Hello, my name is Paul Harris, and I’m a Principal Wireless Architect within the CTO Office of VIAVI Solutions. I contribute to the company’s technology strategy for 5G, 6G and beyond and, along with the rest of my team, I am always looking ahead and considering how we need to adapt to new and emerging technologies.
Our aim at VIAVI is to provide the most effective and efficient test and optimisation solutions for the entire network. VIAVI is well known for accelerating base station deployments, and one of our products, the TM500, supports early functional, system integration, capacity, performance, and regression testing for 4G and 5G.
It can be used to emulate thousands of mobile devices for testing base stations in the lab and also provides detailed statistics and logs from the various layers of the protocol stack. Coupled with advanced data processing, it enables customers to address issues quickly and reduce the risk of deployment delays. In the deployment process, we then leverage our field tools to accelerate site commissioning, and once the networks are live, we provide advanced solutions for monitoring and performance optimisation. We use this same “lab to field” approach to also comprehensively test the conformance and performance of Open RAN solutions.
What do you enjoy most about working in this space?
Keeping up-to-date with the latest technologies. What’s next? What could it bring? What does this mean for how we live our lives? Telecommunications technology has advanced rapidly over the last three decades, impacting everyday citizens and businesses in so many ways.
What’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve done in the name of work?
I spent quite a bit of time on rooftops running pre-5G massive MIMO experiments during my PhD days, and I was once hopping on and off of trains in California to take mobility measurements for new waveforms. I’ve always been pragmatic and enjoy seeing results in real time.
What excites you most about working in telecoms?
The possibilities that telecoms brings for society. It serves as an enabler for so many industrial and consumer applications, and it’s exciting to continue exploring what else is possible. At the same time, we (as an industry) need to carefully consider market needs and new market drivers to ensure we are investing in technology that has the potential to bring real value and growth.
What would you like people to know about your work?
I feel privileged to be working with so many world-class engineers! New and exciting technologies are entering the telecoms landscape and we are at the forefront of creating robust strategies and solutions for testing and optimising these. This work is crucial for ensuring each technology is able to reach its full potential, and also that we are able to continue increasing network reliability, efficiency and performance.
Why is a vibrant, flourishing telecoms ecosystem important for the UK?
Connectivity underpins everything in the modern world. Everyone expects to be able to connect at any time, anywhere, and a reliably connected nation provides the foundations for a prosperous one. The telecoms ecosystem underpins all of this and it’s important to understand our strengths and weaknesses in the space, but this isn’t just about the telecoms industry; it’s about all the other sectors in the UK that benefit from connectivity, or at least have the potential to.
