News
Joint NSERC Alliance Project
‘Puts Kingston at the Forefront’ in Distributed Computing
October 27, 2020 Kingstonist
L to R: Dan Desjardins, KC Erb and Douglas Stewart of Kings Distributed Systems present $740,000 to Hossam Hassanein and Sameh Sorour of Queen’s School of Computing on Monday, Oct. 26, 2020. Photo: Samantha Butler-Hassan
The Queen’s School of Computing (QSC) and local technology start-up Kings Distributed Systems (KDS) are collaborating on a cutting-edge research project that they say is unique in the country and the world. Leveraging a grant awarded to KDS from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), they’re working to commercialize an advanced scheduling framework for edge computing. “The computing resource is the oil of the future, and this taps into a gusher,” said Douglas Stewart, Director of Special Projects and Co-founder at KDS.
Traditional methods of obtaining computing resources — data centres and cloud computing — are expensive and falling behind demand, explained KDS. However, the team is proving that the aggregation of personal and enterprise-owned devices at the “edge” of the network can create computing alternatives to meet growing needs. This provides abundant, secure and low-cost tools for research, innovation and discovery, they said.
Founded in 2017, KDS is responsible for deploying the Distributed Compute Protocol (DCP). This cross-platform system aggregates computing resources from arbitrary devices and digital infrastructure — from smartphones to enterprise servers — and makes it available to researchers and innovators on demand. This allows individuals, companies and institutions to recapture and allocate under-utilized resources for science and innovation.
Now, KDS is contributing $740,000 to this joint research project with Queen’s. They hosted a kick-off event and cheque handover on Monday, Oct. 26, 2020. “We are excited to take on this cutting-edge project and proud to be able to offer our students and researchers newfound knowledge and training in this important field,” said Hossam Hassanein, Director of Queen’s School of Computing and Principal Investigator on the project. “It’s also gratifying as a researcher to see the direct commercial application of our pure-science discoveries.” Hassanein said the project will also “democratize edge computing for the general public.” “Traditionally, these resources are offered through the big companies like Amazon Web Services or the service providers such as Bell or Cogeco,” he explained. “This will increase access and capability.” As part of this initiative, QSC will engage 21 students and researchers over four years. They said the hope is that their research will continue to expand the boundaries of human knowledge in the subject, and both parties look forward to a “fruitful” long-term collaboration.
This is not being done anywhere else in the world
KDS CEO Dan Desjardins led a demonstration for the media members present at the event. First, he displayed a laptop showing a complex mathematical equation, several pages long. He then asked three people to navigate to a specific URL on their mobile phone browsers and agree to join a network. The laptop then leveraged the combined computing power of devices on the network to instantly process the math sequences into graphs.
There are privacy features built into the system, he explained, with no sensitive data access required during the demonstration. When set up at the institutional level, he said, privacy restrictions limit who or which devices can join the network. Desjardins said that the system is already being made available for free to universities and high schools. It is currently set up at Africa Nazarene University in Nairobi, Kenya, he said, with plans to extend the network to 22 other universities in the area.
“This is cutting-edge research that’s not being done anywhere else in the world right now,” said Stewart. “We’re unique in the world and certainly the first in Canada.” The team said the exponential growth of data-driven initiatives, such as smart cities and other “compute-hungry” research, highlights the need for their system. In light of advancing computer technologies, ubiquitous resources for fast and affordable computing are critical, they said.
Traditional methods of obtaining computing resources — data centres and cloud computing — are expensive and falling behind demand, explained KDS. However, the team is proving that the aggregation of personal and enterprise-owned devices at the “edge” of the network can create computing alternatives to meet growing needs. This provides abundant, secure and low-cost tools for research, innovation and discovery, they said.
Founded in 2017, KDS is responsible for deploying the Distributed Compute Protocol (DCP). This cross-platform system aggregates computing resources from arbitrary devices and digital infrastructure — from smartphones to enterprise servers — and makes it available to researchers and innovators on demand. This allows individuals, companies and institutions to recapture and allocate under-utilized resources for science and innovation.
