WNCG student Sarabjot Singh placed among the top 12 worldwide finalists in the Broadcom Foundation’s annual University Research Competition. The competition rewards innovative graduate students undertaking research at top engineering universities around the world. The 12 finalists presented their work to more than 500 Broadcom Corporation engineers who serve as judges during Broadcom’s Annual Technical Conference. Singh was nominated for the award by his advisor, Prof. Jeffrey Andrews.
Singh presented research on harnessing the capacity potential of increasing heterogeneity in access-point capabilities and associated radio access technologies such as WiFi, LTE and 3G. Increasing heterogeneity can alleviate the load imbalance problem in wireless networks, Singh explains.
Singh’s research developed a framework to analyze offloading and resource management in organic Heterogeneous Networks (HetNets). His work represents the first in literature to provide an analytical characterization of user rate distribution across the network as a function of key system and design parameters.
Aspects of Singh’s research have been presented in the IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), where it received the Best Paper Award in 2013. Singh’s research also appeared in GLOBECOM 2013 and the IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications in May 2013 and February 2014.
“Due to the numerous poster presentations given in WNCG board meetings over the last few years, I was well prepared for the poster competition,” Singh states. “The real challenge was speaking for three hours and delivering a three-minute, condensed research pitch on the stage.”
Competition finalists and their advisors receive an opportunity to visit the University of California, Irvine (UCI) as special guests of the Dean of the Henry Samueli School of Engineering. In addition to touring academic labs at UCI, the finalists receive an exclusive tour of Broadcom laboratories and the newly renovated Broadcom Demo Center where products incorporating Broadcom technology are displayed.
“In the end, although I did not win, it was a great learning experience and further boosted my confidence,” Singh mentions. “I am grateful to my advisor for nominating me to represent UT Austin.”