Mustafa Kishk

October 2026

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  KAUST research develops HAPS deployment guidance for hard-to-reach areas

  1 min read · Thu, Oct 15 2026

  News

  HAPSs high altitude platform stations Wireless Communications Performance analysis Connect the Unconnected

  In many remote regions, terrestrial infrastructure can only be installed near roads, coastlines, rivers or other accessible areas. This can leave large interior regions with limited or unreliable connectivity. Such gaps may affect not only mobile users, but also applications such as agricultural Internet of Things systems, renewable-energy facilities, environmental monitoring and emergency communications. Researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and Maynooth University have developed a mathematical framework to guide the deployment of high-altitude platform

September 2026

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  KAUST researchers explore HAPS and gateway networks for remote IoT connectivity

  2 min read · Thu, Sep 17 2026

  News

  HAPSs high altitude platform stations IoT Wireless Communications

  Connecting large numbers of sensors and wireless devices across deserts, forests, agricultural regions and other areas where fiber infrastructure is difficult or costly to deploy presents a challenge for future Internet of Things networks. Research team including Hao Lin and Prof. Mohamed-Slim Alouini from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), and Dr. Mustafa A. Kishk from Maynooth University, has developed a mathematical framework showing how high-altitude platform stations, or HAPS, could work together with ground gateway networks to create large-scale continuous

August 2025

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  KAUST scientists use new mathematical approach to protect aircraft from 5G interference

  1 min read · Tue, Aug 26 2025

  News Clip News

  5G networks electromagnetic Next generation wireless communications radio frequency communication

  Study offers first application of stochastic geometry for the safe deployment of 5G towers around runways

March 2024

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  Towards ultra reliable low latency routing in LEO satellite constellations

  1 min read · Wed, Mar 6 2024

  News

  KAUST PhD candidate Ruibo Wang has been recognized for his innovative work in low earth orbit (LEO) satellite communication with a first-place prize in the contest on 6G and NTN: Challenges and Solutions at IEEE Future Networks . This award at this leading international forum acknowledges that this work in enhancing the efficiency and reliability of satellite communications and contributing significantly to sustainable technological advancements. More specifically, the work done in collaboration with Professors Mustafa A. Kishk and Mohamed-Slim Alouini, presents an innovative approach to

February 2024

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  KAUST research advances RF-powered IoT in rural area to bridge the digital divide

  1 min read · Sun, Feb 4 2024

  News

  With the advent of the 5G era, bridging the digital divide on a global scale has become a common goal. The research team from the Communications Theory Laboratory (CTL) at KAUST, including Hao Lin, Mustafa A. Kishk, and Mohamed-Slim Alouini, has made notable progress in enhancing network coverage in rural areas. Led by Prof. Mohamed-Slim Alouini, their study, "Performance Evaluation of RF-powered IoT in Rural Areas: The Wireless Power Digital Divide," analyzes the potential and challenges of RF-powered IoT in rural areas. The Internet of Things (IoT) is essential for advancements in smart

January 2024

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  KAUST CTL researchers introduce a new interference-mitigation strategy for enhanced reliability in post-disaster networks

  1 min read · Sat, Jan 20 2024

  News

  A team of KAUST researchers, M. Matracia, M. Kishk, and M. -S. Alouini, have unveiled a pioneering interference-mitigation strategy aimed at bolstering reliability in post-disaster networks. Their collaborative work, titled "Reliability in post-disaster networks: A novel interference-mitigation strategy," promises to revolutionize the field and significantly improve communication systems in the aftermath of calamities. In the face of natural disasters and other catastrophic events, maintaining robust and dependable communication networks is paramount. The novel interference-mitigation strategy

December 2023

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  A simple solution for frequency sharing

  2 min read · Wed, Dec 20 2023

  News Spotlight

  A simple yet elegant solution could improve data rates for multiple communications networks that share a common frequency band.

October 2023

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  Optimizing 6G connectivity: Tethered UAVs unleash the potential of aerial base stations

  1 min read · Thu, Oct 26 2023

  News

  In a recent research initiative, a team of researchers from the Communication Theory Lab (CTL) at KAUST, including Safa Khemiri, Mustafa A. Kishk, and Mohamed-Slim Alouini has proposed a novel system where aerial base stations (ABSs) are strategically deployed in user hotspots to alleviate network traffic and support terrestrial base stations (TBSs). The team's research delves into three distinct deployment scenarios, evaluating them based on their coverage performance and energy efficiency. To provide a more realistic representation of the system, they have developed a comprehensive model

September 2023

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  Innovative research enhances integrated wireless networks for remote maritime areas

