A&M-Commerce Electrical Engineering Students Reach Finals of AFRL Challenge

Taylor Harris, Devin Beamon, Staton McGowin, Rhiannon Roberts, Samuel Gonzalez, Dr. Nizar Tayem

A team of students from Texas A&M University-Commerce recently reached the finals of the Beyond 5G Software Defined Radio University Challenge hosted by the Air Force Research Lab. This is the fourth installment of the competition, which saw universities from across the nation competing. The team — Comprised of Devin Beamon, Taylor Harris, Samuel Gonzalez, Rhiannon Roberts and Staton McGowin, all seniors majoring in Electrical Engineering — was named one of the eight finalists of the competition which took place from April 27-29. The team's faculty advisor, A&M-Commerce Assistant Professor Dr. Nizar Tayem, stated that the goal of the project was for the group to implement a computationally efficient algorithm for Direction of Arrival (DOA) estimation. DOA technology has made rapid strides in recent years due to its wide range of applications such as 5G wireless communication, radar, radio astronomy, sonar and navigation. Assistant Professor Dr. Gerald Fudge also advised students on their project. See a demo of the student's project here.

(Pictured from left to right: Taylor Harris, Devin Beamon, Staton McGowin, Rhiannon Roberts, Samuel Gonzalez and Dr. Nizar Tayem)