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People of ACM European Chapters - Josip Lorincz

November 7, 2017

Can you briefly describe your own line of research and how you became interested in this area?

Increased traffic volumes, the explosion of worldwide broadband subscribers and the expanding number and diversity of connected applications and devices necessitates continuous deployment and development of mobile network technologies and infrastructures to deliver the expected user experience and performance. This results in a continuous global increase of energy consumption, energy costs and greenhouse gas (CO2) emissions, which become one of the major challenges for the ICT industry. Clearly, current technology improvements are not sufficient to keep up with these rising trends. Hence, because of my interest in consuming less energy to preserve nature, I have become interested in research dedicated to improving the energy efficiency of ICT.

I obtained relevant scientific results in the development of mathematical models that precisely express the impact of traffic pattern variations and transmit power changes on instantaneous base stations power consumption. Also, I actively work in the area of analyzing how frequent on/off activity changes of cellular network elements, managed by energy aware algorithms, impact on their lifespan. Another important focus of my research has been in the area of improving the energy efficiency of base station sites by powering them with renewable energy sources. Nevertheless, my highest scientific contribution is in development of optimization models and algorithms for energy-efficient management of radio resources in wireless access networks. I have shown that energy-aware allocation of network resources according to the traffic pattern variations can bring significant energy savings to network operators, while preserving network coverage and quality of service. Such energy-aware algorithms for energy-efficient management of radio resources are already being implemented in the latest generations of cellular base stations.

In your area of research, what recent advance/emerging subfield will yield important advances in the years ahead?

I believe that we’ve reached a critical point with respect to current and future energy consumption of devices and telecommunication networks. Optimizing energy consumption has indeed become a new target for competitive differentiation and innovation. Recent analyses show that major energy consumption increase in the future can be expected in areas of wireless radio access networks, end-user devices and cloud/data centers. A portfolio of technology advancements will be necessary for each of these areas to ensure that the coming global increase of devices and traffic can be supported in a sustainable and energy-efficient manner. Only through a combination of technologies comprising hardware components and materials, architectures, algorithms, software and protocols, will it be possible to hold the growth of network and device energy consumption in the future. Hence, there is no silver bullet in terms of solving a problem related to the rapid and continuous increase of ICT energy consumption, and the research community will need to explore a broad range of ideas to realize full benefits of different technologies.

Can you tell us a little about the ACM Croatian Chapter?

The Croatian ACM chapter is a young chapter, having been established in 2012 within the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture at the University of Split. Currently, the Croatian ACM chapter has approximately 70 members coming from industry and the academic sector. The chapter activities are mainly focused on the organization of summer schools, workshops and symposiums related to different topics in the field of computing.

One of the main missions of the Croatian ACM chapter is to promote and enhance the role of computing in science, education and economy of the Republic of Croatia. To be in line with the chapter mission, members of the Croatian ACM chapter have been included in the development of the strategic national document which gives “Recommendations for the transformation of Informatics in the Croatian educational system”. In addition to this, Croatian ACM Chapter members have participated in different roundtables and public discussions promoting the importance of computing in elementary education as an obligatory instead of elective course. In 2017, the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Croatia made computing a mandatory course for all elementary school pupils from the fifth to the eighth grade, beginning with the 2018-2019 academic year. Members of the Croatian ACM Chapter are proud of the fact that they have contributed to this process, which has great educational and social importance.

Why do you think participation in an ACM Europe chapter has been helpful for your career?

I found many reasons to be a member of the ACM community. Through ACM membership I keep current in my chosen technology profession and I have the privilege to be part of a community of computing technology professionals united by a common desire to continuously interact, collaborate, learn and innovate. Membership in ACM grants access to one of the largest libraries of computing science literature, as well as the latest industry news, events and technology trends. Also, ACM membership offer resources to acquire new skills, advance my professional development and provide numerous opportunities for involvement, recognition, and reward. Above all, membership in an ACM chapter offers the possibility to collaborate with ACM member colleagues and member groups, online or in person. Hence, being a member of ACM means being part of the dynamic community of computing professionals that are shaping the future of world computing.