Mobile Technology Evolution

This talk will give an overview of mobile technology evolution from the vantage point of my team's work on 5G, as part of Ericsson’s research organization. The technology development and standardization of 5G have been rapidly progressing. A notable milestone is the completion of Release 15 (mid 2018) and Release 16 (late 2019) of the 3GPP standards. Release 17 is now ramping up, with further refinements including NTN (non terrestrial networks) and Redcap (IoT connectivity). Release 15 enabled industry to complete its first 5G product development, with early commercial network deployments at large scale in leading markets such as the US and Korea in 2019. Other markets are following suit throughout the world at a surprisingly fast pace. In addition to enhancing mobile broadband services, which have dominated 4G, 5G aims to enable other segments, such as industrial IoT and massive IoT using the same network. This ambition poses stringent design requirements and performance objectives in different dimensions. This talk will also try to make connections to the fundamentals of communication and information theory which inform mobile technology, and discuss the role of industrial research in integrating basic academic research into a complex system.

I have been with Ericsson in various research positions, presently in Santa Clara, CA, where I am engineering director, and earlier in Research Triangle Park, NC. I lead a team shaping future wireless technology. I have contributed to the development of 5G, 4G, 3G, Bluetooth, mobile satellite etc. Previously, I was on the faculty of the University of Delaware. My personal research interest is in information theory and its applications to wireless. I received a Ph.D. and an M.S. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a B.Eng. from the American University of Beirut. I hold 100+ patents and received the Ericsson inventor of the year award.