Catherine Douillard

Biography --------- Catherine Douillard is a Professor at the Electronics Department of IMT Atlantique. She received the engineering degree in telecommunications from the École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications de Bretagne, France, in 1988, the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Western Brittany, France, in 1992, and the accreditation to supervise research from the University of Southern Brittany, France, in 2004. Her teaching area is digital electronics, VLSI circuit design and digital transmissions (error correcting codes). She is a member of the Codes research team in the Lab-STICC laboratory and was in charge of the Interaction between Algorithms and Silicon (IAS) team until 2020. Her main research interests are forward error correction codes and iterative decoding, iterative detection, the efficient combination of high spectral efficiency modulation and coding schemes, diversity techniques and turbo processing for multi-carrier, multi-antenna and multiple access transmission systems. Between 2007 and 2012, she participated in DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) Technical Modules for the definition of DVB-T2, DVB-NGH and DVB-RCS NG standards. She served as the chairperson of the "Coding, Constellations and Interleaving" task force for the DVB-NGH TM group from 2010 to 2012. In 2009, she received the SEE/IEEE Glavieux Award for her contribution to standards and related industrial impact. She also served as the technical program committee (co-)chair of ISTC (International Symposium on Topics in Coding) in 2010 and 2018 and as the general (co-)chair of ISTC 2016 and ISTC 2021 and she will serve as the general chair of ISTC 2023. On-going research projects -------------------------- ### [AI4CODE](https://ai4code.projects.labsticc.fr/): "AI-aided FEC code design & decoding", ANR project, 2021-2025 The aim of the ANR AI4CODE project is therefore to explore and assess how Machine Learning (ML) techniques can contribute to improvements in coding theory, techniques, and practice. The focus is placed on Forward Error Correction (FEC),and the project is built around four inter-related objectives: Objective #1: Explore how ML can contribute to improving the state of the art (SoA) in FEC decoding. Objective #2: Investigate how ML techniques can improve current knowledge and practice in FEC code design. Objective #3: Learn from the machine. Objective #4: Develop a general expertise and critical thinking on ML algorithms and their applications to coding theory and practice. In AI4CODE, we will lead the investigations on AI-based structured interleaver design for Turbo codes, considering both very short codes and very long codes for which different challenges arise. ### [Beyond5G](https://beyond5g.wp.imt.fr/): "Support for investment in strategic sectors for the resilience of our Economy" - 5G Telecommunications, French recovery plan, 2020-2024 France is currently involved in initiatives led by the Comité Stratégique de Filière (CSF) for Digital Infrastructure, whose main objectives are to organize the sector necessary for the development of a sovereign digital telecom "industry" and its applications in other user sectors ("verticals") such as health, transportation and production industries. The Beyond5G project is part of this approach. Its main objective is to propose technical solutions for the development of sovereign and secure 5G/post 5G networks. It articulates these solutions to the needs of the verticals in the context, on the one hand, of a sustained effort in R&D and, on the other hand, of a significant interfacing between R&D and verticals. This can be done through the platforms that will be set up with the resources made available by the partners of the project, or through the portability of functional blocks and services resulting from the project's work. ### [QCSP](https://qcsp.univ-ubs.fr/): "Quasi-Cyclic Short Packet", ANR project, 2019-2022 The aim of the ANR QCSP project is to contribute to the evolution of IoT networks by defining, implementing and testing a new coded modulation scheme