AT&T Labs Research

For the Long Haul: Maximizing Transmission Distances for 400-Gb/s Signals over the Existing Grid

by: Xiang Zhou, Lynn Nelson, Pete Magill, May 13, 2013

As network traffic continues to increase exponentially, the IEEE is mulling a faster Ethernet standard (400 Gb/s) to send even more data over the network—good news for content providers. Network providers, responsible for delivering all this data, will need to increase capacity.

With spectrum well-utilized, finding more capacity will entail tradeoffs. To understand those tradeoffs, researchers tested a novel method that tunes spectral efficiency for each link, in the process setting a distance record (12000 km) for high spectral efficiency (4.125 b/s/Hz) over the existing 100-GHz grid. Read more.

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Lana Yarosh Blogs: How to Get Hooked on STEM

AT&T Researcher Lana Yarosh maintains her own blog for topics related to human-computer interaction, but this month she’s blogging also for the Huffington Post’s Girls in STEM series. In the post How to Get Hooked On Science And Technology, she describes her particular path to discovering a love for computer science, and gives advice to young women on how they can find success and fulfillment in a STEM field.

Alicia Abella Recognized by Columbia University

Columbia University recognized Alicia Abella for professional and community accomplishments by awarding her its Medal for Excellence. This is the first time the medal, given annually since 1929, has been conferred on an engineer. The award presentation was made during commencement exercises May 22. Alicia Abella is Assistant Vice President - Technical Research, Cloud Services at AT&T Research and is an advocate for encouraging minorities and women to pursue STEM careers.

TowerScan Quantifies User Impact of Failed Towers

When cell towers fail, what happens to customers? In a resilient network where customers on a failed tower may move easily to a nearby tower, the answer is not always clear.

What’s needed is an in-depth analysis of network data. It’s why AT&T Researchers created TowerScan, which looks at the complex interactions among customers and cell towers to intelligently assess the customer experience across an entire impact area. Read more.

Anonymous Cellular Data for Urban Planning

Anonymous cellular data—ubiquitous, continuous, and inexpensive to collect—can help urban planners understand how people move within cities. Such information can be invaluable for easing congestion, improving mass transit, and managing security for large events. This online FierceWireless article summarizes the research being done at AT&T to learn how to use aggregated cellular data to understand city dynamics even while maintaining the privacy of individuals.

U-verse® Easy Remote Wins Edison Awards Gold Medal

AT&T's U-verse^® Easy Remote app, which turns an iPhone or iPad into a voice-controlled remote, was the Gold Medal winner in the Entertainment Category at this year's Edison Awards™. For more information about the technology behind Easy Remote, see this article.

The Edison Awards are focused on innovators as much as innovations, and seek to reward "game changing" products, services and excellence in innovation.

Kalmaneck Stresses Priority of Broadband

In a keynote speech at GENBAND's Perspectives13 conference, Chuck Kalmanek, vice president of research for AT&T Labs, cited broadband as AT&T's top priority in both the wireline and wireless domains. As described in this FierceTelecom online article, AT&T is relying on several technologies—small cell, Voice over LTE, WebRTC—as the company migrates toward a true all-IP network, with the goal of giving customers a holistic experience across wireline and wireless services and devices.