Innovating 5G/AI with GSMA

Telco-X Collider Lab

• Spring 2021 INDENG 190E-002

• Spring 2021 INDENG 290-002

Instructors and teaching staff:

• Aleks Gollu, aleksgollu@berkeley.edu - for appointments TBD

• Ikhlaq Sidhu, sidhu@ berkeley.edu - for appointments, contact Melissa Glass at m.glass@berkeley.edu

• Course coordinator: Karina Gulati, karinagulati21@berkeley.edu

Collaborations and Mentors:

• GSMA General Contact: Elisa Balestra, ebalestra@gsma.com

• Mentor/Advisor: Kira Gardner, CITRIS Foundry, kgardner@berkeley.edu

• GSMA Technical Contact: Barbara Pareglio, BPareglio@gsma.com

• GSMA Policy Contact: Mani Manimohan, mmanimohan@gsma.com

• Mobile Phone company executives and technical leaders: TBD

Innovating with 5G, AI, and Mobile

Telco-X Collider Lab Course

The Telco-X – Collider Lab course (IEOR 190E/290E) which is focused on innovating the Telecom industry including combinations of 5G, Data/AI, IoT, and other emerging technologies is being held again in collaboration with GSMA this Fall. The good news is we’ll have mentors and participation from around the globe. To make the class more accessible across time zones we are moving it to 9 am Thursdays. Classes will be online. See you at the Telco-X – Collider Lab!

Telco-X Collider Lab is an Advanced Project Course

Telco-X Collider Lab is an advanced project course based on the Innovation Engineering Framework. Students will learn about the future of telecom and emerging mobile network applications. The course will allow students to imagine the future, develop new concepts, and deliver MVP implementations as well as connect with mentors, experts, and executives from this industry.

In the past two decades, access to the internet and fast connections have transformed our lives through on-line shopping, video streaming, social media, and more. With 5G and WiFi 6 around the corner, connection speeds will reach Gigabits, latency will soon come down to 1ms levels and connection density may reach one million devices per km^2. Other key emerging technologies such as AR/VR and IoT will drive new applications.

Due to digital acceleration and other factors in our changing world, the telecom industry and mobile services has become more critical than ever before. This Fall 2020 Innovation Engineering Section will again be offered in collaboration with GSMA who hosts the Mobile World Congress and partners with virtually every telecom provider in the world. Students will learn the problems and opportunities directly from the experts in leading telecommunication companies.

Project Aspects:

A key part of the course is an open ended project. The first half of the course is used to generate a story and low-tech demo for a real-world project. The remaining half if focused on an agile sprint which results in a demonstration of working project code by the end of the course.

Projects may focus on consumer and enterprise applications/services as well as projects that help carriers to deliver better more robust services. Projects are also expected to leverage 5G capabilities and combine them with other technological advances such as AI, IoT, AR/VR, autonomous vehicles, and others.

The course also embeds the behaviors, mindset, and processes for creating just about anything new. Students will be expected to be able to articulate the impact of their project to broader audiences.

Audience

The course is intended for both undergraduate and graduate students. It is ideal for technical students in data science, CS, engineering, web/mobile applications, and those with varying levels of coding and systems experience. Places will also be held for non-technical majors who would like to focus on user experience, customer experience, and social impact. Teams will be encouraged to assemble interdisciplinary skills. The course will benefit students interested in product development, applied research, and even product management.

Grading:

The grading of the course is based on the the following factors which have points assigned within the outline of the course:

• Assigned homework in including project updates

• Participation for every attended class session

• Final Project Demonstration

• Grading is on a curve.

  • 50% A or A-

  • 50% B+ to B

  • Lower grades to be assigned only for outliers from the course grades

Project Area Examples:

Here are some other ideas

• Take any previous project and build a live, open platform application

• Telco: operational improvements with AI

• Telco: better customer experience with AI, Chatbots, or other, more like Netflix

• Telco: operational and network planning costs with AI

• The new 911, how could it work?

