Industry’s First 5G Algorithm Innovation Competition Delivers
Wide-Ranging Research to Help Accelerate 5G Development

Competition Connects Research Community and Industry; Participants Deliver Passion and Quality in 5G Designs

Beijing, China – December 18, 2015 — Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR), a world-leading provider of programmable technology, announced the results of its 5G Algorithm Innovation Competition, the industry’s first awards competition to focus on aligning silicon and systems companies with the research community to create a pool of new and innovative ideas to help accelerate 5G. First announced in May by Altera, Xidian University, and Terasic, the 5G Algorithm Innovation Competition was sponsored by technology leaders Huawei, Intel, and Spreadtrum, and attracted an impressive 184 teams from leading universities from a wide geographical area. The 184 teams were made up of 462 students from 76 universities in 31 Chinese cities. Participating student teams were required to submit Link-Level simulations and logical implementations of three 5G new air-interface key algorithms, SCMA (Sparse Code Multiple Access), F-OFDM (Filtered-OFDM) and Polar Code, based on Altera FPGAs.
Thirty teams were chosen to move forward to the final competition, of which there were twenty teams awarded the inaugural 5G Algorithm Innovation Competition Gold, Silver and Bronze awards.  
In addition to the twenty winning teams, 13 teams won Excellent awards:  5G Algorithm Excellent FPGA Implementation, and the 5G Algorithm Excellent Simulation Awards. A special award from the organizers was presented to Xidian University in recognition of its support in organizing the competition.
Leaders from Altera, Xidian University, Terasic, Huawei, Intel and Spreadtrum were on hand to congratulate the winners. For details of the competition results, please visit: http://www.innovateasia.com/5g/index.html.
“The engineering designs delivered by the students were very innovative, and we are delighted to see our 5G algorithm competition turned out to be a huge success,” said Francis Chow, Vice President and General Manager, Communications Business Unit, Altera, “The competition explored the potential of delivering FPGA-based designs that can accelerate processing, enabling a faster time to market for OEMs and carriers and who are rolling out 5G wireless  networks.”
“The submissions give us a lot of surprises. It’s amazing to see that the college students have completed these high-quality works in only six months,” said Ms. Wang Zhiqin, Director, Communication Standards Institute of Telecom Academy, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China, and leader of the judging committee. “Lots of excellent students show up in the 5G Algorithm Innovation Competition. They implemented three 5G new air-interface techniques, including f-OFDM, SCMA and polar code, and have shown great creativity on the algorithm design and FPGA development. This kind of academic activity funded by industry will accelerate the communication development and the coming 5G standardization and industrialization.”
“This 5G awards event represents the collaboration among academic research community as well as the key industry players, which results in a outstanding effort in supporting our efforts toward creating ground-breaking 5G technologies,” said Dr. Wen Tong, Fellow and CTO, Huawei Wireless. “We are very pleased with the impressive quality of the student projects that will lay a foundation in the emerging 5G air-interface standard, and the expanded use of FPGA technology.”
“Promoting industry and academic community efforts fosters and strengthens future technological advancements in the communications industry”, said Sandra Rivera, vice president, Data Center Group and general manager, Network Platforms Group, Intel. “The projects in the 5G Algorithm Competition are great examples of how collaborative thinking can accelerate innovation in 5G development.”
“We feel very honored to participate in this inaugural 5G algorithm innovation competition,” said Dr. Yi Kang, Global VP of Spreadtrum Communications, “ For contesting research projects this time, the physical layer waveform, multiple access, the channel coding applied in physical layer technology of core wireless communication, all of which have always been key research projects of Spreadtrum 5G algorithm program. On the very positive side, the algorithm system designs submitted by the participating students have a relatively matured consideration of products. On the premises to meet the need and experience of customers, wireless communication technology will still be an important technology pillar in 5G era. Spreadtrum will continue to contribute our effort in China’s 5G standardization process.”
The 5G Algorithm Innovation Competition is part of the InnovateAsia 2015 FPGA Design Contest, an established engineering design contest for university students in APAC, fostering talent and driving innovation.
The Huawei Innovation Research Program (HIRP) provides support for the competition, demonstrating its commitment to innovation and developing future technologies as a leading communications company. Through the HIRP, Huawei will continue to enhance industry collaboration and strengthen knowledge-sharing to drive technological advancements.

About the Altera University Program
The Altera University Program supports schools who offer students  an education in engineering and digital technology. The support to universities comes in the form of hardware, software and teaching materials. The program sponsors conferences, workshops, and design contests for academics and students around the world. In addition, the program sponsors student design competitions, which have resulted in many innovative designs. More information on the Altera University Program is available at https://www.altera.com/support/training/university/overview.html

About Altera
Altera® programmable solutions enable designers of electronic systems to rapidly and cost effectively innovate, differentiate and win in their markets. Altera offers FPGA, SoC, and CPLD, and complementary technologies, such as power solutions to provide high-value solutions to customers worldwide. www.altera.com.