Research on the implications of millimeter-wave communication on efficient network design

21 October 2016

Dr. Joerg Widmer, Research Professor and Research Strategy Manager at IMDEA Networks Institute, is currently a Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. As part of this fellowship he has been a guest of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ralf Steinmetz at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology in Technische Universität Darmstadt (Germany), engaging in Mobile Communication Networks research and pushing joint scientific projects forward.

The following is a questionnaire in which Dr. Widmer’s research profile and the role of the research group that hosts him are described.

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Research Fellow – Facts

Name: Dr. Joerg Widmer
Age: 42
Area of research: Mobile Communication Networks
Name of my Research Institute: IMDEA Networks Institute, Madrid
Research period at the TU Darmstadt: September 2016 to May 2017

Questionnaire to the Research Fellow

My field of research is fascinating. To laymen I would explain it in the following comprehensible manner

My field of research is concerned with wireless networking at very high frequencies. This research area is becoming more and more important as wireless traffic demand increases. High rate wireless communication to satisfy this demand requires a large bandwidth, and large bandwidth channels are only available in the extremely high frequency part of the radio spectrum. At the same time, networking at such high frequencies is very challenging since attenuation is high and communication ranges are short.

My most important success in research to date is

Some of my recent work on millimeter-wave networking led to important insights into efficient antenna beam-steering algorithms and characterization of millimeter-wave network performance. I also contributed to a range of other networking research areas such as MAC layer design, network coding, interference management, wireless transport protocols and anticipatory networking.

I’ve chosen the TU Darmstadt because…

of the excellent research groups with whom I intend to establish a fruitful collaboration. Our research overlaps in many areas: communications systems, networking mechanisms and related protocols. While I work more on the lower layers of the protocol stack, some of the experts at TU Darmstadt focus on the upper layers and systems and with this combination we hope to approach more comprehensive overall challenges.

Dr. Joerg Widmer with his host Professor Dr.-Ing. Ralf Steinmetz. Photo: Claus Völker

If I were a student today, I would…

focus more of my studies on electrical engineering and math. These are topics that are not easy to learn, but were or would have been extremely useful for my later research.

The perfect balance to a stressful working day is spending time outdoors. I love outdoor sports and specifically rock climbing and bouldering and often wish the busy work schedule would leave more time for that.

With the help of my host in Darmstadt, I would…

like to work on the implications of millimeter-wave communication on efficient network design, and specifically on how to deal with the resulting network dynamics.

Questionnaire to the Research Fellow

Guest of: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ralf Steinmetz
Department: Electrical Engineering and Information Technology / Multimedia Communications Lab
You appreciate in your guest: systematic and well-defined research approach and outstanding results.
You, your team and the TU Darmstadt benefit from your guest’s…
very advanced mobile network approach and his international perspectives.