Speakers: Mr. Tanah L. Barchichat and Mr. Sean M. Nowlan

Speakers' Title and Affiliation: Division Chief & Research Engineer, Georgia Tech Research Institute

Seminar Title:
Part I-Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) Overview
Part II-History and Applications of Software Defined Radio (SDR)

Abstract:
Part I- A brief introduction of GTRI, its labs and key research contributions. The introduction exposes students to practical ECE disciplines and applications.

Part II- Modern digital signal processing (DSP) software and the proliferation and increased power of commodity computing systems and digitizers have driven the development of a software approach to wireless technology. Rather than relying on specialized hardware designed for specific wireless protocols or functions, SDR allows the computing resources of commodity processors to execute software implementations of wireless processing algorithms. This approach greatly simplifies the hardware interface to the RF spectrum and provides significant flexibility. SDR technology enables rapid prototyping and development cycles and functional reconfigurability. SDR will play a primary role in emerging dynamic spectrum access and adaptive and cognitive radio technologies.

Speaker Bios:

Mr. Tanah Barchichat earned his B.S. degree in electrical engineering with honors at Georgia Tech in 2000 and received his M.S. degree in electrical and computer engineering with a focus on communications and electromagnetics in 2003. Mr. Barchichat has worked at the Georgia Tech Research Institute since 1996; first as a co-op then as a full-time engineer in 2000. Much of Mr. Barchichat’s research includes tactical radio assessments including electronic attack and signal analysis, and configuring and deploying cellular network communication systems for his customers. Currently, Mr. Barchichat oversees the Communications, Systems and Spectrum Division in the Information and Communications Lab in GTRI. 

The division is comprised of about 25 engineers who model, design, integrate, and deploy Radio Frequency (RF) communication systems and networks.  Cutting edge research work includes customizing and deploying small scale commercial cellular and satellite networks, developing software defined radio applications to improve link performance and increase spectrum efficiency, implementing and integrating cellular systems in a tactical environment, and modeling communication environments to test other tactical systems.
 

Mr. Sean Nowlan graduated from Lafayette College with honors with a B.S. degree in electrical and computer engineering in 2007. Mr. Nowlan earned his M.S. degree in electrical and computer engineering at Georgia Tech in 2011 with a focus on communications and signal processing. Mr. Nowlan has been with the Georgia Tech Research Institute since 2010, first working as a Tech Temp before joining the GTRI research faculty in 2011. His research includes adaptive communications systems design, waveform and RF signal generation and analysis, and distributed software-defined radio (SDR) applications, command, and control. Mr. Nowlan has experience and interests in a wide range of engineering disciplines including SDR, computer and network security, wireless communications and networking, digital signal processing, software and hardware development, and embedded systems design. Mr. Nowlan started the SDR Community of Interest (SDR-COI) at GTRI and is an active contributor to GNU Radio, an open-source software radio and signal processing suite.