Now, KDS is contributing $740,000 to this joint research project with Queen’s. They hosted a kick-off event and cheque handover on Monday, Oct. 26, 2020. “We are excited to take on this cutting-edge project and proud to be able to offer our students and researchers newfound knowledge and training in this important field,” said Hossam Hassanein, Director of Queen’s School of Computing and Principal Investigator on the project. “It’s also gratifying as a researcher to see the direct commercial application of our pure-science discoveries.” Hassanein said the project will also “democratize edge computing for the general public.” “Traditionally, these resources are offered through the big companies like Amazon Web Services or the service providers such as Bell or Cogeco,” he explained. “This will increase access and capability.” As part of this initiative, QSC will engage 21 students and researchers over four years. They said the hope is that their research will continue to expand the boundaries of human knowledge in the subject, and both parties look forward to a “fruitful” long-term collaboration.
This is not being done anywhere else in the world
KDS CEO Dan Desjardins led a demonstration for the media members present at the event. First, he displayed a laptop showing a complex mathematical equation, several pages long. He then asked three people to navigate to a specific URL on their mobile phone browsers and agree to join a network. The laptop then leveraged the combined computing power of devices on the network to instantly process the math sequences into graphs.
There are privacy features built into the system, he explained, with no sensitive data access required during the demonstration. When set up at the institutional level, he said, privacy restrictions limit who or which devices can join the network. Desjardins said that the system is already being made available for free to universities and high schools. It is currently set up at Africa Nazarene University in Nairobi, Kenya, he said, with plans to extend the network to 22 other universities in the area.
“This is cutting-edge research that’s not being done anywhere else in the world right now,” said Stewart. “We’re unique in the world and certainly the first in Canada.” The team said the exponential growth of data-driven initiatives, such as smart cities and other “compute-hungry” research, highlights the need for their system. In light of advancing computer technologies, ubiquitous resources for fast and affordable computing are critical, they said.
Congratulations to TRL Alumnus
Dr. Ramy Atawia
Winner of the 2017-2018
Governor General’s Academic Gold Medal
This is a highly prestigious award and an outstanding accomplishment for Dr. Atawia
Medals are presented by the university on behalf of the Governor General of Canada,
along with a personalized certificate signed by the Governor General. The award is granted
each year to a student graduating with the highest average from a graduate university program.
Congratulations Ramy!
Dr. Ramy Atawia
Winner of the 2017-2018
Governor General’s Academic Gold Medal
This is a highly prestigious award and an outstanding accomplishment for Dr. Atawia
Medals are presented by the university on behalf of the Governor General of Canada,
along with a personalized certificate signed by the Governor General. The award is granted
each year to a student graduating with the highest average from a graduate university program.
Congratulations Ramy!
Congratulations to TRL Alumnus
Dr. Khalid Elgazzar
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science,
University of Ontario Institute of Technology
Canada Research Chair in the Internet of Things
Being named as Research Chair in the IoT is a great and well deserved achievement.
Best wishes from TRL
Dr. Khalid Elgazzar
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science,
University of Ontario Institute of Technology
Canada Research Chair in the Internet of Things
Being named as Research Chair in the IoT is a great and well deserved achievement.
Best wishes from TRL
Dr. Selim Akl and Dr. Sharief Oteafy with the 2016 Howard Stavely Award.
Congratulations
Dr. Sharief M. A. Oteafy
Recipient of the 2016
School of Computing, Howard Stavely Award
In Recognition of Teaching Excellence
Congratulations
Eslam G. AbdAllah
Queen's School of Computing PhD candidate
Best Paper Award Recipient
Detection and Prevention of Malicious Requests in ICN Routing and Caching
Presented at
13th IEEE International Conference on Dependable, Autonomic and Secure Computing
co-authors Dr. Mohammad Zulkernine and Dr. Hossam Hassanein
Eslam G. AbdAllah
Queen's School of Computing PhD candidate
Best Paper Award Recipient
Detection and Prevention of Malicious Requests in ICN Routing and Caching
Presented at
13th IEEE International Conference on Dependable, Autonomic and Secure Computing
co-authors Dr. Mohammad Zulkernine and Dr. Hossam Hassanein
Congratulations
Dr. Hossam S. Hassanein
Recipient of the 2015 Queen’s University School of Graduate Studies
Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Supervision
Congratulations, Hossam, on a well-deserved recognition.
Dr. Selim Akl
Professor and Director, School of Computing
