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Zhinong Ying elected an IEEE Fellow for his contributions to mobile antenna technology
Apr 23, 2021
In November 2020, Zhinong Ying, principal researcher at the Connectivity Technology Lab at R&D Center Lund, was elected an IEEE* Fellow for his contributions to mobile terminal antenna technology
The IEEE Grade of Fellow is conferred by the IEEE Board of Directors upon a person with an outstanding record of accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest. IEEE Fellow is the highest grade of membership and is recognized by the technical community as a prestigious honour and an important career achievement.
Less than 0.1% of voting members are selected annually for this member grade elevation. This year Ying is one of only 5 persons worldwide to be elected Fellow in the IEEE antenna and propagation society.
Ground-breaking work in antenna technology
This prestigious award is conferred for Ying's over 30 years' ground-breaking work in antenna technology for the mobile industry. Three important areas were highlighted in the IEEE Fellow nomination:
Dual-band, multiband and multisystem antennas for mobile phones
With over 160 granted and pending patents (125 on mobile antenna technology), Ying's inventions have had worldwide impact, directly benefiting a large population of mobile phone users. One of his novel designs is the dual-band non-uniform helical antenna, adopted in Ericsson's T10 and T18 mobile phones, as well as licensed to other manufacturers. Simple and cheap to produce, the antenna has been used in over 100 million phones. His later multiband internal antenna inventions, such as that for Sony Ericsson's ground-breaking flagship, the T68, helped change the landscape of mobile terminal antenna design and represented a significant milestone for the industry.
T10 mobile and antenna
Diversity/MIMO antennas in 4G antenna system and millimeter-wave beamforming system in 5G
MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) and diversity technology is the biggest innovation step in the communication domain this last decade, allowing the system to have high data rates with limited frequency resources. Diversity/MIMO antennas in a mobile terminal platform require high isolation among antennas in the proximity. Ying has led innovation design work on compact MIMO antennas and the systematic study of compact MIMO antenna decoupling techniques in collaboration with several universities, as well as introducing metrics for performance characterization of MIMO antennas. He was involved in the world's first LTE field trial at 700MHz band in 2007 and 5G millimeter-wave testbed field trial with Ericsson in 2015.
Significant contribution to the mobile industry through publications and standardization
With significant contributions to multiband multi-system mobile antenna systems, MIMO, millimeter-wave beamforming, EMF exposure and human body effects research, Ying has contributed to 6 book chapters and over 160 papers, which are useful references and are well accepted in the mobile industry. His research work has also been used in 3GPP and EMF standardization development.
Career in the company and university collaboration
Originally from China, Ying came to Sweden in 1992 to do a PhD on antenna technology at Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg. And then he went to Lund, Sweden to join Ericsson in 1995. Ying's manager then, Thomas Bolin, was building up Ericsson's antenna competence, establishing test labs and R&D in Lund, as well as a global antenna network across Ericsson and later Sony Ericsson's 10 sites. Pioneering research in close collaboration with Lund University, Chalmers and KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden resulted in break-through antenna technologies impacting the whole of the mobile industry. The cross-fertilization between industry and academia that was instrumental in mobile phone development continues to be an important part of the now Sony Lund R&D Center's ongoing work on future technology and standardizations toward 6G.
As another recognition of his expertise, Ying has been appointed a part time Professor at Aalborg University in Denmark, and as of February 1st 2021 will be working part of his time with cooperation projects between the University and Sony. This is a great opportunity for Sony to further strengthen the relationship with state-of-the-art wireless communication research activities at Aalborg University.
Messages
- Zhinong Ying
I am extremely honoured to be elevated to an IEEE Fellow" says Ying. "This is an award not only to me, but also for the Lund site antenna story shared by many colleagues in the journey from Ericsson and Sony Ericsson to Sony. I feel very lucky to have been able to develp my passion for antenna technology in this company over the years, together with so many talented, highly competent colleagues and world-class researchers. And I'm very excited about our ongoing research work with universities and collaboration with other business groups in Sony working with IOT/5G/6G where we can contribute with our key competence in antenna technology.
- Rickard Ljung's comment
Rickard Ljung, Director of CTL (Connectivity Technology Lab) within Lund R&D Center, says "I'm very proud and honoured to have Ying in the team. Wireless research and standardization within Sony is a global organization and we have a great collaboration between the Sony R&D labs around the world, where this expertise in radio communication and innovative mindset is critical to create essential patents for upcoming wireless standards such as new 6G technologies. Ying and his colleagues in the research team at Lund R&D Center contribute with great innovations and forward-thinking, which is driving Sony R&D to challenge existing technologies and identify new solutions that can be adopted in Sony products and technical standards. Having an IEEE fellow and university professor in the team is a great external recognition of our world-class research, and I am sure it will further strengthen both local and world- wide research collaboration opportunities within the areas of wireless communication for Sony."
*IEEE is the world's largest technical professional society, dedicated to advancing innovation and technological excellence for the benefit of humanity. It is designed to serve professionals involved in all aspects of the electrical, electronic, and computing fields and related areas of science and technology that underlie modern civilization.
IEEE, pronounced "Eye-triple-E," stands for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, which is the association's original chartered name. However, in addition to its electrical and electronics engineering core, IEEE's membership comprises scientists, and allied professionals including computer scientists, software developers, information technology professionals, physicists, medical doctors, and many others. For this reason, the organization no longer goes by the full name, except on legal business documents, and is referred to simply as IEEE.
IEEE and its members inspire a global community to innovate for a better tomorrow through its more than 419,000 members in over 160 countries, and its highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities. IEEE is the trusted "voice" for engineering, computing, and technology information around the globe.
The highest grade of membership, IEEE Fellow, is attained through nomination by peers and approval by the IEEE Board of Directors for distinction in the profession.