dedicated to IoT networks. The “big bet” of the project is to work on the emergence of Non-Binary (NB) codes combined with a Cyclic Code Shift Keying (CCSK) modulation. This new coded modulation scheme, called CCSK-NB-code, can be easily implemented in a cost efficient way at the device side. CCSK-NB-code provides several advantages compared to state of the art waveforms: it offers self-synchronization and self-identification capabilities, and is able to operate at ultra-low Signal-to-Noise Ratios (SNR). Our contribution to QCSP is mainly related to the investigation of non-binary turbo codes optimized for CCSK modulation. Recent research projects ------------------------ ### [EPIC](https://epic-h2020.eu/): "Enabling Practical wIreless Tb/s communications with next generation channel Coding", H2020 project, 2017-2020 H2020 European project in collaboration with 7 industrial and academic partners. EPIC aims to develop a new generation of Forward Error Correction (FEC) codes to enable practical wireless Tb/s technology, corresponding to a 10x-100x throughput improvement over the SoA for beyond-5G (B5G) systems. Our contributions to EPIC are mainly related to new architecture-aware high-throughput turbo decoding algorithms and to the investigation of non-binary turbo codes. ### [FANTASTIC-5G](http://fantastic5g.com/): "Flexible Air iNTerfAce for Scalable service delivery wiThin wIreless Communication networks of the 5th Generation", H2020 project, 2015-2017 H2020 European project, stemming from the 5GPPP consortium with 16 industrial and academic partners and led by Alcatel-Lucent. FANTASTIC-5G aims at developping a new multi-service 5G Air Interface (AI) for below 6 GHz through a modular design. To allow the system to adapt to the anticipated heterogeneity, the pursued properties are: flexibility, scalability, versatility, efficiency, future-proofness. In this project, we have contributed to the enhancement of the LTE turbo code and to the proposal of non-binary turbo codes for the different 5G core services: eMBB, URLLC and mMTC. We also studied new efficient resource allocation techniques for NOMA (Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access) transmissions. On-going theses --------------- ### ​​​​​​​Mohammad BAZZAL **Novel algorithms for ultra-high throughput trellis-based coding and decoding** Thesis Co-Director with Charbel Abdel Nour, co-supervised with Stefan Weithoffer Started in November 2022 ### Ghazi AOUSAJI **Hardware implementation of fully pipelined turbo decoders** Thesis Co-Director with Charbel Abdel Nour, co-supervised with Stefan Weithoffer Started in November 2021 ### Joseph DOUMIT **Optimising resource allocation for IoT with uncoordinated and non-orthogonal spectrum access** Thesis Co-Supervisor with with Charbel Abdel Nour and Joumana Farah (Faculty of Engineering, Lebanese University, Roumieh, Lebanon) Started in October 2020 Recent theses ------------- ### Vinh Hoang Son LE **Design of next-generation Tb/s turbo codes** Thesis Co-Director with Prof. Emmanuel Boutillon (University of Southern Brittany), co-supervised with Charbel Abdel Nour Defended on 09/03/2021 ### Marie-Josepha YOUSSEF **New approaches for MIMO systems in communication networks using non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) techniques** Thesis Co-Director with Prof. Joumana Farah (Faculty of Engineering, Lebanese University, Roumieh, Lebanon), co-supervised with Charbel Abdel Nour Defended on 19/11/2020 ### Antoine KILZI **New approaches for the optimization of resource allocation in 5G and beyond mobile communication networks** Thesis Co-Director with Prof. Joumana Farah (Faculty of Engineering, Lebanese University, Roumieh, Lebanon), co-supervised with Charbel Abdel Nour Defended on 10/02/2021 ### Rami KLAIMI **Study of non-binary turbo codes for 5G** Thesis Co-Director with Prof. Joumana Farah (Faculty of Engineering, Lebanese University, Roumieh, Lebanon), co-supervised with Charbel Abdel Nour Defended on 03/07/2019

