Torleiv Maseng (born 1946) is a prominent Norwegian engineer, who made some contribution to the

Global System for Mobile Communications The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such as ...

project. His work included the standard use of channel estimation and the combination of equalization,

error correcting codes In computing, telecommunication, information theory, and coding theory, an error correction code, sometimes error correcting code, (ECC) is used for controlling errors in data over unreliable or noisy communication channels. The central idea is ...

and

modulation In electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a periodic waveform, called the '' carrier signal'', with a separate signal called the ''modulation signal'' that typically contains informat ...

in which the

Viterbi algorithm The Viterbi algorithm is a dynamic programming algorithm for obtaining the maximum a posteriori probability estimate of the most likely sequence of hidden states—called the Viterbi path—that results in a sequence of observed events, especially ...

was used by all components. Maseng received his master's degree in Radio Communication from the

Norwegian Institute of Technology The Norwegian Institute of Technology (Norwegian: ''Norges tekniske høgskole'', NTH) was a science institute in Trondheim, Norway. It was established in 1910, and existed as an independent technical university for 58 years, after which it was m ...

in 1970. In July 1974 he joined SHAPE (

Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) is the military headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) Allied Command Operations (ACO) that commands all NATO operations worldwide. ACO's and SHAPE's commander is t ...

) Technical Center in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a list of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's ad ...

as a scientist in the Communications Division. He was responsible for the development of the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

SATCOM Control system. He was also involved in operational planning for the NATO SATCOM system, e.g. frequency planning, power allocation, interference analysis and modem evaluation. He also participated in the production of specifications for procurement of new satellite ground terminals, computer systems and modems for NATO. In 1982 he was employed by

SINTEF SINTEF ( no, Stiftelsen for industriell og teknisk forskning), headquartered in Trondheim, Norway, is an independent research organization founded in 1950 that conducts contract research and development projects. SINTEF has 2000 employees from 7 ...

where he was involved in the design and standardisation of the GSM project. In 1986, he received the

award for his work on modulation and coding. In 1992 he started NetCom GSM A/S with Trygve Tamburstue

and had the technical responsibility. NetCom is the second largest mobile phone operator in Norway now owned by Telia (Norway), Telia and in 2016 changed their name to Telia (Norway), Telia.

Academic career

In October 1993, Maseng was appointed to a chair in Radio Technology at the

University of Lund , motto = Ad utrumque , mottoeng = Prepared for both , established = , type = Public research university , budget = SEK 9 billion Foundation for Strategic Research The Foundation for Strategic Research (''Fondation pour la recherche stratégique'' or ''FRS'') is an independent French think-tank. It was founded by Pierre Joxe (then Minister of Defence) in 1992-1993 by merging the FED (''Fondation pour les Ét ...

. He later became a Director of Research at the

Norwegian Defence Research Establishment The Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (''Forsvarets forskningsinstitutt'' – ''FFI'') is a research institute that conducts research and development on behalf of the Norwegian Armed Forces and provides expert advice to political and mi ...

. He also served as a professor at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top univers ...

/University Graduate Center ( UNIK) since 2017 organized as a department of UiO
Department of Technology Systems
and later a
Department of Informatics

Works

He is the author of more than 300 papers, holds patents and has served as an editor of the

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operati ...

Communications Magazine. He has been listed for the last several years in ''

Marquis Who's Who Marquis Who's Who ( or ) is an American publisher of a number of directories containing short biographies. The books usually are entitled ''Who's Who in...'' followed by some subject, such as ''Who's Who in America'', ''Who's Who of American Wome ...

''in the world. He is a member of the

Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences The Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences ( no, Norges Tekniske Vitenskapsakademi, NTVA) is a learned society based in Trondheim, Norway. Founded in 1955, the academy has about 500 members. It is a member of the International Council of Aca ...

. He received "Gulltasten 2010", an honorary award for his work in telecommunications. In 2012 he received

Aftenposten ( in the masthead; ; Norwegian for "The Evening Post") is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen) and estimated 1.2 millio ...

s readers award for the most significant invention in Norway since 1980, for his work on GSM early development. In 2014 he got the Rosing Prize for the same effort. *

Telenor Telenor ASA ( or ) is a Norway, Norwegian majority State-owned enterprise, state-owned multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the List of mobile network ...

, Telektronikk no 3 2004 page 161-16

*

Ericsson (lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Sweden, Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in ...

"Changing the World" by Svenolof Karlson and Anders Lugn, page 139. in English and in Swedish . {{DEFAULTSORT:Maseng, Torleiv 1946 births Living people Norwegian engineers Members of the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences