Dr. Elaine Zhang, Manager of Communications Technologies Division, ASTRI was invited as a guest speaker at the Advanced Communications and Information Technology Forum 2016 held on 27 September 2016 in Nantong, China. At the forum, Dr. Zhang delivered a presentation titled “5G Technology for Smarter Cities” and shared with the audience ASTRI’s latest 5G R&D activities, including the development of Centralized Radio Access Network (C-RAN) for new radio (NR), Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) algorithms, and mission critical communications for low latency applications.

The forum was organised by Nantong Industrial Technology Institute (NTITI) with Prof. Jianhua Lu, Honorary President of NTITI and Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences officiating at the opening ceremony. The forum attracted more than 300 participants including representatives from major universities in China, such as Tsinghua University and Nantong University, Nantong Government as well as representatives from information and communications technology (ICT) industries. Participants exchanged with one another and shared ideas on the future communication technologies including wide-area coverage broadband communications, satellite-terrestrial mobile networks, 5G access technologies, internet of things (IoT) and smart cities.

ASTRI has recently established a Joint Laboratory with NTITI focusing on the research and development of the next generation wireless network solutions. NTITI was founded by the Nantong Government in 2015 focusing on the applied research and technology transfer of the advanced communication technologies. NTITI has also established a joint R&D centre with Tsinghua University and Nantong University to leverage their technologies on aerospace and wireless multimedia communications for enhancing competitiveness in the telecommunication industries.

Prof. Jianhua Lu, Honorary President of NTITI and Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences officiates at the opening ceremony of the Advanced Communications and Information Technology Forum 2016.

Dr. Elaine Zhang, Manager of Communications Technologies Division, ASTRI delivers a presentation titled “5G Technology for Smarter Cities” at the forum.