Keysight Technologies has given NYU Wireless a donation that will help the research center further explore millimeter wave (mmWave) and terahertz (THz) electromagnetic spectra.
The university didn’t disclose a value amount, but did say it’s the largest donation ever for NYU Wireless and the largest in-kind donation in NYU Tandon’s history.
Included in the gift is an array of cutting-edge equipment—including measurement capability up to 110 gigahertz (GHz)—that promises to accelerate one of the major focus areas of NYU Wireless these days: THz communications and sensing beyond 5G wireless systems.
The gift includes:
- mmWave and broadband signal analysis and generation capabilities
- Advanced time-domain analysis
- RF/mmWave power measurement
The donation also comes as Jelena Kovačević joins NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering as the new dean and the first woman to head the school since its founding in 1854, and as Professor Ted Rappaport returns to the role of director of the center he founded in 2012.
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NYU Wireless has been credited for pioneering research that forms the basis of today’s 5G networks operating in millimeter wave spectrum. Few in the industry believed millimeter wave spectrum was good for much of anything besides backhaul, but Rappaport and his students published groundbreaking research showing great promise for the spectrum.
Now steering their attention to the THz spectrum, NYU Wireless teams are working on mobile edge and low-latency networking, quantum devices and circuits, machine learning foundations for technology such as post-massive MIMO antennas and applications for 5G and 6G. Along with NYU Tandon’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, it’s hosting a series of streamed seminars by experts in THz.
“The generosity of Keysight, a long-standing industrial affiliate partner of NYU Wireless, will bring cutting-edge equipment to students and faculty, helping us write our most exciting chapter yet: advanced research into the rarefied areas of the electromagnetic spectrum above 100 GHz,” Rappaport said in press release. “Our student and faculty researchers, as well as our Industrial Affiliate sponsors and the research community at large, will all benefit from this gift.”
Keysight has been a member of the NYU Wireless Industrial Affiliates program since late 2014. Roger Nichols, 5G program manager at Keysight Technologies and a member of NYU Wireless’ advisory board, explained that the gift aims to identify and encourage collaborative research in the most promising technologies. In addition to the gift, he and his extended team will serve as mentors to NYU Wireless student researchers.
“We are excited to be part of what the team at NYU is doing. Our work in 5G with market and technology leaders like Dr. Rappaport has been instrumental in enabling an entire ecosystem to make 5G a reality," Nichols said. "As part of the advisory board, I have been inspired watching Ted, his team, and his associates enlighten and enliven the dialogue to make mmWave ready for mainstream communications. Keysight is committed to the future of 5G, as well as enabling broader adoption of mmWave technologies.”