Professor Geoffrey Li has been recognised by the IEEE for his outstanding contributions to wireless communications.

Professor Li, Chair in Wireless Systems in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, has been jointly awarded the 2024 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Eric E. Sumner Award — one of the most prestigious awards in communication science.

The IEEE Awards Program pays tribute to technical professionals whose exceptional achievements and contributions have made a lasting impact on technology, society, and the engineering profession.

The award acknowledges his fundamental contribution — together with co-recipients Dr Stephen Weinstein and Professor Len Cimini Jr — to frequency domain communications, including orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) a modulation technique now used in almost all devices requiring wireless communications including computers, smartphones, Digital Audio Broadcasting, and Digital Video Broadcasting.

Setting the standards

The original concept of OFDM dates back to the 1960s, but did not become a practical reality until the astute idea of using fast-Fourier transform (FFT)-based modulation by Stephen Weinstein in 1971. This was followed by Len Cimini's landmark work in 1985, where he applied OFDM to mobile radio channels for the first time and laid the foundations of today's ubiquitous standards in numerous areas of wireless communications. In the 1990s, a series of contributions by Geoffrey Li and his co-authors provided solutions to many critical implementation issues. These solutions are now pervasive, having essentially found their way into every communications standard. 

Professor Li said: “I am delighted to receive this award, alongside two other incredible scientists. I would like to thank many colleagues for their support in my career, including my PhD advisor, Professor Zhi Ding who provided the scholarship for me to study in USA, my colleagues in AT&T Labs Research — Nelson Sollenberger, Dr Jack Winters, Dr Justin Chuang, and Len Cimini, Professor Lajos Hanzo of Southampton University, Professor Khaled Letaief of HKUST, Professor Fred Juang of Georgia Tech, and Dr Wen Tong of Huawei Technologies."

“I also greatly appreciate Professors Eric Yeatman and Kin Leung for bringing me to Imperial College and strong support from them and Professor Anthony George Constantinides in the past three years."

Head of Department Professor Yeatman said: “I warmly congratulate Geoffrey on receiving this major award, recognising his tremendous contribution to wireless communications. We are honoured to have Professor Li among our department’s staff.”

The award will be presented at the 2023 IEEE Global Communications Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in December.