Richard D. Gitlin
Biography
Richard D. Gitlin has made revolutionary contributions to global communications and technology over several decades. His work has spanned both wireline and wireless systems, resulting in paradigm-shifting advancements. In wireline communications, Gitlin co-invented Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technology, fundamentally transforming broadband internet access. For wireless systems, he pioneered Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) antenna technology, which has become crucial in modern wireless networks. All told, his research and leadership have translated into billions of dollars in system product revenue. Earlier in his career at Bell Labs, Gitlin co-invented several technologies that pushed modems to their theoretical limit of ~34 Kbits/sec, as defined by Claude Shannon’s information theory. In the mid-1980s, realizing that modems were approaching their Shannon limit, his breakthrough innovation, co-inventing the basic concept, architecture, and technology demonstration of DSL, enabled the leap from kilobits to megabits per second transmission on installed copper (twisted pair) telephone lines between the telephone company central office and the residence. In the early 1990s, Gitlin’s attention turned to increasing the capacity and reliability of wireless cellular systems. His pioneering co-authored 1992 paper was the first to demonstrate that smart (i.e., adaptive) antenna arrays at the transmitter and receiver can substantially increase both the reliability (via diversity for poor channels) and capacity (via spatial multiplexing) without expanding bandwidth. This technology, now known as MIMO, was a significant factor in the standardization, commercialization, and spectacular growth of cellular and wireless LAN systems. Later, at Columbia University, he pioneered the internetworking of cellular and Wi-Fi networks, today referred to as relay networks, to improve performance.
An IEEE Life Fellow, Gitlin was Senior VP for Communications and Networking Research, Bell Labs (retired), Holmdel, New Jersey, USA and is currently a Distinguished University Professor, Emeritus, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA. He is the 2025 recipient of the IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal for "high-impact contributions to communications systems and networks".
