CHENNAI:THE US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has inducted Indian-born Arogyaswami Joseph Paulraj, 73, into its National Inventors Hall of Fame for developing wireless technology to transmit and receive data at high speed, the agency of the US Department of Commerce said on Monday.
Paulraj was awarded a patent in 1992 for inventing Multiple In-Multiple Out (MIMO), which enables transfer of data, including videos through broadband and mobile technologies like 4G and the upcoming 5G. The Patent Office will formally induct Paulraj at a special ceremony in Washington on May 3.
“I feel humbled to be counted among the inventors who have made the modern world possible,” said Paulraj in an e-mail to the agency.
The other Indian wireless pioneer holding a patent for breakthrough work in radio and microwave optics was Jagdish Chandra Bose.Set up in 1791, the USPTO has issued 8.8 million patents since the mid-20th century but inducted so far only 561 inventors, including Thomas Edison, the Wright Brothers, Alexander Graham Bell and Apple founder Steve Jobs.
“Like other breakthroughs, though MIMO faced scepticism, it took off and is the foundation of all wireless systems,” recalled Paulraj who is now a Stanford University Emeritus Professor.Born at Pollachi in Tamil Nadu, Paulraj joined the Indian Navy when he was just 15 years. Impressed by his academic record, the Indian Navy sent him to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in New Delhi, where he earned a doctorate (Ph.D) for advances in the signal filtering theory.
After a 25-year service in the Navy, Paulraj went to the US in 1992 to work at Stanford and built an MIMO-based cellular wireless technology that became the basis for WiMax and LTE (Long-Term Evolution) mobile networks.
Paulraj holds 79 patents and won many distinctions, including the 2011 IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal and 2014 Marconi Prize and Fellowship.
The Indian government also honoured Paulraj with Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award in 2010. The National Democratic Alliance government appointed the septuagenarian in December 2017 as chairman of the Telecommunication Department’s steering committee to prepare vision, mission, goal and roadmap for 5G India 2020.