Mark A. RICHARDS

Georgia Institute of Technology 
Georgia Tech Research Institute 
Sensors and Electromagnetic Applications Laboratory 
Radar Systems Division 
Principal Research Engineer   Appointed: 1993 
Head, Signal Processing Branch   Appointed: 1995 

Georgia Institute of Technology 
Adjunct Professor Appointed: 1989
Electrical & Computer Engineering 

Complete Biosketch
 
Address:
Georgia Institute of Technology 
Georgia Tech Research Institute 
Sensors & Electromagnetic Applications Laboratory 
Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0856 
United States		 Phone: (770) 528-7758 
Fax: (770) 528-7728 
E-mail: mark.richards@gtri.gatech.edu
Qualifications:
B.E.E., Electrical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1974 
M.S.E.E., Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, 1976 
Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1982 
 
Expertise:

My current fields of interest are as follows: 

  • radar and sonar signal processing
  • digital signal processing
  • radar systems
  • weather radar
  • signal reconstruction
  • computer-aided design of signal processors
  • signal processor benchmarking. 
My primary research activities are in two- and three-dimensional radar imaging; weather radar for prediction and detection of severe storms; sonar imaging; electronic attack and electronic protection of radar systems; and benchmarking of embedded digital signal processors. From 1993 to 1995 I served on leave as the Program Manager for Advanced Signal Processing inthe Electronic Systems Technology Office of the Advanced Research Projects Agency, where I was responsible for direction of the Rapid Prototyping ofApplication Specific Signal Processors (RASSP) program. RASSP is an ARPA/Tri-Service program intended to develop new computer-aided design tools, processor architectures, and design and manufacturing methodologies for embedded signal processors. From 1988 to 1993, I was Head of the Signal Processing Branch in the Modeling and Analysis Laboratory of the Georgia Tech Research Institute, involved in internal and external research in digital signal processing for radar systems. Research topics included Doppler beam sharpening and deconvolution-based radar resolution enhancement techniques, real-aperture imaging radar for landing systems, airborne MTI, airborne windshear detection by radar, radar processor architecture, and sonar signal classification using fractal techniques. The windshear processor work led to a NASA Group Achievement Award in 1993. At Lockheed from 1985 to 1988, I developed a data acquisition system for tower testing of an imaging MMW radar and radiometer, developed novel techniques for obtaining super resolution with noncoherent or forward-looking sensors, led the architectural design team fora VHSIC-class fast Fourier transform VLSI chip, and chaired the Lockheed Corporate Signal Processing Task Force in 1987. At Georgia Tech during the period 1982-1985, I managed or contributed to a number of projects related to millimeter wave radar and seeker systems and large ground-based phased array radar systems. 

In addition to this research activity, I have co-developed and teach a graduate academic course and several continuing education courses in radar signal processing and digital signal processing. I have served in many professional posts, including Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing from 1989 to 1993 and, currently, General Chair of the IEEE 2001 Radar Conference.

Other Expertise:

Academic Experience: 
  • Co-Developer and co-lecturer of Georgia Tech's ECE 6272, 'Fundamentals of Radar Signal Processing' graduate course
  • Twice taught Georgia Tech's ECE 6413, 'Digital Signal Processing'
  • Member of numerous Ph.D. qualifying exam, thesis proposal, and thesis defense committees in electrical engineering at Georgia Tech. 
Selected Professional Activities: 
  • General Chair, 2001 IEEE Radar Conference 
  • Co-Chair, Vector/Signal/image Processing Library (VSIPL) Forum 
  • GuestEditor, Special Issue on Rapid Prototyping, IEEE 1996 Design and Test of Computers, Fall 1996 (with V. Madisetti)
  • Associate Editor, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Transactions on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, 1989-1993
  • Technical Program Chairman, IEEE 1991 National Telesystems Conference
  • Chairman, Atlanta Section, IEEE, 1988-1989
  • Reviewer for several IEEE Transactions and other technical journals
  • Co-Organizer, 1996 Joint DoD Workshop on aCommon Operating Environment for Digital Signal Processors
  • Lecturer in National Technological University Video Seminar Series on Manufacturing Science and Technology, 1993
Awards: 
  • Georgia Tech Research Institute Fellow, 1997-present
  • Who's Who in the World, 2000-present; Who's Who in America, 1999-present; Who's Who in America, Science and Engineering, 1998 - present;Who's Who in America, South and Southwest, 1997-present
  • NASA Group Achievement Award, 1993
Business Experience: 
  • Consultant in sensor signal processing.

Memberships:

Eta Kappa Nu 
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 
Sigma Xi

Previous Positions:

1993-1995, Advanced Research Projects Agency, Program Manager. 
1988-1993, Georgia Institute of Technology, Senior Research Engineer. 
1985-1988, Lockheed Aeronautical Systems Company, Senior Scientist. 
1982-1985, Georgia Institute of Technology, Research Engineer II.

Sample Publications:

  1. W. W. Bonifant, Jr., M. A. Richards, and J. H. McClellan. Interferometric Height Estimation of the Seafloor via Synthetic Aperture Sonar. Proceedings 1999 Intl. Conf. on Signal Processing Applications and Technology (ICSPAT 99). Nov 1999.
  2. R. S. Janka, R. Judd, J. Lebak, M. A. Richards, and D. A. Schwartz. API and Product Status of the v1.0 Vector, Signal, and Image Processing Library (VSIPL). Proceedings 1999 High Performance Embedded Computing Workshop. Sep 1999.
  3. G. A. Showman, M. A. Richards, and K. J. Sangston. Comparison of Two Algorithms for Correcting Zero-Doppler Clutter in Turtable ISAR Imagery. Proceedings 36th Asilomar Conf. on Signals, Systems, and Computers. Nov 1998.
  4. Richards, M. A., Gadient, A. J., and Frank, G. A., Rapid Prototyping of Application Specific Signal Processors, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1997. 
  5. Richards, M. A., "Signal Processor Architecture for Pulse Train Processors", Section 11.7 in F.E. Nathanson, Radar Design Principles, second edition. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1991 . 
  6. Richards, M. A., "Synthetic Aperture Processing", Chapter 10, and "Doppler Processing", Chapter 8, in G.V. Morris, Airborne Pulsed Doppler Radar, 2nd Edition, Artech House, Norwood, Massachusetts, 1996 . 
  7. Schaffner, P., et al, "NASA Experimental Airborne Doppler Radar and Real Time Processor for Windshear Detection", Fourth Combined Manufacturers' and Technologists' Airborne Windshear Review Meeting, Williamsburg, Virginia, April 14-16, 1992 . 
  8. Morris, C. E., Hayes, M. H., and Richards, M. A., "Fast Reconstruction of Linearly Distorted Signals", IEEE Trans. Acoustics, Speech, & Sig Proc., pp. 1017-1025, July 1988 . 
Date of Last Update: August 11, 1999