Guido Vannucchi

Interview

• "The history of television digital" (Rome, 09/04/98)

Biography

Born in 1933, Guido Vannucchi graduated in 1958 in Electronic Engineering from the University of Bologna (http://www.unibo.it ). In 1963 he obtained a MSc in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. In 1971 he qualified as a university lecturer in Electrical Communications. He taught at the University of Bologna as a lecturer then as professor until 1969. He later taught many courses at the University of Bologna and the Polytechnic of Milan in the fields of telecommunications, economics and company management.

In 1960 he joined Telettra as a planner until, in 1970, he was appointed director of the Transmission Laboratory. In 1982 he became Vice-Director and in 1984 Director General of the company. From 1990, when Telettra was sold by FIAT to the ALCATEL group, he acted as strategic consultant to various Italian communications companies. He also promoted the Collana Scientifica Telettra, in which numerous important scientific and educational works were published, many of which he edited. He has been Vice Director General of RAI since 1996.

His many technical, scientific and organizational activities include important contributions in the telecommunications sector: the first transistorised coaxial system in Europe; the introduction of non-conventional radio links (injection repeater); the study and establishment of the first system for the coexistence of analogue digital systems on the same carrier (CODAN); leading the study and establishment of the first digital radio link systems which made Telettra a world leader in this sector and the research, with several universities, of new methods of digital modulation.

At the end of the 80s, Guido Vannucchi coordinated the world's first digital compression system for television signals, which became the basis of the current international standard (MPEG). He also promoted the various applications using the most advanced OFDM modulation systems for digital radio distribution (DAB), and terrestrial digital television distribution (DVB-T) and ADSL, systems destined to become European standards.

Guido Vannucchi has always been convinced of the benefits of cooperation between the industrial and academic worlds, as a fundamental element in the development of Italian industry, and has always sustained that know-how is an important capital, not only for a university but also in industry.