भारतीय प्रौ饍योगिकी संथान हैदराबाद Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad the crowning glory A quarterly e-newsletter of IITH Issue – 6 | April 2021 #5G & Next-gen Communication Technologies Contents: Editorial Epistle| 2 Director’s Desk | 3 Dean’s Diary| 4 - 8 • Dean (R&D) - Our Indigenous 5G Story Research Diary| 9 - 12 • UAV Communications: 5G and Beyond • Using Storage to Increase Data Rate Students’ Diary| 13 - 16 • My journey to IITH & 5G • Affordable Rural Cellular Coverage for 5G and Beyond Alumni’s Diary| 17 - 19 • 5G and IoT : The Emerging World technologies… Telecommunication & Incubatee’s Diary| 20 - 23 Information Society • i-TIC Incubator programs and events Day • Know about SKIOT “May 17” Campus Corner| 24 - 31 IITH in the News| 32 - 34 Moments of Pride| 35 - 38 Kaustubh Kesharwani IITH’s Bank of Knowledge| 39 – 62 BTech 2nd year, IIIT Raichur {Cover page image courtesy} Editorial Epistle… Dear Readers, development of 5G and next-gen technologies. The CSP ( Communication and Signal Processing) We hope you are doing well! wing of the department of Electrical Engineer has five research laboratories, which are always We sincerely thank all our readers for on a quest to solve fundamental and acknowledging and honoring our efforts for the momentous problems for the betterment of past five issues. Your valuable suggestions have society. helped us improve, and we hope that ककरIITH - The Crowning Glory, Issue-6 reflects the same. This issue is an ode to the ever bright & innovative researchers of IITH who are working Communication technologies play a crucial role to better science and society; hence we named in the development of the world. The modern this issue ककरIITH - The Crowning Glory, Issue-6 world is heavily powered by communication #5G & Next-gen Communication Technologies tech, and it is challenging to imagine a day and released it on the World Telecommunication without all the devices that rely on this & Information Society Day. technology. Our society needs to better these technologies for the sake of its development. IIT Hyderabad is playing a very crucial role in this We hope this issue gives you a good idea of the cause. developmental works in Communication Tech at IITH. We hope to keep on delivering the latest IIT Hyderabad is leading 5G and next-gen issues of ककरIITH - The Crowning Glory. communication development globally, establishing a unique brand known for its We wish everyone a safe and healthy stay. ground-breaking work in communication technologies. IIT Hyderabad is a leader in Have a good read! research and Intellectual Property (IP) Prof. C. Krishna Mohan Prof. Deepak John Mathew (Dean – Public & Corporate Relations) (HoD - Design) {Editor-in-Chief} Mr. Ujjwal Dasari Mrs. Mitalee Agrawal (Media & PR Secretary, (Public Relations Officer) Student Gymkhana) ककरIITH - The Crowning Glory, Issue-6, #5G & Next-gen Communication Technologies 2 Director’s Desk There is no speed limit on the road of success. ~David W. Johnson Prof. B. S. Murty Director, IIT Hyderabad Dear friends, I hope you are keeping well along with your The Dept. of Entrepreneurship & Management in family in these testing times. collaboration with Business Design Lab has launched a One thing this pandemic has taught us is not unique Certificate program on ‘Business Model to stop and wait for a better day but to Innovation’ for Business Leaders, Entrepreneurs, continue to grow by scaling up our skills. Intrapreneurs, Sr. Design and Strategy Professionals. Though this virus is not letting us live the FabCI Incubator at IITH Joins hand with NXP India & normal life we used to, but we have also MeitY to launch Semiconductor Incubation and tightened our belts to fight it out. We have Acceleration Program, a first-of-its-kind program for start-ups & innovators working in the field of brought back many of our students to campus semiconductors. over the last 8 months and are ensuring their well-being and good health, so that they can Again, our students have proven that nothing can stop focus on their academics and research. or slow them down. They have demonstrated a mammoth of motivation and management skills by Many path-breaking researches have taken conducting their flagship event, ELAN & ηVision 2021, place like the prediction of the SAR-COV-2 online with the theme Fables of a Moppet, an event droplet by an interdisciplinary team of Dr. focused on mental well-being & stress management Saravanan Balusamy and Dr. Sayak Banerjee, especially of the students. Given COVID-19 circumstances, even E-summit 2k21 has been led by Prof. Kirti Chandra Sahu. We are very organized virtually with the help of IT Collaborators. It proud that IIT Hyderabad Researchers joins was a great success with more than 1,500 registration India’s global hunt for Einstein's waves from and 300 participants for the panel discussion. With monster black holes. the message “It’s time to stop playing safe” “Let’s play Unsafe” TEDx IIT Hyderabad too went online this On the academic front too, this dreadful year with the same or even better partaking. disease could not slow us down. While we continued our regular MTech & PhD I am hopeful that we will soon be able to enjoy our in- Admission for 2021, we have also taken some person communications. novel initiatives this year like FIRST (Fellowship for International Research Scholars in Technology), a PhD fellowship for Stay Home & Stay Safe… foreign students to study at IITH, Interdisciplinary PhD, Joint Doctoral Program Warm Regards, with two top Australian Universities (Deakin Prof. B. S. Murty & Swinburne). 