Sverrir Olafsson

Biography

Dr. Sverrir Olafsson is a Chief Researcher in the Mobility Research Centre (MRC) at BTs Adastral Park. With responsibility for Strategic Mobility Research Sverrir's main interests at present are interference management in wireless systems.

Since joining BT Sverrir's main research activities have been in the areas of neural networks, time series analysis, adaptability, evolutionary models, game theory, complexity theory, and access control. In the last three years his main focus has been on long-term strategic mobility research, including power control, spectral efficiency, distributed resource allocation and risk management. Presently Sverrir leads the Complexity Research Team within the MRC and has over the years also been the manager of various BT internal and external co-operative projects.

Sverrir has published over 60 refereed papers, authored numerous reports and written more than 175 articles on popular scientific and technical matters that have appeared in Icelandic newspapers and magazines. He has also given numerous radio talks on modern physics.

Sverrir has a PhD in theoretical physics. Before joining BT he worked for ten years at various Universities where he lectured mathematical physics and did research in elementary particle physics, and soliton theory.

For a number of years Sverrir has lectured Risk Management at Universities and provided consultancy to various international companies and banks on financial risk management. He holds the following external appointments; director of Riskcon Ltd., on the board of directors of Egla Investments Ltd. (a private equity firm) and a part time teaching appointment at the University of Reykjavik, Iceland.

Some Professional Activities

• On the organizing/technical advisory board of various international conferences; IEE International Conference on Neural Networks; IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference; International Conference on Networking and Electronic Commerce; International Conference Crown Com.
• On the editorial board of The Telecommunication Systems Journal.
• External PhD examiner at Cambridge University; Imperial College, London; and Victoria University, Melbourne.
• On the advisory board of The Smith Institute.
• On the MSc advisory board of Aston University and The University of Durham
• Has supervised numerous PhD and MSc students.

Consultancy and Advisory Roles

• Consultancy in risk management to financial institutions and corporations in Iceland and in the UK.
• Regular reviewer for numerous professional journals.
• Reviewer for EPRSC; Technology Foundation, The Netherlands; The Leverhulme Trust.

In the Media

• Between 1981 and 1999 he wrote a regular science page for Iceland's largest newspaper, Morgunblaðið.
• Has given a number of talks on modern physics on Radio Iceland.
• Game set and math, interview on Game Theory in Partnership, Issue Three, Spring 1995
• Appeared on Channel 4 (UK) to discuss my work on Game Theory.
• Uncertainty is an opportunity (in Icelandic), interview in Viðskiptablaðið, 3 December 2002

Academic Positions held

• 1979 - 1983: Research Assistant, Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Karlsruhe.
• 1983 - 1984: Teacher in Mathematics and Physics at Kópavogur College, Iceland.
• 1984 - 1985: Lecturer in Mathematics, Kings College, University of London.
• 1985 - 1988: Research Fellow, Department of Mathematics, UMIST, Manchester.
• 1986 (Winter): Visiting Lecturer at The University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
• 1988 - 1989: Research Fellow, Department of Mathematics, University of Southampton.
• 2001 - 2003: Senior Fellow, Department of Mathematical Sciences, Liverpool University.

Education

• University of Karlsruhe, Germany, PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) in theoretical elementary particle physics.
• University of Tübingen, Germany, MSc (Dipl. Phys.) in mathematical physics.
• University of Tübingen, Germany, BSc (Vor-Diplom) in physics.
• Icelandic A-level (Stúdentspróf), Hamrahlið Grammar School.

Honours - recognition

• NATO Science Fellowship, 1980 - 1982
• Frequent invitations to give presentations at conferences and academic institutions
• Selected as one of 50 UK industrialists to put together a DTI/EPRSC supported document - Mathematics: Giving Industry the edge.

Reviewed Published Papers

1979

1. "Canonical Realisation of Lie Groups", MSc Thesis, Institute of Theoretical Physics, Tübingen, October 1979.

1985

2. "Supergravity in Six Dimensions", PhD Thesis, Institute of Theoretical Physics, Karlsruhe January 1985.

1988

3. "Statistical Mechanics of the NLS-Models and Their Avatars" (with R. K. Bullough, Yu-Zhong and J. Timonen), International Workshop on Integrable Systems and Applications, Ile d'Oleron, France 20-24 June 1988. Published in Lecture Notes in Physics 342, p12.

1989

4. "New Nonlinear Evolution Equations Related to Some Super Loop Algebras", J. Phys. A: Math. and Gen. 22 (1989) 157-167.

