REU Site: Undergraduate Research Experiences in Long Range Communications with Ham Radios, Cool Algorithms, and Innovative Antennas

University Of Arizona, Tucson AZ

Investigators

Abstract

This Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site will provide support for eight undergraduate students each summer (24 students over 3 years) to gain research experience under the mentorship of a team of experienced faculty and advanced graduate student researchers in topics related to high frequency (HF) long range wireless communications. Long range HF communications allow wireless communication over thousands of kilometers without the need for satellites, and are of immeasurable importance to military and government, aviation, air-to-ground communications, maritime services, public safety and civil service distress communications, space and satellite operations, weather stations, FM and TV broad casting, and many other communication needs. This REU site will provide participating students a high quality, immersive, and hands-on learning experience in this exciting area. Participants will receive coaching to prepare for graduate school and professional development, and they will be mentored into becoming independent creative thinkers and researchers. Participants will gain experience in scientific dissemination and communication, including publishing in professional conferences and journals, and giving scientific presentations. Long range HF communications work by the reflection of radio waves by the ionosphere layer of the atmosphere. These communications can travel around curvature of the earth, and work without the need for significant infrastructure like satellites, cellular networks, internet, etc. The challenge with HF communications is that propagation via the ionosphere may be unreliable, the ionospheric conditions may change very rapidly, and different frequencies have different propagation characteristics via the ionosphere. Successful communication depends on the time of day, location of users, selection of frequency, modulation, antenna type, and power level. This project will generate new solutions to key problems that will enable more dependable and efficient long range HF communications. Specifically this project will investigate and develop: (i) New designs for spectrum agile radios for high frequency communications that can switch communication parameters such as modulation, coding, pulse shape, equalizer, power, etc.; (ii) Machine learning algorithms that can learn the best communication parameters for changing channel conditions; (iii) Low profile antennas that can be used in HF communications; (iv) Software and algorithms to predict network level connections that are possible ahead of time; (v) Qualitative and quantitative Ionospheric communications models; (vi) Flexible and automatic antenna tuning circuits; and (vii) Smart algorithms that can learn from their past experiences in varying Ionospheric conditions, weather situations, time and location. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.