Viterbi Lecture
Distinguished Lecturer Series
The Viterbi Lecture is named for Andrew Viterbi, the legendary communications figure who helped open the doors to the digital age with the Viterbi Algorithm, an original mathematical formula for eliminating signal interference.
Today, his algorithm is used in all four international standards for digital cellular telephones, as well as in data terminals, digital satellite broadcast receivers and deep space telemetry.
2023 Speaker

Robert Calderbank
Charles S. Sydnor Distinguished Professor of Computer Science
Duke University
"Learning to Communicate"
Thursday, March 2nd, 2023
Reception 3:00 PM Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Building Courtyard
Lecture 4:00 PM Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering (EEB132)
Hosted by Dr. Richard Leahy
It is common knowledge that a time-domain pulse is well adapted to pure delay channels, and that a frequency domain pulse is well adapted to pure Doppler channels. In this talk we will explain why the Zak-OTFS waveform, a pulse in the delay-Doppler domain, is well adapted to the doubly spread channels that arise in wireless communication.
We will describe how to design the Zak-OTFS waveform so that the input-output (IO) relation is predictable and non-fading, and we will explain how it is possible to learn the IO relation without needing to estimate the underlying channel. We will explore the possibility of a model-free mode of operation, which is especially useful when a traditional model-dependent mode of operation (reliant on channel estimation) is out of reach. We will also describe how the Zak-OTFS waveform supports combined communication and sensing by enabling unambiguous delay- Doppler estimation.
This is joint work with Saif Mohammed, Ananthanarayanan Chockalingam, and Ronny Hadani.
Lecture recording coming soon.