NYU and NYU-Poly Launch World's First Academic Research Center to Combine Medicine with Wireless Communications and Computing

NEW YORK, Aug. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- New York University and Polytechnic Institute of NYU (NYU-Poly) announced that National Instruments (NI) is joining them as the founding industrial sponsor in launching the world's first academic research center combining the exploration of advanced wireless technologies, computing and medical applications.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20091027/NY99197LOGO)

Called NYU WIRELESS, the center researches advanced communications and antenna technologies, compressed sensing for spectrum efficiency in massively broadband wireless communications and medical imaging, the creation of smaller and smarter cellular networks and wireless devices that cooperate rather than compete for spectrum. The center also focuses on creating fundamental knowledge of wireless methods and new circuits and systems for a promising new frontier in the wireless spectrum: millimeter-wave and sub-terahertz communications.

NYU WIRELESS has enlisted 25 engineering, computer science and medical professors and more than 100 graduate students and post-doctoral researchers. They will work with researchers from NI, major federal funding sources such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and subsequent industry partners. Hardware and software from NI will serve as a test bed solution for some of the new research initiatives. 

New research space totaling 23,000 square feet is scheduled to open on the downtown Brooklyn campus of NYU-Poly this winter. The new center brings together faculty who have current research projects that total approximately $10 million annually.

"National Instruments is excited to be part of this important research initiative," said Director of National Instruments Software Defined Radio James Kimery. "The graphical system design approach enabled by LabVIEW software provides heterogeneous processing capabilities in a unified, integrated design flow that will enable NYU WIRELESS research to iterate faster and prove out the ideas in a shorter time.  NI's software-defined radio platforms will serve as the hardware prototyping test bed encompassing real-time operating systems, multi-core processors, FPGAs and flexible RF frontends."

NYU WIRELESS is founded and directed by Professor Theodore (Ted) Rappaport, who recently joined the faculty of NYU-Poly's Computer and Electrical Engineering Department, NYU's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and the Department of Radiology at NYU Langone Medical Center. Faculty and students from all three schools comprise NYU WIRELESS.  Rappaport previously founded major academic wireless centers, at Virginia Tech and The University of Texas, as well as two companies instrumental in building today's cellular industry.

"By working with some of the world's best doctors and surgeons, we can solve real problems in the medical field while bringing our industry sponsors in direct contact with engineering problems and market opportunities in health care," said Rappaport. "And by moving up the spectrum, a new frontier opens to wireless innovation. The millimeter-wave spectrum is uncrowded – with enough capacity to accommodate breakthroughs in cellular and personal wireless communication networks.  All our researchers eagerly embrace this unprecedented interdisciplinary collaboration as an opportunity to shape the future of wireless communications and make meaningful contributions to lives and health in our world."

"No other wireless research center in the country can claim this level of interdisciplinary cooperation, with the ability to validate research on actual patients," said Professor Daniel K. Sodickson, M.D., Ph.D., vice-chair for research, Department of Radiology and director of the Bernard and Irene Schwartz Center for Biomedical Imaging at NYU Langone Medical Center.  "NYU WIRELESS will conduct cutting-edge medical research in radiology, and it is also poised to make fundamental contributions in areas such as neuroengineering, cardiovascular engineering and electrophysiology."

NYU WIRELESS researchers have also started to measure the reaction of millimeter-length radio waves as they bounce against and travel through buildings in Brooklyn and Manhattan.  Operating at radio frequencies of 20 to 60 GHz – ten times higher than today's cell phones and Wi-Fi networks – they offer higher data rates at lower cost, but the propagation of the signals in urban environments poses difficult technological challenges.

About Polytechnic Institute of New York University

Polytechnic Institute of New York University (formerly Polytechnic University and also known as Brooklyn Polytechnic), an affiliated institute of New York University, is a comprehensive school of engineering, applied sciences, technology and research, and is rooted in a 158-year tradition of invention, innovation and entrepreneurship: i²e. The institution, founded in 1854, is the nation's second-oldest private engineering school. In addition to its main campus in New York City at MetroTech Center in downtown Brooklyn, it also offers programs at sites throughout the region, around the globe and remotely through NYUe-Poly. NYU-Poly is an integral part of NYU Abu Dhabi, NYU Shanghai and the NYU Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP) in downtown Brooklyn. For more information, visit www.poly.edu.

About NYU School of Medicine

NYU School of Medicine is one of the nation's preeminent academic institutions dedicated to achieving world class medical educational excellence. For 170 years, NYU School of Medicine has trained thousands of physicians and scientists who have helped to shape the course of medical history and enrich the lives of countless people. An integral part of NYU Langone Medical Center, the School of Medicine at its core is committed to improving the human condition through medical education, scientific research and direct patient care. The School also maintains academic affiliations with area hospitals, including Bellevue Hospital, one of the nation's finest municipal hospitals where its students, residents and faculty provide the clinical and emergency care to New York City's diverse population, which enhances the scope and quality of their medical education and training. Additional information about the NYU School of Medicine is available at http://school.med.nyu.edu/.

About the NYU Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences

New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences is a leading center for research and education in mathematics and computer science. For more than 75 years, the Institute has contributed to domestic and international science and engineering by promoting an integrated view of mathematics and computation. Faculty and students are engaged in a broad range of research activities, which include many areas of mathematics and computer science as well as the application of these disciplines to problems in the biological, physical, and economic sciences. The Courant Institute has played a central role in the development of applied mathematics, analysis, and computer science, and its faculty has received numerous national and international awards in recognition of their extraordinary research accomplishments. For more information, visit http://www.cims.nyu.edu/.

About NYU WIRELESS

NYU WIRELESS is the world's first academic research center combining wireless, computing and medical applications. NYU and NYU-Poly created new faculty positions, invested $3.5 million in funding and an additional $4 million in world-class research space upgrades to form an interdisciplinary research center to develop revolutionary circuits and systems for business sectors including the wireless industry, the distributed computing and data center industry and the medical profession.  NYU WIRELESS brings together faculty and students with expertise in millimeter wave wireless communications and circuits, distributed networking and computing and medicine. NYU WIRELESS conducts about $10 million per year in funded research annually and allows its industrial affiliates to maximize the value of their investment by leveraging industrial affiliates funds with large NSF, NIH and other competitive research programs. NYU WIRELESS affiliates enjoy close and frequent interaction with the center's faculty and students from NYU-Poly's Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, NYU Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences' Computer Science Department and many branches of the NYU School of Medicine. For more information, visit http://www.nyuwireless.org.

SOURCE Polytechnic Institute of New York University

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