Leonard J. Cimini, Jr.
Biography
Nearly every wireless device, including computers and smartphones, use orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM). The pioneering work of Stephen Weinstein, Leonard Cimini, and Geoffrey Li made this possible and ultimately changed the way we live, work, and play. Weinstein in the 1970’s significantly simplified OFDM using the FFT and made it possible to apply OFDM in practical communication systems. The landmark paper by Cimini in 1985 introduced OFDM in wireless communication. This concept was then extended by the joint work of Li and Cimini in the 1990’s and provided solutions to many critical issues in OFDM for wireless networks. The concepts they introduced are now pervasive, having found their way into nearly every communications standard, including satellite radio, Wireless LANs, and cellular. Their fundamental work in OFDM enabled high-speed wireless computer and human networks, significantly impacting businesses and society as a whole.
An IEEE Life Fellow, Cimini is a Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, USA and is the co-recipient of the 2024 IEEE Eric E. Sumner Award for "fundamental contributions to frequency domain communications including orthogonal frequency division multiplexing."
