Space is 'current frontier' for engineer working on next-gen wireless technologies

Recipient of Ericsson Endowed Chair in Wireless Access Networks at UC San Diego honored

Bhaskar Rao, an electrical engineering professor at UC San Diego, is the inagural recipient of the Ericsson Endowed Chair in Wireless Access Networks at UC San Diego. This chair is... Click here for more information.

Bhaskar Rao is a space explorer, though he is no astronaut. The electrical engineer from UC San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering explores the “space frontier” that has opened up with the emergence of MIMO (multiple input multiple output) technologies for wireless communications. In MIMO systems, both transmitters and receivers contain multiple antennae, which means that space – and not just time – is in play when it comes to signal processing strategies for increasing data rates, reliability, users served, and other parameters in wireless communications networks.

MIMO approaches are expected to help advance wireless communication networks to the point that high-quality video and other high-data-rate content can flow across today’s wireless channels without increased power consumption or bandwidth usage – but only in areas where wireless channel conditions are right.

For his leadership in cutting edge areas of digital signal processing, Bhaskar Rao has been named the inaugural holder of the Ericsson Endowed Chair in Wireless Access Networks in the Jacobs School. This chair is part of Ericsson’s ongoing support of the UCSD division of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2).