  1 min read · Fri, Sep 15 2023

  News

  communication networks Wireless Communications

  In the latest edition of IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, researchers Jiajie Xu, Mustafa A. Kishk, and Mohamed-Slim Alouini unveil a pioneering approach to enhance global connectivity in challenging terrains. Their paper, titled "Space-Air-Ground-Sea Integrated Networks: Modeling and Coverage Analysis," explores Space-Air-Ground networks' potential in the forthcoming sixth-generation (6G) wireless communication era. "Connectivity in remote maritime areas has been a longstanding challenge. Our research offers a promising solution by introducing Space-Air-Ground-Sea Integrated

July 2023

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  Research explores enhancing reliability in hybrid satellite-terrestrial networks

  1 min read · Fri, Jul 14 2023

  News

  satellite communication Wireless Communications

  A team of researchers from the Communication Theory Lab (CTL) at KAUST, including Ruibo Wang, Mustafa A. Kishk, and Mohamed-Slim Alouini, has achieved a significant advancement in the field of communication networks. Their research article, titled "Reliability Analysis of Multi-hop Routing in Multi-tier LEO Satellite Networks," led by KAUST Professor Mohamed-Slim Alouini, addresses the critical issue of network reliability within complex multi-tier hybrid satellite-terrestrial relay networks (HSTRN). Reliable communication networks are fundamental for global connectivity in today's

May 2023

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  Underwater long-distances wireless communication study from CTL awarded at the IEEE SusTech 2023 student poster contest

  2 min read · Thu, May 4 2023

  News

  The underwater long-distance wireless communication research of KAUST Ph.D. candidate Jiajie Xu, supervised by Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Mohamed-Slim Alouini and Assistant Professor Mustafa Kishk at Maynooth University, Ireland, has been recently awarded the second-place prize at the 10th IEEE Conference on Technologies for Sustainability (IEEE SusTech 2023) student poster contest which was held in Portand, Oregon, USA. The work, titled "3H-UWAC (three-hop underwater wireless acoustic communication) based on SOFAR Plane: A Novel Relay Deployment Technique"

March 2023

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  Resident population density-inspired aerial network deployment

  1 min read · Mon, Mar 20 2023

  News

  Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to enhance network coverage has proven a variety of benefits compared to terrestrial counterparts. One of the commonly used mathematical tools to model the locations of UAVs is stochastic geometry (SG). CTL researchers considered an inhomogeneous Poisson point process (PPP)-based model for the locations of the users that captures the degradation in the density of active users as users move away from the town center. The deployment of aerial vehicles following the same inhomogeneity of the users was proposed to maximize the performance. In addition, a multi
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  Joint uplink and downlink EMF exposure: Performance analysis and design insights

  1 min read · Wed, Mar 15 2023

  News

  Installing more BSs into the existing cellular infrastructure is an essential way to provide greater network capacity. However, a non-negligible amount of the population is concerned that such network densification will generate a notable increase in exposure to EMF. CTL researchers studied three scenarios, including the downlink, uplink, and joint downlink&uplink exposure. They integrated the EMF restrictions set by the regulatory authorities (e.g., the maximum permitted EMF exposure and the minimum distance between BSs and restricted areas,) on the coverage performance and exposure analysis

November 2022

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  Dedicating cellular infrastructure for aerial users

  1 min read · Thu, Nov 10 2022

  News

  In recent years, aerial transportation has seen unprecedented advances since the terrestrial traffic congestion and the constraints of public transportation infrastructure. To become a reality, it is important to provide a strong and reliable connection for aerial users. However, the current cellular infrastructure is primarily designed to serve ground users with down-tilted antennas. CTL researchers proposed to convert a part of the down-tilted BSs into up-tilted BSs to ensure the coverage of aerial users. The analysis and simulation results evaluated the effectiveness of this novel proposal

August 2022

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  Coverage enhancement of underwater IoT using multilevel acoustic communication networks

  1 min read · Wed, Aug 31 2022

  News

  IoT

  Underwater acoustic communication networks (UACNs) are considered a key enabler to the underwater internet of things (UIoT). UACN is regarded as essential for various marine applications such as monitoring, exploration, and trading. However, a large part of existing literature disregards the 3-dimensional (3D) nature of the underwater communication system. In this paper, we propose a K-tier UACN that acts as a gateway that connects the UIoT with the Space-Air-GroundSea Integrated System (SAGSIS). The proposed network architecture consists of several tiers along the vertical direction with
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  Stochastic geometry-based low latency routing in LEO satellite networks

  1 min read · Mon, Aug 22 2022

  News

  In recent years, we have witnessed the booming development of low earth orbit (LEO) satellite networks. In terms of low latency and ultra-long distance communication, the LEO satellite network has excellent advantages over ground networks and high orbit satellite networks. In ultra-long distance communication, multiple satellites are used as relays to complete multi-hop routing. How to select the relay satellite to achieve the minimum latency routing becomes one of the challenges. CTL researchers studied the routing in massive low earth orbit (LEO) satellites. They proposed a nearest-neighbor

