NextG Wireless Lab
NextG Wireless Lab@NC STATE
NextG Wireless Lab (NextG Lab@NC State) is a leading research group specializing in cutting-edge exploration of next-generation wireless communications and networking. Our research spans various critical areas including 5G and 6G cellular systems, Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN), wireless cybersecurity, AI/ML applications in wireless technologies, and dynamic spectrum sharing.
Key Research Areas at NextG Lab
5G/6G Wireless Networks
O-RAN architecture and xApps, rApps and μApps/dApps
O-RAN security, privacy and testing
AI and GenAI/LLMs for 5G/O-RAN networks
Spectrum sharing in FR3 bands/satellite bands
5G/NR positioning
Space/Non-terrestrial networks
Explore our current research projects here.
Lab Director: Vijay K Shah
Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at North Carolina State University
3066 Engineering Building II
890 Oval Drive, Raleigh, NC 27606
vijay.shah@ncsu.edu
Dr. Shah is currently an Assistant Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at North Carolina State University. He heads the NextG Wireless Lab@NC State, dedicated to advancing the forefront of wireless communication and network technologies beyond current generations. Prior to joining NC State, he was an Assistant Professor in the Cybersecurity Engineering Department at George Mason University and Research Assistant Professor in the Bradley Department of ECE at Virginia Tech from 2021 - 2024 and 2019 - 2021, respectively.
Dr. Shah's research group is generously supported by several R&D projects funded by the NSF, NIST and NTIA.
Meet the NextG Lab Team here.
Recent News
December 2024 [Paper Acceptance] One paper on Satellite Networks accepted to IEEE INFOCOM 2025. Congratulations to Dara and Team!
September 2024 [Paper Acceptance] SPARC is accepted to ACM CoNEXT 2024. Congratulations Azuka and Team! This work is a joint collaboration with UC San Diego and TAMU. [Link]
September 2024 [Service] Dr. Shah has been invited to serve on the TPC for IEEE PerCom 2025.
September 2024 [Service] Dr. Shah has been invited to serve as the Demo/Poster Chair for ACM WiSec 2025.
September 2024 [Paper Acceptance] Zero-trust RIC paper is accepted to IEEE CCNC 2025 as a regular paper. Congratulations to two ASSIP interns, Diana Lin and Samarth Bhargava, joint first co-authors, and the team. [ArXiv]
September 2024 [Paper Acceptance] ORAN-Bench-13K is accepted to IEEE CCNC 2025 as a WiP paper. Congratulations to Pranshav! [ArXiv]
September 2024 [Paper Acceptance] 5G Positioning paper is accepted to ACM WiNTECH 2024. Congratulations Sarik and the entire team! [Arxiv]
September 2024 [Paper Acceptance] WANDA is accepted to ACM MobiCom Workshop "ML for NextG Networks" 2024. Congratulations to the Team!
September 2024 [Demo] SPARC demo is accepted as a demo paper to ACM MobiCom Workshop "Open and AI RAN". Congratulations Azuka and Team! This work is a joint collaboration with UC San Diego and TAMU.
August 2024 [New Undergrads] Logan Serino, Aaditya Mishra, and Minsu Kang have joined NextG Lab as undergraduate research students. Welcome onboard!
August 2024 [New PhD students] Farzad Mehri, Osman Mamudu and Ali Abbas have joined NextG Lab as PhD students. Welcome onboard!
July 2024 [News] NextG Lab has moved to the ECE department at NC State effective July 1, 2024.
July 2024 [New ASSIP students] NextG Lab welcomed six high school students through Aspiring Scientists' Summer Internship (ASSIP) Program. Welcome onboard Rachel Chen, Roshini Daruvuri, Adithya Kapoor, Nikhil Nair, Yashasvi Banka, and Nishanta Vadlamani.
May 2024 [Service] Dr. Shah has been invited to serve on the TPC for IEEE INFOCOM 2025.
May 2024 [Service] Dr. Shah has been invite to serve as the Demo/Poster co-chair for ACM WiNTECH 2024.
April 2024 [NSF Student Travel Grant] Congratulations to Ta-seen and Azuka for receiving the prestigious NSF student travel grant to attend IEEE DySPAN 2024.
April 2024 [New Postdoc] Dr. Sayanta Seth joined NextG Lab as a postdoctoral researcher. Welcome onboard, Sayanta!
