--) Aims and Topics

Claude Shannon established the foundation for the discipline now known as "multi-user information theory" in his pioneering paper "Two-way Communication Channels" in 1961 and later Norman Abramson published his paper "The Aloha System - Another Alternative for Computer Communications" in 1970 which introduced the concept of multiple access using a shared common channel. Thereafter for more than 40 years of study, numerous elegant theories and algorithms have been developed for multiple access techniques.

In recent years, broadband wireless data networks (for instance, IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi, IEEE 802.16 WiMAX) are driving the development of telecommunication industry and beyond 3G (B3G) wireless systems are expected to provide a variety of multimedia services in a wide range of wireless and mobile environments. To use the scarce bandwidth resource of the wireless channel, it is necessary to design channel access control techniques for a large population of users (potentially hundreds of mobile stations).

The aim of this workshop is to discuss both multi-user communications theory and multiple access techniques and standardization activities in areas related to PHY and MAC layer protocols for contemporary networks and their interactions. We intend to provide the experts from both the academic institutes and industry with an opportunity to present their art-of-the-state results and exchange the ideas on multiple access techniques and related areas.

Workshop topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

* PHY-layer multiple access techniques e.g. CDMA, OFDMA, etc.;
* development and analysis of MAC protocols e.g. IEEE 802.11 DCF, IEEE 802.16 DAMA etc.;
* PHY/MAC cross-layer techniques;
* multi-user information theory;
* queuing theory methods and polling systems analysis.

--) Committee

General Co-Chairs:
* Alexey Vinel (Saint-Petersburg Institute for Informatics and Automation, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia)
* Boris Bellalta (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain)

General Vice-Chair:
* Adolf Finger (Dresden University of Technology, Germany)