Contact information and supporting staff

Research statement: interstellar communication

"Interstellar radio communication accounting for known impairments due to radio propagation in the interstellar medium (attenuation, noise, dispersion, and scattering) and motion is studied. Large propagation losses and large transmitted powers motivate us to maximize the power efficiency, defined as the ratio of information rate to average signal power. The fundamental limit on power efficiency is determined. The power efficiency for narrow-bandwidth signals assumed in many current SETI searches has a penalty in power efficiency of four to five orders of magnitude. A set of five power-efficient design principles can asymptotically approach the fundamental limit, and in practice increase the power efficiency by three to four orders of magnitude. The most fundamental is to trade higher bandwidth for lower average power. In addition to improving the power efficiency, average power can be reduced by lowering the information rate. The resulting low-power signals have characteristics diametrically opposite to those currently sought, with wide bandwidth relative to the information rate and sparse distribution of energy in both time and frequency. The design of information-free beacons power-optimized for a given observation time is also undertaken. Such beacons need not have wide bandwidth, but at low powers their energy is sparsely distributed in time. The discovery of both beacons and information-bearing signals is analyzed, and shown to require a substantial number of observations (growing as power is reduced) to achieve a high probability of success. The ''false alarms'' in current searches are characteristic signatures of possible power-efficient and power-optimized signals. Although existing SETI searches will fail to discover these signals, they can be discovered using common algorithms with straightforward modification to current search methodologies."

Other current activities

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.

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.

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".