Pratt
October 28, 2022

Dr. Thomas Pratt: Radio Frequency Polarization Dispersion

Event Details

Date & Time

Friday, Oct 28, 2022 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM


Event Link

More about the Renouard Lectures


Department

School of Engineering & Applied Science

Electrical Engineering program


Cost

Free


Location

Bollier 204


Contact/Registration

seas@gonzaga.edu


Event Type & Tags

  • Academics

About This Event

Polarization-Based Architectures from both Transmit and Receive Perspectives

When signals pass through multipath channels, a key phenomenon observable to a coherent multi-port receiver is coherent signal dispersion (CSD). One form, polarization mode dispersion, is well known in optical communications but not well known to the wireless community.

Coherent multiple-input and multiple-output (C-MIMO) technology, which leverages CSD, has been applied to communications, radar, remote medical sensing, optical imaging, cyber security, gas turbine engine monitoring, and health monitoring equipment.

Dr. Pratt will describe experiments that led to the observation of RF polarization dispersion, and then will discuss some of the more recent advances and applications of the technology.

About the Speaker

Dr. Pratt is a Research Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. He heads the Radio Frequency (RF) Communications and Sensing Laboratory, which consists of research engineers, administrative staff, and doctoral students. His research revolves around multi-port RF systems, especially physical layer issues that exploit propagation phenomena. His laboratory conducts research on projects for applications such as radar, communications, and sensing systems, and supports technology transition efforts for medical monitoring, cyber security, and industrial equipment monitoring applications.

His group has acquired tremendous experimental resources, including two 9-ton field research vehicles, multiple National Instruments C-MIMO systems, Elistair tethered drones, wideband channel emulators and digital sampling scopes, coherent optical communications lab equipment, and multiple custom 16x16 C-MIMO systems for aerospace applications. He has received over $15M in research and equipment grants between 2010 and 2022, and is expecting $1.2M in awards over the coming months.

Dr. Pratt completed his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1999; he worked at the Georgia Tech Research Institute for 23 years as a research engineer before joining Notre Dame in 2008. Dr. Pratt holds 13 patents related to his research.

He is always interested in meeting 91勛圖厙 students who may want to earn a PhD at Notre Dame in either radar, communications, and/or remote sensing.