Two Ph.D. engineering candidates have received significant fellowship awards to aid their research in the Wireless Networking and Communications Group (WNCG) at The University of Texas at Austin.
The fellowships will assist Wan Choi and Bishwarup Mondal, electrical and computer engineering Ph.D. candidates, with research on a new technology to improve reception quality of cellular phones.
Cell phones today operate using only one antenna. Choi and Mondal experiment with cellular multi-antenna communication, using multiple antennas for transmission and reception of calls. The technique introduces new requirements and constraints, and the researchers must translate the traditional algorithms to operate in the new environment.
Choi received the William S. Livingston Graduate Fellowship from the university’s Office of Graduate Studies. At $19,000 for the year, it is the highest fellowship the office awards. Before coming to the WNCG to work with Dr. Jeffrey Andrews, an electrical engineering assistant professor, Choi worked for five years researching communication systems for Korea Telecom (KT) Freetel. Choi earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Seoul National University in Korea.
Mondal won the $7,500 Daniel E. Noble Fellowship award from the Vehicular Technology Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The award recognizes an individual most likely to impact the future of technologies in wireless, also known as mobile radio, motor vehicles and transportation electronics. Mondal is presently working towards his Ph.D degree in WNCG under the supervision of Dr. Robert W. Heath, Jr. Mondal earned his bachelor’s degree in electronics and telecommunication engineering from Jadavpur University in India, and his master’s degree in signal processing from the Indian Institute of Science.
The WNCG is a multi-disciplinary research center devoted to research in wireless technology that will pioneer tomorrow's wireless devices, networks, and applications.
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