WELCOME TO IEEE DYSPAN 2012

Message from the General Chair
(see also: Message from the TPC Chairs, Message from the PPC Chairs)

I take great pleasure in welcoming you to DySPAN 2012, the Sixth IEEE Symposium on New Frontiers in Dynamic Spectrum Access Networks, and to my hometown Bellevue, Washington.

As you are well aware, world-wide interest in spectrum access has intensified. Global mobile data volumes have more than doubled every year for the past four years and it is projected that in 2016 there will be more than 10 billion mobile devices moving approximately 10 exabytes of data per month, an 18- fold increase from where we are today.

We face significant challenges in providing un-compromised connectivity and performance as we work towards making technology accessible to everyone. Here in the United States, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, an independent council of experts from industry and academia, recently released a report in which they said “traditional practice of clearing and reallocating portions of the spectrum used by Federal agencies is not a sustainable model for spectrum policy” and “the norm for spectrum use should be sharing, not exclusivity”. If we get this done they said “[we] could multiply the effective capacity of the spectrum by a factor of 1,000.” We are in the middle of historic changes and the people who are going make them are right here at DySPAN 2012.

In organizing this one-of-a-kind symposium, we worked hard to provide an experience that will energize and stimulate you intellectually. We invited some of our community's most recognized and respected leaders to share their vision and ideas with us. We put together a program that includes 5 keynotes, 5 tutorials, 35 research talks, 21 advanced policy papers, 2 panel discussions, 22 demos and posters, and 2 social programs. Our primary goal is to provide you opportunities for learning, educating, debating, networking, and celebrating everything that is good about our community.

This year we are experimenting with several new initiatives as well. Specifically, we have organized a Networking-Networking Women Luncheon, a special DSA product demonstrations session, a mentorship program with networking opportunities, a student video competition, and a DySPAN specific SmartPhone application. We hope you like these and they become regular features in future events.

We are able to do all this because of an amazing organizing committee that I had the privilege and honor to work with. Without exception they were great. Everyone stepped up to do more than what was expected, so we owe them our gratitude. I also thank our patrons - Adaptrum, Nokia, Microsoft Research, Alcatel-Lucent, InterDigital, Google, Verizon, Qualcomm, AT&T and National Instruments for their generous financial support, and the National Science Foundation that enabled 6 international and 12 US students to attend this symposium – my heartfelt thanks to all.

I hope you will enjoy this production of ours and take full advantage of it by immersing and engaging. I hope DySPAN 2012 becomes a memorable event for you, one that inspires and helps you grow in your career as you take advantage of the opportunities to contribute to our global society.