Michael C. Wicks, Ph.D.
Endowed Chair
Ohio Scholar for Sensor Exploitation and Fusion
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Dayton Distinguished Research Scientist University of Dayton Research Institute
300 College Park Dayton, OH 45469
Senior Scientist US Air Force (retired)

Relevant Experience

Dr. Wicks is a leading research scientist in remote sensing, signal processing, and systems engineering, with a current focus on distributed sensing and radio frequency technology. He has pursued a variety of research interests in his career, including: cognitive radar, radio frequency tomographic radar, counter explosive sensor technology, cognitive radar and radio, space object sensing, missile defense, deep earth probing radar, multi-dimensional adaptive processing for airborne and space based radar, ultra-wideband radio and radar, passive and active multi-static systems, and concealed weapons / contraband detection and carrier identification. He pioneered the concept of knowledge-based signal processing and waveform diversity, and has led national and international research teams on the design, development, and fielding of novel algorithms, architectures, and systems for remote sensing from space, air and surface platforms.

Recent Research

Sponsored research is currently focused on advanced algorithms for the detection and track processing of airborne targets obscured by wind farm clutter, as is research on spatially and spectrally diverse sensing for the automatic detection, identification, and feature exploitation of objects under cover, e.g. below ground, inside structures, or under foliage. Space object identification is also a topic of current research. The design and analysis of distributed radar for exoatmospheric surveillance is complimented by analysis and experiments for side-looking imaging and surface moving target indication radar. Recent research has resulted in the development of a mobile waveform diverse distributed MIMO radar system and a radio frequency tomography test bed at the University of Dayton. Research on integrated close-in sensing and long range wide area surveillance radar is addressing feature extraction, in addition to detection processing and track formation. Algorithms and architectures for the numerical and symbolic (heuristic) processing of sensor data is a primary focus of this research.
Dr. Wicks has published many papers, reports, chapters, books, and patents.

Professional Positions

United States Air Force
1981-2011 Research Scientist

University College London
2004-2009 Adjunct Professor School of Engineering

Cranfield University
2006-2011 Adjunct Professor Defence College of Management and Technology

University of Dayton
2011- Distinguished Research Scientist at UDRI
2012- Ohio Scholar for Sensor Exploitation and Fusion

Wright State University
2012- Adjunct Professor of Electrical Engineering

Education

AS             MVCC, Utica NY                                                        1979
BSEE        Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY            1981
MSEE        Syracuse University, Syracuse NY                         1985
PhD           Syracuse University                                                  1995
MAPA       Maxwell School at Syracuse University                 2000

Notable Professional Honors and Awards

• IEEE Nathanson Award to the Young Engineer of the Year, 1998
• IEEE Fellow, 1998
• US Air Force Research Laboratory Fellow, 1999
• Mohawk Valley Engineers Executive Council 1999 Engineer of the Year
• MVCC Alumni of the Year, 2001
• IEEE Warren White Award for Excellence in Radar Engineering, 2009
• IEEE Dennis J Picard Medal for Radar Technologies Applications 2013
• IEEE AESS Pioneer Award 2016
• IEEE AESS M. Barry Carlton Award 2017 (transactions paper published in 2013)

Selected Publications

• “Distributed Sensing and Tomography” IEEE 2016 Systems Conference, April 2016.
• “Radar Spectrum Engineering and Management: Technical and Regulatory Issues, Proc. IEEE, Vol 103, No. 1, Jan 2015.
• “Software-Defined-Radio-Based Wireless Tomography: Experimental Demonstration and Verification” IEEE Geosci. Remote Sensing Lett. 12 (1): 175-179, Jan 2015.
• Cognitive Networked Sensing and Big Data, Springer, 2013.
• Cognitive Radio Communications and Networking, John Wiley and Sons, 2012.
• “Imaging Under Irregular Terrain Using RF Tomography,” IEEE Trans. Geosci.Remote Sens., Vol 50, No. 9, Sept 2012.
• “Compressed Statistical Testing and Application to Radar”, 1st International Workshop on Compressed Sensing applied to Radar, CoSeRa 2012, Bonn Germany, 14-16 May 2012.
• Generalized Inner Product Method and Apparatus for Improved Detection and Discrimination, U.S. Patent 7,916,068, March 2011.
• “Pareto-Optimal Radar Waveform Design”, IET Journal of Sonar, Radar, and Navigation, June 2010
• “Radio Frequency Tomography for Tunnel Detection,” IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., Vol. GRS-48, No. 3, pp. 1128-1137, Mar. 2010.
• Sensors Technology and Advanced Signal Processing Concepts for Layered Warfare/Layered Sensing, AFRL-RY-RS-TR-2010-100, April 2010.
• Principles of Waveform Diversity and Design Textbook, July 2010, SciTech Publishing, co-editor.
• “Wide Area Below Ground Imaging via Lateral Wave RF Tomography”, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, June 2009.
• Multi-static Radar Signal Processing – Improved Interference Rejection, Tracking and Discrimination, Army Science Conference Dec 2008
• “Detection Performance using Frequency Diversity with Distributed Sensors”, IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, July 2008.
• “Concurrent Extraction of Target Range and Doppler Information by using Orthogonal Coding Waveforms”, IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, July 2007.
• “Space-Time Adaptive Processing: A Knowledge-Based Perspective for Airborne Radar”, IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, Special Issue on Knowledge-Based Systems, January 2006.
• “Knowledge-Based Radar Signal and Data Processing”, IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, Special Issue on Knowledge-Based Systems, January 2006.
• “Waveform Diversity for Distributed Aperture Radars – Experimental Verification” Fourth Tri-Service Waveform Diversity Workshop, November 2006.
• “KB-GLRT: exploiting knowledge of the clutter ridge in airborne radar”, IEE Proceedings – Radar, Sonar and Navigation, December 2005
• Smart Antennas, John Wiley & Sons, 2003.
• “Development of a Lower Confidence Limit for the Number of Signals”, IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, June 2003.
• “Performance Characterisation of Hybrid STAP Architecture Incorporating Elevation Interferometry”, IEE Proceedings – Radar, Sonar and Navigation, April 2002.
• “Wavelet Applications in Engineering Electromagnetics”, June 15, 2002, Artech House Publishers, Inc., Norwood MA, co-author.
• “Development of a Statistical Procedure for Detecting the Number of Signals in a Radar Measurement”, IEE Proceedings Radar, Sonar Navigation, April 2001.