FROM W BOSONS TO WIRELESS
BASESTATIONS:
A Particle Physicist’s Random Walk into
Electrical Engineering
Robin Coxe (Ph.D. 2000)
Pilcherfest!
22 September 2012
The Backstory
• ~1977-present: Amused myself by taking things apart and
putting them back together.
• 1990: Watched a Nova episode on the Fermilab top quark
search in AP Physics in high school
• 1992: Participated in the SLAC Summer Science Program
– Assembled DAQ electronics for prototype EM
calorimeter for Tau-Charm Factory
• 1992-1995: Undergrad Research Asst. for Prof. Melissa
Franklin at Harvard
– CDF FCNC Search (t->cZ) published in PRL
– National Finalist for APS Apker Award in 1995
• Spring 1995: Wanted to work at CERN and have another
Canadian advisor. Made the obvious choice to join Jim’s
OPAL group at the U of C.
• Fall 1996: TA for lab electronics class.
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The U of C Years:
September 1995-March 2000
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It all started in 1997 with an innocuous
request…
“Jim, are there any improvements to the OPAL detector
electronics that I could work on?”
• OPAL PB trigger system: replaced a NIM crate that I
was older than I was with a VME card.
• Functions: delayed resets until detector readout had
finished (via a programmable counter), inverted 2 of
the 4 resets, and distributed them.
• First experience with Programmable Logic (Altera
CPLDs programmed with AHDL) and PCB design
• Little did I know that I’d end up an FPGA designer 15
years later…
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The CERN Years:
September 1997-August 1999
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Why I Left Academic Physics
• The Candidacy Exam almost ruined my life.
– Unexpected benefit! Almost everything else since
has been tolerable in comparison.
• I wanted to live by an ocean, but all experimental
HEP postdocs in 2000 were at Fermilab.
• The size of the collaborations and the frequency
& duration of meetings.
– I have the attention span of a gnat when people talk at
me.
• $
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Brownian Motion with a Recurring Theme
• 6/2000-9/2001: System Engineer at TRW
– Dull classified projects & FPGA hyperspectral image processing
– Acronym Decoding, Bureaucracy, Polygraphs, FPGAs
• 10/2001-12/2005: Principal Research Scientist at Physical
Sciences, Inc.
– Space weather sensors for satellites, FPGA signal processors
– Writing proposals, Project Mgmt., Patent, FPGAs, R vs. R&D
• 2/2006-10/2007: Product Manager at Vanu, Inc.
– Software Defined Radio, closed-source cellular base stations
– Wireless Telecom, Passenger on the Startup Rollercoaster
• 10/2007-9/2009: FPGA Engineer at Escape Communications,
Inc.
– Point-to-point wave modems for cellular backhaul & SATCOM
– FPGA-based telecom hardware, PCB design, dynamics of a
partnership
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Parade of FPGAs
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Open Telecom
At Close-Haul Communications, we believe that basic wireless
communications services should be available to anyone,
anywhere at an affordable price. We intend to help people
neglected by conventional cellular carriers. We are developing
the open source GAPfiller mobile access point to allow any
GSM mobile handset, not just smartphones, to connect to the
global telecommunications infrastructure using VoIP.
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Machiavellian Bootstrapping Scheme
• October 2009-April 2012: Independent Consultant
• April 2012- present: Digital Design Engineer for
Analog Devices Lyric Labs
– Designing & building RF hardware is expensive.
– 2G networks for the disenfranchised (GSM/SMS = 30 yr.
old mobile technology) are not appealing to venture
capitalists.
– Project-based consulting is lucrative but exhausting.
– Win-win for both Close-Haul and ADI.
– Working full time while having startup on the side is a
recipe for sleep deprivation.
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Career Transitions
• Experimental particle physicists can transition
into any quantitative field relatively easily.
– The converse is not true.
– Most people are intimidated our lot & automatically
assume that we’re smart-- a stereotype that can,
with a bit of tact, be used to professional
advantage.
• Many physicists are autodidacts. Find a niche (or
2 or 5) and become an expert.
– It’s probably not Quantum Field Theory.
• Being able to write well is a highly
valuable/increasingly rare skill in any nonminimum wage job.
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Once a Physicist, Always a Physicist…
• Pragmatism: think through problems systematically,
figure things out, and get stuff done without losing
awareness of the Big Picture.
• Finely Honed BS Detector
• Aware of the difference between precision &
accuracy!
• Ambivalence about being called an “engineer” never
goes away.
• I will always be irritated by j = sqrt(-1).
– We’re never going to confuse it with electric current!
• Working with/for people one doesn’t respect can
be…challenging. (A mercenary attitude is an
effective coping mechanism.)
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Pathologies of the Working World
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Shiny Ball Syndrome
“MIT Mafia”
Customer Demos: Dogs, Ponies, Smoke, Mirrors
Technical visionaries are rarely great operational
managers, but often still believe that they are.
Perfect is the worst enemy of good enough.
Inability to admit: “I don’t know” or “I need help”
or “Point taken, I made a mistake.”
Lack of respect for other people’s time.
Bureaucracies give those within them another
excuse not to think for themselves.
When the outside consultant invariably appears,
roll your eyes and bite the bullet.
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A Few Lessons from The Trenches
• Time is money.
• Highly intelligent people are routinely capable of
making extremely bad decisions.
• Much irrational behavior can be attributed to defense
mechanisms put in place to protect fragile (alas,
usually male) egos.
• The best salespeople are good listeners, not
smarmy, invasive gasbags.
• Marketing material doesn’t have to be meaningless
drivel. If a statement isn’t quantifiable, don’t make it.
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Final Words
Future & Present Physics Professors: Aspire to
teach your students to think, solve problems, and
interact with and mentor others with a light touch
like Jim has throughout his career and they’ll be
well prepared to do anything they set their minds to.
I am eternally grateful to Jim for giving me the
opportunity to live & work at CERN as a member of
the U of C OPAL group and for planting the seeds
for what I wanted to be when I grew up.
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