Wireless Communications Researcher Joins UCLA Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
Courtesy of Ian Roberts
Ian Roberts has joined the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering as an assistant professor.
The UCLA Samueli School of Engineering has appointed Ian Roberts as an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, effective July 1.
Roberts focuses his research on developing advanced techniques for next-generation wireless communication and sensing systems through the unique combination of theory and experimentation. He is actively working on problems related to millimeter-wave wireless systems; in-band, full-duplex satellite communication systems and related technologies that will be critical in delivering 5G and future 6G cellular networks.
His research has made strides in transforming millimeter-wave communication systems, such as those in 5G, by upgrading them with in-band full-duplex capability — the long-sought ability to simultaneously transmit and receive signals at the same frequency. By combining theory with experimentation, Roberts has created novel techniques that have been validated using actual hardware. The advance will help to pave the way toward higher-throughput networks with lower latency and broader coverage to enable emerging applications, such as virtual reality and autonomous driving.
Roberts has held internship positions developing and implementing advanced wireless technologies at AT&T Labs, Amazon, startup GenXComm, Sandia National Laboratories and Dynetics. He has also visited Arizona State University and Yonsei University in South Korea on research collaborations. Roberts has co-authored 15 published research papers and conference proceedings. He also holds one U.S. patent and has co-authored a book chapter on next-generation transceivers for wireless communication.
Earlier this year, Roberts received the 2023 Andrea Goldsmith Young Scholars Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Communications Society for his contributions to the theory and practice of full-duplex millimeter-wave communications. He was presented with the award and delivered a talk this week at the IEEE Communication Theory Workshop in Taiwan.
Roberts received both his master’s and doctoral degrees in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow with the Wireless Networking and Communications Group. He earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology.