Nokia (NYSE:NOK) Solutions and Networks made a multi-year commitment to research 5G technologies in collaboration with the NYU Wireless research center, a joint program of New York University and Polytechnic Institute of NYU (NYU-Poly).
NSN, which is becoming the center's sixth affiliate sponsor and an advisory board member, did not disclose its financial contribution. However, Ted Rappaport, director and founder of NYU Wireless, requested in a presentation last year a contribution of $100,000 per year with a three-year commitment from companies wishing to become industrial affiliates.
The other NYU Wireless Industrial Affiliates advisory board members are Samsung, L-3 Communications, InterDigital, National Instruments and Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM), which joined in August.
NSN is expected to support NYU Wireless' research activities, including its pioneering work on millimeter wave frequencies. Rappaport described NSN as an "emerging leader" in the millimeter-wave future.
In October, Rappaport and Shiwen Mao, a professor at Auburn University, were awarded a $500,000 grant by the National Science Foundation for a project aimed at researching 60 GHz propagation channel characteristics and developing 60 GHz network protocols that can be used in multi-user networks.
The two schools intend to develop 3-D channel models for new use cases and enable new modeling and medium access control scheduling for adaptive beam antennas that will be used in the millimeter-wave bands, including the 60 GHz spectrum. The project will also create new mesh network protocols and multimedia communications techniques for 60 GHz networks.
NSN and the NYU-Poly, which will become NYU's school of engineering in January 2014, are planning to organize an invitation-only Brooklyn 5G Summit next April on the institute's campus. The event is expected to be held annually thereafter.
"By working together with eminent academic partners, such as the NYU Wireless, we can add speed and agility to innovation and overall technology development," said Lauri Oksanen, NSN vice president of research and technology.
Launched in August, 2012, the NYU Wireless research center includes more than 20 faculty and 100 graduate students. NYU Wireless recently completed its move into 13,500 square feet of world-class research space, with four labs for wireless research, computing, and medical applications on the NYU-Poly campus in Brooklyn, N.Y.
For more:
- see this NSN release
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