News

Todd Humphreys, a professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at The University of Texas at Austin, is the recipient of the 2023 Johannes Kepler Award from the Institute of Navigation.

The Aviation Week Network recently announced the winners of this year’s 20 Twenties Award. WNCG student Hailey Nichols was among the students chosen for the class of 2022.

WNCG student Hailey Nichols won first place in the Graduate/Postdoc category at last month’s Female Founder Pitch competition. The event was hosted by the Kendra Scott Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute and the Texas Innovation Center.

The New Yorker feature "How Vulnerable is GPS?" discusses WNCG professor Todd Humphreys' journey uncovering and demonstrating security weaknesses in the Global Positioning System. Humphreys is a pioneer in the the study of Global Navigation Satellite Systems. His research group was the first to demonstrate cm-accurate RTK positioning through a smartphone antenna, and in 2012 they demonstrated the first successful spoofing of UAVs. Since then, Humphreys has examined real-world instances of spoofing and jamming that raise serious concerns about the ubiquitous technology.

Research done by WNCG alum Matthew Murrian was featured on the cover of the InsideGNSS January/February 2020 volume. Murrian, the lead author on the paper, conducted the work along with Lakshay Narula and Radionavigation Lab director Prof. Todd Humphreys. In 2017, the Radionavigation lab placed a custom software-defined receiver onboard the International Space Station as part of a larger effort to study GNSS signals in the low Earth orbit environment. Over a two-year period, the researchers analyzed data from the receiver and identified multiple sources of GNSS interference.

WNCG professor Todd Humphreys has received the Institute of Navigation’s (ION) “highest honor.” Humphreys was elected to the membership rank of Fellow at ION’s International Technical Meeting in January. He is one of only three recipients of the honor for 2020. Humphreys’ election cited his “significant and fundamental contributions to PNT security and precise GNSS positioning for the mass market, and for dedication to GNSS education and outreach.”

Each year, the UT Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) hosts a series of Senior Design Projects, which the undergraduate student teams present at the end of each semester during the Senior Design Open House. The day-long Open House event provides a unique opportunity for students to showcase and demonstrate their work. While WNCG consists mostly of graduate students, a select few undergraduates also engage in research projects and startups with WNCG faculty and students.

Just like Edison turned on the light bulb, the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and the Wireless Networking and Communications Group (WNCG) at UT Austin are switching kids on to the field of engineering. Part of a STEM program geared towards middle school and high school students, the Edison Lecture Series celebrates fun over fundamentals and enables kids to have fun with science.

Construction began in Fall 2013 on the new Engineering Education and Research Center (EERC) scheduled for completion by the start of the Fall 2017 semester. At 430,000 square feet, the new building will house interdisciplinary research labs, teaching labs and offices, Student Affairs, the Richard W. McKinney Engineering Library and the Cockrell School’s largest department, Electrical and Computer Engineering.