Dr. Andrew J. Viterbi co-founded QUALCOMM, Inc., a developer and manufacturer of mobile satellite communications and digital wireless telephony, where he currently serves as Vice Chairman and Chief Technical Officer. Under his leadership, QUALCOMM has received international recognition for innovative technology in the areas of digital wireless communication systems and products based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technologies.Prior to co-founding QUALCOMM, Dr. Viterbi co-founded LINKABIT Corporation in 1968, a digital communications company, where he served as Executive Vice President and later as President.
From 1963 to 1973, Dr. Viterbi served as a Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Engineering and Applied Science, where he did fundamental work in digital communication theory and wrote numerous research papers and two books, for which he has received international recognition. He continued teaching on a part-time basis at the University of California, San Diego until 1994, where he is currently Professor Emeritus.
From 1957 to 1963, Dr. Viterbi was a member of the Communications Research Section of the California Institute of Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory. While there, he was one of the first communication engineers to recognize the potential and propose digital transmission techniques for space and satellite telecommunication systems.
Viterbi received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1957, and a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California, 1962. Viterbi also received an Honorary Doctor of Engineering Degree, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 1990.
Dr. Viterbi has received numerous awards and recognition for his leadership and substantial contributions in the communications industry over the years. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, a Marconi Fellow and a Member of both the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.
All four international standards for digital cellular telephony utilize the Viterbi Algorithm for interference suppression, as do most digital satellite communication systems, both for business applications and for direct satellite broadcast to the home.
Last modified: August 1, 1996