Professor Hien (holding the globe) in his capacity as an academician at the International Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers - Photo: Provided by the interviewee.
Professor Ngo Quoc Hien is currently a Fellow at the International Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE Fellow). He is one of the pioneering researchers developing massive cellular MIMO systems – the core technology that makes a difference in the speed and performance of today's 5G networks.
A significant contribution to 5G core technology.
In early 2025, Dr. Hien became one of the Vietnamese scientists to be awarded the title of member of the International Academy of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). To become an IEEE member, he made groundbreaking contributions, particularly in the field of wireless telecommunications. His main work revolves around the development of two key systems: cellular massive MIMO and cellless massive MIMO.
In particular, cellular massive MIMO systems are the core technology that makes a difference in the speed and performance of 5G networks. More importantly, Mr. Hien is one of the first scientists to work on cellular massive MIMO technology, contributing to bringing this technology from theoretical research into practical 5G systems.
Meanwhile, the massive, cellless MIMO system proposed by Hien and his colleagues is expected to solve the problem of network connectivity, ensuring users can access the Internet with high quality anytime, anywhere, moving towards 6G networks.
The research by Dr. Hien's team, published since 2013, focuses on energy efficiency and transmission speed. This work has theoretically demonstrated that massive MIMO has the potential to increase performance by hundreds, even thousands of times, compared to previous telecommunication systems.
"This research has helped confirm the superior advantages of massive MIMO systems, thereby attracting significant investment and research from both academia and industry," he recounted.
This work has received over 4,000 citations to date and earned him two prestigious scientific awards: the 2015 IEEE Stephen O. Rice Award (for the best scientific paper in the leading journal IEEE Transactions on Communications) and the 2017 IEEE Leonard G. Abraham Award (for the best scientific paper in the IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications).
To date, Dr. Hien is the only scientist in the world to receive both awards simultaneously as the lead author of the research project.
Putting Vietnam on the world map.
However, the research path was never a bed of roses. Dr. Hien shared about the most challenging phase when he began researching massive MIMO: "At that time, there wasn't much research in this field, and there were many doubts about the feasibility of the system. Finding literature was difficult, and it was also hard to convince other scientists."
Initially, many of Hien's research papers were not accepted for publication, or were even rejected. Undeterred, he contacted the editorial department directly to appeal the decision... He recounted an unforgettable experience: "With my massive cellless MIMO project, I started working on it in 2014 while interning at Bell Labs (USA), completed it in 2015, and submitted it to a major journal. The paper went through three rounds of revisions with many unaccepted reviews, and was finally accepted in 2017."
Ngo Quoc Hien graduated from the high-quality engineering program at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology in 2007, earned a master's degree in South Korea in 2010, and a doctorate in Sweden in 2015. He commented that the strengths of Vietnamese people when competing globally are diligence, a high ability to learn and adapt, and a strong mathematical foundation that gives them logical thinking skills. "Logical thinking is very important in the field of technology," he emphasized.
However, he also frankly pointed out weaknesses that need to be addressed, most of which stem from the education system: limitations in critical thinking (which is crucial for innovation), lack of confidence and reluctance to debate, and poor teamwork skills.
In response to harsh criticisms that Vietnamese people "lack vision," he acknowledged that "there is some truth to that, and it all stems from the weaknesses I listed above. A lack of critical thinking and debate leads to a lack of vision. We have to accept this in order to change and develop better."
What is the significance of the IEEE Academician title?
IEEE is one of the world's largest engineering and technology associations, with over 460,000 members from 190 countries. Each year, IEEE selects only a very small group of scientists with outstanding achievements and significant contributions in the fields of engineering, science, and technology to be awarded the title of IEEE Fellow. IEEE Fellow is the highest level of membership in IEEE.
The total number of members selected in any given year cannot exceed 0.1% of the total number of voting members. The rigorous selection process lasts nearly 10 months with three rounds of voting by three different committees. It can be said that this is a very special title, considered a major recognition in the global engineering and technology community, equivalent to other major scientific awards.
In the field of communications and information, Professor Hien is the fourth Vietnamese person to receive this title and the youngest. "I am extremely honored. This title is a recognition of my research contributions in the field of telecommunications over the past 15 years. It is an important milestone in my career," Professor Hien shared.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nguoi-viet-khai-pha-cong-nghe-5g-20260222224647932.htm
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