Evaluating IoT networks – Summer in the Labs

Students from many different fields join Ericsson Research for internships or thesis work. You could be next. Follow our blog to learn about the students at Ericsson Research during the summer 2017.

Hi! I’m Vinay Gupta, and I’m majoring in B. Tech. Electronics and Communication at VIT University in Vellore, India. At Ericsson Research in Chennai, I am working on my bachelor’s thesis alongside the internship programme.

Ericsson Research Chennai is a group of researchers with passion for big data, deep learning, RAN, the Internet of Things (IoT), data mining, machine learning, security and privacy. Ever since the inception of the lab in 2010, we have been doing research prototypes for internal stakeholders like Ericsson Business Units, and external stakeholders including the Indian government.

Name: Vinay Gupta
Unit: Machine Intelligence
Education: B. Tech. Electronics and Communication at VIT University in Vellore
Location: Chennai, India

I am passionate about wireless communication and upcoming technologies, so an internship at a company like Ericsson was the perfect choice for me. It has provided me incredible learning opportunities – both technical and the skills relating to how to present ideas and communicate effectively. Furthermore, I was often mentored remotely, which has strengthened my collaborative abilities.

My task here is to investigate the capabilities and performance of IoT networks, such as LoRaWAN and NB-IoT, when faced with traffic typical of IoT devices. This can be viewed as a two-fold problem: firstly, how one would realistically characterize IoT traffic, which turns out to be quite different from traffic generated by humans; secondly, how to evaluate networks in a simulation environment under such a setting. It has been an exciting angle to explore and we have submitted a conference paper to IEEE GLOBECOM 2017, which has been accepted for publication.

When things get hectic, I like to relax by playing video games (a lot more than I should sometimes), listening to music or playing the piano. Interacting with the other interns and researchers has helped me broaden my vision and understand issues better.

Prior to my internship, I did not know much about Ericsson, basically just that they are a leading company in telecommunications. However, during my internship, I learned more about what Ericsson does and the areas they invest in apart from core telecommunication. One thing that I really appreciated was the atmosphere at Ericsson which is characterized by its friendly culture. This being my first industrial exposure, I’m glad I got the opportunity to intern here and I’m sure this will go a long way in my career.

Facts about Chennai

• Chennai is the fifth-largest city in India.
• Residents: ~ 7 000 000
• Latitude/Longitude: 13.0827°N, 80.2707°E
• Chennai, formerly known as Madras, is among the most visited Indian cities by foreign tourists.