TELECOMMUNICATIONS · WIRELESS SYSTEMS · INNOVATION

Francisco Rodrigo Porto Cavalcanti

Full Professor of Telecommunications, Universidade Federal do Ceará — Founder & Coordinator of GTEL, Wireless Telecommunications Research Group. Twenty-six years leading the Ericsson–UFC R&D program; inventor on patents granted by USPTO and INPI; former Vice-Rector for Research at UFC.

View publications Get in touch Lattes CV ↗
26+years, Ericsson R&D program
65journal articles
220+conference papers
16patents & registrations
36sponsored R&D projects
Portrait of Francisco Rodrigo Porto Cavalcanti

ABOUT

Three decades at the frontier of wireless communications

Francisco Rodrigo Porto Cavalcanti holds a B.Sc. (1994) and M.Sc. (1996) in Electrical Engineering from the Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC) and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP, 1999), with complementary training at MIT Sloan, Stanford and Carnegie Mellon. He is currently Full Professor of Telecommunications Engineering at UFC and a member of the Teleinformatics Engineering Graduate Program (CAPES 7), which he previously coordinated.

In 2000 he founded and now directs the Wireless Telecommunications Research Group (GTEL) at UFC (gtel.ufc.br), a dedicated research lab now home to 16 PhD-level researchers. For more than 25 years he has coordinated a mobile-communications R&D program sponsored by Ericsson, generating solutions adopted across 3G, 4G and 5G cellular systems, and represented UFC in the Brazil–Europe H2020 consortia behind the FUTEBOL and 5G-RANGE projects.

He is an inventor on patents granted by Brazil's INPI and the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) — including the ELMO ventilation helmet developed during the COVID-19 pandemic — and is author or editor of two national and two international books on mobile communications and project management.

Beyond research, he has held senior leadership roles at UFC: Vice-Rector for Research and Graduate Studies (2019–2023), Coordinator of the Technology Innovation Office — NIT (2017–2019), and President of Fundação ASTEF (2013–2016). He is a CNPq Technological Development & Innovative Extension Research Fellow (Level 1C) and currently coordinates technology-transfer activities at the Reference Center for Artificial Intelligence (CRIA/CEREIA).

5G / 6GMIMO & Massive MIMORadio Resource Management TV White SpaceIntellectual PropertyProject Management (PMP) Technology Transfer

CAREER

Professional experience

Leadership across research, technology transfer and university administration, alongside a continuous 26-year industry R&D partnership.

2025 — Present

Research Partner

Instituto Atlântico

Collaborates on AI and digital-transformation initiatives, including the FINEP-funded Technological Innovation Lab consortium.

2023 — Present

Technology Transfer Coordinator

Reference Center for Artificial Intelligence (CRIA/CEREIA), UFC — funded by FAPESP & MCTI

Identifies and structures opportunities to transfer university-developed AI technology to the private sector.

2022 — Present

Collaborating Researcher

Instituto Nacional de Telecomunicações (INATEL)

2021 — 2023

President, Research Council (CEPE)

Universidade Federal do Ceará

2019 — 2023

Vice-Rector for Research and Graduate Studies

Universidade Federal do Ceará

Responsible for the strategic direction and operations of research and innovation university-wide; deputy vice-rector Nov 2019–Jun 2021, full vice-rector Jul 2021–Aug 2023.

2017 — 2019

Coordinator, Technology Innovation Office (NIT)

Universidade Federal do Ceará

Led UFC's first-ever transfer of an intellectual asset to industry; authored the institutional innovation policy in force from 2017–2025 while managing a portfolio of 200+ IP assets.

2013 — 2016

President

Fundação ASTEF (UFC support foundation)

Oversaw R&D project management across engineering and ICT areas university-wide.

2002 — Present

Full Professor of Telecommunications

Universidade Federal do Ceará — exclusive dedication

Teaching, research and supervision in mobile communications, project management and innovation management.

2000 — Present

Founder & Coordinator, GTEL

Wireless Telecommunications Research Group, UFC

Leads industry-sponsored telecom and IT research spanning 3G, 4G, 5G and Wi-Fi technologies.

2000 — Present

Program Manager, Ericsson R&D Program

Ericsson Telecomunicações S/A

Manages a continuous industry-funded research, development and innovation program spanning more than two decades.

EDUCATION

Academic training

1996 – 1999

Ph.D., Electrical Engineering

Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil — thesis on smart antennas and space-time processing for wireless communication systems. Advisor: João Marcos Travassos Romano. CAPES fellow.

1995 – 1996

M.Sc., Electrical Engineering

Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC), Brazil — thesis on adaptive and self-taught equalization for digital communication systems. Advisor: João César Moura Mota. FUNCAP fellow.

1990 – 1994

B.Sc., Electrical Engineering

Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC), Brazil.

Complementary training

  • 2024 — Advanced Patents (64h), WIPO, Switzerland
  • 2015 — Innovation Management Fundamentals, ANPEI, Brazil
  • 2010 — Mastering the Project Portfolio, Stanford University
  • 2010 — Converting Strategy into Action, Stanford University
  • 2007–08 — Project Risk Management, PMI, USA
  • 2007–08 — Executive Certificate, Management & Leadership, MIT Sloan
  • 2005 — PMBOK Project Management, PMI, Brazil
  • 2005 — Introduction to CMMI: Staged & Continuous, Carnegie Mellon University

RESEARCH

Research interests & current initiatives

Specialties spanning mobile communications engineering, spectrum economics and regulation, and intellectual-property & project management.

5G / 6G NetworksRadio access, multi-connectivity, ISAC and coexistence for next-generation mobile systems.
MIMO & Massive MIMODistributed large-scale MIMO, hybrid beamforming and advanced transceiver design.
Radio Resource ManagementInterference coordination, scheduling and QoS provisioning in wireless networks.
Spectrum & RegulationTV White Space access and telecommunications economics & policy.
Reconfigurable SurfacesUser-centric architectures built on centralized RIS.
Intellectual PropertyPatent strategy, technology valuation, licensing and litigation.

Current & recent research initiatives

PROJECTS

Sponsored research & development projects

Thirty-six industry- and government-funded R&D projects since 1997 — the backbone of a continuous 26-year partnership with Ericsson, alongside FINEP, LG Electronics and CNPq-sponsored initiatives.

OUTREACH

Extension projects

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Patents & registrations

Sixteen inventions and registrations filed with the USPTO and Brazil's INPI, spanning resource allocation, MIMO relaying, device-to-device communication and the ELMO ventilation helmet.

RECOGNITION

Awards & honors

PUBLICATIONS

Publications

Full bibliographic production as reported in the Lattes CV — journal articles, conference papers, books and book chapters.

    GET IN TOUCH

    Contact

    Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil — GTEL, Centro de Tecnologia, Universidade Federal do Ceará.