Yan Zhang

Professor

About

Yan Zhang received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Beijing Institute of Technology, China in 1998 and 2001, respectively, all in electrical engineering. He received Ph.D. of engineering from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln in 2004.

He has been working on innovative radar and radio technologies since 1998. From 2004 to 2006 he worked as a research scientist in Intelligent Automation, Inc., MD, where he conducted R&D for various government and commercial contracts. Representative technologies developed include ultra-fast monopulse radar using stochastic waveform, See-and-Avoid collision avoidance radar for UAV, as well as high-speed digital interface between soft-core microprocessor and video ASIC.

Since 2007, Zhang serves as a faculty member in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK. He continues his research in OU’s Intelligent Aerospace Radar Team (IART).

Research Interests

Intelligent radio and radar sensing
RF-Microwave systems and instrumentation
Random signal and Low-Probability-of-Intercept (LPI) radar
Real-time system implementation on FPGA and DSP

Education

Ph.D. of Electrical Engineering (2004)
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
M.S.E.E of Electrical Engineering (2001)
Beijing Institute of Technology
B.S. of Electrical Engineering (1998)
Beijing Institute of Technology

Experience and Awards

2018.7 - Professor, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
President Associates Presidential Professorship (since 2015)
Faculty Director of Intelligent Aerospace Radar and Radio Team (IART)
2012.7 –2018.7 Associate Professor, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
A founding faculty member of Advanced Radar Research Center (ARRC)
Key user and contributor of OU’s Radar Innovations Laboratory (RIL), University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK
2006.12 –2012.7 Assistant Professor, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Faculty Member of Atmospheric Radar Research Center (ARRC)
2004.8 – 2006.11 Research Scientist, Intelligent Automation, Inc., Rockville, MD
2001 – 2004 Research Assistant and Instructor of Microwave Engineering, Environmental Remote Sensing

Professional Activities and Organizations

Senior Member, IEEE (Membership since 2001).
Member of SPIE (Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers) since 2017.
Member, American Meteorological Society (AMS) (Since Aug 2008).
Member, Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), 2010, and one of the founders of the AVUSI’s Oklahoma Chapter.
Member, Institute of Navigation (Since Dec 2008).
SPIE Radar Sensor Technology Conference committee and conference chair/co-chair since 2013,
Aerospace (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/aerospace) academic editor, board member
RTCA 242/WG-124 (spectrum sharing), committee member, Since 2022.
OU Research council, Oct 2018 to Oct 2021 OU Presidential Professorship Committee, Dec 2018 – Dec 2021.
RTCA SC-230 Committee Member, (Airborne Weather Detection Systems),
Working Group #10, committee responsible for review and develop the related FAA safety equipment standard for High Altitude Ice Crystal/High Ice Water Content (HAIC/HIWC) detections. Dec 2018 – Now.

Courses Taught

Undergraduate Courses:

ECE3813 (Electronics)
ECE4643 (RF-Microwave Engineering)
ECE4973 (RCS Engineering)

Graduate Courses:

ECE5643 (RF-Microwave Engineering)
ECE5973 (RCS Engineering)