• New services based on secure, massive IoT for verticals (insurance, banks, logistics, healthcare, .. )

• Spectrum: Pay as you grow?

• Energy reduction for 5G services

• Data monetization with Amazoogle for Telco or Verticals

Students should research topics of interest on their own in addition to materials in the course.

Course Outline:

Project Module 1: Project Introduction – Aug 27

• Aleks Gollu, Ikhlaq Sidhu, Class Introduction, 45 min to 1 hour

• Before class:

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwCqRgZzr_o

  • watch last semester final presentations for background: link to be added

• Industry Perspective 1:

  • IS: Overview of 5G and Mobile (60 min)

• Invited mentor introductions, possible project ideas

• Story Generation Exercise groups start to express their best ideas in class

• Reading: Chapter 1 (SUMMARIZING THE PROBLEM AND INTRODUCING THE SOLUTION) and Caviar case. Write ½ page to 1 page reflection about which concepts from the chapter and case might be most relevant for your project. You may also critique concepts. Due in one week. (5 points)

• Project Assignment: write down 3 ideas a project, 1-3 sentences each. Due within one. Submit will be in a google form or shared spreadsheet to that everyone can see the concepts submitted via a shared link. (5 points)

• Everyone is a project proposer or project joiner

• Allow 10+ people to pitch project idea for 1 min each plus your background. 1 extra participation point per pitch.

Note: each attended class session earns 2 participation points

Project Module 2: Continue Project Ideation – Sep 3

• Industry Perspective 2: AG Project Guidance

• Irfan Ali - Cisco Perspective

• Invited mentor introductions, possible project ideas

• Allow 10+ people to pitch project idea for 1 min each plus your background. 1 extra participation point per pitch.

• Form teams. Use Google form to submit your project name, team members, contact information, and keywords that describe your project. Your project concept may change.

• Set up 2 to 5 1:1 discussions to interview between project proposers and project joiners

• Reading: Chapter 2 (THE SOLUTION). Write ½ page to 1 page maximum reflection about which concepts from the chapter might be most relevant for your project. You may also critique concepts. Due in one week. (5 points)

Project Module 3: Team Formation 2 – Sep 10

Industry Perspective 3: novation Engineering - 12 Principles - Ikhlaq Sidhu Discussion or TBD (45 min to 1 hour)

• Invited mentor introductions, possible project ideas

• Finalize teams. Any incomplete teams may merge with others. Course coordinator to manage team submissions.

• Project Assignment: During class, open the Innovation Navigator (5 points), make a copy, fill in

  • title page and contact information for each team member, share document with team members, instructors and GSIs.

  • Innovation Navigator initial conditions page (NABC)

  • Send link when finished, within 1 week

• Modification to story is still allowed. Obtain as much validation as possible, talk to potential users/stakeholders.

• Project Assignment: In class, start brainstorming for 30 min. Continue over the next week for open-ended brainstorming, but then converge to a few key requirements for the project. As needed, collect data by talking to potential users of the project. The team should come up with a multiple project variations and then select one for implementation. Summarize your brainstorming in 1 page. Where did you start and end, what did you decide? Each person on team turn in your brainstorm and convergence summary by next week. (5 points)

• Reading: Chapter 4-5. (4. DEVELOPING A BETTER STORY, 5. COMMON STRATEGIC ERRORS AND STORY NARRATIVE MISTAKES). Write ½ page to 1 page maximum reflection about which concepts from the chapter might be most relevant for your project. You may also critique concepts. Due in one week. (5 points)

Project Module 4: Project Refinement Sep 17

Industry Perspective: TBD or Innovation Engineering - 12 Principles - Ikhlaq Sidhu Discussion

• NABC Master class - with 10 points to Best Project Award - Best Story Award 1

• In class presentations of NABC and story from Navigator. Participation credits for live presentation (10 min) and Q/A (15 min). (2 point extra per person if volunteer) - All 4 teams - cohort 1

• Modification to story is still allowed. Obtain as much validation as possible, talk to potential users.

