to provide scalable and efficient ubiquitous quad-play carrier services. To address the integration complexity of heterogeneous radio technologies, CARMEN introduces a layer 2.5 located between the subnet layer and the routing layer (the abstract interface in the architecture figure below), in order to abstract technology specific issues into a common set of events and commands. Upper layers will use the abstract interface of layer 2.5 to dynamically adapt functions such as routing, mobility and monitoring. One relevant issue is that CARMEN will provide capacity handling algorithms to exploit specific features of the mesh networks such as the availability of multiple links between two peers (i.e. multipath) or the use of radio broadcast instead of unicast to alleviate the load of broadcast services (e.g. video) in the mesh network. CARMEN will focus on three planes: technology, message transfer, and self-configuration and management, to provide a complete solution for setting up and maintaining a cost-effective carrier grade wireless mesh access network.

Service to the research community

Technical Program Committee member

- Elsevier Computer Communications
- MACOM [2014]
- MOBIWAC [2014]
- ACM WiNTECH [2013]
- SustainIT [2013]

Organizing Committee

- IEEE Online GreenComm [Web and Software Tools Chair, 2013]

Other

Regular reviewer for IEEE Communication Letters, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communication (JSAC), IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, Elsevier Adhoc Networks, Springer Wireless Networks, International Conference on Communications (ICT), EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking, IEEE Globecom, International Workshop on Multiple Access Communications (MACOM), Computer Communications (COMCOM), International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC), International Workshop on Wireless Network Testbeds (WiNTECH), International Colloquium on Automata, Languages and Programming (ICALP), International Symposium on a World of Wireless, Mobile and Multimedia Networks (IEEE WoWMoM).

Teaching

Courses

Theory of networks (10/11, 11/12, 12/13): Introduction to probability, Markov models and queueing theory. B.Sc. Telematics Eng. University Carlos III of Madrid
Audiovisual mobile systems (12/13): Introduction to wireless communication systems. B.Sc. Telematics Eng. University Carlos III of Madrid
Networks and Services (09/10, 10/11, 11/12): General introduction to communication networks. B.Sc. Telematics Eng. University Carlos III of Madrid

Students

- Jose Maria Montes Yuste, B.Sc. Telematics Eng., University Carlos III of Madrid (2013-07-10).
- Georgios Z. Papadopoulos, M.Sc Telematics Eng., University Carlos III of Madrid (2012-07-11).
- Vasileios Papadopoulos, B.Sc. Software Eng., Alexander Technological Institute of Thessaloniki (2011-11-23).