WINLAB (Wireless Information Network Laboratory), an industry-university cooperative research center focused on wireless technology,, was founded at New Jersey’s Rutgers University in 1989. Its research mission is to advance the development of wireless networking technology by combining the resources of government, industry and academia. The center's educational mission is to train the next generation of wireless technologists via graduate research programs that are especially relevant to industry.

WINLAB has enjoyed considerable success in achieving these goals. The center has completed over 15 years of research on wireless data networks, and has made a number of important technical contributions to mobile computing, high speed modem design, radio resource management, and network architectures and protocols. In fulfillment of its educational aims, to date WINLAB has also produced approximately 100 MS and PhD graduates specializing in wireless technology. These graduates are playing a key role within leading wireless technology and service companies as they work toward the center’s vision of deploying the Mobile Internet.

Since its inception, WINLAB has been supported by a broad cross section of leading wireless industry sponsors, including several major wireless equipment vendors, chip manufacturers and service providers based in the United States, Europe and Japan. The center has also received grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology (NJCST). Since 2003, WINLAB has been home to the "ORBIT" Next-Generation Wireless Testbed sponsored by NSF's Network Research Testbeds (NRT) program, thus serving as a hub for experimental wireless networking research for the community as a whole.

WINLAB sponsors benefit from a collaborative relationship to advance the development of wireless technology. The center serves as a forum for peer-level technical interchange between faculty, affiliated researchers and sponsor staff. More about the benefits of sponsorship ...