Biographie ---------- Catherine Douillard est professeure au département Mathematical and Electrical Engineering d'IMT Atlantique Bretagne - Pays de la Loire. Elle a obtenu son diplôme d'ingénieur de l'École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications de Bretagne en 1988, son doctorat en électronique de l'Université de Bretagne Occidentale en 1992 et son habilitation à diriger des recherches de l'Université de Bretagne Sud en 2004. Elle enseigne dans le domaine de l'électronique numérique, de la conception de circuits VLSI et des communications numériques (codes correcteurs d'erreurs). Elle effectue sa recherche au sein de l'équipe Codes du laboratoire Lab-STICC et a été responsable de l'équipe Interaction Algorithme-Silicium jusqu'en 2020 Elle s'intéresse à l'étude et la conception de fonctions pour les communications numériques : codage correcteur d'erreurs, décodage et détection itératifs, modulations codées et techniques de diversité pour les systèmes de transmission multi-porteuses, multi-antennes et à accès multiples. De 2007 à 2012, elle a également été active dans les modules techniques de standardisation DVB (DVB-T2, DVB-NGH et DVB-RCS NG). Elle a notamment animé le groupe de travail "Coding, Constellations and Interleaving" au sein du module technique DVB-NGH de 2010 à 2012. En 2009, elle a reçu le prix Glavieux IEEE/SEE, en reconnaissance de près de 15 ans de recherche et de retombées industrielles en codage de l'information. Elle a également été (co-)présidente du comité de programme d'ISTC (International Symposium on Topics in Coding) en 2010 et 2018 et (co-)présidente générale d'ISTC 2016 et ISTC 2021. Elle sera présidente générale d'ISTC 2023. Projets de recherche en cours et récents ---------------------------------------- ### [AI4CODE](https://ai4code.projects.labsticc.fr/): "AI-aided FEC code design & decoding", 2021-2025 The aim of the ANR AI4CODE project is therefore to explore and assess how Machine Learning (ML) techniques can contribute to improvements in coding theory, techniques, and practice. The focus is placed on Forward Error Correction (FEC),and the project is built around four inter-related objectives: Objective #1: Explore how ML can contribute to improving the state of the art (SoA) in FEC decoding. Objective #2: Investigate how ML techniques can improve current knowledge and practice in FEC code design. Objective #3: Learn from the machine. Objective #4: Develop a general expertise and critical thinking on ML algorithms and their applications to coding theory and practice. In AI4CODE, we lead the investigations on AI-based structured interleaver design for Turbo codes, considering both very short codes and very long codes for which different challenges arise. ### [BEYOND5G](https://beyond5g.wp.imt.fr/): Projet du plan de relance « soutien à l'investissement dans des secteurs stratégiques pour la résilience des notre économie » - Télécommunications 5G - « Souveraineté dans les réseaux de télécommunications afin d’accélérer les applications de la 5G aux marchés verticaux », 2020-2024 La France s’organise autour des initiatives portées par le Comité Stratégique de Filière (CSF) Infrastructure numérique, dont les objectifs principaux sont de structurer une filière nécessaire au développement d’une « industrie » des télécoms-numérique souveraine et de ses applications dans les autres filières utilisatrices (« verticales ») telles que la santé, les transports et les industries de production, notamment. Le projet Beyond5G s’inscrit dans cette démarche. Son objectif principal est de proposer des solutions techniques au développement de réseaux souverains et sécurisés 5G/post 5G. Il articule ces solutions aux besoins des verticaux dans le contexte, d’une part, d’un effort soutenu en R&D et d’autre part, d’un interfaçage important entre R&D et verticaux. Cela pourra se faire notamment via les plateformes d’usages qui seront mises en place dans le contexte des ressources mises à disposition par les partenaires du projet du CSF Infrastructures numériques et du présent appel à projets, ou encore, grâce à la portabilité de blocs fonctionnels et services issus des travaux du projet. ### [QCSP](https://qcsp.univ-ubs.fr/): "Quasi-Cyclic Short Packet", 2019-2022 The aim of the ANR QCSP project