Dr. Dennis Derickson of California Polytechnic

The LoRa (Long Range) and LORAWAN communication systems hardware and software pioneered by the company SemTech (https://www.semtech.com/) and the Lora Alliance (https://lora-alliance.org/) have created a robust application space. The LoRa standard offers low data-rate packet communication with the capability to support high path-loss links using the ISM bands (915 MHz for example). This talk will cover the basics of LoRa and then go into application development that is being done at Cal Poly in collaboration with the company OWL integrations (https://www.project-owl.com/). The talk will feature example link tests for various terrains including mesh networking. A live demonstration will also be given for the LORA systems we are designing.

Biography:

Dennis Derickson received his BS, MS and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from South Dakota State University (1981), the University of Wisconsin- Madison (1982) and the University of California – Santa Barbara in 1992. He joined the research and development laboratories of Hewlett Packard (HP) in Santa Rosa, CA in 1982. 1980‘s project development activities included spectrum analyzer and vector network analyzer electronic measurement instrumentation. His Ph.D. work (1988-1992) involved design, fabrication and test of single-chip pulsed semiconductor lasers for data communication applications. Dr. Derickson managed multiple project teams at HP for high-speed communication test systems in the 1990s. He moved into the director of product marketing role at a start-up company called Cierra Photonics in Santa Rosa, CA in 2000. After 21 years in industry, he joined the Electrical Engineering Department at California Polytechnic State University in 2005. He served as department chair from 2010 to 2020. Research activities have focused on applications of semiconductor lasers, wireless communication systems, and rf/microwave/mm-wave electronics. He is the editor of two books; Fiber Optics Test and Measurement (1997) and Digital Communication Test and Measurement (2008). With many collaborators he has created 80 publications and 7 patents. Dr. Derickson is a Professional Engineer in the State of California and enjoys helping others with his expertise.

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