Bhargava Discusses From Marconi to Wireless Internet: The Wireless
(R)evolution
On December 12, 2001, Vijay K. Bhargava (above)
participated in the one hundred year anniversary celebration of Marconi's
first transatlantic wireless experiment at a receiving site on Signal Hill,
near St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada. In February he discussed this historical
event, tracing the tremendous progress made in the last two decades of Wireless
Internet access.
Among other things, Bhargava described several techniques such as: space-time
codes, turbo, convolutional and Reed-Solomon codes, multiuser detection, source
coding and encryption, which have served as enabling techniques for sophisticated
wireless systems. He also briefly discussed the current malaise afflicting
the wireless industry and possible recovery scenarios.
Bhargava received the B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from Queen's University,
Kingston, Canada in 1970, 1972 and 1974 respectively. Currently, he is a Professor
of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Victoria and holds
a Canada Research Chair in Wireless Communications. He is a co-author of several
books, and his research interests are in multi-media wireless communications.
He also is an Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Communications and the IEEE
Transactions on Wireless Communications. Bhargava is a Past President of the
IEEE Information Theory Society and has been nominated by the IEEE Board of
Directors for the Office of IEEE President-Elect in this year's election.
The Department of Electrical Engineering presents a year-long program of
lectures to broaden the horizons of faculty, students and friends interested
in the progress of electrical engineering. Experts from industry and academia
are invited to lecture on topics of widespread interest to the discipline.
