DoD Projects

Status: Inactive

Dates: 2018 to 2022

Due to the sensitive nature of defence work, I cannot share additional details or images from these projects on my website.

Analog Electronics

Evaluated and integrated front ends for wired and RF communications systems, designing SPI and LVDS interfaces, writing automated tests in Python with BeagleBone Black controllers, and computing specifications including throughput, power consumption, and Packet Error Rate across a range of operating conditions.
Designed and tested UHF-band analog front-end PCBs in Altium, optimising for signal integrity, power consumption, thermal profile, and manufacturability.
Performed cascade analysis on RF transmit and receive paths to evaluate system gain, noise figure, link budget, and non-linearity.
Designed a custom low insertion-loss UHF-band high pass filter using RF passive components in ADS, iteratively refined with lab measurements.

Designed a simple spectrum analyser in embedded C by configuring an RF front end to provide signal strength measurements.
Designed and implemented an 802.11a PHY-layer transmitter in VHDL for the Epiq Matchstiq and Ettus E310 SDRs, including an IFFT block and complex state machine, verified against a commercial GNU Radio library.

Designed, simulated, fabricated, and tested custom UHF antennas, working directly with Air Force and Navy customers to solicit requirements, conduct field tests, and balance gain, bandwidth, directionality, polarisation, VSWR, size, weight, and cost. Used CST and HFSS simulation tools.
Characterised Rogers Corporation’s MAGTREX 555 magneto-dielectric material and applied it to UHF antenna miniaturisation.
Iterated and tested an electrically-steerable phased array, associated Python GUI, and integrated GNSS/INS navigation system.
Upgraded and refurbished terrestrial HF antennas at remote field sites.
Conducted electromagnetic interference and noise surveys and implemented mitigation strategies at remote field sites.

Reverse engineered and reconstructed digital acoustic waveforms to perform a vulnerability analysis on a Navy asset using C and GNU Radio.