• Team Project assignment: Create low tech demo. This is a 5-slide presentation with no code. It can be up to 10 slides at most. Insert these slides into your Innovation Navigator just after the title slide due within 1 week. (10 points). The team should make one presentation and record it as a video of approximately 5 min. Turn in a link to the slides and the video (which can be embedded on one of the slides) within 1 week.

• Reading: Chapter 3 (A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO INNOVATION PROJECTS). Write ½ page to 1 page maximum reflection about which concepts from the chapter might be most relevant for your project. You may also critique concepts. Due in one week. (5 points)

Project Module 5: Sep 24

Industry Perspective: TBD

• NABC Master class - with 10 points to Best Project Award - Best Story Award 2

• In class presentations of NABC and story from Navigator. Participation credits for live presentation (10 min) and Q/A (15 min). (2 point extra per person if volunteer) - All 4 teams - cohort 2

• Lecture on project execution and agile, getting started.

• Reading: Case Study: “Starting an Agile Implementation for Technical Delivery” in Appendix. Summarize main points of Starting an Agile Implementation in 1 paragraph. Turn in 1 per person, within 1 week. (5 points)

• Team Project Assignment: Project Progress Reflection #1: Fill one of the execution/reflection pages. Send link when finished, within 1 week. (5 points)

• Create your first Minimal Viable Demo. Be ready to demonstrate it by next week.

Project Module 6: Oct 1

Industry Perspective: TBD

• Improve your first Minimal Viable Demo. Be ready to demonstrate it. (group 1)

• Min Viable Demonstration presentations (10 points)

Project Module 7: Oct 8

Industry Perspective TBD

• Improve your first Minimal Viable Demo. Be ready to demonstrate it. (group 2)

• Reading: Chapter 7 (INNOVATION LEADERSHIP). Write ½ page to 1 page maximum reflection about which concepts from the chapter might be most relevant for your project. You may also critique concepts. Due in one week. (5 points)

• Agile implementation

• Record project progress 2 on Innovation Navigator with a new execution/reflection sheet. (5 points)

• (When requested, demonstration updates are all 5 points)

Project Module 8: Oct 15

• Master class: Investor/Management pitch - 10 min to defend the investment - with mentors. Best project gate.

• Mentors pick teams - feedback session.

  • At end - each team, one at a time. Mentors can accept up to 2. Teams choose from willing mentors.

Industry Perspective TBD

• Reading: Chapter 8 (CULTURE, MINDSET, AND BEHAVIOR). Write ½ page to 1 page maximum reflection about which concepts from the chapter be most relevant for your project. You may also critique concepts. Due in one week. (5 points)

• Agile implementation

• (When requested, demonstration updates are all 5 points)

Project Module 9-12: Oct 22, Oct 29, Nov 5, Nov 12

Industry Perspective TBD

• Record project progress 3 on Nov 5 in the Innovation Navigator with a new execution/reflection sheet. (5 points)

• Agile implementation

• Be prepared to demonstrate what you have.

• (When requested, demonstration updates are all 5 points)

Project Module 13, Nov 19

• Industry Perspective TBD

• Open feedback session

Project Module 14, Dec 3

• Innovation Engineering - 12 Principles Review Discussion

• Presentation Dry Runs

See final project preparation slides here

Project Final: Date Dec 10, 9:00 am

Be prepared to showcase your work during reading week. The Team will have to turn in the following:

• Slides and demo (60 points) graded on

  • 20 points effort

  • 20 points quality in work,

  • 10 points creativity or project or presentation style

  • 10 points: The slides should include a reflection of what happened over the journey project and what the team learned. (10 points for reflection)

• 10 points for code via Github link (10 points for code check) Add link in slide presentation

• 10 points: news write up in 3^rd person. 1-2 paragraphs that tell the news story of what your team created.

Individuals should also plan to turn in:

• 360 assessment of contribution of each team member including yourself.

• Course feedback form and reflection

• Sign up for Facebook alumni group.