1989

5. "Complete Integrability of the Integrable Models" (with R. K. Bullough), in Proc. Intl. Assoc. of Math. Phys. IXth Congress, Swansea, July 1988, A. Truman ed., Adam Hilger, Bristol 1989.

6. "Algebra of Rieman-Hilbert Problems and the Integrable Models" (with R. K. Bullough), Proc. 17th Intl. Conf. on Differential Geometric Methods in Theoretical Physics, Chester, August 1988, F. Bloore, S. Dawker and A. Solomon (eds), World Scientific, Singapore, 1989.

7. "Integrability Conditions: Recent Results in the Theory of Integrable Models" (with R. K. Bullough, Yu-zhong Chen and J. Timonen), 18th Intl. Conf. on Differential Geometric Methods in Theoretical Physics, Davis, California 1989.

1990

8. "Loop Algebras and Their Relation to the Conformal Structure of Integrable Systems", Lett. Math. Phys. 19 (35-44) 1990.

1992

9. "Some Dynamical Properties of Neural Networks" in Neural Networks for Vision, Speech and Natural Language, R. Lingard, D. J. Myers and C. Nightingale (eds.), Chapman Hall, 1992.

10. "Dynamical Neural Networks for Speech Recognition", BTT Journal, Vol.10,No.3, (48-58), 1992.

11. Systems Research Reprints, 1991-92, Systems Research, BT Laboratories, Edited by Peter Cochrane and Sverrir Olafsson.

1993

12. Systems Research Reprints, 1992-93, Systems Research, BT Laboratories, Edited by Peter Cochrane and Sverrir Olafsson.

13. "Application of an Evolutionary Model to Telecommunication Services" (with M. Gell), European Transactions on Telecommunications, Vol.4,No.1, 69-76, 1993.

1994

14. "A General Model for Task Distribution on an Open Heterogenous Processor System", IEEE Transactions on Systems, Cybernetics and Man, 24, 11, 1994.

15. "A Neural Network Approach for Studying the Switching problem" (with S. Amin and M. Gell), BTT Journal, Vol.12, No.2, (114-120), 1994.

16. "Dynamic Task Allocation on Open Heterogenous Processor Systems", BTT Journal, Vol.12, No. 2, (132-145), 1994.

17. "Task Distribution on Open Heterogenous Processor Systems", Modelling Change in Telecommunications, P. Cochrane and D. Heatley (eds), Chapmann & Hall, 1994.

18. "Evolution of Strategies in Competitive Systems", Modelling Change in Telecommunications, P. Cochrane and D. Heatley (eds), Chapmann & Hall, 1994.

19. "Neural Networks" (with S. Amin and M. Gell), Modelling Change in Telecommunications, P. Cochrane and D. Heatley (eds), Chapmann & Hall, 1994.

1995

20. "Stability of Strategies in Competetive Systems", Int. J. Systems Sci., Vol. 26, No. 6, 1289 - 1312, 1995.

21. "Learning Agents For Task Execution", International Conference on Artificial Life, Granada, June, 1995.

22. "An Efficient Strategy for Processor Utilisation", 14th European Conference on Operational Research, Jerusalem, July 1995.

1996

23. "Resource Allocation as an Evolving Strategy", Evolutionary Computation, Vol. 4, No. 1, 33-55, 1996.

1997

24. "Evolutionary Modelling of Resource Allocation", ACTCC Workshop, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, March 1997.

25. "Self Adaptive Network Utilisation", International Workshop on Applications of Neural Networks (and other intelligent systems) to Telecommunications, Melbourne, Australia June, 1997.

26. "Games on Networks", Invited paper, Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol. 85, No. 10, pp1556-1562, October 1997.

1998

27. "Modelling, Simulation and Optimisation of a Distributed Adaptive File System", with George Bilchev, Fourth International Conference on Optimisation: Techniques and Applications", Perth, Australia, July 1998.

28. "Comparing Genetic Algorithms and Greedy Heuristics for Adaptation Problems", with George Bilchev. IEEE International Conference on Evolutionary Computation, Anchorage, Alaska, May 1998.

29. "Modelling the Impact of Long Range Dependence on Queuing Performance", with X. Gu and M. Wennink, International Workshop on Stochastic Modelling and Analysis of Communication Networks, Lund, Sweden, October 1-3, 1998.

30. Long Range Correlations in Network Traffic: Implications for the Utilisation of Network Resources, International Workshop Self-Similar Systems, Dubna, Russia, July-August 1998.

