In order to strengthen the ongoing programs of the ECE Department and to cater to the growing demands of bridging the gulf between academy and industry in the field of RF/Wireless communication, the department of ECE in partnership with Keysight Technolgies (formerly Agilent Technologies) has set up a state of the art advanced research laboratory. The lab was declared as a Centre of Excellence (CoE) by M/s Keysight Technologies on 14/02/18. To mark the occasion and to foster cooperation between academia, research organisations and industry, the department also conducted a five day workshop from 12/02/2018 to 16/02/2018 Relevant areas in RF and Wireless communication“. The sessions were handled by eminent personalities from industry & academia.
The first day of the workshop, on 12/02/2018 began with a session on “Research Opportunities in RF/Wireless Communication by Dr. Anandan C.K, Professor, Electronics Department, and CUSAT. Starting from very basics of electromagnetic radiation Prof Anandan led the participant through a journey in antenna design reconfigurable antenna for 4G and 5G application. This was followed by a session on “Air Interface for 5G wireless networks” by Dr. S. M. Sameer, Associate Professor and Head, ECE, NIT Calicut. He did Ph. D on Efficient Estimation Methods for Carrier Frequency Offset in OFDM, MIMO-OFDM and OFDMA Systems – from IIT Kharagpur. He gave a virtuous comprehension of 5G wireless networks. The day came to an end by a session on “Interference management” by Mr. Sudheesh Pai, Research Scholar, NIT Trichy. His research interests include MIMO communication, channel modeling and so on. Interference management has the potential to improve spectrum efficiency in current and next generation wireless systems. The session gave upright awareness about interference management.
The second day of the workshop, on 13/02/2018 began with a session on “Adrishya Alok”, by Mr. Nommy Paul, Asst. General Manager, RF Planning and Optimization, IDEA Cellular. The basics of cellular communication were well explained in this session. He also gave a good insight into applications of RF in telecommunication network, its challenges and future prospects. This was followed by a session on “Spectrum Shaping for Wireless Applications” by Ms. Penilop P.S, Scientist, SAMEER-Chennai. She gave a virtuous comprehension of Spectrum Shaping for Wireless. To begin with she gave an introduction about needs of spectrum shaping and then explained the challenges and the solutions. She also discussed the use of Zynq 7000 an FPGA platform for spectrum viewing. The day came to an end by a session on “Mobile switching in 4G networks” by Mr. Kamalasanan, Senior Sub Division Engineer, BSNL. The session gave upright awareness about Mobile switching in 4G networks. The various techniques of switching and the relevance in recent scenario were made clear.
The third day of the workshop, on 14/02/2018 began with a session on “Microwave integrated circuits component design essentials”, by Dr. S. Raghavan, Professor, ECE Department, NIT Trichy. The essentials of Microwave integrated circuits component design were well explained in this session. This was followed by the declaration of RF/Wireless Lab as CoE by Keysight Technologies. Next was the unveiling of Plaque by Mr. Pathy Iyer, Head of Marketing, Keysight Technologies, Bangalore at RF/ Wireless Communication Lab in the presence of Mr. Chandrabose J (MD, SILK Kerala), Mr. George Alexander Muthoot,(MD, Muthoot Group), Mr. George Varghese (ED, MITS), Dr. A.C. Mathai (Academic Advisor,MITS) & Dr. Ramkumar.S (Principal, MITS).This was followed by a session on “Wireless” by Ms.Usha Verma, Head of Technology, and DRDO Hyderabad. The session gave upright awareness about Wireless. The day came to an end by a session on “Wireless market update – Indian & Global” by Mr. Pathy Iyer, Head of Marketing, Keysight Technologies, and Bangalore. He gave a virtuous comprehension of local and global wireless market.
The fourth day of the workshop, on 15/02/2018 was a one day hands on session on “Characterization of microwave passives uses Network Analyser” by Dr. Sreedevi K.Menon, Asst Professor, ECE Department, Amrita School of Engg, Kollam. The participants were able to understand the usage of various high end instruments in the RF and wireless domain.
