WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Wireless Innovation Forum (www.WirelessInnovation.org) today announced the winners of its annual Achievement Awards and its newly elected Board of Directors as presented at the 2011 Wireless Innovation Forum Conference on Communications Technologies and Software Defined Radio (SDR'11 - WInnComm). This premier event for the software defined radio (SDR), cognitive radio (CR) and dynamic spectrum access community was held 29 November to 2 December in Washington, D.C., and sponsored by Platinum Sponsors General Dynamics C4 Systems, Harris Corporation, and Indra Sistemas and Gold Sponsors Pentek and General Dynamics C4 Systems.
The Technology of the Year award is presented to an individual or organization for a breakthrough product or technology in the field of Software Defined or Cognitive Radio as nominated and selected by the Forum members. This year’s award was given to Elektrobit (EB) Specialized Device Platform, a versatile platform targeted to vertical markets such as defense, public safety and security. With the platform, EB can roll out customized mobile devices that meet specific industry functional or performance requirements—faster and with lower development risks and costs. The platform is comprised of components specifically focused to extend product life cycle, deliver excellent performance and simplify the platform evolution. It is anchored by the Texas Instruments OMAP™ family of application processors and includes both OMAP3™ series single-core and OMAP4™ series dual-core options. EB chose TI’s OMAP processors for their balance between competitive mass market performance and unique features, such as integrated and fully programmable C64x Digital Signal Processor, that appeals to the target vertical markets. Other key features include Google Android operating system, integrated cellular connectivity options including LTE with Band 14 support for the U.S. Public Safety market, a high-resolution touch-screen enabled display, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and advanced battery and power management features. A cellular 2G/3G version of the platform uses the Infineon’s SDR based XMM6081 chipset. The EB Specialized Device Platform is generally available today for devices to be commercialized with the OMAP3 Series applications processor and 2G/3G cellular connectivity options.
The Forum International Achievement Award is presented to an individual, group of individuals, or organization that made especially significant contributions to international furtherance or acceptance of Software Defined or Cognitive Radio. JPEO JTRS TD/CTO (Richard North, John Armantrout, CDR Andy Kessler, Alan Sweeney, Eric Carlson, Cara Zylla, Don Stephens, Kevin Richardson, Phil Chen, Chalena Jiminez) took home this year’s award, as voted on by the membership. JPEO JTRS TD/CTO has tirelessly supported Software Defined Radios and their introduction into the Department of Defense for the past five years, growing a market that has helped advance the SDR community across the entire spectrum of Defense and Commercial development. The Team has identified multiple new technologies from the Forum’s membership (and others) for support through SBIRs and T&E events with other JTRS products. JTRS has also worked with the entire Wireless Innovation Forum membership to improve and consolidate SDR standards across the industry, while at the same time looking forward to SCA Next to advance and evolve those standards to the next level. The Team has worked with the WInnF membership on improving openness and availability of all possible JTRS products, including significant work with the WInnF’s International membership. Finally, the JPEO has partnered with the WInnF for many years to co-host a Wireless Innovation Forum Technical Meeting with the JTRS Science and Technology Forum (JSTeF) in San Diego, Calif.
Claude Belisle of Communications Research Center Canada won the President's Award, chosen by the Forum’s Board Chairman and presented to individuals in recognition of their sustained outstanding contributions in support of the Wireless Innovation Forum and its activities. Claude Belisle is the third recipient of the Forum’s President’s Award. He has played an active role in the Forum, serving on the board of directors since 2006, has chaired various work groups, and most recently has held the position of Technical Director. Mr. Belisle’s work this year included organizing and chairing the successful Enabling Interoperability workshop in Montreal, which included Public Safety and Military regulators, users, integrators and radio vendors. His efforts this year also included leading the Roadmap committee that has led to the creation and publication of the first list of the “Top 10 Most Wanted Wireless Innovations.” This list has been well accepted by the community and is the basis for further successful work of the Forum.
Also at SDR’11-WInnComm, The Forum membership voted on new Board of Director positions. Board members returning to their current positions include: Bruce Oberlies (Motorola) as Forum Chair, Ruediger Leschhorn (Rohde & Schwarz) as Forum Vice-Chair, Mark Turner (Harris) as Treasurer, Eric Christensen (General Dynamics C4 Systems) as Chair of the Board of Directors, Manuel Uhm (Coherent Logix) as Markets/User Requirements Committee Chair, Peter Tenhula (Shared Spectrum) as Regulatory Committee Chair, David Renaudeau (Thales) as ITU Region 1 Representative, Claudio Armani (Selex ELSAG) as Large Company Representative, John Powell (National Public Safety Telecommunications Council) as Government/Non-Profit Representative, Paul Sutton (CTVR) as Academic Representative, Hiroshi Harada (National Institute of Information and Communications Technology) as a Member at Large, Vincent Kovarik (PrismTech) as a Member at Large, and Pekka Heikkinen (Elektrobit) as a Member at Large.
