Institute of Telecommunications Vienna University of Technology

1 Institute of Telecommunications 1 This report is to give an overview over the recent activities in teaching and research at the Institute of Telecommunications at Vienna University of Technology. The reporting period 2009—2013 was one of profound changes: after I became head of institute in 2010, we implemented the merger with the former Institute of Broadband Communications – because of the merger, the institute was given its new name and a new logo –, we realized complete refurbishments of the workshop and the 6th floor as well as various organizational changes and a restructuring of the bachelor and master programs. The research groups at the institute, each headed by a professor, are specialized in a broad range of Engineering, as well as Broadband and Optical Communications. Work items at the institute range from fundamental and theoretical topics to applied research with strong connections to telecommunications industry – further details are provided by this report. We are very delighted that Tanja Zseby accepted (in 2013) the position as a full professor of Communication Networks, as a successor of Prof. Harmen van As. Her research in the rather important field of network security, with a focus on smart grids, and the new lab on the 6th floor will considerably strengthen our research portfolio. During the reporting period the institute had to cope with very significant changes in teaching, which included a makeover of the department's Bachelor program in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology as well as a complete redesign of the master program in Telecommunications. The institute is now responsible for four compulsory lecture courses (each with more than 200 students) in the bachelor program. The new master program in Telecommunications has six strands, with one path at the core of Telecommunications research being fully delivered in English and, hence, also allowing international students to study at our institute and qualify for our PhD program. The other five strands connect to the other master programs of the department, which allows students for high flexibility in picking their areas of interest. Apart from the professors, the institute has in excess of 60 research staff, including senior academics, post docs and PhD students; the vast majority is sponsored by external funding. Support by industry and funding bodies is crucial not only for the research agendas of the institute: teaching also benefits very significantly, because students working on their master and bachelor theses are …