1999

31. "Modelling and Performance Analysis of Cache Networks", with G. Bilchev, I. Marshall, and C. Roadknight, 5th Annual Conference Engineering Workshop, Amsterdam, April 1999.

32. "Modelling Http Traffic Generated by Community of Users", with G. Bilchev, I. Marshall, and C. Roadknight, 7th International Conference on High Performance Computing and Networking, Amsterdam, April 1999.

33. "WWW Cache Modelling Toolbox", with G. Bilchev, I. Marshall, and C. Roadknight, 4th International Web Caching Workshop, San Diego, March 1999.

34. "Derivation of Power Law for Internet Browsing", 7th International Conference on Telecommunication, Nashville March 1999.

2000

35. "Self-Organizing Data Networks", with G. Bilchev, BTTJ, Vol18, No1, Jan. 2000.

36. "Adaptive Demand-Based Heuristics for Traffic Reduction in Distributed Information Systems", with G. Bilchev, Telecommunication Optimisation, John Wiley and Sons, April 2000.

37. "Evolutionary Game Theory Applied to Service Selection and Network Ecologies", Telecommunication Optimisation, John Wiley and Sons, April 2000.

38. "Performance and Stability Analysis of a Random Access CDMA Packet Network", with X. Gu, International Conference on 3G Mobile Communication Technologies, March 2000.

39. "A Simplified and Accurate Method to Analyse a Code Division Multiple-Access Performance", with X. Gu, LCS Symposium, September 2000.

40. "Performance and stability analysis of a random access CDMA packet network in the presence of multiple access interference", with X. Gu, In Proceedings, IEE International Conference on 3rd Generation Mobile Systems, London, UK, 2000.

2001

41. "Optimised Timers for Stochastic Feedback Suppression in Reliable Multicast", with M. Nekovee, 2002, International Multicast Conference London, 2001.

2002

42. "Dynamic Behaviour of Multiple Access Spread-Spectrum Channels", with Xuanye Gu, The 7th CDMA International Conference (CIC2002), Seoul, Korea, Nov. 2002.

2003

43. "Making decisions under uncertainty - implications for high technology investments", BTTJ, April 2003.

44. "Global Optimization of Video Quality by Improved Rate Control on IP-Networks, with A. G. Backhouse and I. Y. H. Gu, VCIP03, Geneva July 2003.

45. "Organic deployment and reconfigurable networks based on Situation Awareness" with Sid Sharma and Andy Nix, IEEE Communication Journal. July 2003.

46. "Modelling Capacity and Local Connectivity in Ad-Hoc Networks", International Conference on Wireless Networks (ICWN03), Las Vegas, June 2003.

47. "An Optimized Timer-Based Method for Feedback Control in Multicast Communications" with Maziar Nekovee and Wen Haw Chong, London Communication Symposium 2003.

48. "On the Accuracy of the Gaussioan Approximation for Performance Analysis of Spread Spectrum Channels", with X. Gu, The 14th IEEE International Conference on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications, Beijing, 7-10 September 2003. Published in IEEE Press, Vol. II, Page 2037-2041, ISBN7-5053-5066-8.

49. Network Dimensioning Based on Modelling of Internet Traffic, EURESCOM mess@ge, p18, Issue 1, 2003.

2004

50. "Scalability, Capacity and Local Connectivity in Ad Hoc Networks", Published in Mobile and Wireless Communications: Key Technologies and Future Applications (P. Smyth (Ed.)), IEE-BT Exact Communication Technology, 2004.

51. "Wireless Spread-Spectrum Channel Analysis Using Discrete-Time Markov Chains", with Xuanye Gu and Jia Chen, 8th World Multi-Conference on Systems, Cybernetics and Informatics, Orlando, Florida, USA, July 18-21, 2004.

2005

52. "The relevance of adaptive power control for connectivity in de-centralized systems", Networking and Electronic Commerce Research Conference (NAEC 2005), Lake Garda October 2005.

53. "The Use of constrained splines to construct the Icelandic term-structure of interest rates" (in Icelandic), with Arnar Jónsson, Fjármálatíðindi, Vol. 52, No. 2, pp36-59, 2005.

2006

54. "Sufficient conditions for convergent power dynamics in ad hoc networks", VTC 2006, Melbourne, May 7-10, 2006.

55. "Call Admission Control with Adaptive Link Protection for Wireless Systems", with Eric Chin and Mohlim Sim, VTC 2006, Melbourne, May 7-10, 2006.

