Dennis Akos

About

Professor Dennis Akos is the director of the Radio Frequency and Satellite Navigation Laboratory at the University of Colorado Boulder. He implemented the first Global Positioning System (GPS) software defined radio in the mid-1990s, marking a significant milestone in satellite navigation technology. Since establishing the laboratory in 2005, Professor Akos, along with his collaborators and students, has advanced various aspects of satellite navigation technology, including antenna design, advanced radio processing, and digital signal processing. His work initially focused on the US Global Positioning System (GPS) but has since expanded to include the other global constellations: GLONASS, Galileo, and Beidou, as well as regional space-based augmentation systems. The efforts led by Professor Akos and his group have been instrumental in propelling low-cost GPS/GNSS technology into mobile phones, pioneering remote sensing receiver architectures using GPS/GNSS signals, and enhancing integrity and robustness in satellite navigation. The Aerospace Engineering Sciences department at the University of Colorado offers detailed instructional courses on satellite navigation operation, reflecting the importance and prevalence of GPS/GNSS technology despite its commoditization in the commercial marketplace. Current research under Professor Akos focuses on ensuring robust, continuous, and high-integrity operation of GPS/GNSS for all users across all platforms. His work also explores…

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Telecommunications
• Geography
• Real-time computing
• Engineering
• Geodesy
• Computer Security
• Aerospace engineering
• Geology
• Remote sensing

Selected publications

• An open-source low-cost sensor for SNR-based GNSS reflectometry: design and long-term validation towards sea-level altimetry

  GPS Solutions · 2021 · 47 citations

  Abstract Monitoring sea level is critical due to climate change observed over the years. Global Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry (GNSS-R) has been widely demonstrated for coastal sea-level monitoring. The use of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) observations from ground-based stations has been especially productive for altimetry applications. SNR records an interference pattern whose oscillation frequency allows retrieving the unknown reflector height. Here we report the development and valid…

  DOI

• An Assessment of GPS Spoofing Detection Via Radio Power and Signal Quality Monitoring for Aviation Safety Operations

  IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Magazine · 2020 · 39 citations

  Due to the ever-growing threat of GPS spoofing, it has become necessary for the aviation sector to develop an effective means of detection. This article focuses on two complementary spoofing-detection techniques that are available on commercial GPS receivers and thus require no additional hardware to operate. The primary methodology for detection is using a combination of radio power monitoring metrics, levering both automatic gain control and C/N <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/Math…

  DOI

• Optimizing the Use of RTKLIB for Smartphone-Based GNSS Measurements

  Sensors · 2022 · 34 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  The Google Smartphone Decimeter Challenge (GSDC) was a competition held in 2021, where data from a variety of instruments useful for determining a phone's position (signals from GPS satellites, accelerometer readings, gyroscope readings, etc.) using Android smartphones were provided to be processed/assessed in regard to the most accurate determination of the longitude and latitude of user positions. One of the tools that can be utilized to process the GNSS measurements is RTKLIB. RTKLIB is an op…

  DOI

• GNSS Software-Defined Radio: History, Current Developments, and Standardization Efforts

  NAVIGATION Journal of the Institute of Navigation · 2024-01-01 · 30 citations

  articleOpen access

  <h3>Abstract</h3> Taking the work conducted by the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) software-defined radio (SDR) working group during the last decade as a seed, this contribution summarizes, for the first time, the history of GNSS SDR development. This report highlights selected SDR implementations and achievements that are available to the public or that influenced the general development of SDR. Aspects related to the standardization process of intermediate-frequency sample data and m…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Calibration of RFI Detection Levels in a Low-Cost GNSS Monitor

  2023-04-24 · 10 citations

  articleSenior author

  The Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) is an invaluable tool that is heavily used in everyday life across numerous industries. Despite their ubiquitous use, GNSS signals are very vulnerable to both intentional and unintentional forms of radio frequency interference (RFI). This paper supports the development of a low-cost GNSS RFI monitor that can reliably enhance a user's spatial awareness with respect to the state of RFI in their local environment. Multiple jamming experiments are condu…

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Per Enge

  67 shared

• Sherman Lo

  51 shared

• Todd Walter

  28 shared

• Sam Pullen

  28 shared

• Dong-Kyeong Lee

  21 shared

• David S. De Lorenzo

  Trimble (United States)

  15 shared

• Valery U. Zavorotny

  Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences

  13 shared

• Ming Luo

  University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

  13 shared

Education

• B.S., Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Ohio University

  1990

• M.S., Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Ohio University

  1992

• M.S., Mathematics

  Ohio University

  1996

• Ph.D., Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Ohio University

  1997

Awards & honors

• Fellow, Institute of Navigation (2022)
• Institute of Navigation Thurlow Award (2009)
• Samuel M.. Burka Award for the outstanding paper of the 2005…
• Best Paper at IEEE Position Location and Navigation Symposiu…
• Best Presentation Award, Institute of Navigation GPS-ION (20…

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