Huawei awards the father of Polar code to pay tribute to basic research and exploration spirit

[Shenzhen, China, July 26, 2018] Today, Huawei held a grand award ceremony at its Shenzhen headquarters to present a special award to Professor Erdal Arikan of Turkey, the discoverer of 5G polarization code, in honor of his outstanding contribution to the development of human communications. More than 100 Huawei scientists and engineers in the fields of standards and basic research were also recognized.

The root of industrial revitalization lies in basic research. The theoretical breakthroughs formed by scientists over decades of accumulation have pointed out the direction for the development of industrial technology. After the evolution of 2G, 3G, and 4G wireless communication technologies, mankind is about to enter the 5G era. Professor Erdal Arikan published a paper on Polar codes in 2008, which opened up a new direction for channel coding. It is the first channel coding method in the world that can be strictly proved to reach the Shannon limit. It can greatly improve 5G coding performance, reduce design complexity, and ensure service quality. In 2016, Polar codes became the 3GPP5G NR eMBB control channel coding.

At the award ceremony, Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei presented Professor Erdal Arikan with a medal designed and crafted by the Paris Mint. The front of the medal is engraved with the image of the goddess of victory and embedded with Baccarat red crystals, symbolizing the development of the new era of communication technology.

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Professor Erdal Arikan gave a speech after receiving the award. He said, "Today, I am very honored to receive this award from Huawei. The fact that polar codes can go beyond the laboratory and become a standard in just ten years is inseparable from the foresight and technological contributions of Huawei's leaders and engineers. I am very happy about this. As a researcher, the greatest reward is to see our ideas become reality."

Huawei's Rotating Chairman Xu Zhijun said, "The 5G standard is the result of global basic research and technological progress, and is the result of more than a decade of hard work by dozens of companies, tens of thousands of scientists and engineers around the world. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Professor Arikan and all Huawei employees, academic experts and professors who have contributed to 5G!"

As early as 2010, Huawei recognized the potential of polarization codes as an excellent channel coding technology and invested in further research based on the research of Professor Erdal Arikan. After several years of long-term efforts, it has made a number of breakthroughs in the core original technology of polarization codes and promoted its transformation from academic research to industrial application.

"The birth of the 5G standard is a new beginning. We will continue to work hard to make all 5G technologies, including Polar codes, create value for society faster and better. At the same time, we sincerely hope that such close cooperation between industry, academia and research can continue to flourish and create more miracles for the development of the information technology industry and even human society," said Xu Zhijun.

Huawei also recognized more than 100 Huawei experts in the field of basic research and standards. They successfully conducted basic research on 5G-NR, broke through 8 innovative technologies such as new waveforms and new coding, and jointly verified key technologies with industry partners to promote the formulation of standards. They successfully completed the 3GPP R15 standard and took the lead in completing the IMT 2020 5G tests at all stages, with various performance indicators exceeding all key indicators of the three major scenarios of the ITU. As a major contributor and patent holder to the 5G standard, Huawei will continue to abide by the principles of fairness, reasonableness, and non-discrimination (FRAND) and jointly build a 5G ecosystem.

Huawei has long attached importance to investment in R&D and innovation, with a cumulative R&D investment of nearly RMB 400 billion over the past decade. Looking to the future, Huawei will increase investment in basic research, with 20-30% of its annual R&D expenditure of US$15-20 billion going to basic research.