April 2024 [Grant] Our project "M2- NET: An Integrated Access and Backhaul Millimeter-wave Wireless Network for Campus Connectivity and Research" has been funded by the NSF. [Abstract]
March 2024 [Paper Acceptance] Our paper "Milli-O-RAN: A Flexible, Reconfigurable O-RAN enabled mmWave Network Testbed" has been accepted to IEEE DySPAN Posters and Demos 2024. Congratulations Vikram! [Link]
March 2024 [News] Vikram will be joining AT&T Labs for Summer internship 2024. Congratulations Vikram!
March 2024 [Service] Dr. Shah has been invited to serve as the track chair for IEEE MILCOM 2024 (Track 1 - Waveforms and Signal Processing).
Feb. 2024 [News] Azuka will be joining InterDigital Inc. for Summer internship 2024. Congratulations Azuka!
Feb. 2024 [Award] My third-year PhD student, Ta-seen Niloy has been awarded the "May La Due Bishop Book Fund" for academic excellence. Congratulations Ta-seen!
Feb. 2024 [Service] Dr. Shah has been invited to serve as the track chair for IEEE CCNC 2025 (Track 5 - Beyond 5G and Towards 6G).
Feb. 2024 [New member] Pranav Choori has joined our NextG Lab as a REU student. Welcome onboard, Pranav!
Feb. 2024 [Paper Acceptance] Three regular papers (two on 12 GHz spectrum sharing [ASCENT] [CAT3S] and one on [O-RAN privacy]) are accepted to IEEE DySPAN 2024. Congratulations to Ta-seen, Pranshav, and the entire team!
Jan. 2024 [Grant] Our project "A Holistic Cybersecurity Testing Framework for 5G Radio Access Networks" has been awarded by NTIA under Wireless Innovation Fund. This is in collaboration with Virginia Tech (lead), Penn State and WPI. [link]
Jan. 2024 [Two new REUs] NextG Lab welcomes two new REU members, Faisal Yusufzai and Haris Khalid, in Spring 2024! Both are generously supported CCI Scholars - Undergraduate Research Award. Thanks CCI!
Jan. 2024 [Service] Dr. Shah has been invited to serve on the TPC for IEEE MASS 2024.
Jan. 2024 [Invited Talk] Dr. Shah gave a talk entitled "Transforming Cellular Landscape: Open RAN, AI Convergence, and the Journey towards 6G" to ITU FG-AN Build-a-thon 2024 Workshop 5.0.
Jan. 2024 [Two new members] NextG Lab welcomes two new members in Spring 2024! Dr. Dara Ron and Abiodun Ganiyu join us as a postdoctoral researcher and a PhD student respectively. Welcome Dara and Abiodun!
2023
Dec. 2023 [Paper Acceptance] Our paper on "System-level Analysis of Adversarial Attacks and Defenses on Intelligence in O-RAN based Cellular Networks" has been accepted to ACM WiSec 2024 [Preprint]. Congratulations to Azuka and team!
Dec. 2023 [Grant] Our project "Fingerprinting Technology for Enhancing 5G/NextG O-RAN Supply Chain Risk Management" has been awarded by CCI Northern Virginia Node under the program "Research in Supply Chain Risk Management". This is in collaboration with PFP Cybersecurity Inc.
Dec. 2023 [Service] Dr. Shah invited to serve on the TPC for MobiHoc 2024.
Nov. 2023 [Grant] Our project "AI-Enabled Efficient Testing and Evaluation for RU, DU, and CU Components of 5G Radio Access Networks" has been awarded by NTIA under Wireless Innovation Fund. This is in collaboration with Michigan State University. [link] [link]
Nov. 2023 [O-RAN ALLIANCE Honorable Mention] Our "FEMO-CLOUD" project has been recognized with honorable mention by O-RAN Alliance Next Generation Research Group (nGRG). [link]
Nov. 2023 [Best Demo Award] Our demo paper "Demonstration of Closed Loop AI-Driven RAN Controllers Using O-RAN SDR Testbed" was awarded the best demo paper at IEEE MILCOM 2023. [Paper]
Oct. 2023 [Paper Acceptance] Our paper on "Adaptive RRI Selection Algorithms for Improved Cooperative Awareness in Decentralized NR-V2X" has been accepted to IEEE Access. Congratulations Avik Dayal (Past student from VT).
Oct. 2023 [News] Our NIST project "Assisting Firefighters with 5G Drones" was featured in the GMU College of Engineering and Computing Annual Report 2023. [link]
Sep. 2023 [News] Open AI Cellular (OAIC) Platform version 2.0 is out! It has some new key capabilities (i) 5G support, (ii) O-RAN OSC Near-RT RIC and Non-RT RIC, (iii) Lightweight E2 Implementation, (iv) Sample ML-driven xApp, and (v) ZMQ with multiple UE support. If interested, check out our OAIC website for latest updates: www.openaicellular.org.
