EE Junior Wins Student Poster Competition  

Brian Richards, a junior in the Department of Electrical Engineering, won the student poster competition [the individual student category] at the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Indiana/Illinois Section Meeting on April 2 at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill.

Richards’ poster focused on “Sensing without Sensors: Sensorless Motion Detection with Wireless Networks.” Using light-emitting diodes, a buzzer, a Java program, and MICA2 motes — part of the Berkeley family of motes, his project showed how a wireless signal could function as a motion detector. The practical implications of the program are that actual sensors would not be necessary, saving time and money for many commercial applications. For example, a sensorless system could be used in residential wireless networks to provide the precise time of a break-in to law enforcement officers.

This summer Richards is interning with Boeing Integrated Defense Systems in St. Louis. He is working on the Mission Management Computer for the J-UCAS X-45C, a highly advanced unmanned drone capable of air-to-ground attacks. This summer he is assembling computers, developing test procedures, and executing environmental stress tests.

During the academic year Richards works in the research group of Assistant Professor Martin Haenggi. Other undergraduates in the group include Joshua Henderson, Michael Marchand, Brian Stein, and Kristen Woyach; graduate student Daniele Puccinelli assists the team.

Copyright 2005. University of Notre Dame.