Contact information and supporting staff

Research statement

I am currently doing research in two areas, each including collaboration with other institutes and institutions.

Interstellar communication

Drawing upon my background in earthbound digital communications, I have been studying the possibilities for expanding the types of signals that are sought from narrowband carrier-like and broadband pulse-like signals to broadband spread-spectrum signals such as are widely used in terrestrial wireless communication. I am studying the design of a digital communication system through space at distances of 10 to 100 light years and at microwave radio frequencies. The relevant channel and propagation parameters are drawn from astronomy and astrophysics, including prominently noise, Doppler shift due to motion of transmitter and receiver, and low-density plasma occupying interstellar space. The immediate application is to infer likely characteristics of radio signals that present evidence of technology elsewhere in the Universe using existing radio telescopes. Future applications include the design of information-bearing signals that we might transmit in the direction of known planets in nearby solar systems (hoping they would be received), and communication with spacecraft at great distances. I have several collaborators on this research at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, the Hat Creek Radio Observatory of the University of California, and the Australian Center for Astrobiology in Sydney. I am hoping to influence the types of signals that are included in the SETI searches by Observatory's Allen Telescope Array (ATA) and Berkeley's SETI@home project.

Software business

Starting in 1996, I developed two courses in the new School of Information Management and Systems (now called the School of Information), one on “networked applications” and the other on “strategic technology”. These followed my interest in the overlap between economics and business with technology, particularly with a view toward making our technologies more successful by taking account of market forces. Each course led to a book, “Understanding Networked Applications” and “Software Ecosystem” respectively. This led to my recent paper on “Rethinking Components”, with ongoing work on industry roadmapping, end-user innovation, and enhanced industry collaboration. I have specifically been focusing on the software industry because it is undergoing particularly strong change right now and because I encountered and became interested in software business management issues in my own entrepreneurial activities.

I recently collaborated with the Software Business Laboratory at the Aalto University of Science and Technology in Finland (formerly Helsinki University of Technology) because their interests are well aligned with my own.  Our project there,  “Software Business Foundations”, was supported by the Finnish research agency Tekes, and the emphasis is on understanding those factors that make software businesses different from other businesses, as well as providing strategic guidance to software entrepreneurs in these areas.  One major initiative of the project is the Software Business Community, an online community of researchers, managers, practitioners, and end-users who are working to understand and share their expertise and experience about software business.

Books

Full publication list

Recent publications

S. K. Blair, D. G. Messerschmitt, J. Tarter, and G. R. Harp, "The Effects of the Ionized Interstellar Medium on Broadband Signals of Extraterrestrial Origin". D. Vakoch, editor, Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence, State University of New York Press, 2011.

David G. Messerschmitt. ”The Consumer Juggernaut: Web-based and Mobile Applications as Innovation Pioneer”, International Conference on Product Focused Software Development and Process Improvement, Oulu, Finland, 15-17 June, 2009.  [PDF]

Juhana Peltonen, David G. Messerschmitt, and Mikko O. J. Laine. ”Web Business and Development Opportunities: Learning from Community Networked Services”, Conference on Web Information Systems and Technologies, Lisbon, Portugal, 23-26 March, 2009.

David G. Messerschmitt and Bart Stuck, "The what, why, and how of entrepreneurship" (2008). IEEE Signal Processing Magazine. 25 (4), pp. 105-109. Postprint available at: http://repositories.cdlib.org/postprints/3229. [HTML]

David G. Messerschmitt, "Rethinking components: From hardware and software to systems" (2007). Proceedings of the IEEE. 95, pp. 1473-1496. Postprint available free at: http://repositories.cdlib.org/postprints/2728. [HTML]

Renewing U.S. Telecommunications Research, Robert W. Lucky and Jon Eisenberg, Editors, Committee on Telecommunications Research and Development, Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences, National Research Council of the National Academies. National Academies Press, 2006. [HTML]

Recent talks

D.G. Messerschmitt, ''Exchanging Information with the Stars'', invited lecture at the SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA, March 11, 2011. [PDF]

D.G. Messerschmitt, ''Exchanging Information with the Stars'', invited lecture at the University of Minnesota, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Minneapolis, MN, April 14, 2011. [PDF]

D.G. Messerschmitt, "Search for intelligent life in the Milky Way: A challenge for science and engineering", Cal Day program, University of California, Berkeley, CA, April 7, 2010 [PDF]

D.G. Messerschmitt, "Communications Enginering and SETI", International Society of Astronautics Messaging Workshop, Houson, TX, April 30, 2010 [PDF]

I.S. Morrison and D.G. Messerschmitt, "Interstellar communication objectives and limitations: A roadmap to signal and receiver design", Symposium on Searching for Life Signatures, International Society of Astronautics, London, UK, Oct 6-8 2010.

Recent technical reports

Messerschmitt, David G, Peltonen, Juhana, Laine, Mikko O.J. and Oza, Nilay, "Community Networked Services: Learning from Web 2.0", Technical Report of the Software Business Laboratory Helsinki University of Technology, December 30, 2008), ISBN: 978-951-22-9734-4. Technical report available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1320947. [HTML]

D. G. Messerschmitt, "Some Digital Communication Fundamentals for Physicists and Others," EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley, Tech. Rep. UCB/EECS-2008-78, June 2008. [HTML]

"Autocorrelation matrix eigenvalues and the power spectrum". Technical Report No. EECS-2006-90, EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley, 2006. [HTML]

"Geometric interpretation of signals: background". Technical Report No. EECS-2006-91, EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley, 2006. [HTML]

"Geometric interpretation of signals: applications". Technical Report No. EECS-2006-92, EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley, 2006. [HTML]

“Stationary points of a real-valued function of a complex variable”. Technical Report No. EECS-2006-93, EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley, 2006. [HTML]

Submitted for publication

The following are papers that have been submitted for publication. It is not too late for your comments!

David G. Messerschmitt, "Interstellar communication: The case for spread spectrum", Nov. 2, 2011. [HTML]

Working papers

Here I post draft working papers that I am not yet ready to submit as a technical report or publication. Your comments and corrections are opportune and most welcome.

None a present.

Brief résumé

Brief biography from Wikipedia

• ·       B.S., Electrical Engineering, University of Colorado , M.S. and Ph.D., Computer, Information and Control Engineering, University of Michigan.
• ·       Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, New Jersey prior to 1977
• ·       Assistant, Associate, and Full Professor, University of California at Berkeley, 1977-2005, Emeritus Professor 2005-
• ·       Department Chair, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, 1993-96
• ·       Acting Dean (2001-02) and Interim Dean (Fall 2003), School of Information Management and Systems
• ·       Co-founder and former Board member TCSI, Inc, now a division of Rocket Software
• ·       Former member of the Computer Sciences and Telecommunications Board of the National Research Council. Co-chair of NRC study “Making IT Better” on the future of research in information technology, and currently member of a study committee on the future of telecommunications research. Former member of Advisory Board, National Science Foundation Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering, member of the National Science Foundation Blue Ribbon Panel on Cyberinfrastructure.
• ·       Member, National Academy of Engineering, Fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), and Fellow, International Engineering Consortium
• ·       Alexander Graham Bell Medal winner, recognizing "exceptional contributions to the advancement of communication sciences and engineering".