Carleton University and Huawei Canada Research Centre Extend Successful 5G Research Partnership Program

Renewed program will include next-generation research in areas such as automated vehicles

SHENZHEN, CHINA - December 1, 2017 – Carleton University and Huawei, one of the world’s largest technology companies, today announced plans for Huawei’s Canada Research Centre to extend their successful research partnership program for 5G advanced communications research. The announcement was made in support of Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne’s visit to Huawei’s headquarter campus in Shenzhen, China.

Over the next decade, 5G advanced communications technology is expected to lead a transformational change across all industries. Huawei and Carleton will work together to identify new research undertakings aimed at addressing widespread deployment and adoption of these technologies.  

“We’ve been fortunate to work with a tremendous team of academic leaders and students at Carleton University,” said Peiying Zhu, Huawei Fellow at the Canada Research Centre. “We also recognize that as we move closer to the commercial deployment of 5G networks, the research is only just beginning to better understand what can truly be achieved by anticipated innovations like automated vehicles and the Internet of Things.”

Since 2010, Huawei’s Canada Research Centre based in Kanata, Ont., has been engaged in collaborative research in advanced wireless communications and networking with Carleton, including a five-year project on 5G-enabling technologies supported by Telus and the Ontario Government’s Ontario Research Fund – Research Excellence program.

In addition to a large number of undergraduate students who have been exposed to 5G research, Carleton has trained 33 researchers at the postdoctoral, doctoral and master’s levels for 5G industry, several of whom are now faculty at universities in Canada and around the world. More than 120 research papers have been published in leading archival periodicals and presented at international conferences, and more than 30 patented innovations have been created.

“Ontario’s highly skilled workforce and world-class research institutions make the province an ideal place to develop leading-edge technologies,” said Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, “and we are making sure our students can continue to stay ahead of the curve by increasing the number of STEM graduates by 25 per cent over five years. Business missions like this one allow us to connect leading innovators like Carleton University and Huawei. The students and researchers who participate in this partnership will go on to contribute to Ontario’s innovation ecosystem — and that leads to more jobs and opportunity for people and businesses in the province.”

“While we’ve achieved far more than we could have imagined over the past seven years working in partnership with Huawei, we are also excited about the next-generation research that lies ahead,” said project leader Halim Yanikomeroglu, professor of Systems and Computer Engineering at Carleton. Other Carleton professors involved are Richard Yu, Ramy Gohary and Minyi Huang.  

“We are now at the beginning of ‘Wireless 2.0’ for providing fast and reliable connectivity to everything, and the opportunity to explore novel ideas and concepts will help to ensure Canada’s continued leadership in wireless.”

Huawei is supporting Carleton’s bid to establish a pan-Canada network of centres of excellence on Connected, Autonomous and Networked Vehicles. 

“The opportunity to work with Huawei and other partners in developing a Canada-wide research network led by Carleton University on connected, autonomous and networked vehicles reflects our efforts to remain at the leading edge of advanced technology development,” said Yanikomeroglu.  “We look forward to continuing this advanced communications and networking research in new industry verticals, including self-driving terrestrial and aerial vehicles of the future.”