SpectrumX leadership participate in URSI National Radio Science Meeting

Christina Clark on February 23, 2023

Four of six SpectrumX attendees at the URSI NRSM 2023 event are pictured in front of an event sign. From left are Phil Erickson, SpectrumX Research Partner and Principal Research Scientist at MIT Haystack Observatory; Scott Palo, SpectrumX Associate Director and Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder; Zoya Popovic, SpectrumX Research Partner and Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder; and Bobby Weikle, SpectrumX Steering Committee Chair, Radio and Network Technologies Lead, and Professor at the University of Virginia.

By Christina Clark

In early January, radio science researchers from across the United States and beyond came together for the National Radio Science Meeting (NRSM) at the University of Colorado Boulder. The meeting was attended by six SpectrumX members, who hosted workshops and participated in multiple panel discussions. The NRSM is sponsored by the U.S. National Committee for the International Union of Radio Science.

“The International Union of Radio Science (URSI) is more than a century old and is the premiere global forum for radio science theory and applications,” said Phil Erickson, SpectrumX Research Partner, and Associate Director; Principal Research Scientist, Geospace Group Lead at MIT Haystack Observatory. “This meeting is characterized by small sessions and an emphasis on interactive discussion.”

The meeting sessions offered a variety of subjects. Throughout the event, SpectrumX members’ expertise was able to be shared with others as they attended panels and discussions to learn more from others.

According to Erickson, the meeting’s topics covered a wide range of radio science-related domains, including electromagnetics, antenna design, radio frequency propagation, communications techniques, consumer device improvements, and use cases from the scientific community for radio and radar remote sensing of Earth and near-Earth space.

During the meeting, Bobby Weikle, SpectrumX Steering Committee Chair, Radio and Network Technologies Lead, and Professor at the University of Virginia, led a workshop on device and circuit characterization at millimeter and submillimeter bands above 100 GHz. According to Weikle, it covered the emerging technologies for measuring those components as they are being developed for both scientific uses and 5G/6G/next-G systems. Weikle presented new broadband measurement probes for wideband amplifiers, on-wafer noise characterization, and work on extending software-defined radio capabilities beyond 40 GHz. 

Bobby Weikle, SpectrumX Steering Committee Chair and Radio and Network Technologies Lead, and Professor at University of Virginia, held a workshop at NRSM 2023 on device and circuit characterization at millimeter and submillimeter bands above 100 GHz. Bobby stands at the front of a classroom, at a podium, presenting.

“With a focus on radio science, SpectrumX participation in URSI’s broad range of topics provided a key set of opportunities to learn about the latest U.S. radio science applications and technology developments in the radio wave modeling, theory, and applications space,” said Erickson. “These ideas and discussions inherently foster connections between different users of the radio spectrum, and these connections are at the heart of SpectrumX’s mission as an NSF Spectrum Innovation Initiative center.”

The meeting was also attended by Scott Palo, SpectrumX Associate Director and Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder; Al Gasiewski, SpectrumX Research Partner and Professor at the University of Colorado; Frank Lind, SpectrumX Research Partner and Research Engineer at MIT Haystack Observatory; and Zoya Popovic, SpectrumX Research Partner and Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. Popovic is the Chair of Women in Radio Science Chapter and U.S. National Committee for URSI, as well as a URSI IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society Representative.

The annual meeting is hosted by the International Union of Radio Science, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the National Academies of Sciences, and the U.S. National Committee for the International Union of Radio Sciences.

Learn more about SpectrumX: About SpectrumX

Featured image: Four of six of the SpectrumX attendees at the January URSI NRSM 2023 meeting. From left are Phil Erickson, Scott Palo, Zoya Popovic, and Bobby Weikle. Photo provided.

Left image: Bobby Weikle presents at URSI NRSM 2023. Photo provided.

About SpectrumX

SpectrumX is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as part of its Spectrum Innovation Initiative, under grant number AST 21-32700. SpectrumX is the world’s largest academic hub where all radio spectrum stakeholders can innovate, collaborate, and contribute to maximizing social welfare of this precious resource.

To learn more about SpectrumX, please visit spectrumx.org.

Contact:
Christina Clark, Research Communications Specialist
SpectrumX / Notre Dame Research / University of Notre Dame
cclark26@nd.edu / 574.631.2665
spectrumx.org