Basem Shihada

About Basem Shihada

Basem Shihada

Program Chair, Computer Science

Data Networks Network Systems Wireless Systems

Professor Shihada's research philosophy is to bridge the gap between theory and practice in a working system. Having worked intensively in computer networks from both theoretical and systems perspectives, Shihada has acquired a solid mathematical background and an acute sense of applying these results to build practical systems.

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January 2026

KAUST innovators named to MIT Technology Review Arabia’s Innovators Under 35 MENA list

1 min read · Thu, Jan 8 2026

News Clip Awards News

award

Recognizing research at KAUST focused on intelligent systems for future cities.

November 2025

Artificial intelligence takes to the skies to protect a Saudi tradition

1 min read · Thu, Nov 13 2025

News Clip News Press Releases

artificial intelligence AI UAV communications remote sensing Signal processing

KAUST scientists develop an affordable and simple AI system for local camel herders

August 2025

Congratulations to Xiuxiu Ma on successfully defending her PhD thesis

1 min read · Mon, Aug 25 2025

News

Congratulations to Xiuxiu Ma on successfully defending her PhD thesis on “Asymptotic Analysis of Precoding in Large-scale Multi-user Systems”, completed under the supervision of Prof. Tareq Al-Naffouri!

December 2023

Leading the drive to achieve a digitally connected world

3 min read · Wed, Dec 13 2023

News

Exploring the potential of 6G technology, the 4th KAUST 6G Summit brought together experts to discuss super-connectivity, closing the digital divide, and driving digital inclusion in Saudi Arabia and beyond.

November 2023

Staying online in the high speed tube of the future

2 min read · Wed, Nov 8 2023

News

Mobily Networks

Solid-state radiofrequency reflectors will enable seamless wireless connectivity in the Hyperloop evacuated-tube transport svstem.

December 2022

A catalyst for innovation and discovery

4 min read · Wed, Dec 14 2022

News

The KAUST ECCS workshop brought together a host of international, in-Kingdom and University experts to exchange their expertise. Workshop speakers covered future challenges in designing embedded and cyber-connected systems that can scale efficiently and operate securely and resiliently.

November 2022

Illuminating the twisting pathway to efficient wireless communications based on light

2 min read · Wed, Nov 30 2022

News

Illuminating the twisting pathway to efficient wireless communications based on light.
Enlightened route to wireless communications

1 min read · Thu, Nov 3 2022

Spotlight News

Smart windows that can polarize sunlight could offer a low energy alternative to Wi-Fi.

August 2021

Divided attention could ease wireless congestion

1 min read · Sun, Aug 1 2021

News

communications artificial intelligence electrical engineering Computer science

Predicting wireless traffic using artificial intelligence could improve the reliability of future wireless communications.

July 2021

Characterizing the worldwide connectivity imbalance

1 min read · Sat, Jul 10 2021

News

In communications community, there has been a consensus reached that sixth generation (6G) communications should focus on the solution to the digital divide that restricts the current 3.6 billion of the world’s population from enjoying the benefits of the latest information and communications technologies (ICTs). Under this scenario, the community faces many challenging questions: How to understand and measure worldwide connectivity imbalance? What is the mathematical relationship between connectivity and population and telecommunication infrastructure? Can we characterize the imbalance in any

June 2021

Viruses as communication molecules

1 min read · Sun, Jun 27 2021

News

Computer science human health pathogens modeling

Electrical and computer engineers take on complex modeling questions that can further our understanding of virus spread in small spaces.

September 2020

Meet KAUST prospective student: Sahar Ammar

1 min read · Wed, Sep 9 2020

News

machine learning Deep learning telecommunication

Sahar Ammar will join KAUST this fall as a M.S./Ph.D. candidate and member of the Networking Research Lab and Communication Theory Lab under the co-supervision of Professor Basem Shihada and Professor Mohamed-Slim Alouini. The multidisciplinary engineering graduate will join the University from Tunisia Polytechnic School (TPS).

July 2020

June 2020

Angling for underwater WiFi

2 min read · Wed, Jun 10 2020

News

communications Computer science

Scuba divers could send sea life shots in real time using an aquatic internet service.

May 2020

6G: The time is now!

2 min read · Sun, May 17 2020

News

wireless telecommunication technology 6G

While 5G companies and opponents are competing over the deployment of the first 5G platforms, the next generation of wireless telecommunication technology is being concocted right now in laboratories all around the world.

