Date:  Thursday, April 21, 2005

Time:  6:30 to 9:00 pm
Location:  Avaya Auditorium, University of Texas Campus
Topic:  Broadband wireless access with WiMax/802.16: Current performance benchmarks and future potential.
Speaker:  Dr. Jeffrey G. Andrews - WNCG of UT Austin
 

Abstract: 
The IEEE 802.16 family of standards, and its associated industry consortium
WiMax, promises to deliver high data rates over large areas to a large
number of users in the near future. This exciting addition to current
broadband options such as DSL, cable, and Wi-Fi promises to rapidly provide
broadband access to locations in the world's rural and developing areas
where broadband is currently unavailable, as well as competing for urban
market share. WiMax's competitiveness in the marketplace largely depends on
the actual data rates and ranges that are achieved, but this has been
difficult to judge due to the large number of possible options and competing
marketing claims.  This talk will first provide a brief tutorial overview of
802.16.  Then, based on extensive recent studies, we will present the
realistic attainable throughput and performance of expected WiMax compatible
systems based on the 802.16d standard approved in June
2004 (now named 802.16-2004).  We also suggest future enhancements to the
standard that could at least quadruple the achievable data rate, while also
increasing the robustness and coverage, with only moderate complexity
increases.
 

Speaker Bio:

Jeffrey G. Andrews is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, in the Wireless Networking and Communications Group (WNCG). He received the B.S. in Engineering with High Distinction from Harvey Mudd College in 1995, and the M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1999 and 2002, respectively. He helped develop Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems as an engineer at Qualcomm from 1995 to 1997, and has served as a frequent consultant on communication systems to numerous corporations, startups, and government agencies, including Microsoft, Palm, Ricoh, and NASA.

Dr. Andrews serves as an associate editor for the IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications. He also is actively involved in IEEE conferences and is co-chairing the DSP for wireless applications area at the fall 2005 VTC, as well as serving as a member of the technical program committee for ICC and Globecom.