Significant research in the field of communications engineering has been conducted in the University of Oulu since 1986. World-wide renowed Centre for Wireless Communications (CWC) was founded in 1995 as a research unit of the Telecommunication Laboratory.

Currently, there are four research groups operating in conjunction with the Department of Communications Engineering:

• Communication Signal Processing (CSP)
• Radio Access Technologies (RAT)
• Internetworking (INT)
• Wireless Systems (CWC)

Infotech Oulu is an umbrella organisation of the research activities in focus area Wireless Communication Systems.