Telecommunications Engineering The University of Texas at Dallas The Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science Jonsson School Industrial Advisory Board IAB Committee on Telecom Engineering Bill Krenik, Lorne Hinz, Andrea Fumagalli May 2, 2008

The Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science Curriculum Development and Training  Not enough telecom engineers to hire –One company alone evaluates tens of students each year  Present course content not adequate –UG students not aware of technology  Old image of the TE program –TE name alone not appealing –Public unaware of job opportunities

The Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science Action Items  Present an accurate and appealing image of the TE program  Create awareness about solid job opportunities in telecom –PPT charts for presentation to high school/transfer students –Posters for schools and recruiting events  Revise course content and consider seminar series with speakers from industry (mandatory attendance of students to access internship programs)

The Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science Research and Industrial Collaboration  Lack of research focus across TE faculty

The Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science Action Items  Improve communications and strengthen collaboration across Labs  IAB sub-committee to suggest TE focus  Lorne Hinz  Marion Lineberry  Ron Jennings

The Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science TE Focus: Motivation  UTD TE needs a research focus to attract attention, students, faculty, researchers, funding, and build large telecom test-bed facility  TE IAB needs research results to justify member participation (IAP) –Projects that impact business direction –Projects that UTD researchers do can more effectively than companies can do themselves Key to attracting industry funding –Students that become top employees

The Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science TE Focus: Objective  Conduct research to enable –high-quality voice calls no static, no echo, no background noise, no dropouts, no dropped calls, no latency,... –high-quality data/video delivery no jitter, no blur, no audio dropout, no compression artifacts,...  Affordably, anywhere and under any conditions  In a hyperconnected world

The Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science TE Focus: Obstacles and Constraints Technology  Successors to WiMAX, HDTV, LTE  Multi-frequency, multiple standards  Transition to all packet networks  Merger of wired-wireless backbones  Hyper-connectivity Business  Reduce CAPEX and OPEX costs  100% network availability  Non-business-critical use is driving new uptake and volume  Wireless broadband anywhere: home, car, office, plane, train, etc. Social/Political  Impact of aging population in developed countries  Billions of new users in undeveloped countries  High burst rate usage patterns Environmental  Weather and natural disasters  Mobility and multipath  Virus or terrorist attack prevention, detection, isolation, mitigation, recovery

The Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science Research Group Project1 Project2 Research Group Project1 Project2 Research Group Project1 Project2 Research Group Project1 Project2 Research Group Project1 Project2 TE Focus: How It All Might Fit Together TE “Research Center” Voice program Data/Video program Data/Video program “Hard” IP: software, boards, boxes, silicon, silicon design IP, documentation,... "Soft" IP: trade-off analyses/reports, white papers, conference papers, patent filings Industry good will: student familiarity with IAB products, student employment Facilities (Labs) Research Group Project1 Project2 Funding: IAB members Grants Contracts Support Staff DirectorshipTE IAB

The Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science TE Focus: Summary of Benefits  IAB members can introduce new customer care-abouts as desired outcomes (or remove old ones)  IAB members can introduce new problems/obstacles they have encountered or expect to encounter  Both UTD researchers and IAB members can introduce promising new research areas to pursue  All of the outcomes (papers, demos, educated students, etc.) can be tied to a common theme (the high level scope of the TE center), thus building momentum project on top of project  UTD TE facilities become more attractive for investment as a test-bed for trying new ideas under real-world (or future world) stress conditions