Sep. 2023 [Paper Acceptance] Our demo paper on "Demonstration of Closed Loop AI-Driven RAN Controllers Using O-RAN SDR Testbed" has been accepted to IEEE MILCOM Demos 2023. Congratulations Nathan and Team!
Sep. 2023: [Paper Acceptance] Our paper on "Control Coordination in Inverter-based Microgrids using AoI-based 5G Schedulers" has been accepted to IET Smart Grid 2023. This work was conducted by Biplav Chowdhury (Past student from VT). Congratulations Biplav! In collaboration with REGAL Lab@Virginia Tech, we, potentially for the first time, demonstrated the potential of Age of Information (AoI) scheduling protocol for supporting low-latency 5G communications for smart grid control applications.
Sep. 2023: [Grant] Our NSF SaTC proposal on "RIS Security" was awarded by National Science Foundation (NSF). This is in collaboration with CCI/VT and ASU. [Abstract]
Sep. 2023 [Service] My REU student, Nathan Stephenson and I presented a comprehensive tutorial on Open AI Cellular (OAIC), a 4G/5G O-RAN platform, at IEEE PIMRC 2023, Toronto, Canada.
August 2023 [Grant] Our proposal on "Millimeter Wave IoT networks" was awarded the "CCI Fellows" seed grant.
August 2023 [New PhD Student] Sebastian Kwakye joined NextG Lab as a PhD student. Welcome onboard, Sebastian!
August 2023 [News] Our Open AI Cellular (OAIC) platform (based on SDRs) has featured National Instruments Wireless Research Customer Stories. Link: https://www.ni.com/en/forms/wireless-research-customer-stories.html
August 2023 [New PhD Student] Pranshav Gajjar joined NextG Lab as a PhD student. Welcome onboard, Pranshav!
August 2023 [New Student] Nick Ammann joined NextG Lab as a research undergraduate student. Welcome onboard, Nick!
August 2023 [Paper Acceptance] Our paper on "Deep Learning Based Fast and Accurate Beamforming for Millimeter-Wave Systems" has been accepted to IEEE MILCOM 2023. This work is led by Tarun S. Cousik (Past student from VT). Congratulations Tarun!
August 2023 [Paper Acceptance] Our paper on "Experimental Study of Adversarial Attacks on ML-based xApps in O-RAN" has been accepted to IEEE GLOBECOM 2023. This work has been conducted in collaboration with Northeastern University. Congratulations to Naveen and rest of the team.
August 2023 [Paper Acceptance] Our paper on "SenseORAN: O-RAN based Radar Detection in the CBRS Band" has been accepted to IEEE JSAC Special issue on Open RAN. This work has been conducted in collaboration with Northeastern University. Congratulations to my students, Nathan and Pratheek (Past student from VT) and rest of the team.
August 2023 [News] My current postdoc, Dr. Naveen Sapavath, has joined the Institute of Wireless Internet of Things (WIoT), Department of ECE, Northeastern University as an Assistant Professor (Teaching). Congratulations!
August 2023 [Service] Dr. Shah has been invited to serve on the TPC for IEEE ICC 2024.
July 2023 [News] NextG Lab@GMU is honored and excited to partner with Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) [Lead], Wireless@VT, and ODU on North American O-RAN Testing and Integration Center (OTIC) in Washington DC area. GMU CEC news article: https://cec.gmu.edu/news/2023-07/george-mason-university-improving-next-gen-wireless-networks
July 2023 [Service] Dr. Shah has been invited to serve as the Local Chair for IEEE DySPAN 2024.
June 2023 [New PhD Student] Azuka Chiejina joined NextG Lab as a PhD student. Welcome onboard, Azuka!
June 2023 [New Students] NextG Lab is glad to host two high school students, Diana Lin and Samarth Bhargav, as summer interns under Aspiring Scientists Summer Internship (ASSIP) Program 2023.
June 2023 [News] NextG Lab@GMU demonstrated a 5G positioning demo with sub-meter level accuracy at the 5x5 Public Safety Innovation Summit, San Diego, USA.
June 2023 [Paper Acceptance] Our paper on "Interference Analysis of Coexisting 5G Networks and NGSO FSS Receivers in the 12 GHz Band" has been accepted to IEEE Wireless Communications Letters 2023. This is the first work that investigates spectrum coexistence in 12 GHz band (12.2 - 12.7 GHz). Congratulations to Ta-seen and Nathan!