56. "Spectrum Management", Networking and Electronic Commerce Research Conference (NAEC 2006), Lake Garda, 19-22 October 2006.

2007

57. "Integrating Adaptive Power Control and Channel Selection in Ad Hoc Networks", Accepted by: Vehicular technology Conference, Dublin, 22-25 April 2007.

58. "An integrated Power Control and Channel Assignment Strategy for Ad-Hoc Network Systems", (with Eric Chin and Moh Lim Sim), Accepted by: Vehicular technology Conference, Dublin, 22-25 April 2007.

59. "Dynamic Channel Allocation Through an Improved Genetic Algorithm in 802.11 WLANs", (with Jiayuan Chen and Xuanye Gu), Submitted to: RAWNET2007, April 16 2007, Limassol, Cyprus.

60. "Future management of Spectrum", to be published in BTTJ-Journal, April 2007.

Popular scientific and technical publications

In addition to these listed publications I have written more than 175 articles on popular scientific and technical matters. These have appeared in Morgunblaðið (Iceland's largest daily) and other Icelandic periodicals.

Selected Invited Presentations

1994

1. General Problems Analysing and Predicting Economic Time Series, Presentation given to Singer & Friedlander Capital Markets, May 3, 1994.

1995

2. Course on neural networks and applications, University of Iceland, October 1995.

1998

3. Long range correlations in network traffic: Implications for the utilisation of resources, Dubna, Centre for Nuclear Research, Moscow, August 1998.

2000

4. Emergence of structures in data networks, Cambridge University, 22 November 2000.

2001

5. Scale invariance in data networks, Networks in Applications Workshop, Warwick, 30 April 2001.

6. Networks as complex systems, Smith Institute Workshop on Resource Management in Distributed Environments, Cambridge, 22-23 March, 2001.

2002

7. Modelling rate allocations to internet sessions, Liverpool University, 20 March 2002.

2003

8. Connectivity and capacity in ad hoc networks, QMUL, London 24 January 2003.

9. Research issues for communication networks, Research Cluster Workshop, Aston 17 July 2003.

10. Mathematics for data networks, Aston University, 28 March 2003.

2004

11. Modelling large systems, London Mathematical Society, Mathematics and IT-MathFIT and beyond, 23, March 2004.

12. Managing the risk associated with capacity demand uncertainty, International Telecommunication Union, Geneva, 28 October 2004.

13. Distributed power control in ad-hoc networks, Mathematics Department, LSE, London, November 11, 2004.

14. Dynamic power control in ad-hoc networks, Research Seminar Oxford University, 30 November, 2004.

2005

15. Dynamic power control in ad-hoc networks, MSc course, Aston University, 11 January 2005.

16. Mathematical problems in network research, "Key note", The EPSRC NETCA Workshop on "Mathematics for Networks" 23 March, 2005 at Queen Mary University of London.

17. Wireless services without 3G, Key note at Workshop on Wireless Ad-hoc Networks (IWWAN), London 23-26 May, 2005.

18. "Game Theory for Resource Allocation, The Stephenson Society, University of Cambridge, 14 November 2005.

2006

19. Connectivity and power control in wireless ad hoc networks, Contribution to a distance learning MSc Course at Aston, 2006.

20. Stability of Complex Systems, Aston Photonics Research Seminar, 23 February 2006.

21. Using Constrained Splines to Construct the Term-Structure of Interest Rates in Non-Liquid markets, Research Seminar in The Central Bank Of Iceland, 7 March 2006 (delayed until February 2007).

22. Stability (or lack of it) in communication networks, XII International Conference on Laser Optics, Section: Diode Lasers and Telecommunication Systems", June 2006, St Petersburg.

Patents

1. Using Hopfield Neural Network for cross bar switching, 1995 (with Shara Amin)

2. Stochastic Inverse Multicast for Scalable Data Collection, 2001 (with Maziar Nekovee)

3. Method of Optimal Timer Design for Reliable Multicast Communication, 2002 (with Maziar Nekovee)

4. A Joint Optimal Power Control, Beam-forming and Channel Assignment Methods for Ad Hoc Wireless Networks, 2006 (with Choong Ming Chin and Mo Lim Sim)

5. Optimising Communication Links in Ad-Hoc Networks Using Beam-forming, 2006 (with Choong Ming Chin and Mo Lim Sim)

6. Distributed channel selection and stable power control (in preparation)