2010 IEEE Medal of Nobility for Viterbi

IEEE Life colleague Andrew J. Viterbi, whose Viterbi algorithm is used in all four international standards for digital cellular telephones, as well as data terminals and digital satellite transmit receivers, will be presented with the IEEE Medal of Honor at the 2010 IEEE Honors Ceremony. This year's event will be held on June 26 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

In 1985, Viterbi cofounded Qualcomm with Irwin Jacobs and helped develop Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology, which applied spread spectrum to cellular phones. Viterbi's assistance to communications technology has impacted the lives of people throughout the world. There is a Viterbi detector in almost every disk drive and high-capacity MP3 player, images transmitted from deep space are made possible by the Viterbi algorithm, and third-generation mobile telephones employ one or more of Viterbi's systems.

Viterbi developed what became known as the Viterbi Algorithm in 1967 while a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. The Viterbi Algorithm was penetrating in wireless technology that alienated information from background noise, and it primarily changed the way digital communications are processed. The algorithm is used in most digital cellular phones and satellite receivers as well as in such sundry fields as magnetic recording, voice recognition, and DNA sequence analysis. It also has been incorporated into all NASA deep-space spacecraft since the 1970s.