The Emergence of Ubiquitous Internet Access: A Tale of Revolutionary Technologies and Market Disruptions

Dr. Michail K. Tsatsanis, IEEE Fellow.
Tuesday, 2/7/2018, 2pm, 137.Π39

Abstract: This talk reviews the remarkable path of internet access technologies in the last 25 years, which transformed the internet from a niche academic collaboration network to the pre-eminent connectivity infrastructure of the world. It discusses the competing wireline and wireless solutions that emerged in the DSL, Cable, fixed and mobile wireless and satellite industries and the PHY layer innovations that made them possible (advanced coding, OFDM, MIMO and others). More interestingly, it puts these innovations in the context of the prevailing market drivers in the industry in the different phases of internet expansion, and provides perspectives on why some innovations failed to gain market traction while others were wildly successful. These lessons from the past are useful as we enter the next phase of internet expansion with 5G ubiquitous mobile internet and truly global coverage with high capacity satellites.

Short CV: This talk draws on the diverse work experience the speaker has had in the area of communications system design in the last 30 years. Dr. Tsatsanis has held academic and industry positions in research, product development and engineering management in small and large companies. In the 1990s, he taught at Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey and served as an Associate Professor and Director of the Wireless Research Lab. In 2000 he joined a startup in Silicon Valley as a Chief Scientist (Voyan Technology) and worked on MMDS fixed wireless systems. In 2003, he co-founded a DSL company (Aktino, Inc) which was the first company to design and bring to market MIMO enabled DSL modems (vectored-DSL). He has served as Director of Engineering for NextWave (a WiMax system company) and Entropic Communications (a home networking silicon vendor). He has led a 5G standardization team as a Senior Director for a Silicon Valley startup (Cohere Technologies) and is currently working for a large satellite company on revolutionary new terabit satellites for internet access (Viasat Corp.). Dr. Tsatsanis’ research has won two IEEE best paper awards and numerous industrial awards. He has served the IEEE in various capacities and in an IEEE Fellow. He is currently the Chair of the Industrial Relations Committee and a member of the Board of the IEEE Signal Processing Society.