The IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology Society (MTT-S) has awarded Jason Merlo, an Electrical Engineering Ph.D. student at Michigan State University, with a 2023 MTT-S Graduate Fellowship.
Merlo is a student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering’s Distributed Electromagnetics Theory and Application (DELTA) sub-group of the Electromagnetics Research Group (EMRG). He works under the direction of Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Jeffrey Nanzer.
“I was really shocked and excited,” Merlo said. “It was an honor to have received this award and to know that my work was found interesting to the society.”
The IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology Society (MTT-S), with more than 11,000 members and 190 worldwide chapters, works to promote microwave theory and its different applications within the microwave engineering profession.
Merlo is one of 12 recipients of the prestigious fellowship this year and will be recognized at the annual IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium in San Diego, California, in June. His research on radar systems will receive $6,000 in support, as part of the award.
“My work primarily revolves around the synchronization of radar systems, specifically wirelessly distributed radar systems,” he explained. “If you had a cluster or swarm of drones and you wanted them to operate together as if they were one big radar system, it requires the communication or the coordination between all of those platforms.”
This coordination means ensuring that the drones or satellites are entirely in sync, from what direction they are flying in to keeping their clocks ticking at the same time.
Merlo has been a student in MSU Engineering since 2014. During his undergraduate years, he co-created and led the Student Organized Autonomy Research (SOAR) Group, which participated in autonomous driving competitions.
He received a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering in 2018 and chose to stay at MSU for his graduate degree because of its electronics program.
“The group is so collaborative, and it works across multiple professors, and that was something unique to MSU,” he said. “The opportunity to work on radar systems isn’t available everywhere. I am interested in working on sensing and perception system for robotics and electromagnetics.”
Merlo expects to use the fellowship toward new equipment in his experiments. He said he believes the recognition and funding will draw attention toward the mid and short-range radar systems he specializes in, which is a newer area of research in comparison to long-range radar.
“There’s obviously a long history of long-range radar systems for air defense,” Merlo said. “In robotics and autonomous driving, [mid and short range] allows you to go through inclement weather like fog or rain or snow a little bit better… it provides a unique perspective of the environment,” he added.
Written by College of Engineering student writer Lia Bergin.