Israeli AI Researcher Awarded EU Grant Worth 1.5 Million Euro 

Dr. Nir Shlezinger, a researcher into AI machine learning at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has been awarded this year’s prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant, which provides funding of up to 1.5 million euros over a five-year period. 

The research by Shlezinger, who is a member of the university’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, centers around the link between machine learning, signal processing and wireless communications. 

His ERC project, entitled, Flexible Lightweight AI-Aided Receivers (FLAIR), aims at bringing AI to wireless communications.

Shlezinger’s goal is to devise a new, more flexible form of AI specifically for dynamic wireless communications, which can cope with constantly shifting data as well as limited power and computational resources.   

“This is a fundamental departure from conventional deep learning, based on highly parameterized DNNs trained with massive data sets using lengthy learning procedures,” says Shlezinger. 

“Our preliminary data show that this paradigm shift achieves substantial performance, robustness, and complexity gains over conventional deep receivers. The project will transform how communications systems are studied, and profoundly impact a multitude of applications that rely on wireless communications.” 

Established in 2007, the ERC has four grant programs for outstanding researchers working on groundbreaking projects, aiming to bridge the gap between research and early commercialization.