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Commanding wireless technology

A professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, he tells John L. Paul that defence technology in India needs to improve a lot

A.J. Paulraj

Commodore Arogyaswami Joseph Paulraj can aptly be referred to as someone who has outgrown as a scientist. He shot into fame while he was in the Indian Navy for having developed the Advanced Panoramic Hull Mounted Sonar (APSOH), which was the most advanced sonar of the time in the early 1980s. Variants of the sonar still continue to be used by the Navy. A recipient of the Ati Vishist Seva Medal (AVSM) and a doctorate holder (was given doctorate despite not having an M.Tech.) from Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, he was commissioned into the Navy in 1965. An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, he passed out with the coveted President of India gold medal.

From the very beginning, he showed a great flair for research, tremendous ingenuity and ability for improvisation. He is now a professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, where he supervises the Smart Antennas Research Group (SARG). It has developed many key fundamentals of a new field called space-time communications theory and has helped shape a worldwide research and development focus on this technology.

"I am very involved with India and have a strong vision about Indian wireless technology. Soon, India is going to become the second largest mobile phone market in the world (with 150 million connections). With most of the technology being imported now, India has the potential to become a nerve centre of wireless communication. To get there, we need to build a stack of capabilities, starting with research," says Cmde Paulraj, who gave shape to the new Research Centre in Wireless (CEWIT) in IIT-Chennai.

"We should be world class in technology and for this timely reforms are needed." - Photo: Vipinchandran

"The sad thing is that we are now users of the technology, not producers. We need to create Indian-managed companies. Box and chip companies are conspicuous by their absence in India," he says. In 1999, he founded Iospan Wireless Inc - which pioneered MIMO-OFDM fixed wireless technology. This increased the speed of link/connectivity. The company raised $ 70 Million of venture funds and developed layer one and two chip sets. Iospan was acquired by Intel Corporation in 2002. "APSOH was developed at the Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL), Kochi. This was because India was being denied latest sonar technology by the developed world," says Cmde Paulraj, adding that India can be proud of having a disciplined military. "The quality of our armed forces is well appreciated world over. Still, defence technology needs to improve a lot. We should be world class and for this timely reforms are needed. Indigenisation is the need of the hour."

On the undue delay faced in readying the Advanced Jet Trainer, Advanced Light Helicopter, Light Combat Aircraft and the Arjun battle tank, he says that unless the defence sector offers good salary, it would be difficult to hold on to talent. "It is high time we privatised our defence technology," he says.

His engineering experience includes development of large sonar systems (1971-82, India), massively parallel computers (1987-91, India), radars (1987-92, India) and broadband wireless systems (1999-2002, United States). Cmde Paulraj is the author of over 300 research papers and holds 23 issued U.S. patents in space-time wireless.

The Navy veteran has received many national awards for his work in India for the development of sonar systems and parallel computers.

He is widely acknowledged as the pioneer of multiple-antenna communications.

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