Dr. Trip Humphries

Software defined radios (SDR) have found widespread use at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) in both research and academic settings. In this talk we will discuss SDR in an electronic warfare (EW) application as well as SDR as a teaching aid for undergraduate engineering courses.

Realistic radar signals are required for EW system development and operator training. COTS SDR has been utilized to emulate various radar effects including waveform type (pulsed CW, LFM, and BPSK), waveform diversity (switching waveform types, waveform frequency, gain, and other radar parameters dynamically), and scan pattern effects of a radar searching/scanning a volume of space/ground. The software is written in Python, runs directly on the USRP embedded system of the USRP E312/E320, and is remotely operated via network connection.

While SDR is an immensely useful tool for wireless systems in the industrial and research sectors, it also provides a unique opportunity for application in post-secondary education. Low cost SDR hardware combined with open-source signal processing frameworks can be utilized in undergraduate coursework as a teaching aid for digital signal processing (DSP) and radio-frequency (RF) systems design. At Georgia Tech we have implemented a special topics course for undergraduate students which utilizes the Pluto SDR and GNU Radio to provide students hands on experience in these topics.

This talk will discuss the SDR radar systems emulator, its current capabilities, and future improvements. Application of SDR in an academic setting and how SDR can improve educational outcomes for undergraduate ECE students will also be discussed.

Biography:

Dr. James 'Trip' Humphries is a research engineer at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) in the Sensors and Electromagnetics Applications Laboratory (SEAL). He received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Central Florida (UCF), in 2010, 2012, and 2016, respectively, all in electrical engineering. He studied surface acoustic wave (SAW) RFID sensor technology as a Graduate Research Assistant at UCF and was a recipient of NASA Graduate Student Researchers Program Fellowship with the task of designing and implementing a passive, wireless SAW strain sensor. Before joining GTRI he was an R&D staff member at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and a radar signal processing engineer at Raytheon Missile Systems (RMS). He has authored over 15 publications on topics of SAW sensors and application of SDR. His current research interests include software radio applications, radar and EW systems design.