EECS Seminar: Vehicle-to-Everything Communications

Abstract: Vehicles are becoming more intelligent and to achieve higher automation levels, they are being equipped with more and more sensors. High data-rate connectivity seems critical to allowing vehicles and road infrastructure to enlarge their sensing range and make better safety-related decisions. Connectivity also enables other applications such as infotainment or high levels of traffic coordination. In this presentation, I make the case that high data-rate communication provided by 5G and beyond will be important in future vehicular systems. I then describe the Situation-Aware Vehicular Engineering Systems (SAVES) initiative at the University of Texas at Austin, which provides a platform for industry to fund research in communications, sensing and machine learning for vehicles. Finally, I show some highlights of my research related to cellular radar networks, joint communication and radar, and communication with information and wave-theoretic constraints. 

Bio: Robert W. Heath Jr. is a Cockrell Family Regents Chair in Engineering and the Cullen Trust for Higher Education Professorship in Engineering in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. He also serves as director of UT SAVES (Situation-Aware Vehicular Engineering Systems) and is a member of the Wireless Networking and Communications Group. He has received several awards including  the 2017 EURASIP Technical Achievement Award, the 2019 IEEE Communications Society Stephen O. Rice Prize, and the 2019 IEEE Kiyo Tomiyasu Award. He has authored "Introduction to Wireless Digital Communication” (Prentice Hall in 2017) and "Digital Wireless Communication: Physical Layer Exploration Lab Using the NI USRP” (National Technology and Science Press in 2012). He co-authored “Millimeter Wave Wireless Communications” (Prentice Hall in 2014) and "Foundations of MIMO Communications" (Cambridge 2019). He is currently editor in chief of the IEEE Signal Processing Magazine. He will be a member-at-large on the IEEE Communications Society Board-of-Governors (2020-2022) and is a past member-at-large on the IEEE Signal Processing Society Board-of-Governors (2016-2018). He is a licensed amateur radio operator, a registered Professional Engineer in Texas, a private pilot and a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and the IEEE.