GTEC is the acronym of Grupo de Tecnología Electrónica y Comunicaciones (Group of Electronic Technology and Communications), a research group inside the Department of Computer Engineering (DCE) at the University of A Coruña (UDC), Spain. The members of GTEC develop their teaching and research activities on telecommunication systems with particular emphasis on wireless data transmission technologies, applications and services. The specific research lines at GTEC are:
- Iterative and adaptive signal processing techniques for estimation, equalization, synchronization and interference cancellation in wireless communications.
- Design of capacity approaching channel coding techniques.
- MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) transmission technologies.
- Data Communications Equipment prototyping with special emphasis on the wireless standards IEEE 802.11 (WiFi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), Long Term Evolution (LTE), ...
- Wireless Sensor Networks for positioning and delivery of contextual information.
- Wireless communications between vehicles.
- Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies.
During the last 5 years, GTEC has consolidated a solid reputation as a research group on the areas of signal processing and wireless communications. This is proved by the publication of more than 60 papers in international journals and conference proceedings (among them the Best Paper Award at the International ITG/IEEE Workshop on Smart Antennas, WSA 2007). The research activity is also evidenced by the four doctoral theses that were finished in the same period.
The group is extremely involved in research projects. Since its beginning in 1994, GTEC has reached a sustained and continuous funding through the participation in more than 25 research projects at regional, national and European level. It also excels in its technological transfer activities as proved by their contracts with companies such as Indra Sistemas, ATOS ORIGIN, Telefónica I+D, Quobis Networks, Wireless Galicia, Satdata Telecom, …; and the creation of a spin-off company (Nomasystems, S.L.). In summary, GTEC has attracted more than 2,5 million euros from their contracts and research projects. All these results allowed GTEC to be awarded by an extra research funding of 240.000 euros between 2007 and 2010 from the Consolidation and Structuring of Competitive Research Units sponsored by Xunta de Galicia, Spain.
GTEC members keep a sustained collaboration with important research teams at different international universities. In particular, GTEC cooperates with Prof. Dr. Javier García Frías from the University of Delaware (USA); Prof. Michael Joham and Wolfgang Utschick from the Technische Universität München (Germany); Prof. Li Ping from the City University of Hong Kong; and prof. Markus Rupp from the Vienna University of Technology (Austria).