February 2020

Plugging into a 6G future with users at the center

2 min read · Sun, Feb 9 2020

News

Wireless Communications 6G

For a communications revolution, 6G development needs more human-centric research.

September 2019

Our paper entitled "Spectral-Efficiency - Illumination Pareto Front for Energy Harvesting Enabled VLC System", has been accepted for publication at IEEE Transactions on Communications.

1 min read · Sat, Sep 21 2019

News

energy harvesting Visible light communications

Our paper entitled "Spectral-Efficiency - Illumination Pareto Front for Energy Harvesting Enabled VLC System", has been accepted for publication at IEEE Transactions on Communications.

August 2019

May 2019

Alumni Focus: Faisal Nawab

1 min read · Wed, May 29 2019

News Spotlight

KAUST alumnus Faisal Nawab received his master's degree in computer science from the University in 2011. His M.S. thesis work, which focused on how to build wireless network infrastructure, was supervised by KAUST Associate Professor Basem Shihada.

March 2019

Our paper entitled " Enhanced Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing with Subcarrier Number Modulation", has been accepted for publication at IEEE Internet of Things Journal.

1 min read · Wed, Mar 20 2019

News

orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing

Our paper entitled " Enhanced Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing with Subcarrier Number Modulation", has been accepted for publication at IEEE Internet of Things Journal.

February 2019

Our paper entitled "A Novel Error Performance Analysis Methodology for OFDM with Index Modulation", has been accepted for publication at IEEE Wireless Communication Letters.

1 min read · Sat, Feb 9 2019

News

orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing

Our paper entitled "A Novel Error Performance Analysis Methodology for OFDM with Index Modulation", has been accepted for publication at IEEE Wireless Communication Letters.

January 2019

December 2018

Our paper entitled "Design and Provisioning of Traffic Grooming for Optical Wireless Data Center Networks", has been accepted for publications at IEEE Transactions on Communications.

1 min read · Mon, Dec 3 2018

News

optical wireless data center networks

Our paper entitled "Design and Provisioning of Traffic Grooming for Optical Wireless Data Center Networks", has been accepted for publications at IEEE Transactions on Communications.

November 2018

October 2018

Our paper entitled "Downlink resource allocation for dynamic TDMA-based VLC systems", has been accepted for publications at IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications.

1 min read · Tue, Oct 9 2018

News

Visible light communications

Our paper entitled "Downlink resource allocation for dynamic TDMA-based VLC systems", has been accepted for publications at IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications.

August 2018

July 2018

Our paper entitled "On the Optimization of Multi-Cell SLIPT Systems" has been accepted for publication at IEEE Globecom 2018

1 min read · Sun, Jul 15 2018

News

energy harvesting Visible light communications

Our paper entitled "On the Optimization of Multi-Cell SLIPT Systems" has been accepted for publication at IEEE Globecom 2018.

June 2018

Our paper entitled "An Efficient Content Delivery System for 5G CRAN Employing Realistic Human Mobility" has been accepted for publication at IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing 2018

1 min read · Wed, Jun 27 2018

News

5G networks

Our paper entitled "An Efficient Content Delivery System for 5G CRAN Employing Realistic Human Mobility" has been accepted for publication at IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing 2018.

May 2018

April 2018

Accepted paper at International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (ICDCS)

1 min read · Thu, Apr 19 2018

News

Flight Elephant-flows

Accepted paper at International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (ICDCS).

March 2018

Our paper entitled "UHD Video Transmission over Bi-Directional Underwater Wireless Optical Communication" has been accepted for publication at IEEE Photonics

1 min read · Thu, Mar 29 2018

News

Underwater wireless optical communication

Our paper entitled "UHD Video Transmission over Bi-Directional Underwater Wireless Optical Communication" has been accepted for publication at IEEE Photonics.

January 2018

December 2017

Accepted Paper at IEEE/IFIP NOMS 2018

1 min read · Tue, Dec 5 2017

News

software defined network

A. AlGhadhban and B. Shihada, "Delay Analysis of New-Flow Setup Time in Software Defined Networks", in Proc. IEEE/IFIP Network Operations and Management Symposium (NOMS), pp. 1 - 7, 2018.

October 2017

September 2017

No strings attached for underwater video system

1 min read · Thu, Sep 14 2017

News

electrical engineering communications marine science underwater sensor underwater camera

An underwater wireless optical communications system for streaming high-quality, live video.

