A. Gannon et al., “Cognitive Engine One: A Cross-Layer Framework for Autonomy in Multi-Provider Space Communications Environments”, Preprint, Oct. 2024. Open access on NTRS.

• We designed this software suite which automates all major steps in the process of space communications including: scheduling, link establishment, and data transfer. Tests in an emulation testbed showed the system prevented late deliveries and data loss due to storage exhaustion without human intervention.

A. Gannon, B. Schoenholz, J. Downey, J. Clapham., “Continuous Spacecraft Communications via Make-Before-Break Antenna Array Beam Steering”, IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), Denver, CO, Jun. 2024. Open access on NTRS.

• We demonstrated communications terminals using active phased array (APA) antennas can be used to provide continuous communications from a spacecraft to relay satellites. The APA forms a beam to the upcoming satellite before visibility to the receding satellite is lost, enabling uninterrupted connectivity for high-priority data.

A. Gannon, J. Downey, “Towards Gbps Downlinks from Low-Cost Active Phased Arrays”, IEEE Space Hardware and Radio Conference (SHaRC), San Antonio, TX, Jan. 2024. Open access on NTRS.

• We showed how an active phased array (APA)-based terminal with two independent 100MHz channels could be used with high-order modulations to reach 1Gbps during a ground station pass.

A. Gannon, J. Downey, C. Priscal, A. Salas, M. Murbach, “Cloud-Based Demodulation and Data Distribution of a Satellite Downlink”, IEEE Cognitive Communications for Aerospace Applications Workshop, Virtual, Jun. 2023. Open access on NTRS.

• We used GNU Radio and AWS services to automate demodulation and decoding of signals received during a satellite pass to an AWS Ground Station site.

A. Gannon, J. Downey, M. Koch, “Onboard doppler compensation for low-rate communications over commercial relay satellites”, 27th Ka and Broadband Communications Conference, Stresa, Italy, Oct. 2022. Open access on NTRS.

• We performed an extensive characterization of the performance of three commercial modems under Doppler conditions common in space communications. We then developed and tested a lightweight algorithm to pre-compensate for these effects in the spacecraft’s software-defined radio.

M. Piasecki, J. Downey, N. Pham, J. Nessel, A. Gannon, D. Zeleznikar, M. Koch, “Development and demonstration of a wideband RF user terminal for roaming between Ka-band relay satellite networks”, 38th International Communications Satellite Systems Conference (ICSSC), Washington, DC, Jul. 2021. Open access on NTRS.

• We developed a satellite communications terminal with wide tunable bandwidth and an SDR containing protocols for several relay satellite providers. We showed a single terminal could seamlessly roam between government and commercial services.

A. M. Gannon, D. J. Mortensen, M. T. Piasecki, J. A. Downey, “On-Orbit Validation of a Framework for Spacecraft-Initiated Communication Service Requests with NASA’s SCaN Testbed,” Technical Report, 2020-220519, Mar. 2020. Open access on NTRS.

• We performed on-orbit testing with a SDR testbed on the International Space Station to demonstrate that a low-rate direct-to-Earth link could be used to send requests for scheduling high-rate ground station passes.

A. Gannon G. Sklivanitis, P. P. Markopoulos, D. A. Pados, S. N. Batalama, “Semi-Blind Signal Recovery in Impulsive Noise with L1-Norm PCA,” Proc. 52nd Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems, and Computers, Pacific Grove, CA, USA, 2018, pp 477-481 Download Full Text*

• We investigated signal recovery in acoustic underwater systems using principal component analysis which is particularly robust to impulsive noise found in that environment, especially from snapping shrimp!

G. Sklivanitis, A. Gannon, K. Tountas, D. A. Pados, S. N. Batalama, S. Reichhart, M. Medley, N. Thawdar, U. Lee, J. Matyjas, S. Pudlewski, A. Drozd, A. Amanna, F. Latus, Z. Goldsmith, D. Diaz “Airborne cognitive networking: Design, development, and deployment,” IEEE Access, vol. 6, pp. 47217-47239, Jun. 2018. Open access at IEEE Xplore.

• We developed an adaptive communication system which uses spectrum sensing to continuously update its waveform for the current RF environment and dynamic backpressure routing to offload data efficiently. Testing showed the adaptive network maintained communications in the presence of interference which broke a non-adaptive baseline network.

G. Sklivanitis, A. Gannon, S. N. Batalama, and D. A. Pados, “Addressing next-generation wireless challenges with commercial software-defined radio platforms,” IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 54, no. 1, pp. 59-67, Jan. 2016. Full Text*.

• We wrote this paper as an overview of state-of-the-art capabilities around the time SDRs were seeing increasing adoption for research. My most-cited paper to date.

A. Gannon, “Adaptive and Intelligent Software-Radio Design for Robust Wireless Communications in Challenging Environments,” Ph.D. Dissertation, Dept. Electrical Eng., SUNY Buffalo, 2018. Download Full Text

• My dissertation! Culmination of nearly 6 years investigating novel signal processing and communications techniques for extreme environments.

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