PALM BAY, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Wireless Innovation Forum, a non-profit international industry association dedicated to driving the future of radio communications and systems worldwide, today announced the winners of their annual Achievement Awards. The inaugural Vanu Bose Award for Leadership in Wireless Innovation (formerly the Leadership award) was awarded to Michael Calabrese of the New America Foundation. The President’s Award was earned by multiple recipients: Richard Bernhardt of WISPA, Kate Harrison of Google, Awaiz Khan of Ruckus Wireless, Francois Levesque of NordiaSoft and Masoud Olfat of Federated Wireless. Winners were announced at the Wireless Innovation Forum Summit on Communications Technologies (WInnComm 2018), 15 November in Palm Bay, Florida.
The Vanu Bose Award for Leadership in Wireless Innovation is named after the 2005 International Achievement winner the late Dr. Vanu Bose in honor of his leadership and ideals in driving innovation in the advanced wireless market. It is presented to an individual, group of individuals, or organization that made especially significant contributions in furthering the global mission of the Wireless Innovation Forum. This year’s winner is Michael Calabrese of the New America Foundation. Michael is being recognized for his outstanding leadership and numerous contributions in developing policies that promote pervasive connectivity including spectrum policy reform, mobile market competition, and wireless broadband deployment.
He is currently the Director of the Wireless Future Project, which is part of New America’s Open Technology Institute. Since 2009, Michael has served as an appointed member of the U.S. Department of Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC). He also served as an invited expert and fellow collaborator with Dr. Vanu Bose on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) spectrum reform working group during 2011-2012.
As an attorney and graduate of both Stanford Business and Law Schools, Calabrese speaks and writes frequently on issues related to spectrum, wireless broadband, and internet policy, as well as on pension policy and retirement security. He has co-authored three books and published opinion articles in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic Monthly, Slate, and other leading outlets.
The President’s Award is presented by the Forum’s Board of Directors to individuals in recognition of their sustained outstanding contributions in support of the Wireless Innovation Forum and its activities. The Forum is known internationally for its ability to gather industry, academia, and government for the development of standards for next generation wireless systems including military systems based on the Software Communications Architecture (SCA) or commercial standards for spectrum management. In addition to standards creation one must be able to verify that those standards are enforced to ensure interoperability.
Last year, the Board of Directors set several high-level goals to execute on Test and Certification Strategies for WInnForum Standards. Both the Software Defined Systems and Spectrum Sharing committees identified mechanisms to support industry through WInnForum accreditation services targeted at their respective domains. This year’s award winners represent the intense effort members of the Forum have made toward certification programs of standards produced or influenced by the Forum. While we recognize that many people have contributed to the development of the certification capabilities, the President Award is presented to the leaders of the different working groups associated with testing and certification goals. Recipients of this year’s award are:
- Richard Bernhardt of WISPA for his leadership of the team that has established the CBRS Certificate Authority (CA) Accreditation Program and the CBRS Certified Professional Installer (CPI) Training Program Administrators Accreditation
- Kate Harrison of Google for leadership of the CBRS SAS Test Harness development team
- Awaiz Khan of Ruckus Wireless for leadership of the CBRS CBSD Certification team
- Francois Levesque of NordiaSoft for leadership of the SCA 4.1 Certification team
- Masoud Olfat of Federated Wireless for leadership of the CBRS SAS Test Specification development team
For past award winners, visit http://www.WirelessInnovation.org/SDR_Achievement_Awards.
Supported by Sponsors Indra, Motorola Solutions, and Thales, WInnComm is the premier event to present and see the latest in Cognitive Radio (CR) and Dynamic Spectrum Access technologies, as well as CR and Software Defined Radio programs and requirements, features daily Keynote presentations from recognized leaders in advanced wireless communications, three days of technical presentations, workshops, tutorials and more. http://Conference.WirelessInnovation.org
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 advocating for spectrum innovation, and advancing radio technologies that support essential or critical 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. Forum projects are supported by platinum sponsors Google, Motorola Solutions, Leonardo and Thales.
