Written by Dr Laksh Bhatia, Wireless Systems Researcher, Engineer and Innovator, InterDigital, Inc
“What is the use-case? Why should we build it?” This has been the guiding principle of my academic and industrial journey. Over the past decade, I have dedicated myself to designing and constructing systems that have since been deployed on over a million devices.
My work has encompassed a wide range of areas and has been conducted under different paradigms. From wireless sensor networks to the Internet of Things (IoT), cyber-physical systems, and more recently 6G research, the overarching objective has remained the same: to design efficient and sustainable systems that operate effectively on resource-constrained devices.
My academic career began at Imperial College, where I pursued a PhD in Computing and served as a research assistant. During this period, I had the opportunity to explore diverse use cases, including closed-loop industrial control systems, vehicular systems, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), with wireless communication as the underlying medium. The unique characteristics of wireless systems enabled me to investigate applications with varying functional and performance requirements. This experience provided me with a broad perspective, allowing me to approach problems from a macroscopic viewpoint before delving into their specific complexities and designing robust systems. I also developed the ability to translate research concepts into proof-of-concept (PoC) implementations.
My first role after academia offered a unique experience at the intersection of fundamental research, intellectual property (IP) generation, and product development. My academic background enabled me to navigate this complex environment and translate research ideas into practical products. As one of the researchers bridging the gap between product and research teams, I leveraged my academic expertise to contribute to systems that are now deployed on a global scale.
Building on my extensive experience in IP, I transitioned into my current role, where I gained a comprehensive understanding of the global standardisation process. I came to appreciate that every communication device whether wired or wireless is governed by a complex ecosystem of standards, each of which has a distinct impact on stakeholders. This insight led to my current position as a pre-standards delegate within the ETSI ISAC ISG. In this role, I research revolutionary features for future wireless standards, contributing evolutionary advances to ongoing pre-standards work.
Throughout my academic and industrial career, I have consistently emphasised the importance of academic experience in enabling the exploration of diverse and in-depth topics. The resulting knowledge and expertise are highly valued in fast-paced industrial research and product development environments. This is where academia/industry collaboration becomes particularly effective, fostering close cooperation between researchers and industry professionals. Such collaboration enables practical experience to be gained and ideas to be translated from academic PoCs into industrial PoCs, standards, and ultimately, products.
