Royal Academy of Engineering, Prince Philip Medal (2024), IET Faraday Medal (2023), US Patent Office-National Inventors Hall of Fame (2018), Marconi Society-Marconi Prize (2014),IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal (2011), Govt. of India-Padma Bhushan (2010)
Scientific career
Fields
Wireless Communications, Signal Processing, Sonar Systems
Arogyaswami J. Paulraj (born April 14, 1944) is an Indian electrical engineer who is a Professor Emeritus[1][2] in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. He is best known for his work in MIMO (Multiple Input, Multiple Output) wireless technology.
Paulraj was born in Pollachi, near Coimbatore, British India, in 1944. He attended Montfort Boys' High School in Yercaud, India.
He joined the National Defence Academy, Khadakvasla, as a cadet in 1961 and was commissioned in the in 1965. Paulraj was deputed to the IIT, Delhi], for a two-years (1969-1971), and developed a unified estimation theory for diffusion signals corrupted by Gaussian noise using tools from Itô stochastic calculus. He received his Ph.D. degree in 1973. His thesis work had little practical application due to computability of stochastic integrals.
Career in India
From 1972 to 1974, Paulraj led a team at Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, to redesign the British-origin Anti-Submarine Sonar Type 170B fitted on Indian Navy warships.[3][4] The new design sonar was deployed in the Indian fleet. From 1977 to 1983, he led the development of APSOH, a large surface ship panoramic sonar that was widely deployed in the Indian Fleet.[3]
Paulraj was a visiting scholar at Loughborough University, UK, from 1974 to 1975,[citation needed] and later at Stanford University, USA from 1983 to 1986. While at Stanford, he invented the ESPRIT algorithm[5] for high-resolution parameter estimation. There are over 90,000 research papers building on his invention.[6]
Between 1987 and 1991, Paulraj served as the founder or co-founder of three national labs for the Indian Government: Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Central Research Laboratories for Bharat Electronics ,Ministry of Defence, Center for Development of Advanced Computing, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.[citation needed]
In 1991, Paulraj, a Naval Commodore, took early retirement from the Indian Navy and departed India, moving to the USA.[citation needed]
Career
In 1991, Paulraj joined Stanford as a Research Associate and was later appointed Professor (Research) in 1993. Soon after arriving at Stanford, he proposed the technique now known as MIMO (Multiple Input, Multiple Output), which boosts data rates by transmitting parallel spatial streams. MIMO faced significant skepticism both from research agencies, as well as the industry. But MIMO went on to fundamentally transform wireless technology. His 1992 patent, named Thomas Kailath, his supervisor, as a co-inventor. The patent initially highlighted broadcast TV as an application while also discussing its use in mobile wireless communications.[7]
At Stanford, Paulraj led the Smart Antennas Research Group[2] until his retirement in 2010. His group, the largest in MIMO wireless in the 1990s, organized an annual workshop on the topic until 2004.[8] He and his students authored the first textbook on MIMO wireless[9] and along with his co-workers at his startups, contributed over 300 research publications[10][11] and co-invented 154 patents.[12]
Paulraj founded the first two companies to develop and commercialize MIMO technology:
Iospan Wireless (1998-2003): Developed a cellular wireless system combining MIMO with OFDM modulation. This MIMO-OFDMA technology, designed for fixed/nomadic access, became the foundational architecture for modern 4G/5G and Wi-Fi networks. After the DOT-Com bubble, raising additional venture financing became difficult, and Iospan’s assets were acquired by Intel Corp. in 2003[13], which used the technology to launch its global 4G WiMAX initiative.
Beceem Communications (2004-2010): Developed 4G WiMAX modem semiconductors, capturing 65% of the global market share before being acquired by Broadcom Corp.[14] to build its 4G LTE business.
Paulraj's work in academia and industry paved the way for MIMO's standardization in 4G and 5G mobile networks, as well as in successive generations of Wi-Fi (beginning with 802.11n).[15] and $3.5 trillion[16]
Following his retirement from Stanford and two decades of work in MIMO, Paulraj continued his entrepreneurial activities. In 2014, he founded Rasa Networks to develop tools incorporating data science to support IT teams that manage large WiFi networks. Rasa was acquired by HPE in 2016 and its technology integrated with Aruba/HPE WiFi products.[14]
Advisory roles
Beyond his primary research and entrepreneurial ventures, Paulraj has served as a consultant, advisor, and board member for companies and venture firms in the US, Israel, and India, including serving as a Senior Advisor to Broadcom Corp.[17], and Celesta Capital[18] He has served on the board the Marconi Society.[19] Paulraj has advised governments on technology policy. For example, he currently works with the Indian Government on its initiative to build a semiconductor and systems industry in the country.[20]
↑ Paulraj, A.; Roy, R.; Kailath, T. (November 1985). "Estimation of Signal Parameters Via Rotational Invariance Techniques- Esprit". Nineteeth Asilomar Conference on Circuits, Systems and Computers, 1985. pp.83–89. doi:10.1109/ACSSC.1985.671426. ISBN0-8186-0729-7.
↑ US5345599A,Paulraj, Arogyaswami J.&Kailath, Thomas,"Increasing capacity in wireless broadcast systems using distributed transmission/directional reception (DTDR)",issued 6 September 1994
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