Core Members
Ian F. Akyildiz is an adjunct professor with the University of Iceland where he has been teaching new courses and establishing new research activities in the rapidly developing field of Internet of Things (IoT) in challenged environments such as underwater, underground, and space since 2020. He served as the Ken Byers Chair Professor with the School of ECE at Georgia Institute of Technology, Director of the Broadband Wireless Networking Laboratory and Chair of the Telecommunications Group at the School of ECE at Georgia Tech from 1985-2020. He is an internationally leading authority in the field of wireless communication and sensors, with over 143K+ citations and a citation h-index of 136.
Kristinn Andersen is a professor of the faculty of ECE of University of Iceland. After finishing his graduate studies in the U.S., receiving innovation recognition for work in process control for NASA, he joined Marel, an earlier start-up firm in Iceland where he was the RTD Manager working on subjects such as automation, sensors, robotic and computer vision. For over two decades he initiated and managed numerous international projects, as the firm grew to become a leading international equipment developer in its field. He joined the UI in 2014 and he will serve as the contact with the University, oversee contribution and collaboration of the ECE in the project and contribute with his expertise in the field of robotics, sensors, and wireless communications.
Saemundur E. Thorsteinsson is a research specialist of the faculty of ECE at the University of Iceland, has been active in telecommunications research in industry and in academia, as well as electromagnetic theory, and will contribute to the networking and telecommunications aspects of the work.
Associated Members
Karl S. Gudmundsson is the director for the Center of Engineering Technology at the University of Iceland and is a former professor at the ECE at the University of Iceland. His field is computer engineering, where he will take part in the research and development of solutions of computer networks, hardware, and software.
Magnus Orn Ulfarsson is a professor of the faculty of ECE at the University of Iceland. He will contribute to the work with his expertise in the field of statistical signal processing and machine/deep learning.
Teresa Sofia Giesta Da Silva holds a Ph.D. in biology and she is a research specialist at the Marine Research and Freshwater Institute in Iceland. She has expertise in plankton and fisheries acoustics and will contribute to the
application cases for the proposed technology, particularly for marine life monitoring and assessment.
Sigurdur Petursson has expertise in fish farming and holds an M.Sc. in fishery studies. He will serve as a link to the Icelandic fish farming industry. His role is to give consultancy to the project partners about possible use cases in fish farming and to disseminate project results and raise awareness in the fish farming industry.
Hordur Johannsson is a chief engineer at Teledyne Gavia, a developer and manufacturer of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) in Iceland. He holds a Ph.D. and has expertise in Marine Robotics, Autonomous Vehicles, Localization and Mapping, Mission Planning and Pattern Recognition.
Mandana Mahgoli, a distinguished 2020 graduate from the University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran in Telecommunication Engineering (Field and Waves), is one of the enthusiasts in the realm of Wireless Technologies, particularly various types of Antennas. With a Master’s Thesis focusing on the Reduction of Radar Cross-Section using metamaterials, she contributes and focuses on Multi-robot Co-operative Ultra-Massive MIMO of this groundbreaking project as a Ph.D. student. Moreover, she has adeptly managed, supervised and actively participated in numerous IT and ICT projects in Iran.
Hongzhi Guo is a collaborator of the Center for Robotics and Wireless Communications in Challenging Environments at the University of Iceland. He is an Assistant Professor in the School of Computing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York in 2017. His broad research agenda is to develop the foundations for wireless networks and networked robotics to automate dangerous, dirty, dull tasks in extreme environments, such as underground and underwater.
Farzad Alizadeh is a Ph.D. student at the faculty of ECE of University of Iceland. His research focus includes acoustic µmMIMO and magnetic MIMO antennas for underwater communications.
Sverrir Jan Nordfjord is a Ph.D. student at the faculty of ECE of University of Iceland. He holds a M.Sc. from the Technical University of Denmark. He has various experience from different project work domestically and internationally for the last two decades. Those projects range from software development to electrical transmission grid planning, working as a specialist, consultant and manager.
