New Delhi: Professor Abhay Karandikar, formerly the Director of IIT Kanpur, has appointed as a Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), taking over from Dr Rajesh Gokhale.
Professor Karandikar, an esteemed electrical engineer, is widely acknowledged for his remarkable contributions to the telecommunications industry in our country. His innovative idea of the “Frugal 5G Network” has revolutionized affordable rural broadband connectivity. Moreover, his invaluable expertise has greatly influenced telecom policies at the national level.
Besides leading a group that made significant contributions to various global standardization initiatives in the field of telecommunications, he also played a pivotal role in spearheading a nationwide effort to establish the Telecom Standards Development Society of India (TSDSI). TSDSI serves as India’s official standards body for the telecommunications industry, bringing together all stakeholders involved.
An alumnus of IIT Kanpur, Professor Karandikar started his career in IIT Bombay where he later became the Dean (Faculty Affairs) followed by the head of the Electrical Engineering Department, first Professor-in- charge of IIT Bombay Research Park and the head of Computer Center of IIT Bombay. This was followed by his appointment as the Director of IIT Kanpur, his very own Alma mater.
He along with his group innovated SDN based architecture to bring together multiple Radio Access Technologies (RATS) under a unified control and management framework as part of the 5G networks. They proposed some novel frameworks in SDN, RAN Virtualization and Frugal 5G. Professor Karandikar also led the filing of several patents for technologies developed by him and his group.
