Future Directions for Unlicensed Wireless Communications

Dr. Kevin Kahn

Intel Corporation, Inc.
Hillsboro, Oregon, USA

Friday, May 2nd, 3:00 PM, ACES 2.302 (Auditorium)

Reception from 2:00 to 3:00 PM in the ACES foyer

Abstract

Wireless Local Area Networks have become the focus of great attention by both business and consumer users with the advent of low cost 802.11 access points and pre-equipped laptops. While the initial products are convenient and useful, just as with their wired counterparts there is already interest in how to greatly increase the capacity and speed of wireless LANs. Intel views communications in general, and wireless communications in particular, as key elements of the ongoing convergence of computing and communications, and therefore as important research and development targets for the company. This talk will provide a high level survey of the limitations of today's unlicensed wireless LAN systems, examine the technical and regulatory approaches that will allow us to vastly improve their performance, and discuss some of the research areas being worked on within Intel's labs. Topics touched upon include ultra wideband radio systems, smart antennas, cognitive radios, and emerging directions in wireless regulation.

Biography

Dr. Kahn is an Intel Fellow, the corporation’s highest technical position, and currently the Director of the Communications and Interconnect Technology Lab, a corporate advanced development and research lab in Intel’s Corporate Technology Group responsible for radio, optical, and copper physical layer technologies. Additionally, he helps drive communications strategies and policy for the corporation. Some of his primary current focuses are broadband access to the home, wireless LANs and PANs, spectrum policy, and related Internet issues. He also coordinates Intel RF technical directions across divisions and chairs the Intel Communications Research Council, which oversees research activities between Intel and academic programs. He currently serves on the FCC Technological Advisory Council, chairs the National Science Foundation’s Engineering Advisory Council, and serves on various academic advisory committees.

In prior lab assignments Dr. Kahn has played a variety of roles in strategic and technical planning and research. These included managing large labs in operating systems and Internet communications.

Dr. Kahn represents Intel in various industry consortia and various government policy forums. He has lectured widely at Universities in the U.S. and abroad about Intel and personal research activities. He previously served on the National Academy of Science Broadband Last Mile Study Panel, served as the co-chair of the Universal ADSL Working Group, an industry alliance dedicated to accelerating the deployment of consumer ADSL services for higher speed Internet access, and served as a Director of the DSL Forum.

Dr. Kahn joined Intel in 1976 after completing a Ph.D. in Computer Science at Purdue University. Prior to that, he had received an M.S. in Computer Science from Purdue and a B.Sc. in Mathematics from Manhattan College. Throughout his 26-year career with Intel, he has worked in system software development, operating systems, processor architecture, and various strategic planning roles. He has held both management and senior individual contributor roles. He holds multiple patents in processor architecture and communications technologies.

Dr. Kahn is based at Intel's facility in Hillsboro, Oregon.

A list of Wireless Networking and Communications Seminars is available at from the ECE department Web pages under "Seminars". The Web address for the Wireless Networking and Communications Seminars is http://signal.ece.utexas.edu/seminars