Rutgers wireless networking lab awarded Alexander Schwarzkopf Prize for Technological Innovation

The Rutgers University Wireless Information Networking Laboratory hosts the ORBIT facility, including this indoor lab with 400 programmable radio transceivers laid out in a rectangular pattern. It is used to... Click here for more information.

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – A research team at the Rutgers University Wireless Information Networking Laboratory (WINLAB) today received the fourth annual Alexander Schwarzkopf Prize for Technological Innovation from the I/UCRC Association, a voluntary, independent organization of past and present members of the National Science Foundation’s Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) program.

The award, named for the founder of the I/UCRC program, recognizes Rutgers for establishing a unique facility for testing new mobile computing and communications technologies. The facility, known as the ORBIT Open Access Radio Grid Testbed, features a 400-node programmable radio transceiver emulation laboratory and an outdoor field trial system of short- and long-range radios on the university’s New Brunswick Campus.

Accepting the award for the Rutgers team is Ivan Seskar, an associate director at WINLAB and project engineer for ORBIT, leading its design and ongoing operations.

Ivan Seskar, an associate director at the Rutgers University Wireless Information Networking Laboratory and project engineer for the ORBIT facility, stands among 400 programmable radio nodes used to test new... Click here for more information.

The ORBIT facility, funded by a $5.45 million, four-year National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, is the world’s largest open, programmable wireless network facility for use by academic and industry researchers worldwide. Approximately 200 research teams have conducted more than 5,000 experiments since the lab became widely available to researchers in October of 2005. Studies have included computer networks that can be automatically reconfigured on-demand, networking for security and environmental sensors, vehicular data communications and wireless networking security.