Theodore (Tod) Sizer (VP Wireless Research, Bell Labs, Alcatel-Lucent, USA)

Abstract

A decade ago, it was still deemed a bit of a luxury to have wireless coverage and connection.  Today it is expected, whether we are at home, at work, or out and about.  A decade from now, when 5G is fully deployed, all communication will be wireless with 100% coverage to our personal mobile devices as well as the machines which will inform and support our lives.  For those of us working to enable this vision there are three key challenges to address.  The first is end-to-end performance.  If a wireless link is the only way that one connects to their world, then this needs to meet the user’s expectations, every time, and everywhere.  Second, we have wireless solutions today that work well for voice applications and high speed data download such as video and file transfers.  However, the world is much more than just these two applications, as important as they are.  So 5G solutions will need to be far more flexible to support myriad applications, some that I can describe to you today (like Internet of Things) as well as those I cannot, because they haven’t been invented yet.  Third, we need to provide increased capacity and network adaptation technologies to give the impression of infinite capacity.  Infinite capacity is, of course, impossible, however if one understands what the expectations are for an application on a mobile device and adapt the network to meet these expectations for data rate, latency, and responsivity, then the user (or machine) has the perception of a connection with infinite capacity.  In my presentation I will expand upon these challenges, and talk about some of the ways we are addressing these in our research.

CV

Dr. Theodore (Tod) Sizer is Vice President of the Wireless Research Program in Bell Laboratories.  In this role he leads teams in six worldwide locations innovating in all aspects of wireless systems, technology and software. During his tenure at Bell Labs he has performed research in Wired and Wireless Home Networking, Fixed Wireless Loop systems, Video Watermarking technologies, Optical Computing and Switching Systems, and High Power Laser Design. He was a member of the technical team in Lucent’s role as a promoter in the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG).  His responsibilities in the SIG included being Chair of the Coexistence Working Group.   Tod graduated from Amherst College, Magna Cum Laude and received his Masters and Doctorate from the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester.   In 2007 Tod was named a Bell Labs Fellow “For sustained creative contributions to wireless systems, particularly in the convergence of packet and wireless technologies” and in 2012 was named a Fellow of WWRF.  In 2011 he won the Popular Science Breakthrough Award for his invention of the lightRadio cube.  He is the author of 51 US patents, over 50 refereed publications and is a member of the IEEE and OSA.