Board members changing positions include Bob Schutz (Datron World Communications) from Medium Company Representative to Secretary, John Glossner (Optimum Semiconductor Technologies) from Small Company Representative to Technical Director, James Neel (CR Technologies) from Member at Large to Small Company Representative, and Paul Kolodzy (Kolodzy Consulting) from ITU Region 2 Representative to Member at Large.
In addition, the Board of Directors welcomes the following four new members:
Terry L. Anderson (ITT Exelis) as ITU Region 2 Representative. Mr. Anderson is Staff Scientist at ITT Exelis, where he has developed software for military communication radios for the past eight years. He has architected and developed software for military and commercial communications systems for over 25 years, including many years at Bell Laboratories and Lucent Technologies working on Software Architecture Reviews, VoIP and other telephony systems. He has a PhD in Theoretical Physics from University of Nebraska and taught Physics and Computer Science at Walla Walla University before turning to Software Engineering. He has been active in WInnF for eight years and in 2010 was awarded its President’s Award for his work leading various working groups involved with the SCA. He chairs WInnF CC SCA working groups on SCA APIs and SCA Next and serves on the executive board of CC SCA Steering Group.
Boya Lu (Huawei) as ITU Region 3 Representative. Ms. Lu graduated with a Master of Science in Communications and Signal Processing from Imperial College London, UK. She joined Huawei in June 2006. Since 2006, Ms. Lu had contributed to the design, development and specification of UMTS/LTE systems through active participation in 3GPP RAN WG3. Since April 2010, Ms. Lu has been actively involved in machine-to-machine activities. She is currently the chair of WInnF TD-LTE in White Space TF.
Raghavan Muralidharan (Tata SED) as Medium Company Representative. Mr. Muralidharan, Senior Member IEEE, is a Systems Engineering professional in Computer and Communications Engineering fields for 32 years and is currently "Principal - Engineering" at Strategic Electronics Division of Tata Power Company Ltd., Mumbai, India. At SED, he is responsible for design and development of mission critical real time solutions for Indian Defence. He graduated in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering from College of Engineering, Trivandrum, India, and did Post Graduation in Electrical Engineering (Computer) during 1977-79 at IIT Bombay, India. In 1987, the then Indian Prime Minister Mr. Rajiv Gandhi had invited him to be a member of the Distinguished Young Scientists team. Mr. Muralidharan, an IEEE volunteer, is a past chair of IEEE India Council and Bombay Section. He was an IEEE ComSoc Standards board member during 2008 to 2010.
Kuan Collins (SAIC) as Member at Large. Mrs. Collins is a Program Manager at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC, Inc). Mrs. Collins is responsible for managing engineering and acquisition services for USAF Space and Missile Center MILSATCOM Directorate (SMC/MC), Army Satellite Communications Terminal Program, Joint Program Manager Information Systems (JPMIS) among other projects. She is currently a lead engineer and program manager supporting the chief engineer for SMC/MC. She is a doctoral candidate at University of Maryland University College pursuing a Doctor of Management, and a graduate of Strayer University with MS in Information Systems and University of Maryland at College Park with a BS in Electrical Engineering. She is also a Project Management Professional (PMP). She has superior team building, technical analysis, problem solving, and communication skills; 13 years experience in management with expertise in systems engineering and defense acquisition; and directed multi-disciplined product teams in several Defense Acquisition Category (ACAT) Level I-III programs.
The Board would like to thank the following outgoing members for their service: Rafael Aguado (Indra), who served as Secretary, Claude Belisle (CRC Canada), who most recently served as Technical Director, Seung-Hwan Lee (ETRI), who most recently served as ITU Region 3 Representative, and Peter Cook (Peter G. Cook Consultancy), who served as a Member at Large.
About the Wireless Innovation Forum
Established in 1996, The Wireless Innovation Forum (SDR Forum Version 2.0) is a non-profit mutual benefit corporation dedicated to driving technology innovation in commercial, civil, and defense communications worldwide. Members bring a broad base of experience in Software Defined Radio (SDR), Cognitive Radio (CR) and Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) technologies in diverse markets and at all levels of the wireless value chain to address emerging wireless communications requirements. To learn more about The Wireless Innovation Forum, its meetings and membership benefits, visit www.WirelessInnovation.org.