“We are about to see incredible demand for access to mobile bandwidth that existing cellular systems cannot deal with because of the basic design and structure of those systems,” Russell says, referring to what he calls a “bandwidth tsunami.” Certainly, high-bandwidth 4G networks are emerging now in the marketplace with device makers touting their latest and greatest gizmos and carriers proclaiming network capacity for advanced features such as interactive multimedia, voice, video, wireless internet and other broadband services. But for Russell, what is new – and what he’s working on – is a paradigm shift in how cellular networks accommodate bandwidth to meet smart- device demand. Russell’s company is focused on developing a new class of fourth generation cellular networks – what he calls “inside out networks, versus outside in.” Russell’s objective is to move bandwidth to where the predominance of smart device users and applications are con- centrated -- into what he terms high tele-density areas, such as buildings, government facilities, corporate campuses, academic institutions, shopping malls and the like. These locations would contain small-cell networks connected to cellular local area networks, or celluLANs, Russell says, as a means of commoditiz- ing bandwidth and making it available to accommodate high-end applications, such as real-time video and conferencing. “These are microcosms of the macro systems that you see outside. But they use the same cellular technology. We’re minia- turizing the towers, and we’re building them into buildings just like you build lighting systems into the buildings,” Russell says. One key is transparency, he adds, as users would not notice
any change in their device capability whether inside buildings or outdoors nearer to cell towers. And small-cell networks inside buildings also would mean users no longer would need move to the edge of buildings for the best coverage, Russell says.
Additionally, cloud-based computing protocols will host
a user’s applications on networks rather than on devices them- selves, such as storage-dependent laptop computers, Russell says. This, he notes, will lead to the faster adoption of smart devices such as tablet devices. As small-cell networks are deployed widely, a user’s data will follow the device, according to Russell; for instance, when a business person travels to another city for a meeting, the network will detect the device and have the data waiting on the traveler’s arrival. “You get to keep all of your mobility, plus you get the speed of your wired connection,” he says. “Demand is really driven by the freedom that we give people to be able to move and commu- nicate.”
www.blackengineer.com
What’s left to be worked out, Russell says, is securing how small-cell networks will be accessed. For instance, a private working in the Pentagon normally would not require the same network access as a general. Russell says that tech- niques such as biometrics, facial recognition and retinal scans to identify classes of users will be used to help satisfy security requirements. “You have civilians going in and out of government build- ings, you have various security classes within the government go- ing in and out of those buildings. You’ve got to be able to isolate all of those different security classes and uniquely identify them and uniquely partition them so the right people get access to the data,” Russell says.
Russell’s company is focused on developing a new class of fourth generation cellular net- works—what he calls “inside out networks versus outside in.”
Russell’s career has been one of curiosity, accomplishment and forward thinking. In many ways, his curiosity for discovery and invention is not unlike his existence back in Hicksville as a 7th grader within a large African-American family of 10 siblings. Times were tough economically, and, when a sister’s television broke -- the only one in the house -- it meant no more watching cartoons on Saturday mornings, he says. For Russell, that was unacceptable, so he fixed the TV, gin- gerly navigating bulky vacuum tubes, transformers and all in the back of the set. Russell pointed to such a moment of discovery for him personally as vital as nearly any other in his life. That’s also a lesson he imparts to up-and-coming STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) mavens.
“If you have that thirst for knowledge, don’t let anybody put roadblocks in the way of achieving that. You have to imagine things that don’t exist. The thirst for knowledge leads to where true invention takes place. And true invention takes place through discovery,” Russell says.
USBE&IT I WINTER 2011 49
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