ECE Assistant Professors Aly El Gamal and Nicolo Michelusi participated in the first summit for the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) at Facebook Headquarters in Menlo Park, CA. TIP is an initiative led by Facebook with the goal of revolutionizing the wireless cellular infrastructure by developing open access solutions for cellular networks, akin to the development of the Open Compute Project that led to significant progress in building data centers.

“It is amazing to be exposed to such fresh knowledge and experience on the state of current industrial attempts to develop next generation wireless networks that will support a broad range of new applications from streaming high quality 4K and 360 Virtual Reality videos to handling communication with self-driving cars. Being updated on these attempts and actively engaging in them is crucial to our success in both research and education,” said El Gamal.

The current infrastructure for cellular networks is suffering from major drawbacks that need to be handled in the near future. Most notably, the standards and legacy systems in place are not adequate for the high data rates and very low delays required by upcoming applications. Major developments need to be deployed fast, and require an intensive effort from leading industries and academic researchers. One particular issue is that of efficient spectrum usage through intelligent access and detection of other wireless devices that may be using the limited wireless spectrum. This issue presents the emphasis for Purdue’s Preeminent Team, that El Gamal and Michelusi are members of. The Preeminent Team’s effort is focused on developing practical solutions for intelligent spectrum usage that are backed by rigorous theoretical foundations.

“We are going towards a fully connected world, the so called “Internet of Things”, which will revolutionize our lifestyle by redefining the way we communicate with each other and interact with the environment, our home, our car, and even our body. We with the Preeminent Team on efficient spectrum usage are laying the foundations to make this possible. It is a great opportunity for us to be part of initiatives such as TIP, where we can expose our ideas and get exposed to industry leaders in this fast growing sector,” said Michelusi.