Announcement Celebration The Andrew and Erna Viterbi School of Engineering University of Southern California March 2, 2004 “It’s the right time to turn a page and widen one’s horizons.” Andrew J. Viterbi 01 00 0 -1 -2 -3 - +1,+5 -1,+3 +2,-3 +3,+6 +7,-1 6 8 7 16 22 -6 4 9 18 12 20 -10 0100 01 00 00 Headline0 -1 -1 -2 -2 -2 -1 -3 -2 -2 -3 -2 -2 -3 -3 -2 -3 -3 -3 BSC +1,+5-1,+3 +2,-3 +3,+6 +7,-1 AN EXPANDING 0 6 8 7 16 22 VISION -6 4 9 8 18 -2 -1 12 20 -10 9 12 16 Viterbi School of Engineering University of Southern California Los Angeles, California 90089-1454 AWGN Channel www.usc.edu/dept/engineering/ phone: 213.740.4750 The Viterbi Algorithm fax: 213.740.8493 Revolutionizing how we communicate design: warren group | studio deluxe The Andrew & Erna Viterbi School of Engineering Ninety-nine years after the first engineering classes began on this campus, we are proudly naming our school USC’s Andrew and Erna Viterbi School of Engineering. No name could more appropriately capture the The Viterbi School is one of only four, and ingenuity and innovation that permeates this the only one in California, with two prestigious school. For Andy Viterbi is one of our own: National Science Foundation-funded Engi- a USC Ph.D., a USC Trustee, a member of the neering Research Centers. We have just become Board of Councilors, a pioneer in the global the site of the Department of Homeland spread of wireless communications and a vision- Security’s first Center of Excellence. In the ary engineer and entrepreneur who gave birth fierce competitions for all of these centers, our to the cellular technology that connects hun- school placed number one. dreds of millions of people. This wealth of leading-edge research Try to imagine a world without Andy’s enables our Ph.D. students to spread new tech- inventions, and you’d have to travel back nologies around the world. Eight hundred in time years — before cell phones, direct students are pursuing degrees through our broadcast satellite TV, deep space weather Distance Education Network, which delivers forecasting and video transmissions from the classes utilizing an innovative high-speed surface of Mars. Internet interface designed here. Our under- With their generous gift of million, the graduate curriculum is experiencing a dramatic largest ever received to name an engineering transformation. And our incoming freshmen school, Andy and his gracious wife, Erna, have have logged the highest average SAT scores at assured the future of the school with far more USC for the past two years. than the growth of our endowment. The inno- These talented young women and men 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 vative Viterbi spirit will inspire a new genera- will shape tomorrow’s world. Perhaps years age P tion of engineers and catapult The Andrew and from now, when humans are broadcasting | Erna Viterbi School of Engineering into the the weather from Mars, we may be able to trace uppermost echelon of engineering schools. the origins of those information technologies We are well on our way. For the past two to The Andrew and Erna Viterbi School of ngineering years, we have been ranked number eight out of Engineering. BOUNDLESS engineering schools by U.S. News & World On behalf of the students, staff and fac- Report and fourth among private schools. ulty, I express our deepest gratitude to Andy and With more than million in annual Erna for this gift and the boundless opportuni- research expenditures, our school consistently ties it opens for all of us. OPPORTUNITIES iterbi School of E V ranks in the top three nationally in funding per na r tenured faculty member. Currently, faculty are members of the National Academy of C. L. Max Nikias Engineering, the fourth-highest total among Dean ew and E the nation’s private universities. ndr The A Erna and Andrew Viterbi BOLD IDEAS Andrew J.Viterbi Bold ideas & an inventive spirit transform the world Communications pioneer Andrew J.Viterbi — who in earned one of the first doctorates in electrical engineering granted at the University of Southern California — has forever changed how people everywhere connect and communicate, whether from across a crowded city, between Andrew J.Viterbi – Los Angeles nations or from the infinite reaches of space. Born into an analog world, this visionary Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite, and courses in digital communications and infor- and another of Dr. Viterbi’s colleagues, Leonard thinker opened the doors to the digital age with the space race was on. mation theory. However, he found that the Kleinrock, shared an interest in forming a con- the Viterbi Algorithm, a groundbreaking math- The new MIT grad and his family moved algorithms needed to decipher convolutional sulting group. With an investment of , — ematical formula for eliminating signal inter- to California, home to defense industry giants. codes — those used to