Have you heard of 5G? From 1G to 4G, the network speed in China is enhanced, and researchers are now focusing on the development of 5G technology.
In Southeast University, Gao Junhui, Zhang Mengjiao and their undergraduates research team have been working in the field of 5G technology, and have made notable achievement.
The Internationally Advanced Research Achievement
Their entry, “quick verification platform for large scale 5G MIMO wireless transmission”, won the grand prize of the 15TH Challenge Cup Final Competition of Jiangsu Province. They have applied for four national patents, and received letters of intent from four well-known enterprises including National Instruments and Intel Corporation.
“The main application of our project is to verify key technologies in 5G research. ” Gao Junhui said. She is a student from School of Information Science and Engineering, and the leader of their 5G project team. “For example, the EP receiver developed under the cooperation of us and Intel was verified on this platform. This indicates that it can be applied to large scale 5G MIMO system, and improve the system performance.”
At present, 5G technology is at a stage of intensive research and development. Therefore many new algorithms and technologies are in urgent need of practice and verification. But existing open source platforms are complex and difficult to be developed and expanded. “Our 5G verification platform aims at the rapid verification of those key technologies. This is our main mission.” Said Gao Junhui.
“For example, assuming that an enterprise develops a chip, it cannot be put into production unless its compliance with the requirements is verified. Our platform will reduce the time and risk during verification process.” Member of the 5G project team Zhang Mengjiao said.
“Our platform has an initiative breakthrough in both hardware architecture and software implementation. Our team owns the whole proprietary intellectual property rights.” Said Gao Junhui. Compared with other platforms, it is more flexible, efficient, expansible and rapid. The design of the arithmetic of the software is also optimized.
Accumulation of Knowledge as the Key to Excellence
It is amazing that this advanced and creative research comes from a team of undergraduate students. They must have made great efforts for the project.
The 5G project can not be accomplished at one stroke. “We started the project at the end of our second year in university. We had to learn new knowledge, do exploration, and improve ourselves during the whole process. ” Said Gao Junhui.
For Gao Junhui and Zhang Mengjiao, the research and development of the project is their only after-class activity. They had no weekends and holidays in the last two years of university. “Of course sometimes we would be tired, and admire students who had time to relax and have fun. But we are a team, and we are responsible for the honor of the university. So we won’t give up regardless of the difficulties.”
In front of the busy schedule, boring research and heavy programming task, team members have their own ways to balance their study and research. They make the best use of in-class time to discuss with teachers and classmates, solve problems of basic knowledge. After-class research project helps them to learn new knowledge. Thus, their academic records become better.
“If you want to do two things at same time, the most important element is efficiency. You will have big goals and more pressure, which will make you more motivated to manage time. That’s why we have better grades.” Zhang Mengjiao said with smile. They also play cards, games, and dine together for relax.
The busy life lasts for two years. The achievement of 5G project is the result of their exploration and accumulation of knowledge. For Gao Junhui and Zhang Mengjiao, they will continue their life pattern because the project research has become their goal and direction.
“We are now graduated and will continue our study as postgraduate students in the university. We can improve our platform during the holiday and make preparation for Challenge Cup in the second half of the year. ” Gao Junhui said.
Trust as the Secret of Success
Besides the accumulation of knowledge, their success is also based on their mutual reliance.
During the Challenge Cup competition, their equipment went down due to the high temperature. ”There was only ten minutes before the competition started. We tried to restart and it went down again after few seconds.” Gao Junhui recalled that situation and still felt a little nervous.
Gao Junhui was responsible for the defence and Zhang Mengjiao debugged the machine. After the defence she would introduce the machine to judges. “Zhang Mengjiao turned it off directly to dissipate the heat. When I entered the defence room it was still off. I was not sure whether it would work when I led the judges to see our equipment.”
However, they have confidence on each other. The long-time team work ensured Gao’s stable performance during the defence and she confidently left other works to Zhang Mengjiao. Luckily, when judges came, the equipment functioned well again.
“Cooperation is really important. It is a large system and the algorithm could not be accomplished by one person. Hence it has to be separated into modules and everyone of us writes parts of it. But we still have to cooperate. So to trust each other is important.”
At present Gao Junhui and Zhang Mengjiao are still studying and improving their abilities. They are researching and making improvements for the project. They hope their research results can be industrialized and make contribution to the development of society and convenience of life.