August 2017

July 2017

Accepted paper at IEEE Globecom 2017

1 min read · Tue, Jul 25 2017

News

IoT

A. Alabbasi, B. Shihada, and C. Cavdar, "On Energy Efficiency of Prioritized IoT Systems", IEEE Globecom, Accepted, 2017.
Accepted paper at IEEE Transactions on vehicular Technology

1 min read · Sun, Jul 16 2017

News

5G networks

I. AlQerm and B. Shihada, "Energy Efficient Power Allocation in Multi-tier 5G Networks Using Enhanced Online Learning", IEEE Transactions on vehicular Technology, 2017.

January 2017

Accepted paper at IEEE ICC 2017

1 min read · Sat, Jan 28 2017

News

SDN Networks

N. Bouacida, A. Alghadhban, S. Alalmaei, H. Mohammed, and B. Shihada, "Failure Mitigation in Software Defined Networking Employing Load Type Prediction", IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), Accepted, 2017.

November 2016

Accepted paper at IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications

1 min read · Tue, Nov 15 2016

News

5G

A. Alabbasi and B. Shihada, "Optimal Cross Layer Design for Energy Efficient Future Spectrum Sharing In 5G Systems", IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, Accepted, 2017. I.F. (2.925)

October 2016

June 2016

Accepted paper at IEEE Transactions on vehicular Technology 2016

1 min read · Wed, Jun 8 2016

News

5G Cognitive radio network

A. Alabbasi, Z. Rezki, and B. Shihada, "On Outage Performance of Spectrum-Sharing over M-Block Fading: A Sensing Approach", IEEE Transactions on vehicular Technology, Accepted, 2016. I.F. (1.978).

January 2016

Accepted paper at IEEE ICC 2016

1 min read · Mon, Jan 18 2016

News

5G networks

I. AlQerm and B. Shihada, "A Cooperative Online Learning Scheme for Resource Allocation in 5G Systems", in Proc. IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), pp. 1-7, 2016.

December 2015

Accepted paper at IEEE WCNC 2016

1 min read · Thu, Dec 10 2015

News

Cross-layer design

A. Alabbasi and B. Shihada, "Energy Efficient Cross Layer Design for Spectrum Sharing Systems", in Proc. IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC), pp. 1-7, 2016.

November 2015

August 2015

Choosing the right scheme for green communications

1 min read · Sat, Aug 22 2015

News

Computer science wireless computational science engineering

Performance analysis reveals how different resource allocation schemes may impact the energy efficiency of a cognitive radio system.

May 2015

Pedro Vilanova successfully defended his PhD Thesis

1 min read · Mon, May 4 2015

News

On May 3rd, 2015, Pedro Vilanova successfully defended his Ph.D. Thesis entitled "Multilevel Approximations of Markovian Jump Processes with Applications in Communication Networks".

September 2014

5 Year Anniversary Showcase

1 min read · Wed, Sep 3 2014

News

There were over 15 faculty members that helped, dedicated there time, and worked together to create an experience that everyone could enjoy. With effort, creativity, passion, collaboration, and dedication these faculty members made this whole event possible!

April 2014

KAUST's Prof. Basem Shihada's work on Buffer Sizing for Multi-Hop Networks, granted US Patent 8,638,686

1 min read · Mon, Apr 14 2014

News

communications communication networks

Prof. Basem Shihada and his previous research scientist Kamran Jamshaid obtained a US Patent for their technology on optimizing buffer sizing for multi-hop networks.

October 2013

Anas Daghistani Received The Best Paper Award At (IEEE WiMob, 2013)

1 min read · Wed, Oct 9 2013

News

Wireless sensors Green communications MIMO

Anas Daghistani, MSc Alumni in the Computer Science (CS) Program at the Computer, Electrical, and Mathematical Science and Engineering (CEMSE) division received the best paper award at the International Conference on Wireless and Mobile.

December 2012

Dr. Basem Shihada and Dr. Sajid Ahmed promoted to Senior Member of IEEE

1 min read · Sat, Dec 22 2012

News Spotlight

communications communication networks MIMO-radar waveform design MIMO and Passive radar Low complexity sphere decoding

Dr. Basem Shihada and Dr. Sajid Ahmed have been elevated to the rank of Senior Member of IEEE. This is considered a significant honor since only 8% of nearly 400,000 IEEE members are Senior Members because of their superior professional achievements.