April 2023 [Travel Grant] Sarik Dhungel has been awarded with a travel grant to attend the AERPAW community workshop 2023. Congratulations Sarik!
April 2023 [CCI Symposium] Ta-seen and Nathan presented posters on "12 GHz spectrum sharing" and "O-RAN based spectrum sharing framework" at 2nd CCI symposium, Richmond, VA.
March 2023 [Paper Acceptance] 12 GHz spectrum sharing paper accepted to IEEE Communications Magazine 2023.
March 2023 [Service] Dr. Shah invited to serve on the TPC for WiseML 2023.
March 2023: [Grant] Our CCRI proposal on "Space Networks" was awarded by National Science Foundation (NSF). [Abstract]
March 2023: [Two New Students] Luis Walder and Osama Abdulmajid joined NextG as undergraduate researchers under CCI undergraduate Research Program. Welcome onboard, Luis and Osama!
Feb. 2023: [Invited Talk] Dr. Shah gave a talk on "Road Beyond 5G: Architectures, Applications, and Trends" at American Society of Nepalese Engineering (ANSEngr) Professional Development Series. Link: https://www.asnengr.org/wp/events/asnengrs-professional-development-series/
Feb. 2023: [Service] Dr. Shah joins the Editorial Board of Computer Networks.
Feb 2023: [New Student] Nathaniel Kabigting joined NextG as a Research Undergraduate under NSF REU program. Welcome onboard, Nathaniel!
Feb. 2023: [Paper Acceptance] Interference classification paper accepted to IEEE INFOCOM workshop on Deep Learning for Wireless Communications, Sensing, and Security (DeepWireless). [Preprint]
Jan. 2023 [Poster Acceptance] Three posters (on 12 GHz spectrum sharing, O-RAN, and AI beamforming) accepted at CCI Symposium 2023. Congratulations Ta-seen, Nathan and Vikram!
Jan. 2023: [Invited Talk] Dr. Shah gave a talk on "5G-IPS: 5G-based Indoor Positioning System for Emergency Responders in GPS-limited Indoor Scenarios", ICDCN workshop on Emergency Response Technologies and Services (EmeRTeS) 2023.
More News
Nov. 2022: [Invited Talk] Dr. Shah gave a talk on "Enabling 5G/NextG Network with Open RAN Architectures" at Research Scholar Day at National Institute of Technology (NIT) Durgapur, India. Link: https://youtu.be/qlxwO5M23Sg
Nov. 2022: [Paper Acceptance] O-RAN testing framework paper accepted to IEEE Wireless Communications Magazine.
Oct. 2022: [News] Our 5G positioning research was featured in Mason and other news portals.
Link: https://cec.gmu.edu/news/2022-10/firefighters-get-assist-5g-equipped-drones-developed-mason
Oct. 2022: [Service] Dr. Shah invited to serve on the TPC for ACM MobiHoc 2023.
Sept. 2022: [Postdoc] Naveen Sapavath joined NextG Lab as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Welcome onboard, Dr. Sapavath!
August 2022: [New Student] Sarik Dhungel joined NextG Lab as a PhD student. Welcome onboard, Sarik!
August 2022: [New Student] Nadin Said joined NextG as a Research Undergraduate. Welcome onboard, Nadin!
August 2022: [Paper Acceptance] DeepIA paper accepted to IEEE TNSE.
July 2022: [Paper Acceptance] UAV backhauling paper accepted to IEEE TNSM.
June 2022: [Paper Acceptance] UAV optimization paper accepted to IEEE IoT Journal.
June 2022: [Paper Acceptance] Interference Suppression Survey paper accepted to IEEE Access.
June 2022: [Grant] Our proposal on "5G-based Indoor Positioning System" was awarded by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). [More info here]
June 2022: [Talk] Dr. Shah gave a talk on Open AI Cellular (OAIC) at IEEE NextG Summit 2022. [Slides][Youtube]
May 2022: [Service] Dr. Shah has been invited to serve on the TPC for IEEE MILCOM 2022.
May 2022: [Service] Dr. Shah has been invited to serve on the TPC for IEEE COMSNETS 2022.
March 2022: [Service] Dr. Shah has been invited to serve on the TPC for IEEE SECON 2022.
March 2022: [Paper Acceptance] O-RAN paper accepted to IEEE Network Magazine.
Feb. 2022: [Service] Dr. Shah has been invited to serve on the TPC for IEEE ICNP 2022.
Feb. 2022: [Service] Dr. Shah has been invited to serve as one of the publicity chairs for IEEE SECON 2022.