Doug

Professor Douglas Leith

Chair of Computer Systems

doug.leith@tcd.ie
Tel. +353 (0)1 8961534

School of Computer Science and Statistics
Room 102, Lloyd Institute,
Trinity College
Dublin 2, Ireland

News:

Its Not Just Google That's Using Android OS To Watch What You're Doing:

Comparing Privacy of Android and iOS:

Web Browser Privacy:

Covid-19 Contact Tracing Apps:

Stephen Farrell and myself have some internal TCD funding for our work on contact tracing apps and have setup a small project website to try to start gathering results together in one place.

Research

Online Privacy
I'm interested in practical technologies for enhancing people's privacy when using online services. Current projects include methods for privacy verification e.g in online search, private recommender systems, traffic analysis attacks and defences for encrypted packet streams and mathematical frameworks for privacy e.g. differential privacy. In the past few months I've also been doing a few privacy-related measurements studies, e.g. one looking at browser privacy and more recently a study looking at the privacy of coronavirus contact tracing apps.

Predictive Analytics & Decision Making Under Uncertainty
I'm currently working on the links between decision problems and convex optimisation, how we can take a joined up approach to predictive analytics and decision making, and privacy-enhanced algorithms. Past work includes fully decentralised (no message-passing) algorithms for constraint satisfaction, which we have applied to collision-free scheduling, scrambling code allocation and channel allocation in wireless networks. Also a good deal of work on distributed algorithms for optimal resource allocaton in wireless networks.

Wireless Networks
I've worked a good deal on 802.11/WiFi networks, mainly related to MAC analysis and design. My current work is focussed around small cell networks more generally, especially small cell, mixed LTE/WiFi networks and unlicensed LTE. This includes algorithms for collision-free decentralised scheduling, scrambling code allocation, antenna tilt angle adjustment, energy management and multipath scheduling/routing in mixed LTE/WiFi networks.

Wireless
TCP

Multipath Transport and Coded TCP
TCP congestion control involves a delicate balancing act. Recent work has focussed around improving performance over lossy wireless links by use of network coding at the transport layer. Coded TCP, developed jointly with Muriel Medard, is currently being commercialised via Code On LLC and Speedy Packets. Currently, I'm interested in multi-path overlay transports that build on coded TCP (this is joint work with Nokia Bell Labs and CONNECT)

Old Research (and wind turbine benchmark)

Papers

Current Awards

  • Scalable, Privacy-Enhanced Analytics for the Sharing Economy (co-PI with Robert Shorten, Science Foundation Ireland grant € 1.8M, 2018-2023).
  • CONNECT Centre for Future Networks (co-Applicant, Science Foundation Ireland centre co-ordinated by TCD, 2015-2021)
  • I-Form Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (funded investigator, Science Foundation Ireland centre co-ordinated by UCD 2017-2023)

Past Awards

  • Royal Society Research Fellowship, 1995-2005
  • An Investigation of the Benefits of Nonlinear Control for Variable Speed Wind Turbines (EPSRC Grant no. GR/L/36659, co-PI with W.E.Leithead, UKĀ£114,000, 1997-2000).
  • MAC - Multi-Agent Control: Probabilistic reasoning, optimal co-ordination, stability analysis and controller design for intelligent hybrid systems. A four year Research Training Network within the European Commission's 5th Framework (EU HPRN-CT-1999-00107, PI on € 200k share of overall € 1.2M grant, 2000-2004). )
  • Off-equilibrium: A new paradigm for divide & conquer identification of nonlinear systems (PI, UK EPSRC grant GR/R15863, £ 310000, 2001-2004)
  • SFI Principal Investigator (co-PI with Robert Shorten, Science Foundation Ireland grant 00/PI.1/C067, € 7.5M, 2001-2007)
  • CEmACS: Complex Embedded Automotive Control Systems (with Robert Shorten as PI, EU STREP Project, €220k, 2004-2007).
  • Resource allocation in WLAN's (PI, Science Foundation Ireland grant 03/IN3/I396, € 1.9M 2004-2008. Lead partner in € 5.9M Investigator cluster with University of Limerick, Dublin Institute of Technology and Intel Ireland.)
  • FutureComm (PRLTI grant with WIT, co-PI with David Malone on € 699K share of € 3.2M overall grant, 2007-2010)
  • Network Mathematics (PRLTI grant € 1.5M share of € 2.2M HI structural grant joint with CTVR at Trinity College Dublin, 2007-2010)
  • Next Generation Communication Networks (co-PI with Robert Shorten, Science Foundation Ireland grant € 4.1M, 2007-2011).
  • Flexible Architecture for Virtualizable future wireless Internet Access (FLAVIA), EU STREP project (co-PI with David Malone, project co-ordinated by University of Rome Tor Vergata, 2010-2013).
  • FAME (SFI-funded Strategic Research Cluster involving TSSG, TCD, UCD, UCC and the Hamilton Institute, co-PI with David Malone, 2009-2014).
  • Telecommunications Graduate Initiative, HEA PRLTI Cycle 5 funding for extending the Network Maths (co-PI, TGI is co-ordinated by Trinity College Dublin, 2011-2015)
  • Green Transport and Communication Networks (co-PI with Robert Shorten, Science Foundation Ireland grant € 3M, 2012-2017).

Teaching

Old:

And some links for students ...