About iWCL
The iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory began with the establishment of the first iCORE Research Chair in September, 2000. Professor Norman C. Beaulieu joined the University of Alberta and became the iCORE Research Chair in Broadband Wireless Communications.
The iCORE Wireless Communications Laboratory (iWCL) is at the forefront of researchers responsible for ensuring that the capability of wireless communications services will be able to keep pace with the demands of rapidly expanding business and consumer markets. The overall goal of the research program is to create new engineering science and technologies that will lead to high capacities in broadband wireless communications systems at lower cost.
The iWCL consists of a team of Professors, Graduate Students, Post-Doctoral Fellows, Research Assistants and two Administrative Assistants. The professors in the group include Dr. Norman C. Beaulieu, Dr. Chintha Tellambura, Dr. Masoud Ardakani, Dr. Abraham Fapojuwo and Dr. John Nielsen.
Dr. Beaulieu’s group consists of 12 Graduate Students, 3 Post-Doctoral Fellows, 3 Research Assistants and 2 Administrative Assistants. Dr. Chintha Tellambura joined the iWCL in 2002 as an iCORE Junior Chair. Now he has 9 Graduate students and 1 Post-Doctoral Fellow. Dr. Masoud Ardakani joined the group in September 2005 as an iCORE Junior Chair. He has 6 Graduate Students and co-supervises 1 Post-Doctoral Fellow. Dr. Abraham Fapojuwo joined the iWCL in November 2003. He is a faculty member at the University of Calgary. His group consists of 2 Post-Doctoral Fellows and 16 Graduate Students. Dr. John Nielson, also a faculty member at the University of Calgary, joined the iWCL in September 2008. He currently has 13 Graduate Students, 2 Post-Doctoral Fellows, 1 Research Student and 1 Technician Student.
Dr. Beaulieu and the researchers in the iWCL are specialists in the most fundamental aspects of the science of broadband wireless communications, applying these theoretical insights to solving some of the most practical problems in the design of communications systems. Current topics under investigation include ultra-wide band (UWB) systems, cooperative wireless networks, wireless sensor networks, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems, multiuser detection, space-time coding, multiple input multiple output (MIMO) systems, wireless channel modeling and synchronization. While the team is built upon expertise in wireless communications theory, it maintains the development and commercialization of intellectual property as a tenet of returning value to the supporting community. The Technology, Entrepreneur & Company Development agency of The University of Alberta (TEC Edmonton) has licensed iWCL technology to an American WiMax corporation. The same technology has also been adopted in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16e Industry Standard for wireless WiMax.
Dr Norman Beaulieu has a renewed iCORE Chair award ($4.2M). He and his team have attracted funding from NSERC ($2.1M), AIF (200K) and CFI ($60K) as well as funds from CRC for a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair ($1.4M). General Dynamics Canada provided the majority of industry support ($112K).