Distinguished Lecture Series

Gerhard Fettweis

TU Dresden

16 January 2014, 04:15 pm

S2|02 Raum C110, Robert-Piloty-Gebäude, Hochschulstr. 10, 64289 Darmstadt

“The Tactile Internet”

Abstract:

After the success of cellular in shaping our planet, a next step is soon to come – The Tactile Internet. Again, having untethered wireless access will be a key. So far communications enabled interactions with the user are carried out via speakers and displays, plus the tactile entry via keyboards, touch screens/pads, and the mouse. However, soon latency reaction times can be reduced to the order of 1ms, from sensor(s) through the network to the actuator(s). This will allow for a breakthrough as we can take tactile control of elements in our environment with new disruptive applications in health care, sports, automotive, factory automation, education, smart grid, and many more areas. The impact on societies will be phenomenal, generating another great economic impact. The need for new electronics and new wireless communications interfaces will be a major driver for economic growth and prosperity. Today we must start understanding the basic requirements, develop system specifications, and identify challenges for which we need to develop breakthrough technology.

Bio:

Gerhard‘s research provides the basis for next generation mobile communication systems. To overcome the limitations of today‘s algorithms and hardware, he investigates physical layer systems in conjunction with hardware architectures. Gerhard earned his Dr.-Ing. from RWTH Aachen in 1990 and worked at IBM Research (San Jose, CA) and TCSI Inc. (Berkeley, CA). Since 1994 he is Vodafone Chair Professor at TU Dresden. He has spunout ten start-ups, and setup funded projects of close to 500 million Euro volume. Some 20 companies from Asia/Europe/US are sponsoring his research, and he coordinates two DFG centers at TU Dresden: cfAED and HAEC.