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Dennis Akos

Professor Dennis M. Akos has a deep background in satellite navigation technology having pioneered the Global Positioning System (GPS)/Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) software radio implementation. He has been involved with GPS/GNSS related research for more than 20 years investigating all elements of the receiver from the antenna, front end radio design, signal processing and navigation solution. He was the co-founder of Nordnav Technologies, a start-up developing GPS/GNSS receivers for the mobile market, which was acquired for $70M by Cambridge Silicon Radio.

His Ph.D. dissertation was on the use of the software radio design philosophy for GPS receiver architectures. This was done at the Ohio University Avionics Engineering Center which has had strong connections for FAA related project. His first academic position was with Lulea Technical University in Sweden where he focused on radio architectures of all types from the antenna design, downconversion, mixing, and filtering, as well as amplification. While in Sweden he conducted research for Eurocontrol, investigating the potential of the VDL Mode 4 system. He returned to the US to the Stanford University GPS Laboratory and heavily involved in GPS/GNSS related research for the FAA's Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS) and Wide Area Augmentation Systems (WAAS). Since 2004 he has been a faculty member with the University of Colorado Boulder.

Since arriving in Boulder his research has had three main thrusts: 1) furthering the software radio concept for all satellite navigation constellations (GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, and Galileo); 2) use of the GPS/GNSS receiver for remote sensing applications (wind speed, soil moisture, vegetation growth, and atmospheric parameters) and autonomous vehicles; 3) GPS/GNSS receiver architectures for radio frequency interference mitigation as well as GPS/GNSS spoof detection and mitigation.

Education

  • Ph.D., Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ohio University, 1997
  • M.S., Mathematics, Ohio University, 1996
  • M.S., Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ohio University, 1992
  • B.S., with distinction, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ohio University, 1990

Professional Experience

  • 2017-Present, Professor, Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder
  • 2008-2017, Associate Professor, Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder
  • 2004-2008, Assistant Professor, Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder
  • 1999-2004, Research Associate, GPS Laboratory, Stanford University 
  • 1997-1999, Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, Lulea Institute of Technology 
  • 1990-1997, Graduate Associate, Avionics Engineering Center, Athens, OH

Awards (selected)

  • Fellow, Institute of Navigation (2021)
  • Institute of Navigation Thurlow Award (2009)
  • Samuel M. Burka Award for the outstanding paper of the 2005 Navigation Journal 
  • Best Paper at IEEE Position Location and Navigation Symposium (2002) 
  • Best Presentation Award, Institute of navigation GPS-ION (2000, 2001) 
  • Texas Instruments DSP Challenge Semi-Finalist Advising Professor (2000) 
  • FAA Excellence in Aviation Research (1997) 
  • William E. Jackson RTCA Award (1997) 
  • Gustavus E. Smith Award (1996)

Research Interests

  • RF Signal processing
  • RF interference
  • Integrated Navigation Systems
  • VHF modulation

Akos' Curriculum Vitae