Josep Jornet of Northeastern University

Abstract: Current discussions on 6G point to one terabit-per-second (Tbps) as a reasonable goal for the peak bitrate of next generation wireless systems. To meet this goal, the adoption of the sub-terahertz and terahertz bands, which can provide ample bandwidth for both communication and sensing systems, has been proposed by academia and industry. Fortunately, in the last decade, the terahertz technology gap has been progressively closed through major advancements in electronic, photonic, and plasmonic technologies. In parallel, the propagation of terahertz signals has been studied through both physics-based and data-driven approaches, debunking some of the myths about the terahertz channel. Nevertheless, there are several communication roadblocks that need to be overcome to truly unleash the spectrum above 100 GHz. In this talk, a bottom-up approach is going to be followed to highlight innovative solutions and open challenges for terahertz communications and sensing systems on the ground, in the air and in space. Specific topics include novel graphene-based plasmonic device technologies; ultrabroadband waveforms designs that can not only overcome but leverage molecular absorption; intelligent transmit, receive and reflecting surfaces able to engineer wavefronts in ways that in the past were only available to optical systems; and early hints to design a protocol stack for ultrabroadband ultradirectional networks, always with an eye towards experimental demonstrations with state-of-the-art testbeds.

Biography:

Josep Miquel Jornet is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the director of the Ultrabroadband Nanonetworking (UN) Laboratory, and the Associate Director of the Institute for the Wireless Internet of Things at Northeastern University (NU). He received a Degree in Telecommunication Engineering and a Master of Science in Information and Communication Technologies from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain, in 2008. He received the Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, in August 2013. Between August 2013 and August 2019, he was in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University at Buffalo (UB), The State University of New York (SUNY). In 2019, he joined NU and was promoted to Full Professor in the Spring of 2023. He is a leading expert in terahertz communications, in addition to wireless nano-bio-communication networks and the Internet of Nano-Things. In these areas, he has co-authored more than 220 peer-reviewed scientific publications, including 1 book and 5 US patents. His work has received more than 15,200 citations (h-index of 56 as of July 2023). He is serving as the lead PI on multiple grants from U.S. federal agencies including the National Science Foundation, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Air Force Research Laboratory as well as industry. He is the recipient of multiple awards, including the 2017 IEEE ComSoc Young Professional Best Innovation Award, the 2017 ACM NanoCom Outstanding Milestone Award, the NSF CAREER Award in 2019, the 2022 IEEE ComSoc RCC Early Achievement Award, and the 2022 IEEE Wireless Communications Technical Committee Outstanding Young Researcher Award, among others, as well as four best paper awards. He is a senior member of the IEEE and an IEEE ComSoc Distinguished Lecturer (Class of 2022-2023). He is also the Editor in Chief of the Elsevier Nano Communication Networks journal and Editor for IEEE Transactions on Communications.

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