improve the perform- from each man — the trio founded ference. Today, the Viterbi Algorithm is used He went to work at the California Institute ance of radios and satellite links — were too Linkabit. The company grew as it supplied soft- in all four international standards for digital cel- of Technology’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, complex and difficult to explain to students. ware for government computers and performed lular telephones, as well as in data terminals, then a center for communications and satellite His solution: create a brand new algorithm. simulations using the Viterbi Algorithm. By the digital satellite broadcast receivers and deep control systems, which soon became part At the time, only a handful of computers s, Linkabit began providing technology for space telemetry. of a new National Aeronautics and Space in the world could perform the millions of oper- defense communications satellites using very Dr. Viterbi’s lifelong interest in communi- Administration. There, he specialized in the ations required by his revolutionary algorithm. large antennas. cations began as a child, when his family fled communications technology of “spread spec- A computer capable of doing the calculations 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Italy for America in to escape the persecu- trum” systems on a team that designed the rapidly would have demanded the energy of a An expanding strategy tion of Jews. Long absences from family mem- telemetry equipment for the first successful U.S. particle accelerator. However, time would even- But the sophisticated transmission systems age P | bers instilled a desire to find ways of communi- satellite, Explorer . Faced with a challenge to tually catch up with his vision. that emerged from the Viterbi Algorithm cating across political and geographical borders. process and transmit information packets from Dr. Viterbi’s first internationally regarded had reached their technological limits. Large space as accurately and quickly as possible, book, Principles of Coherent Communications, amounts of data sent from communications Theories into action the team confronted two problems: the satel- appeared in . A second, Principles of Digi- satellites required highly efficient integrated cir- ngineering The Viterbi family first settled in New York, lite’s weak signal, caused by its long journey, and tal Communications and Coding, followed in cuits, far more sophisticated than those avail- then Boston. He entered the Massachusetts frequency changes created by rapid orbits. During this time, he remained dedicated able at the time. Dr. Viterbi and his Linkabit Institute of Technology (MIT) in , studying From this work, Dr. Viterbi developed the to his career in the UCLA School of Engineering associates came up with a breakthrough com- electronics and communications theory under topic for his Ph.D. dissertation at USC: error and Applied Science, conducting fundamental puter to accomplish the task and dubbed it a such renowned scholars as Norbert Wiener, correcting codes. research in digital communications theory and “microprocessor,” even though it was made up iterbi School of E V Claude Shannon, Bruno Rossi and Roberto publishing his findings in leading journals. of many chips. na r Fano. In , he met Erna Finci, married and Inventing a new paradigm Visionary ideas seemed to feed his entre- His renown grew as fast as the company. started a family. Dr. Viterbi’s love of new ideas in information preneurial appetite. In the spring of , In , Italy’s National Research Council In , the Cold War was underway. In theory led him first into an academic career. In Dr. Viterbi met Irwin Jacobs at a telecommuni- awarded Dr. Viterbi one of its highest academic ew and E October of that year, the Soviets launched , he joined the UCLA faculty, teaching cations conference in California. Both men, accolades, the Christopher Columbus Award. ndr The A The Andrew and Erna Viterbi School of Engineering | Page 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 ANDREW J. VITERBI Right: Andrew J.Viterbi receiving the Marconi International Fellowship Award from D. Allan Bromley, Science Advisor to the President, . Far right: Dr.Viterbi receiving decorations of the Grande Ufficiale della Repubblica from the Hon. Massimo Roscigno, Consul General of Italy, in Los Angeles, . In , Linkabit merged with M/A-COM Dr.Viterbi traveled the country as CDMA’s Over the years, he has received numerous of Boston, remaining a separate division. It champion. Soon, flagship telecommunications awards for his contributions to communica- soon produced the VSAT (Very Small Aperture companies, including Pacific Telesis, Motorola tions theory and its industrial applications, Terminal), the foundation for private satellite and AT&T, invested in the experimental tech- including the Institute of Electrical and communications networks.