Arogyaswami J. Paulraj (born 14 April 1944) is an Indian-American

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

, and inventor renowned for pioneering

MIMO In radio, multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) () is a method for multiplying the capacity of a radio link using multiple transmission and receiving antennas to exploit multipath propagation. MIMO has become an essential element of wirel ...

wireless technology, which underpins 4G LTE and 5G networks. A Professor Emeritus at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

., he has made key contributions to wireless communications, signal processing and sonar technology. His honors include the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan (IAST: ''Padma Bhūṣaṇa'', lit. 'Lotus Decoration') is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 Januar ...

, IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal , and induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Early life and Education

He joined the Indian Navy at age of 15 and pursued a career in electrical engineering. He earned his bachelor's degree from the Naval College of Engineering, Lonavala, and completed his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from IIT Delhi in 1973. His doctoral work in signal processing and communication systems laid the foundation for his later innovations in wireless technology.

Military Career and Research in India

While in the Indian Navy, Arogyaswami J. Paulraj made fundamental contributions to India’s defense technology. In 1972, he upgraded the British-origin Sonar 170B, extensively deployed across the fleet. He later led the development of APSOH, India’s first indigenous ship-borne sonar, which became the Navy's standard system. Paulraj also helped shape India’s R&D landscape as founding director of three key institutions: Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Defense R&D Organization, the Central Research Laboratories, Bharat Electronics, and the Center for Development of Advanced Computing, Dept. of Electronics (as co-founder). These labs are now a part of India's massive R&D infrastructure. He retired in 1991 with the rank of Commodore .

Academic Career in the USA

After moving to the U.S., Paulraj joined Stanford University in 1991 and became a Research Professor in 1993. In 1992, he initiated the concept of

technology, which forms the foundation of high-speed wireless systems such as

WiFi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

, 4G and 5G .

enhances data rates by transmitting parallel data streams across multiple antennas, greatly increasing network capacity. Paulraj led a

research program at Stanford for two decades before retiring in 2013. He founded three companies: Iospan Wireless for MIMO-OFDMA (acquired by Intel), Beceem Communications for 4G chipsets (acquired by Broadcom), and Rasa Networks for WiFi analytics (acquired by Aruba/HPE). His work helped establish a global

wireless ecosystem. He has authored two textbooks, published over 400 research papers, and holds 83 patents.

Selected Awards and honors

* The Prince Philip Medal of the

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senio ...

, presented by HRH The Princess Royal in London on 11 June 2024. *

IET Faraday Medal The Faraday Medal is a top international medal awarded by the UK Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) (previously called the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE)). As one of the world's most prestigious awards in engineering, it ...

2024 * Inducted into the Wireless History Foundation Hall of Fame in 2022. *Member

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

(AAAS) in 2020. * Inducted into the US Patent Trademark Office

National Inventors Hall of Fame The National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) is an American not-for-profit organization, founded in 1973, which recognizes individual engineers and inventors who hold a US patent of significant technology. Besides the Hall of Fame, it also operate ...

in 2018. * Foreign Member Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences * Foreign Member

Chinese Academy of Engineering The Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE, ) is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for engineering. It was established in 1994 and is an institution of the State Council of China. The CAE and the Chinese Academy of Sciences a ...

* The

award by the Indian Government in 2010. * IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal in 2011. *

Marconi Prize The Marconi Prize is an annual award recognizing achievements and advancements made in field of communications (radio, mobile, wireless, telecommunications, data communications, networks, and Internet). The prize is awarded by the Marconi Society ...

and Fellowship in 2014. I * Foreign Fellow Indian Academy of Sciences * Foreign Fellow Indian National Science Academy * Fellow of the

Indian National Academy of Engineering The Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) was founded in 1987. It consists of India's engineers, engineer-scientists and technologists covering the entire spectrum of engineering disciplines. The academy is registered under the Socie ...

* Overseas Fellow National Academy of Sciences, India. * Member

United States National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the ...

, elected in 2006. *

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

. * Technical Achievement Award from the

IEEE Signal Processing Society The IEEE Signal Processing Society (IEEE SPS) is one of the nearly 40 technical societies of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the first one created. Its mission is to "advance and disseminate state-of-the-art scie ...

in 2003. * Fellow of The World Academy for Sciences, elected in 2007. *

of the

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE has a corporate office ...

(IEEE) since 1991.

References

External links

Stanford page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paulraj, Arogyaswami Electrical engineering academics Stanford University School of Engineering faculty Stanford University Department of Electrical Engineering faculty Living people 1944 births People from Coimbatore Indian Navy officers Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in science & engineering Tamil engineers Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Foreign members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Indian emigrants to the United States 20th-century Indian engineers Engineers from Tamil Nadu 20th-century American engineers 21st-century American engineers 21st-century Indian engineers American people of Indian descent American people of Indian Tamil descent Tamil people