June 2022

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  Drone charging stations deployment in rural areas for better wireless coverage

  1 min read · Sun, Jun 26 2022

  News

  While the fifth-generation cellular (5G) is meant to deliver Gigabit peak data speeds, low latency, and connect to billions of devices, and 6G is already on the way, half of the world population living in rural areas are still facing challenges connecting to the internet. Compared with urban areas, users in rural areas are greatly impacted by low income, high cost of backhaul connectivity, limited resources, extreme weather, and natural geographical limitations. Hereby, how to connect the rural areas and what are the difficulties of providing connectivity draw great attention. This article

April 2022

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  A novel modeling technique for LEO satellite networks

  1 min read · Mon, Apr 11 2022

  News

  Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite plays an indispensable role in the equal access network because of its low latency, large capacity, and seamless global coverage. For such an unprecedented extensive irregular system, stochastic geometry (SG) is a suitable research method. The SG model can not only cope with the increasing network scale but also accurately analyze and estimate the network’s performance. CTL researchers investigated several standard satellite distribution models and satellite-ground channel models. System-level metrics such as coverage probability and their intermediates were

December 2021

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  A novel perspective on UAV-aided post-disaster cellular networks

  1 min read · Wed, Dec 1 2021

  News

  In the context of sixth-generation (6G) networks, emergency management systems based on wireless communications are gaining interest. In an incoming magazine paper, CTL researchers discussed fundamentals and open problems of post-disaster communications with a special focus on the topological aspects. This is because, whenever a disaster strikes, there is a high chance that the telecom infrastructure is compromised, and therefore alternative networks need to be deployed efficiently to enable communications between victims and first responders. Finally, by means of selected simulation results

October 2021

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  Progressive KAUST communications study awarded at the IEEE SusTech 2021 student poster contest

  1 min read · Wed, Oct 13 2021

  News

  The progressive telecommunications research of KAUST Ph.D. candidate Maurilio Matracia, supervised by postdoctoral fellow Mustafa Kishk and Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Mohamed-Slim Alouini, has been recently awarded the second-place prize at the IEEE SusTech 2021 student poster contest.

June 2021

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  Deploying UAVs to support rural networks

  1 min read · Mon, Jun 21 2021

  News

  Unmanned aerial vehicles UAVs enabled wireless networks

  Although ubiquitous connectivity is one of the main goals for 5G and beyond networks, the low expected profit prevents telecommunication providers from investing in sparsely populated areas. Hence, cost efficient alternatives such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV)-mounted base stations are required for extending the cellular infrastructure to these regions. In this work, a new stochastic geometry-based model has been implemented to show the coverage spatial variation among urban, suburban, and exurban settlements. Based on this, the numerical results have quantified the improvements that even

March 2021

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  Tethered drones have wireless data covered

  1 min read · Thu, Mar 25 2021

  News

  Flying drones connected by a cable tethered to a ground station could be a flexible solution for enhancing wireless connectivity in temporary hotspots.

February 2021

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  A novel mathematical model for analyzing LEO satellite-based communication networks

  1 min read · Sun, Feb 7 2021

  News

  LEO Satellite-based Communication Networks

  Driven by the dramatic progress in the low earth orbit (LEO) satellite technology in the past few years, the vision of achieving global connectivity everywhere using LEO satellites has never been closer to reality. To reach this goal, large numbers of LEO satellites are planned to be deployed at different altitudes to ensure providing coverage around the globe with the capability to achieve different kinds of user requirements such as high data rate or low latency. In the recent work led by Communication Theory Lab (CTL) researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)

January 2021

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  Norway's electric vehicle revolution and KAUST researchers' exploration of wireless charging roads

  1 min read · Mon, Jan 18 2021

  News

  In 2020, electric car sales in Norway surpassed those of petrol, diesel, and hybrid vehicles, with Volkswagen outpacing Tesla as the top battery-vehicle producer. Battery electric vehicles (BEV) accounted for 54.3% of new cars sold in Norway, up from 42.4% in 2019. The country aims to end the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2025, offering tax exemptions to fully electric vehicles, making Norway a testing ground for automakers transitioning from internal combustion engines. Researchers at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia, i.e., postdoctoral fellow
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  Charging ahead for electric vehicles

  1 min read · Sun, Jan 3 2021

  News

  Stochastic Geometry

  Roads installed with wireless charging technology could become an integral feature of our cities in an electric vehicle future.

November 2020

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  Intelligent surfaces signal better coverage

  1 min read · Wed, Nov 11 2020

  News

  networks connectivity electrical engineering

  A mathematical model shows specialized reflective panels could be deployed on a large scale to enhance communication networks in urban areas.

July 2020

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  Unleashing the potential of tethered drones

  2 min read · Tue, Jul 14 2020

  News

  electrical engineering applied mathematics

  Wire-connected drones may complement or replace the fixed base stations of cellular communications networks.