Faculty Profiles

Over the past 20 years at QUALCOMM, Dr. Padovani has been involved in the research and development of digital communication systems with particular emphasis on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) wireless technology systems. He was involved in the initial design, development and standardization of IS-95 CDMA systems. Professor Padovani's research and inventions in this field have led to the worldwide standardization and commercialization of CDMA technology for second- and third-generation cellular systems. More recently, he has led the design and development of CDMA2000 1xEV-DO, an IP-based, high-speed wide-area wireless data technology, which has led to the deployment of multiple broadband wireless networks and services across the globe.

Capsule Bio:

Roberto Padovani joined the UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering faculty as an Adjunct Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department in spring 2006. He was Chief Technology Officer for QUALCOMM Inc. from 2001 through 2011, he is now Executive Vice President and Fellow at QUALCOMM which he joined in 1986 after two years at M/A-COM Linkabit. Dr. Padovani was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2006, and is also an IEEE Fellow. He was the recipient of the IEEE Eric E. Sumner Award in 2009 and the IEEE Alexander G. Bell Medal in 2016. He received his Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where Padovani also earned his Master's after receiving his laureate degree from the University of Padova (Italy). He holds more than 80 patents on wireless systems and has published numerous technical papers in the digital communications field. Professor Padovani was the co-recipient of the 1991 IEEE Vehicular Technology Society Best Paper Award for a fundamental paper on the capacity of CDMA cellular systems. In addition, he received the Innovators in Telecommunications award (2004) from the San Diego Telecom Council, and was named Executive of the Year in 2006 by the Jacobs School of Engineering.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

[1] R. Padovani, G. Bilardi, G.L. Pierobon, "Spectral Analysis of Functions of Markov Chains with Applications," IEEE Trans. Communications, vol. COM-31, July 1983, pp. 853-861.[2] R. Padovani, J.K. Wolf, "Poor Error Correcting Codes are Poor Error Detection Codes," IEEE Trans. Information. Theory, vol. IT-30, pp. 110-111, January 1984.[3] R. Padovani, G.L. Pierobon, "Spectral Analysis of Digital Messages Through Finite Memory Transformations," IEEE Trans. Communications, vol. COM-32, Nov 1984, pp. 1214-1218.[4] R. Padovani, J.K. Wolf, "Coded Phase/Frequency Modulation," IEEE Trans. Communications., vol. COM-34, May 1986, pp. 446-453.[5] R. Padovani, A.J. Viterbi, "Optimal Performance of Coded Interleaved PSK Modulation in Slowly Varying Rician Fading," MILCOM '87, Washington, DC, Nov 1987.[6] R. Padovani, A.J. Viterbi, J.K. Wolf, E. Zehavi, "A Pragmatic Approach to Trellis Coded Modulation," IEEE Communication Magazine, Vol. 27, pp. 11-19, July 1989.[7] K.S. Gilhousen, I.M. Jacobs, R. Padovani, L.A. Weaver, "Increased capacity using CDMA for mobile satellite communication," IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, Volume 8, Issue 4, May 1990, pp. 503 - 514. [8] A. J. Viterbi, K.S. Gilhousen, R. Padovani, C.Wheatley, L.A. Weaver, "On the capacity of a cellular CDMA system," IEEE Transactions Vehicular Technology,Volume 40, Issue 2, May 1991, pp. 303 - 312.[9] R. Kerr, K.S. Gilhousen, L.A.Weaver, R. Padovani, H. Dehesh, "The CDMA Digital Cellular System An ASIC Overview," IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference, May 3-6, 1992, pp. 10.1.1 - 10.1.7.[10] A.J. Viterbi, R. Padovani, "Implications of mobile cellular CDMA," IEEE Communications Magazine, Volume 30, Issue 12, Dec. 1992, pp. 38 - 41.[11] R. Padovani, "The application of spread spectrum to PCS has become a reality: Reverse Link Performance of 1S-95 Based Cellular Systems," IEEE Personal Communications, Volume 1, Issue 3, 3rd Qtr 1994, pp. 28.[12] P. Bender, P. Black, M. Grob, R. Padovani, N. Sindhushyana, A.J. Viterbi, "CDMA/HDR: a bandwidth efficient high speed wireless data service for nomadic users," IEEE Communications Magazine, Vol. 38, Issue 7, July 2000, pp. 70 - 77.