{"id":128710,"date":"2020-10-13T17:08:44","date_gmt":"2020-10-14T03:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=128710"},"modified":"2020-10-13T17:08:44","modified_gmt":"2020-10-14T03:08:44","slug":"alohanet-honored-as-engineering-milestone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2020\/10\/13\/alohanet-honored-as-engineering-milestone\/","title":{"rendered":"Pioneering wireless technology <abbr title=\"Aloha Network\">ALOHAnet<\/abbr> honored as engineering milestone"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 3<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><div class=\"responsive-video-wrap-post\"><figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-block-embed-youtube is-type-video is-provider-youtube epyt-figure\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><iframe  id=\"_ytid_93352\"  width=\"676\" height=\"676\"  data-origwidth=\"676\" data-origheight=\"676\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JoMp8dtUBnE?enablejsapi=1&origin=https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu&rel=0&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&disablekb=0&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"Pioneering wireless technology ALOHAnet honored as engineering milestone\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/figure><\/div>\n<p>The University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eng.hawaii.edu\/\">College of Engineering<\/a> was the birthplace of a revolutionary wireless communication technology nearly 50 years ago, and the project that started it, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eng.hawaii.edu\/about\/history\/alohanet\/\"><abbr>ALOHAnet<\/abbr><\/a>, has received a major international engineering honor.<\/p>\n<p>On October 13, <abbr>ALOHAnet<\/abbr> was recognized by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ieee.org\/\">Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers<\/a> (<abbr title=\"Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers\">IEEE<\/abbr>) as an <abbr>IEEE<\/abbr> milestone&#8212;after a lengthy application and selection process&#8212;in a dedication ceremony at <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s Holmes Hall.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_128717\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-128717\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/manoa-engineering-alohanet-satellite-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"people standing next to a satellite with Diamond Head in the background\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-128717\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/manoa-engineering-alohanet-satellite-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/manoa-engineering-alohanet-satellite-130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/manoa-engineering-alohanet-satellite.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-128717\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">ALOHAnet satellite dish on the roof of Holmes Hall with some of its founders (Photo courtesy: Ram Chandran)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;<abbr>ALOHAnet<\/abbr> and the ALOHA protocols all developed right here have changed the world as one of the critical enabling technologies for the internet before it was called the internet,&rdquo; <abbr>UH<\/abbr> President <strong>David Lassner<\/strong> said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It\u2019s been unbelievable for me to be able to say that I have the opportunity to work at a place that can arguably be said to have given birth to our modern way of life, a lifestyle that is inextricably intertwined with the internet, cell phones, <abbr title=\"wireless fidelity\">wifi<\/abbr> and all other mobile technologies out there,&rdquo; College of Engineering Dean <strong>Brennon Morioka<\/strong> said.<\/p>\n<p>Governor <strong>David Ige<\/strong>, a <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa electrical engineering alumnus, said <abbr>ALOHAnet<\/abbr> is an example of how <abbr>UH<\/abbr> has shaped the future of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Clearly what <abbr>ALOHAnet<\/abbr> means to the internet and wireless communications is just another inspiration for all of us as we look forward to what the future will be,&rdquo; Ige said.<\/p>\n<h2><abbr>ALOHAnet<\/abbr> beginnings<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_128712\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-128712\" style=\"width: 214px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/manoa-engineering-norm-abramson-214x300.jpg\" alt=\"headshot of Norman Abramson\" width=\"214\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-128712\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/manoa-engineering-norm-abramson-214x300.jpg 214w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/manoa-engineering-norm-abramson-93x130.jpg 93w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/manoa-engineering-norm-abramson.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 214px) 100vw, 214px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-128712\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Norman Abramson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>All wireless communications today\u2014including mobile, satellite, cellular and WiFi\u2014utilize the protocol developed in the ALOHAnet system to establish an initial link. Debuted in 1971, ALOHAnet was the first system to transmit data into a computer using radio waves. ALOHAnet led to the development of Ethernet and personal wireless communication technologies.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Norman Abramson<\/strong>, one of the <abbr>ALOHAnet<\/abbr> founders, came to the <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa College of Engineering as a faculty member in 1968, just three years before <abbr>ALOHAnet<\/abbr> was launched. Abramson served as a professor of electrical engineering and chair of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ics.hawaii.edu\/\">Information and Computer Sciences Department<\/a> until 1996. He then continued his work in education and the private sector.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Franklin Kuo<\/strong> was also a faculty member in the College of Engineering and spearheaded the <abbr>ALOHAnet<\/abbr> project with Abramson. Kuo credited other faculty members and graduate students who also worked to develop <abbr>ALOHAnet<\/abbr>. Kuo left <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa in 1975 for a career at the Pentagon in Washington, <abbr title=\"District of Columbia\">D.C.<\/abbr> where he worked as the director of information systems.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Whenever you pick up your telephone and make a phone call or use some other applications from that telephone, the very first thing you do is a packet comes from that telephone and the packet says &lsquo;ALOHA,&rsquo;&rdquo; Abramson said. &ldquo;I had the feeling back then that the ALOHA channel and the technology that we came up with would be used, but I had no idea it would be used so widely.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2>Reaction to <abbr>ALOHAnet<\/abbr> milestone<\/h2>\n<blockquote><p>The University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> is the gift that keeps on giving, and it has been giving for 50 years and more,<br \/>&#8212;Vint Cerf<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Google\u2019s chief internet evangelist and &ldquo;Father of the Internet,&rdquo; Vint Cerf, commended Abramson and Kuo for triggering an extraordinary explosion of technology.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> is the gift that keeps on giving, and it has been giving for 50 years and more,&rdquo; Cerf said. &ldquo;We benefit from that. Imagine the industries that have grown up around people who have learned skills from the University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Charlie Bass<\/strong> was a <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa graduate student from 1968 to 1972. After earning his <abbr title=\"Doctor of Philosophy\">PhD<\/abbr> in electrical engineering in 1972, Bass went on to have a career in education and the private sector. Bass expressed his deep gratitude for the groundwork laid by Abramson and Kuo in the classroom, and shared a lighthearted moment that he and Abramson had when Bass first arrived at <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa in 1968.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I walked into Norm\u2019s office, who was my primary contact at the time, and I laid out what I wanted to do and he listened and waited for a minute and said &lsquo;you know, maybe you should leave time for surfing,&rsquo;&rdquo; Bass said. &ldquo;I nearly fell over. The last thing I ever expected someone at the university to do was think about my leisure time or my mental health. It was a good start.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;By <em>Marc Arakaki<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"responsive-video-wrap-post\"><figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-block-embed-youtube is-type-video is-provider-youtube epyt-figure\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><iframe  id=\"_ytid_43766\"  width=\"676\" height=\"380\"  data-origwidth=\"676\" data-origheight=\"380\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mM3yd3PxfTI?enablejsapi=1&origin=https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu&rel=0&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&disablekb=0&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"A Tribute to ALOHAnet\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/figure><\/div>\n<p><abbr>ALOHAnet<\/abbr> dedication video by the College of Engineering<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><abbr>ALOHAnet<\/abbr> was recognized as an <abbr>IEEE<\/abbr> milestone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,12],"tags":[179,182,134,1363,9,56],"class_list":["post-128710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","category-video","tag-college-of-engineering","tag-engineering","tag-international","tag-manoa-research","tag-uh-manoa","tag-video-2","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128710"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128722,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128710\/revisions\/128722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}