is to contribute to the evolution of IoT networks by defining, implementing and testing a new coded modulation scheme dedicated to IoT networks. The “big bet” of the project is to work on the emergence of Non-Binary (NB) codes combined with a Cyclic Code Shift Keying (CCSK) modulation. This new coded modulation scheme, called CCSK-NB-code, can be easily implemented in a cost efficient way at the device side. CCSK-NB-code provides several advantages compared to state of the art waveforms: it offers self-synchronization and self-identification capabilities, and is able to operate at ultra-low Signal-to-Noise Ratios (SNR). Our contribution to QCSP is mainly related to the investigation of non-binary turbo codes optimized for CCSK modulation. ### [EPIC](https://epic-h2020.eu/): "Enabling Practical wIreless Tb/s communications with next generation channel Coding", 2017-2020 H2020 European project in collaboration with 7 industrial and academic partners. EPIC aims to develop a new generation of Forward Error Correction (FEC) codes to enable practical wireless Tb/s technology, corresponding to a 10x-100x throughput improvement over the SoA for beyond-5G (B5G) systems. Our contributions to EPIC are mainly related to new architecture-aware high-throughput turbo decoding algorithms and to the investigation of non-binary turbo codes. ### [FANTASTIC-5G](http://fantastic5g.eu/): "Flexible Air iNTerfAce for Scalable service delivery wiThin wIreless Communication networks of the 5th Generation", 2015-2017 H2020 European project, stemming from the 5GPPP consortium with 16 industrial and academic partners and led by Alcatel-Lucent/Nokia Bell-Labs. FANTASTIC-5G aims at developping a new multi-service 5G Air Interface (AI) for below 6 GHz through a modular design. To allow the system to adapt to the anticipated heterogeneity, the pursued properties are: flexibility, scalability, versatility, efficiency, future-proofness. In this project, we have contributed to the enhancement of the LTE turbo code and to the proposal of non-binary turbo codes for the different 5G core services: eMBB, URLLC and mMTC. We also studied new efficient resource allocation techniques for NOMA (Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access) transmissions. Thèses en cours --------------- ### Mohammad BAZZAL **Nouveaux algorithmes pour le codage et le décodage sur treillis à très haut débit** Co-directrice de thèse avec Charbel Abdel Nour, co-encadrement : Stefan Weithoffer Démarrée le 01/11/2022 ### Ghazi AOUSAJI **Implémentation matérielle de turbo-décodeurs entièrement pipelinés** Co-directrice de thèse avec Charbel Abdel Nour, co-encadrement : Stefan Weithoffer Démarrée le 01/11/2021 ### Joseph DOUMIT **Optimisation de l'allocation de ressources pour l'IoT avec un accès non coordonné et non orthogonal au sprectre** Co-encadrante de thèse, direction : Charbel Abdel Nour et Joumana Farah (Faculté de Génie de l'Université Libanaise, Roumieh, Liban) Démarrée le 01/10/2020 Thèses soutenues récemment -------------------------- ### Vinh Hoang Son LE **Conception de turbo codes pour les communications à ultra haut débit** Co-directrice de thèse avec Emmanuel Boutillon (Université de Bretagne Sud), co-encadrement : Charbel Abdel Nour Soutenue le 09/03/2021 ### Antoine KILZI **Nouvelles approches de gestion des interférences pour les réseaux de communication 5G et futurs utilisant la NOMA** Co-directrice de thèse avec Joumana Farah (Faculté de Génie de l'Université Libanaise, Roumieh, Liban), co-encadrement : Charbel Abdel Nour Soutenue le 10/02/2021 ### Marie-Josepha YOUSSEF **Nouvelles approches pour les systèmes multi-antennaires dans les réseaux de communication 5G utilisant les techniques d’accès multiple non orthogonales (NOMA)** Co-directrice de thèse avec Joumana Farah (Faculté de Génie de l'Université Libanaise, Roumieh, Liban), co-encadrement : Charbel Abdel Nour Soutenue le 19/11/2020 ### Rami KLAIMI **Etude de turbocodes non binaires pour la 5G** Co-directrice de thèse avec Joumana Farah (Faculté de Génie de l'Université Libanaise, Roumieh, Liban), co-encadrement : Charbel Abdel Nour Soutenue le 03/07/2019