News Archive
Congratulations to ECE/ARRC master's student Cora DeFrancesco on being awarded and selected into the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). As the country’s oldest fellowship program of its kind, the GRFP recognizes and directly supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines who are pursuing research-based masters and doctoral degrees at accredited United States institutions.
Fellows share in the prestige and opportunities of being selected, including a three-year annual stipend, opportunities for international research and professional development, and the freedom to conduct their own research at any accredited U.S. institution. They are crucial to maintaining and advancing the nation's technological infrastructure and national security, as well as contributing to the economic well-being of society at large.
Cora's NSF GRFP proposal was focused on the idea of combining the power of distributed navigation and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging techniques as a translatable technology and testbed for future space-based radio telescope missions. The fundamental research question being asked is “How can a distributed network of several cooperative linked radars be precisely located in a GPS-denied environment to achieve high-resolution space-based imaging?" Cora plans to investigate the feasibility of a system containing a star tracker as an alternative navigational system input, evaluate different estimation filters to combine information from heterogeneous sources, and finally design a cooperative distributed navigation prototype system for a next-generation, space-based Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) concept. A network of cooperative and coherent CubeSat based radars would allow for extremely large baselines (synthetic apertures) with faster revisit times to enable unprecedented image clarity of astronomical objects. Ms. DeFrancesco is a masters student advised by Dr. Jay McDaniel and currently plans to continue her Ph.D. studies at the University of Oklahoma after her masters.
ARRC professors, Drs. Tian Yu and Robert Palmer, recently participated in the 6th Global Summit of GADRI (Global Alliance Disaster Research Institute) in Kyoto, Japan. The goal of GADRI is to bring awareness and provide solutions to reduce the risk of global disasters.
Gokhan is a Ph.D. student in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, advised by Dr. Hjalti Sigmarsson.
How long have you been part of the ARRC:
"It has been about four years that I have been at the ARRC."
Any scholarships/journal awards/publications ect. that you have received:
• William Barkov Scholarship (3 times)
• Ph. Robinson Scholarship
• Gallogly College of Engineering Scholarship
• 2nd place paper in the student paper competition at WAMICON conference, 2022.
Current Research:
"Two different projects. As a student: Integrated filters for the Horus Antenna Panel, As a co-PI: Active, Tunable, and On-chip microwave filters for communication systems and Radar (Funded by Texas Instruments Corp)."
What do you like to do in your spare time:
"I really enjoy Argentinian tango dancing, playing drums on my small portable drum kit, travelling, and spending time with friends."
Plans for after graduation:
"I am considering of switching to industry as a core researcher and chip designer."
Dr. Jay McDaniel, ECE Assistant Professor and member of the ARRC, has received a prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award from the National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs.
This five-year project will allow the McDaniel Microwave Group to develop a custom unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV-based radar suite with sophisticated signal processing techniques to measure the depth and distribution of snow and ice to support actionable risk management strategies and socioeconomic resiliency from snow-related weather events.
Read more here.
Yoon is a Ph.D. student in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, advised by Dr. David Schvartzman.
How long have you been part of the ARRC:
"I joined ARRC in October 2021."
Any scholarships/journal awards/publications ect. that you have received:
• Award: 2022 IEEE International Symposium on Phased Array Systems and Technology Student Paper Award (Second Place)
• Publication: "Kim, Yoon-SL, et. al., Fast Adaptive Beamforming Using Deep Learning for Digital Phased Array Radars."
Current Research:
"I've studied machine learning and digital beamforming for phased array radars. I built a new deep learning algorithm to perform fast adaptive digital beamforming for my Masters thesis."
What do you like to do in your spare time:
"I have two dogs, Bee and Cream, and I like to spend most of my free time with them. We go for a walk, hike, and swim."
Plans for after graduation:
"I just defended my thesis this semester, Fall 2022, and plan to continue for Ph.D. with David Schvartzman. I'm very excited to start a long new journey with him!"
Dr. Jorge Salazar Cerreno, ECE Associate Professor and member of the ARRC, was honored recently with the maximum distinction of Doctor Honoris Causa by the Universidad Antenor Orrego in Peru.
In a ceremony hosted by the ARRC on November 9, graduate student Rachael Cross was the recipient of the 2022 Weathernews Inc. Scholarship.
The $5000 award, established in 2017 to enhance advanced research and development of radar technology, is presented annually to an outstanding ARRC student studying weather radar, observations of the atmosphere, data analysis, and implementation.
Pictured presenting the award to Rachel are (l. to r.) Michihiro Teshiba, Weathernews Inc., Berrien Moore, Dean of the College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences, and Bob Palmer, Executive Director of the ARRC.
A team of scientists from the ARRC, the School of Meteorology, the Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations (CIWRO), and NSSL deployed multiple radar systems to collect data from the cold front that passed through the OKC metro area on Friday, November 4.
The RaXPol radar collected polarimetric data from 1601 - 1934 UTC, including several RHI scans approximately normal to the cold front and several PPI volume scans as well. According to the Norman Mesonet station, which was in view to the SW, the cold front’s passage over the deployment site occurred at approximately 1730 UTC. The teams felt the temperature drop 20-25 °F over an approximate time of 5 - 10 seconds following the wind shift. Simultaneous data was collected with the research WSR-88D (KOUN) and the mobile NOAA X-POL (NOXP) polarimetric radars.
The team was led by Dr. David Schvartzman, who coordinated with Drs. Howie Bluestein, David Bodine, and Valery Melnikov, to conduct the multi-frequency radar observations of the cold front and surrounding convective cells. Several students from the School of Meteorology, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and others affiliated with the ARRC, participated in the data collection experiment. The data will be used to conduct a dual-frequency / dual-polarization analysis with ARRC, SoM, CIWRO, and NSSL investigators collaborating to bring needed expertise together