Frans M.J. Willems was born in Stein, The Netherlands, in 1954. He received the MSc degree in Electrical Engineering from the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, The Netherlands, and the PhD degree from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, in 1979 and 1982 respectively. In 1982 he joined the Electrical Engineering Department of the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, where he is a professor now. Since 1999 he is an advisor for Philips Research Laboratories, Eindhoven, for subjects related to information theory.

Dr. Willems received the Marconi Young Scientist Award in 1982. From 1988 to 1990, he served as Associate Editor for Shannon Theory for the IEEE Transactions on Information Theory. From 2002 to 2006 he was Associate Editor for Information Theory for the European Transactions on Telecommunications. He is co-recipient of the 1996 IEEE Information Theory Society Paper Award for a paper in which the Context-Tree Weighting Algorithm was proposed. From 1998 to 2000 he was a member of the Board of Governors of the IEEE Information Theory Society. Since 2005 Dr. Willems is an IEEE Fellow. He was Counselor of the IEEE Student Branch Eindhoven from 2007-2014, and is Chairman of the IEEE Benelux Chapter on Information Theory since 2007. Dr. Willems received a 2011 Best Paper Award from the IEEE Signal Processing Society for the paper “Biometric Systems: Privacy and Security Aspects.” In 2014-2015 Dr. Willems was a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Information Theory Society.

Dr. Willems has contributed more than two hundred journal and conference papers. He holds several patents.

Publications (Selected)

[1] F.M.J. Willems, “The feedback capacity region of a class of discrete memoryless multiple access channels (Corresp.),” in IEEE Trans. on Info. Theory, January 1982.
[2] F.M.J. Willems and E. van der Meulen, “The discrete memoryless multiple-access channel with cribbing encoders,” in IEEE Trans. on Info. Theory, May 1985.
[3] F.M.J. Willems and E. van der Meulen, “Partial feedback for the discrete memoryless multiple access channel (Corresp.),” in IEEE Trans. on Info. Theory, March 1983.
[4] F.M.J. Willems, “The discrete memoryless multiple access channel with partially cooperating encoders,” in IEEE Trans. on Info. Theory, May 1983.
[5] F.M.J. Willems and E. van der Meulen, and J. Schalkwijk. “Generalized feedback for the discrete memoryless multiple access channel,” in Proc. 21th Allerton Conf. Comm., Contr. and Comp, 1983.
[6] F.M.J. Willems, “On multiple access channels with feedback (Corresp.),” in IEEE Trans. on Info. Theory, November 1984.
[7] A. Hekstra and F.M.J. Willems, “Dependence balance bounds for single-output two-way channels,” in IEEE Trans. on Info. Theory, Jan. 1989.
[8] F.M.J. Willems, “Totally asynchronous Slepian-Wolf data compression,” in IEEE Trans. on Info. Theory, Jan. 1988.
[9] F.M.J. Willems, “The maximal-error and average-error capacity region of the broadcast channel are identical: A direct proof”, in Problems of Contr. and Info. Theory, Dec. 1990.
[10] F.M.J. Willems, “Universal data compression and repetition times,” in IEEE Trans. on Info. Theory, Jan. 1989.
[11] F.M.J. Willems, and A. Vinck “Repeated recording for an optical disk,” in Proc. 7th Symp. Info. Theory in the Benelux, 1986.
[12] A. Wyner and J. Ziv, “Some asymptotic properties of the entropy of a stationary ergodic data source with applications to data compression,” in IEEE Trans. on Info. Theory, , Nov. 1989.
[13] A. Wyner and J. Ziv, “The sliding-window Lempel-Ziv algorithm is asymptotically optimal,” in Proc. of the, June 1994.
[14] F.M.J. Willems, Y. Shtarkov and T. Tjalkens, “The context-tree weighting method: basic properties,” in IEEE Trans. on Info. Theory, May 1995.
[15] F.M.J. Willems, Y. Shtarkov and T. Tjalkens, “Context weighting for general finite-context sources,” in IEEE Trans. on Info. Theory, Sept. 1996.
[16] F.M.J. Willems, “The context-tree weighting method: extensions,” in IEEE Trans. on Info. Theory, March 1998.
[17] F.M.J. Willems, “Coding for a binary independent piecewise-identically-distributed source,” in IEEE Trans. on Info. Theory, Nov. 1996.
[18] T. Ignatenko and F.M.J. Willems, “Biometric Systems: Privacy and Secrecy Aspects,” in IEEE Trans. on Info. Forensics and Security, Dec. 2009.
[19] M. Van Dijk and F.M.J. Willems, “Embedding Information in Grayscale Images,” in Proc. of the 22nd Symp. on Info. and Comm. Theory in the Benelux, May. 2001.
[20] T. Kalker and F.M.J. Willems, International Conference on Digital Signal Processing Proceedings DSP, July 2002.
[21] F.M.J. Willems and T. Kalker, “Reversible Embedding Methods,” in Proc. of the annual Allerton Conf. on Comm. Contr. and Comp., Oct. 2002.
[22] J. Bergmans, F.M.J. Willems and G. Kerpen, “On the performance of data receivers with a restricted detection delay,” in Trans. on Info. Theory, June 1994.
[23] A. Gorokhov and F.M.J. Willems, “Enhancing the Capacity of Layered MIMO Transceivers via Rate-matched Encoding,” in Proc. Of the annual Allerton Conf. on Comm. Contr. and Comp., Oct. 2002.
[24] F.M.J.Willems, and J. Wuijts, “A pragmatic approach to shaped coded modulation,” in IEEE 1st Symp. on Commun. and Veh. Technol. in the Benelux, 1993.

Patents (Selected)

[P1] US 5,864,308. “System, Coding Section, Arrangement, Coding Apparatus, and Method” (assignee: Royal KPN)
[P2] US 5,986,591. “Context Tree Algorithm Method and System”. (assignee: Royal KPN)
[P3] US 7,109,894. “Encoding and Decoding a Media Signal With Low and High Quality Versions.” (Assignee: Philips)
[P4] US 7.392,453 “Embedding Auxiliary Data in an Information Signal” (Assignee: Philips)
[P5] US 7,633,923. “Transmission System For Transmitting An Information Signal Via A Plurality of Subchannels From A Transmitter To A Receiver.” (Assignee: Philips)
[P6] US 8,122,260. “Shaping Classification Boundaries in Template Protection Systems” (Assignee: Genkey)
[P7] US 8,151,168. “Method, Apparatus and System For Error Detection and Selective Retransmission.” (Assignee: Philips)
[P8] US 8,588,320. “Rotated and Scaled Alamouti Coding” US 2006/0075240 ”Lossless Data Embedding” (Assignee: Philips)
[P9] US10523480B1. “K-bit enumerative sphere shaping of multidimensional constellations” (Assignee: NXP)
[P10] US10554398B2. “Cryptographic key production from a physical unclonable function” (Assignee: Intrinsic ID)
[P11] US 2007/0183455 “Method of Inserting Digital Watermarks in One-Bit Audio Files” (Assignee: Philips)
[P12] US 2008/0032651 “Relay For Multi-Carrier Wireless Communication System” (Assignee: Philips)
[P13] EP 2323327 and US20110116515 “System and method for demodulating and decoding a differentially encoded COFDM modulation code using two dimensional code blocks” (Assignee: NXP)
[P14] US20190052511A1 “Encoder Input Selector” (Assignee: NXP)
[P15] EP3734320A1 “Radar Sensing” (Assignee: NXP)