3 ककरIITH - The Crowning Glory, Issue-6, #5G & Next-gen Communication Technologies Dean’s Diary Our Indigenous 5G Story In my first address after taking over the On the economic front, within the next decade, responsibility of Dean R&D, I could not think of a 5G/IoT is expected to add hundreds of Trillion of more relevant topic than 5G, which I have been USD to the world economy. This is an working on for more than a decade now. On the unprecedented economic opportunity that India special occasion of World Telecommunication & cannot afford to let go of. Historically, India did Information Society Day, I will walk you through not own the IP (Intellectual Property) that goes India’s 5G R&D journey during which IITH made into the design and manufacturing of cellular immense contributions to the budding Indian 5G Mobile phones/Base stations gear. However, the landscape. It is a story that includes contributors situation is different today, as the country has a from academia, industry, and the Government. reasonable presence in the global standards Even after a decade of sustained efforts, I would bodies and has acquired the essential technical say that we have merely laid the path to capabilities required to develop the equipment: Indigenous wireless development that has not the patents that are vital to the implementation been tread before. The final goal is to see an and licensing of 5G technology are being created; Aatmanirbhar 5G India that produces the numerous start-ups, domestic equipment technology and equipment with significant manufacturers are on the rise; and academia has Indigenous IPR that goes into everyday use. IITH also stepped up through manpower should be proud for being part and parcel of this development, testbeds and patent creation. journey and for adding our bit to this nation- building effort. India’s Presence in 5G Standards 5G/IoT is not merely an evolutionary outcome of The development of 5G happens through a 4G, especially given the high expectations that global forum called the 3rd Generation 5G will bring about fundamental and Partnership Project (3GPP). It’s a partnership revolutionary changes to our society. We’ve between seven global Standards Development already seen the staggering impact that Organizations (SDOs) of which smartphones have had on our daily lives, and 5G Telecommunications Standards Development applications will go far beyond connecting Society, India (TSDSI) is a member. 3GPP kick- people - they’ll also integrate a whole range of started the 5G project in 2016 where we made machines into the internet, such as home substantial contributions to three successive appliances, industrial sensors, meters, etc. As releases of 5G specifications to date. IITH critical national infrastructure such as electricity primarily led the efforts with significant support grids, public services offered by local bodies, etc. from CEWiT, IITM, and other Indian corporations will soon run on 5G, security considerations are (Tejas Networks and Reliance Jio are our major crucial in the selection and ownership of industry partners) with well over 300 technical technology, as it will have a bearing on the documents submitted to date. These sustained nation’s ability to control the equipment as well efforts led to the incorporation of several as secure the delivery of these critical services. innovations introduced into the global 5G This is all the more important in the post-COVID standards. One significant contribution that world where 5G has essentially become a stands out is the introduction of a new transmit commodity service and high-speed internet waveform, the only new waveform that is access is every citizen’s basic necessity. adopted in 5G, which is a generational change. Continued… ककरIITH - The Crowning Glory, Issue-6, #5G & Next-gen Communication Technologies 4 Dean’s Diary Earlier both 4G and 5G adopted a waveform result of sustained effort by the Indian entities technology called OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency through the Department of Telecommunications Division Multiplexing) that is quite suitable for (DoT) to address the unique Indian rural the downlink transmission (that is the link broadband deployment scenario. Several between a base station (BS) and user equipment countries supported this use case as they saw a (UE)) but not so well suitable for the reverse link similar need in their jurisdictions as well.