Mark Petzold

Current

• Associate Professor and Director of Assessment and Accreditation, ECE Dept. at St. Cloud State University

Past

• Senior Staff Engineer at Pericle Communications Company
• Engineer at Varian

Education

• University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
• University of Idaho
• University of Idaho

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Recommended

2 people have recommended Mark

Connections

142 connections

Industry

Wireless

Websites

• St. Cloud State University
• St. Cloud State ECE Dept.

Mark Petzold’s Summary

An electrical engineer with both industry and academic experience wireless and signal processing and computer simulation. My senior design groups have designed award-winning remote controlled vehicles, wireless sensor networks, and autonomous aircraft

Graduate research I have supervised includes:
Software Defined Radio for Detecting QAM Constellations
A Distributed LMS Algorithm for an Adaptive Antenna Array
Diversity Reception for Convolutional Codes
A Fading Channel Simulator

I am currently teaching classes in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department, including Wireless Communication, Adaptive and Statistical Filtering, Error Control Coding, Spread Spectrum Systems, and Computer Programming. I have also taught Project Management in the Master's of Engineering Management program.

I have been a successful leader in the department on accreditation, curriculum, and assessment projects. I have led the project to continue accreditation for our Electrical Engineering program, and obtained first-time accreditation for our Computer Engineering program. I have also led the project to update our curriculum in both programs.

Mark Petzold’s Specialties:

Digital Communication: Multicarrier Modulation, Direct-Sequence Spread-Spectrum, Phase-Shift Keying, Detection and Estimation of Signals, CDMA, Convolutional Codes, Viterbi Decoder, Turbo Codes

Computer Tools: MATLAB, Simulink, C/C++, Linux, Windows. Currently Learning Java.

Mark Petzold’s Experience

• Associate Professor and Director of Assessment and Accreditation, ECE Dept.

  St. Cloud State University

  (Educational Institution; 501-1000 employees; Higher Education industry)

  August 2002 — Present (7 years)

  Responsibilities include instruction in the Signal Processing and lower division courses, and overseeing graduate and undergraduate research. Classes include Adaptive Filters, Spread Spectrum Communications, Signals and Systems, and programming (C/C++, Java, and MATLAB).
  My research is focused on spectrum usage detection for cognitive radio. I am currently exploring both GNU Radio and the Virginia Tech OSSIE software platforms for software radio. I also work with semi-autonomous vehicles, both ground and aerial, with my senior design groups.
  I have led the successful accreditation effort for the Computer Engineering program, and am leading the post-visit effort. I have written the Self-Study for Accreditation of the Computer Engineering program, and this Self-Study was the basis for the Electrical Engineering Self-Study.
  I have led hiring efforts for our department, and worked on a successful campus-wide committee to hire an Associate Vice President for International Studies.

• Senior Staff Engineer

  Pericle Communications Company

  (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Wireless industry)

  January 2000 — November 2001 (1 year 11 months)

  Staff engineer for a wireless engineering consulting firm. My projects included:
  * Evaluated and tested CDMA base stations against CDMA specifications and investigated their deployment resulting in the resolution of a dispute between a wireless carrier and a vendor.
  * Advised the telecommunications department of an international airport on advanced wireless issues, including IEEE 802.11b implementations and PCS services.
  * Investigated embedded software options for software based test and measurement equipment.
  * Investigated patent infringement claims by product testing, reverse engineering, and analyzing standards, leading to settlement between the parties.
  * Evaluated wireless communications options for a public utility, resulting in a less-expensive and better wireless system being implemented.

• Engineer

  Varian

  (Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; var; Medical Devices industry)

  1988 — 1995 (7 years)

  * Led a cross functional quality improvement team to improve product performance resulting on cost savings.
  * Designed test and data acquisition software using LabView for extended life testing of high voltage systems
  * Managed the vendor relationship and negotiated specifications for a radio-frequency source.

Mark Petzold’s Education

• University of Colorado at Colorado Springs

  Ph.D. , Electrical Engineering , 1995 — 2001

  Dissertation Topic: Interleaved Serial Concatenated Convolutional Codes with Direct-Sequence Code Division Multiple Access Multicarrier Modulation in Fading Channels
  Published several papers based on my dissertation. Also taught graduate and senior level courses.

• University of Idaho

  M.S. , Electrical Engineering , January 1988 — August 1989

• University of Idaho

  B.S. , Electrical Engineering , August 1983 — December 1987

Additional Information

Mark Petzold’s Websites:

• St. Cloud State University
• St. Cloud State ECE Dept.

Mark Petzold’s Interests:

Software Defined Radio, Autonomous Vehicles, Tablet PCs, Engineering Ethics, ABET Accreditation and Assessment, Technology in Education, Wireless Communication, Signal Processing, Adaptive Algorithms, Wireless Sensor Networks, Freshwater Aquariums

Mark Petzold’s Contact Settings

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