COLLOQUIUM
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
University of South Carolina

Social Networking Driven Trends in 
Wireless Broadband Networks

Dennis A. Roberson

Department of Computer Science
Illinois Institute of Technology

Date: October 7, 2011
Time: 1100-1215
Place: Swearingen 1C02 (Amoco Hall)

Abstract

Wireless Broadband Networks have become increasingly important to our
Nation and to the World as we continue to expand our level of
interactions with others to include not only voice and text, but
increasingly also images, music and videos.  This talk will describe
the trends in the context of the key underlying technology-based
enablers.  Specifically, the lecture will discuss and describe the
Internet growth trends, especially in the wireless context, and the
rapidly increasing impact of the various social networking
applications on these usage patterns with a particular focus on the
role of video in driving mobile broadband network traffic.  The talk
will then discuss the trends related to the increasing role of Smart
Phones as the dominant user platform of choice and the challenges
associated with meeting the rapacious data traffic demand growth with
particular focus on the cellular infrastructure and the underlying
spectrum requirements.  The talk will conclude with a discussion of
the obvious and not so obvious "So What's" associated with
these trends including career opportunities, research needs and
investment decisions in wireless technology and related fields.

Dennis A. Roberson is Vice Provost for Corporate Relations and
Strategic Initiatives, and a Research Professor in Computer Science at
Illinois Institute of Technology.  In this capacity, he has
responsibility for IIT's relationships with its various corporate
partners and serves as the focus for the implementation of IIT's
Strategic Plan.  He also supports the development of new research
centers, and the successful initiation and growth of IIT related
technology-based business ventures.  Professor Roberson is a
co-founder of IIT's Wireless Network and Communications Research
Center (WiNCom) and an educator in the wireless networking arena. He
is also the President of Roberson and Associates, LLC, a consulting
firm primarily focused on wireless technology and technology
management. He serves on the governing or advisory boards of several
technology-based companies and on the FCC's Technology Advisory
Council and the U.S. Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee.
Prior to IIT, he was EVP and CTO at Motorola. Professor Roberson has
an extensive corporate career including major business and technology
responsibilities at IBM, DEC (now part of HP), AT&T, and NCR. He is
involved with a wide variety of Technology, Educational and Youth
organizations and serves as a frequent speaker at universities,
companies, technical workshops, and conferences around the globe.
Professor Roberson has BS degrees in Electrical Engineering and in
Physics from Washington State University and a MSEE degree from
Stanford.