ANDRO Scientist Receives Award

ROME — The Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association recently named Dr. Jithin Jagannath of ANDRO Computational Solutions, LLC a recipient of the AFCEA International Meritorious Rising Star Award for Achievements in Engineering and the AFCEA 40 Under 40 Award.

Jagannath’s research led to his appointment as chief scientist of technology at ANDRO and the founding director of its Marconi-Rosenblatt AI/ML Innovation Lab in Rome, which continues to perform groundbreaking research in signal intelligence, waveform classification, and radio frequency fingerprinting towards new and innovative radio product development. One recent product developed and commercially launched by the AI/ML lab that Jagannath leads is ANDRO’s SPEARLink radio.

The AFCEA 40 Under 40 Award is given annually to 40 individuals ages 40 and younger for their significant contributions to the technical science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields by providing innovation, thought leadership, and support to their clients or organizations using information technology.

Jagannath also holds a position as part-time adjunct assistant professor at the University of Buffalo’s Electrical Engineering Department where he instructs virtual classes and shares his innovative research in wireless communications, machine learning, and data science with students pursuing STEM careers.

AFCEA is a member-based, non-profit association for professionals that provides highly sought-after thought leadership, engagement, and networking opportunities. The association has helped members advance information technology, communications, and electronics capabilities since 1946. Its main focus has been on cyber, command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence to address national and international security challenges.

Jagannath said he is proud of his lab’s accomplishments in applying innovative machine learning to solve some of the hardest problems in wireless communication and computer vision, a notable achievement that contributed to his AFCEA award selection. His lab has been at the forefront of developing a suite of first-of-kind signal intelligence solutions namely DeepSPEC, DeepeRFind, and DeepForecaster, all funded by the Department of Defense (DoD) just over the past year, the announcement said, adding these patent-pending technologies are unique as they strive to be lightweight for tactical edge deployment while outperforming the state-of-the-art.

As part of a Department of Homeland Security research effort, Jagannath’s lab also devised a technology that will provide 5G/6G systems the ability for secure spectrum sharing with Wi-Fi 6/6E. Jagannath envisions benefits to the DoD’s Beyond 5G networks where security will become crucial.

“Understanding and predicting the radio frequency spectrum using signal intelligence and then capitalizing on it to improve efficiency and security will keep us ahead of the game,” Jagannath said.

According to ANDRO’s CEO Dr. Andrew Drozd, the AFCEA organization viewed his innovations in AI/ML for wireless and the SPEARLink radio as Jagannath’s most noteworthy accomplishments, further adding that the same technology can be customized to serve any remote area that has limited broadband access.

“We are pleased that AFCEA has recognized Dr. Jagannath for his contributions and are grateful for the work he has done to leverage SPEARLink and other technologies in a variety of civilian applications such as drone delivery, telehealth, public safety, municipal services, and remote education,” said Drozd.

Beyond wireless communication, ANDRO’s Marconi-Rosenblatt lab has made considerable impacts using the power of AI-enabled computer vision to enhance autonomous drones for the U.S. Navy.

“We at ANDRO are very proud of Dr. Jagannath’s achievements and are inspired by his leadership as Chief Scientist and lab director, keeping in mind that the AFCEA awards are international recognitions and are highly competitive,” Drozd said.

The local Erie Canal Chapter of AFCEA will recognize Jagannath at an upcoming event.

In addition to his AFCEA recognitions, Jagannath is an IEEE Senior Member and recipient of the IEEE’s Region 1 Technological Innovation Award for contributions in machine learning techniques for the wireless domain. He has led more than ten SBIR and other federal/defense contracts for ANDRO issued by the U.S Army U.S. Navy, U.S. Special Operations Command, Department of Homeland Security, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

Jagannath is co-Inventor of 12 ANDRO patents both awarded and pending in the field of machine learning and wireless communication. He has published over 35 peer-reviewed articles in leading journals and conferences and is often invited to give scholarly talks, including keynote speeches, at leading international conferences and events globally.

Jagannath is an invited technical reviewer providing more than 100 paper reviews for leading journal and conference publications. He holds a doctorate in Electrical Engineering from Northeastern University, master’s of science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University at Buffalo and a bachelor’s degree in technology, electronics and communication engineering from the University of Kerala in India.

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