Keynote Speaker 1

Ljiljana Trajkovic
Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada 

MINING NETWORK TRAFFIC DATA

Abstract:
Mining and statistical analysis of network data are often employed to determine traffic loads, analyze patterns of users' behavior, and predict future network traffic. In this talk, we analyze traffic data collected from three deployed networks: a cellular wireless network used by public safety agencies, a satellite network used by Internet service providers, and the Internet.

We describe analysis of network log data collected from E-Comm, a public safety trunked radio network that utilizes circuit-switched cellular wireless technology. We examine statistical distributions and autocorrelation functions of call inter-arrival and call holding times during busy hours. Our findings indicate that traditional Erlang models used for voice traffic may not be suitable for evaluating the performance of trunked radio networks. We also describe collection of traffic data, characterization of traffic loads, and distribution of packet sizes in ChinaSat, a hybrid satellite-terrestrial system. We investigate long-range dependence as the traffic patterns vary, propose a traffic model for the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connections, and use data from billing records to predict future traffic loads. Since discovering network topology is important for analyzing routing protocols and network robustness and resilience, we also examine datasets from the Route Views and RIPE projects and identify important properties of Internet graphs. Our current traffic measurement project deals with traffic collection from BC.Net, the Vancouver Lower Mainland Gigabit Ethernet network. Collected data will be used to analyze behavior and performance of the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP).

Speaker’s Biography:
Ljiljana Trajkovic received the Dipl. Ing. degree from University of Pristina, Yugoslavia, in 1974, the M.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering and computer engineering from Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, in 1979 and 1981, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from University of California at Los Angeles, in 1986.

She is currently a Professor in the School of Engineering Science at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. From 1995 to 1997, she was a National Science Foundation (NSF) Visiting Professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences Department, University of California, Berkeley. She was a Research Scientist at Bell Communications Research, Morristown, NJ, from 1990 to 1997, and a Member of the Technical Staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ, from 1988 to 1990. Her research interests include high-performance communication networks, control of communication systems, computer-aided circuit analysis and design, and theory of nonlinear circuits and dynamical systems.

Dr. Trajkovic served as 2007 President of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society. She was a member of the Board of Governors of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society (2001–2003 and 2004–2005). She serves as Vice President Long-Range Planning and Finance of the IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society (2008–2009) and served as a Member at Large of its Board of Governors (2004–2006). She is Chair of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society joint Chapter of the Vancouver/Victoria Sections. She was Chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on Nonlinear Circuits and Systems (1998). She was Technical Program Co-Chair of ISCAS 2005 and served as Technical Program Chair and Vice General Co-Chair of ISCAS 2004. She served as an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems (Part I) (2004–2005 and 1993–1995), the IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems (Part II) (1999–2001 and 2002–2003), and the IEEE Circuits and Systems Magazine (2001–2003). She is a Fellow of the IEEE.

Keynote Speaker 2

                                                      Jyrki Nummenmaa
                                         Professor
                 Department of Computer Sciences University of Tampere, Finland

                                 Logical design of OLAP Cubes

Abstract:

OLAP cubes are multidimensional data structures, used for fast data analysis in business intelligence. Their design typically follows the analysis needs. Just like with relational databases, some designs carry anomalies with them.

Our presentation starts with an overview of the life cycle of the data in a database environment and a short review of both theory and practice of operational (relational) database design. As theory and practice differ quite a lot in this area, we continue to discuss the challenges in OLAP design and how OLAP design differs from traditional database design.

In this presentation, we discuss two types of OLAP design anomalies. One is related to inefficiency in the form of structural sparsity, where the dependencies within the data imply structural null values in the cube. The other is related to confusing results, where certain many-to-many relationships participate in the analysis in a way, which yields seemingly confusing results in the analysis.

Having identified the sources of these problems, we present certain design methodologies to avoid them.

Speaker’s Biography

Dr. Jyrki Nummenmaa is a professor of Computer Science at the Department of Computer Sciences of the University of Tampere, Finland. He obtained a MSc in mathematics in 1989 and a PhD in Computer Science in 1995, both at the University of Tampere. He has 3,5 year work experience of the software industry, and he has worked as a professor at the University of Tampere since 1997.

His main research interests include algorithms, software development, and data management. Jyrki Nummenmaa’s knowledge of database and OLAP design comes from both practical and evaluation experience in information system development and from scientific work in the area. He is a member of the university’s IT management steering committee and has participated in various database-related information systems development projects. He has served various conferences and journals as a reviewer or PC member.