At the heart of every breakthrough lies a team of quiet heroes—the engineers and staff who shape our digital landscape. These are the visionaries who turn ideas into reality, the architects of seamless connectivity, and the driving force behind our everyday gadgets. Now, we’re pulling back the curtain to reveal their stories—from working in the labs, the eureka moments, and the projects that have woven themselves into the very fabric of our lives.
Quiet Heroes Editor: Alan Gatherer
Quiet Heroes CDMA
There are hidden technologies within every tool we rely on to help us navigate the modern world. Behind that tech are the men and women, engineers, who quietly solve the problems and pave the way for every evolution. In1989 the cellular communication industry was searching for the bridge from analog to digital and CDMA, or Code Division Multiple Access, was the winning bet to replace TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access). Based on systems used for satellite communications, CDMA was not automatically implemented. It required diligent and ingenious effort from engineers across the wireless communication industry to deploy the solutions that moved the world from flip phones to smartphones.
Meet the Quiet Heroes who delivered a rock-solid foundation that launched the digital transformation and created new markets that transformed the way we all live and work. As always, these accomplishments go largely unseen. That's why IEEE ComSoc launched the Quiet Heroes series, spotlighting the ingenuity and perseverance of communication engineers around the world.
Speakers Featured in the Videos:
Featured in the Quiet Heroes CDMA Story (in order of appearance) are:
Alan Gathering - Founder at Cirrus360 Corp (who was an engineering student when all of this CDMA stuff was happening)
Miguel Dajer - Wireless Engineer, Lucent circa 1996
Bill Clifford - Wireless Engineer, Lucent circa 1996
Joe Tarallo - Wireless Engineer, Bell Labs circa 1984
Paul Polakos - Wireless Engineer, Bell Labs circa 1989
Anthony Soong - Wireless Engineer, Qualcomm circa 1989
Past Quiet Heroes Stories
- Quiet Heroes AMATI
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When a disruptive technology changes everything, the spotlight frequently falls on just one individual. But a closer look always reveals a team of creative engineers and technologists whose skill, ingenuity and willingness to work long hours are the secret recipe leading to dramatic breakthroughs. Meet the Quiet Heroes, whose innovative spirit and technical know-how are the key to one of the most influential tools of the information age, even as they put in their time in the shadows just outside the limelight.
In March 1993 AMATI, a scrappy startup from the Silicon Valley, met a grand challenge in grand style as they went head-to-head with telecom heavyweight Bell Labs. The tech in question is DSL, the big leap forward that paved the way to our broadband future.
Speakers:
John Cioffi
Jacky Cowy, Realtor Compass
Po Tong
Peter Chow
Mark Flowers
Krista Jacobsen, Attorney Intellectual Property - Quiet Heroes WiFi Atheros Broadcom
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Part 1: Quiet Heroes WiFi Atheros Broadcom
Part 2: Quiet Heroes WiFi Atheros Broadcom
Say the word "WiFi" anywhere in the world it will be instantly understood that you're looking for a network connection, but have you ever wondered why? How did a desire to snip the network wires lead to one of the most intensely competitive, standards generating, hardware evolving periods of the silicon age? The story reveals the birth of a new technology that was also a near-death experience for some major players in the networking world.
Meet the Quiet Heroes who found a way to leverage the free unlicensed radio spectrum, a dusty standard, and the tried and true CMOS fabrication process, making it possible to frolic on the beach with your laptop. It's a story so big, we needed two episodes to tell it!
Speakers:
Theresa Meng
Co-founder of Atheros Communications
Craig Barrat
CEO Atheros Communications 2003-2011
Jason Trachewsky
Broadcom Sr. Director of Wireless Engineering 1999-2010
Edward Frank
Broadcom VP of R&D 1999-2009
Masoud Zargari
Atheros Sr. Dir of Engineering 1998-2011
Arya Behzad
Broadcom Group VP of Engineering 1998-2014Michael Hurlston
Broadcom Dir. of Wireless LAN 2001-2017
Patrick Yue
Atheros Analog Design Manager 1998-2002
Bill McFarland
Atheros Communications Dir. of Architecture 1999-2004
David Su
Atheros Communications VP of Analog/RF Engineering 1999-2011
Rick Bahr
Atheros Communications VP of Engineering 2000-2011