Omar Hashash explores what’s next in wireless communications and AI
Omar Hashash is known for his upbeat, happy attitude, whether in the research lab or out with friends. He loves discovering new places and new ideas, and he relishes tackling questions and challenges associated with his research in Virginia Tech’s electrical and computer engineering program based in Alexandria.
“People tell me, ‘You're always smiling and laughing.’ I say, ‘Yeah, why not? Time is going to pass regardless. Why not enjoy it?’”
The next generation of wireless
Hashash is a doctoral candidate and a member of Professor Walid Saad’s research team in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His work focuses on the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI), wireless communications, and the concepts of digital twins and world models. Hashash said the team is focused on projects beyond the next generation of wireless.
Hashash’s interest in wireless and cellular communications began with his undergraduate studies. He earned his undergraduate degree at Beirut Arab University in Lebanon and his master’s degree from the American University of Beirut.
“I saw that there’s much more than what you learned in courses,” he said. “Research is where the exciting stuff starts.”
He wanted to continue that work and came to Virginia Tech in 2021 to earn a Ph.D., drawn by the university’s strong focus on wireless research and by Saad. He saw an opportunity to push the boundaries of the field and to work with people equally interested in doing so.
“I can contribute,” he said.
“I knew I wanted to be part of that reputable place,” he said.
Hashash found he loved the work of picking challenging problems to solve and focusing on what comes next, again and again. “The more you give, the more it gives you back,” he said. “It becomes like a dopamine cycle, and then you get to smile all day.”
Digital twins and mini-worlds
His current batch of problems aims to address the limitations associated with AI and the potential to address them, incorporating wireless technology with digital twins and world models, which are digital replicas of physical objects, systems, or process that are connected to their real-world counterpart through live data sent and received via sensors. Currently, Hashash said his team is using them for analysis, exploring how they work, particularly their ability to predict outcomes of actions or situations, similar to the way the human brain works.
“The human brain is the smartest engine in the world, and we know that humans don’t just accumulate data in their minds,” he said. “We don’t remember everything we’ve seen in our lives, but we are very fast at adapting to different things.”
Much of that intelligence, and our ability to predict and react to uncommon or unexpected situations, is the work of what Hashash calls our “mini-world,” which are real-time mental replicas of the world in which we live.
To illustrate how AI might be able to behave as though it has a mini-world of its own, he uses the example of a self-driving vehicle and how to deliver information to that vehicle about unexpected road conditions. A wireless network could provide that information, which the vehicle’s AI system could then use to make smart and safe decisions about something it had not yet encountered or had no prior experience of it in its data storage.
'We should probably be the first to push ahead'
Hashash said researchers are still “scratching the surface” of AI and how to develop the networks needed to provide the kind of reasoning humans use. He, Saad, and co-authors recently published a paper proposing the first vision of a “beyond-6G network” focused on understanding the limitations of AI and wireless now and where intersecting with other fields might lead.
“The more we get to understand human nature, the more we're going to figure out that we need in a new AI, and that we need a new generation of networks alongside,” he said. “We know that the power of AI is kind of unstoppable, so we should probably be the first to push ahead by understanding the limitations that we have now, at the same time intersecting with different fields that define the whole landscape in the future.”
Paving the way for future scholars
As much as he loves his work in the lab, Hashash takes time to step away. “Most of the time, we’re busy, but it is a good kind of busy,” he said.
When he is not working, he spends time with his friends. “I am kind of a people person,” he said. “I like to try a lot of the places around me, from food to adventures.”
After earning his Ph.D., Hashash said he plans to apply for jobs in the wireless and AI technology industry. “I’m trying to see where I can actually contribute to make sure that this technology that I’m working on continues to shine.”
Hashash pays tribute to the scientists whose discoveries and theories paved the way for work like his and who provided examples for others to follow. “All these science people pass you the torch,” he said. He also believes his job is to continue working to address and solve problems and obstacles as they arise.
“It’s really rewarding," he said. "And you recognize that you will be passing the torch at some point in time, and hopefully, you’ll have added to it. And then it goes on.”
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