The department of Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE), Amrita School of Engineering, Bengaluru, organized a three day workshop on “5G Internet of Things (IoT) along with the 25^th Series of Global ICT Standardization Forum for India (GISFI) Meeting” on 21^st to 23^rd  July 2016. The event was supported by IEEE ComSoc. The workshop was conducted under the guidance of organizing chair Dr. Shikha Tripathi, Professor  & Chairperson, Department of ECE and Workshop Coordinators Dr. Navin Kumar, Associate Professor, Department of ECE and Dr. T. S. B. Sudarshan,Professor & Chair, Department of CSE.  The event was assisted by Sagar B., Assistant Professor, Department of ECE, along with IEEE ComSoc Student Chapters Office bearers and representatives.

The objective of the workshop was to increase the awareness on recent trends and developments in 5G and Internet of Things with regards to Cellular Communication and explore the prospective area of emerging applications. The workshop also aimed to encourage faculty members and students in developing research interest in the area.

The workshop on “5G IoT” is one of the most recent and a valued event organized timely to address the issues in the area and is one of the very high profile workshops in recent years conducted in Bangalore. The sessions were meticulously planned to make it interesting and interactive. Apart from talks, there were panel discussions on relevant topics suited to the interest in Indian context. Most of the speakers and the panelists were working engineers’ experts, CEOs and Government representatives.

A vision talk by Prof. Ramjee Prasad, GISFI Chairman and Founder, presented glimpse of Wireless Technology of 2050 and beyond. The Director, DeitY, Ms. Tulika Pandey was the Guest of Honor on the occasion while Ms. Smriti Dagur, the President IETE, New Delhi was the Chief Guest. The workshop was chaired and coordinated by Dr. Navin Kumar. Over 200 people from all over India and abroad attended the workshop. There were 35+ Industry experts as speaker and panelist who shared their work and experience during the workshop.

The workshop also increased the awareness on Global ICT Standardization Forum for India (GISFI). GISFI is an Indian standardization body active in the area of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and related applications, such as energy, telemedicine, wireless Network robotics, biotechnology etc. India plays an increasingly important role in the processes of globalization in the field of communications technology industry and research and development. This workshop was an attempt to cater to the academicians and students to improve their familiarity and their interest in cellular communication related areas. Also, the forum that was created through this workshop can help promote research collaborations between academics & industry. 

The workshop saw Keynote addresses, invited talks by the experts from industry, GISFI members and research scholars. The lists of speakers are as follows:

1. Prof. Ramjee Prasad (Founder & Chairman, GISFI, Director CTiF Global Capsule, Prof Aalborg University, Denmark)
2. Dr. Anand Prasad (Chief Advanced Technologist, Executive Specialist, NEC Corp., Japan)
3. Mr. Vikas Dhingra (Nokia Inc)
4. Dr. Kalyan B, (Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore)
5. Mr. B S Sheshachalam (Nokia Inc)
6. Mr. Virendra Gupta (VP Tech, Huawei)Dr. Venkatesha R (TUDelft, The Netherland)
7. Mr. Nishant Krishna (Avaya INDIA)
8. Dr. Kumar Padmanabh (BOSCH)
9. Dr. Dilip Krishnaswamy (IBM)
10. Dr. Basavaraj Hooli (GISFI)
11. Dr. Prasant Misra (TCS)
12. Shri. Ramakrisha (Deputy Director General, DoT, GOI)
13. Mr. Jomy- L & T Technology Services
14. Krishna Sirohi- i2TB Research Foundation
15. Sri. Chandrashekharan –IEEE Standard
16. Dr. Balamuruli M – TCS
17. ​​Mr. Shashidhara D – L & T Technology Services
18. Dr. Vinosh James – Senior Researcher, Qualcomm
19. Dr. Seshaiah P – Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
20. Dr. Amod Anandkumar – Senior Researcher, Mathworks Inc
21. Dr. Y V S Lakshmi – C-DoT
22. Prof. V Prithviraj – Former Principal, Pondicherry College of Engineering
23. Dr. Sivabalam – NEC India
24. Mr. Anand M – C-DoT
25. Mr. Balwant Sharma- GISFI
26. Dr. Parag Pruthi – NIKSUN
27. Mr. Pawan K. Garg – Member, Radio Regulations Board, ITU
28. Mr. Tilak Raj Dua – Vice Chair, GISFI
29. Dr. Mohinder Jankiraman – Senior Radar Advisor, Larsen & Toubro Ltd., Bangalore
30. Ms. Smriti Dagur – President IETE, New Delhi
31. Ms. Tulika Pandey – DeitY, Govt. of India 
     

The participants expressed the opinion that the talks and sessions were very useful for them in improving domain knowledge and providing research direction. In addition, they were happy to connect to experts for future collaborations.