RF Waveform Analyst

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory•Laurel, MD

7d•Onsite

About The Position

Are you passionate about providing real, immediate impact to the country’s toughest national security problems? Do you enjoy digging into complex RF signals, determining how communications systems work, and developing new approaches to characterize and understand signals and how they tie to protocols? If so, we’re looking for someone like you to join our team at APL. We are excited to expand our team of RF Waveform Analysts at APL. We are seeking engineers with experience in RF communications, digital signal processing, and communications protocols that are passionate about solving challenging waveform and signal-analysis problems. As a member of our team, you will analyze, characterize, and evaluate complex RF signals and communications protocols. You will develop algorithms, software, and analysis techniques to detect, process, characterize, and understand RF waveforms collected in laboratory and operational environments. You will have opportunities to lead technical efforts, mentor junior staff, and work directly with sponsors to develop solutions to critical national security challenges. Specific applications span several mission and research areas across the Department of Defense (DoD) and Intelligence Community (IC).

Requirements

A Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, Mathematics, or another field relevant to the duties as described above.
5+ years of relevant professional experience in RF communications, waveform analysis, digital signal processing, protocol analysis, or related areas.
Strong understanding of digital communications concepts including modulation, sampling, filtering, synchronization, spectral analysis, and channel effects.
Experience analyzing analog and digital modulation techniques such as AM, FM, PSK, FSK, QAM, OFDM, or similar waveform structures.
Experience analyzing communications protocols, packet structures, or network behavior.
Experience developing signal processing algorithms or analysis software using Python, MATLAB, C/C++, or similar languages.
Experience working with RF data, including complex in-phase and quadrature (I/Q) samples.
Experience with software-defined radios or RF laboratory equipment such as spectrum analyzers, vector signal analyzers, signal generators, and oscilloscopes.
Demonstrated ability to independently investigate complex technical problems and develop practical solutions.
Strong oral and written communication skills, including experience communicating technical results to multidisciplinary audiences.
Ability to work independently as well as lead or contribute to multidisciplinary technical teams.
The ability to work on-site at APL’s main campus as well as at commercial and government test sites.
Have an active Secret clearance and can ultimately obtain a TS/SCI security clearance. If selected, you will be subject to a government security clearance investigation and must meet the requirements for access to classified information. Eligibility requirements include U.S. citizenship.

Nice To Haves

A Master’s or Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field with a focus in communications, RF systems, or signal processing.
8+ years of experience in RF waveform analysis, communications systems, signal processing, or protocol analysis.
Experience analyzing unknown, partially documented, or complex communications waveforms and protocols.
Deep experience developing demodulation, synchronization, detection, classification, decoding, or signal-identification algorithms.
Strong understanding of statistical signal processing, detection and estimation theory, communications theory, or information theory.
Experience with protocol analysis concepts including framing, packet structures, channel access, forward error correction, channel coding, interleaving, and network behavior.
Experience with software-defined radio platforms and frameworks such as GNU Radio, USRP, or similar development environments.
Experience developing automated processing pipelines for large collections of RF or I/Q data.
Experience with wireless communications technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular, satellite, tactical communications, or other specialized communications systems.
Experience designing and leading RF laboratory or field-test activities.
Experience developing new waveform-analysis techniques from concept through prototype, demonstration, and operational evaluation.
Experience leading small technical teams, mentoring engineers, or serving as a technical lead on multidisciplinary efforts.
Experience developing technical concepts, proposals, or new research efforts in RF communications and signal processing.
Demonstrated ability to engage directly with sponsors, understand mission needs, and translate those needs into technical solutions.
An active TS/SCI security clearance.

Responsibilities

Analyze and characterize complex RF waveforms, modulation schemes, signal structures, and communications protocols.
Develop signal processing algorithms and software to detect, classify, demodulate, synchronize, and characterize RF signals.
Perform detailed analysis of known, partially documented, and unfamiliar RF communications systems.
Analyze communications protocols to identify framing, packet structures, timing, synchronization, channel access, error correction, and system behavior.
Develop innovative approaches for extracting information and understanding system behavior from RF signals and collected I/Q data.
Design and execute laboratory and field experiments to evaluate RF waveforms, communications systems, and analysis techniques.
Use software-defined radios (SDRs), RF laboratory equipment, and specialized analysis tools to collect, generate, replay, and analyze RF signals.
Develop software and automated analysis tools for processing, visualizing, and exploiting large RF datasets.
Lead or contribute to multidisciplinary technical efforts involving RF, signal processing, software, hardware, and systems engineering.
Provide technical mentorship and guidance to early-career engineers.
Work directly with sponsors to understand technical challenges, develop requirements, and communicate analysis results and recommendations.
Document and present technical findings to sponsors and the technical, DoD, and Intelligence communities.
Identify and evaluate emerging RF technologies, waveform techniques, protocols, and signal processing approaches that could address future mission challenges.