Research team will seek to increase speed of mobile Internet for Canadian consumers
March 16, 2015 – Waterloo, Ontario – Industry Canada
Peter Braid, Member of Parliament for Kitchener–Waterloo, accompanied by the Honourable Ed Holder, Minister of State (Science and Technology), was at the University of Waterloo today to celebrate an investment of nearly $521,000 for a research project to support 5G networks.
This funding, through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada's (NSERC) Strategic Project Grants program, will support Dr. Amir Khandani's work to develop the infrastructure required to bear the strain of 5G networks, which will bring high-speed mobile Internet to everything: homes, cars, hospitals and utilities.
Mr. Braid and Minister of State Holder took the opportunity to tour Dr. Khandani's laboratory, which received administrative funding through the Research Support Fund. Dr. Khandani provided a first-hand demonstration of specialized equipment that can greatly enhance 5G networks' ability to sustain the enormous growth in wireless usage predicted in the coming years. With 50 billion smart devices estimated to be online by 2020, Dr. Khandani is working on new techniques to double the rate of information exchanged over the same bandwidth, in addition to enhancing wireless security.
The federal Research Support Fund helps universities with the overhead or additional costs of research that fall outside direct investments in post-secondary research. In 2014–15, the University of Waterloo will receive an investment of $9.6 million through the Research Support Fund. Since 2006, the government has provided nearly $79 million in research support to the University of Waterloo.
Scott French
Director of Communications and Parliamentary Affairs
Office of the Minister of State (Science and Technology)
343-291-2700
Martin Leroux
Media and Public Affairs Officer
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
613-943-7618
media@nserc-crsng.gc.ca
Anne-Marie Cenaiko
Media Relations Advisor
Research Support Fund
613-668-9865
anne-marie.cenaiko@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca
