|
Dr Mahbub Hoque is pleased that warfighters in the U.S. Army use his team's research for rapid-fire communications on the battlefront in Iraq.
The U.S. Army's Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM, Aberdeen Proving Grounds, MD) oversees all the Army's research. Hoque is chief scientist and division chief of the antenna and spectrum analysis division at the space and terrestrial communication directorate (STCD) of the Army's Communications-Electronics Research, Development, and Engineering Center (CERDEC, Fort Monmouth, NJ). CERDEC is one of six Army research centers managed by RDECOM; STCD is one of six CERDEC research directorates.
Tactical developments for immediate use
The directorate's mission is to develop tactical communications for the digitized battlefield. They include ground-to-space and ground-to-ground, or "terrestrial," communication. Hoque oversees more than fifty researchers addressing the changing needs of warfighters.
"Most of the work is applied research," he says. "Our main objective is to apply technology to the real world."
In the past, this kind of research might not be employed for years after it was developed, Hoque says. But for this war his teams are operating in real time to offer immediate solutions.
Expanding workload
Hoque joined RDECOM five years ago as a team lead for the antennas and ancillaries (AA) branch; later he was promoted to chief of the branch. But the war in Iraq demanded a higher workload and the branch was expanded into the antenna and spectrum analysis division which he now heads. At the same time he was named chief scientist of STCD where he now leads the basic research program.
STCD has more than 300 engineers. "My responsibilities increased as we added more people and more areas. We grew very fast," he says.
He enjoys his "wide spectrum of responsibility." The main challenges, he notes, are to keep up to date on the technical solutions to immediate problems, and to maintain and develop in-house capability. To keep the workforce fresh he runs a student summer program. "I recruit tech students about three years before they graduate and foster them. If they like the job, they come here after graduation."
He makes a point of staying close to the techies doing day-to-day research. "I benefit from close contact with them, even though there are several supervisor levels between me and them. This bonding is my strength for the way we run the organization, and I believe it's critical to our success."
The call of electromagnetics
Hoque is a native of Chittagong, Bangladesh. His uncle and his grandfather were engineers. He received his BSEE with honors in 1976 and his MSEE in 1977 from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Dhaka, Bangladesh).
"I always had an interest in electronics," Hoque says. "What fascinated me was electromagnetics, an abstract science that can be solved with math." RF propagation, among other technologies, comes under the electromagnetics umbrella.
When he finished his masters he taught at the university for a few years. In 1980 he was offered a scholarship to University College (London, England), and completed his PhD there in 1984.
For his doctoral thesis Hoque developed a new technique for measuring satellite antenna characteristics. The company that was helping to fund him wanted a way to do this kind of testing inside the lab instead of in the field, and Hoque worked out a "compact measurement technique" to satisfy the need.
Dr Hoque comes to the U.S.
The new Dr Hoque went back to teaching at the Bangladesh University of Engineering in January 1984. In 1985 he came to the U.S. as a research assistant professor in the EE department of the University of Utah.
While at a conference to present a research paper, he was approached by a manager from Bell Communication Research (Bellcore), the research arm for the Baby Bells (now Telcordia Technologies, Piscataway, NJ). Bellcore wanted Hoque to conduct his research at its facility, and go on to oversee its application.
It was exactly what he wanted. "In the university environment I did the research, but I never saw how it was applied in the field," he says.
The Bellcore/Telcordia years
Hoque started as a member of tech staff at Bellcore, working on electromagnetic compatibility and radio propagation. He received a patent for his propagation model.
In 1992 he became principal engineer and in 1996 director of the EMC group. DSL technology was still evolving and Telcordia, a pioneer in the field, provided a DSL solution to NYNEX (now Verizon) for New York City.
A problem arose: DSL frequency was interfering with AM radio stations. "It was causing serious problems in Brooklyn," Hoque recalls. He solved the problem by developing an automated software tool to predict AM interference. That moved the deployment ahead and saved the company substantial money. For his efforts, he received the company's president's recognition award.
In 1998 Hoque helped Telcordia win a contract to deploy a network to automate trading on the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) in Bangladesh. It was Telcordia's first program in Bangladesh.
On to CERDEC
In 2001 Hoque joined CERDEC. "The solutions we were providing at Telcordia were stable. It was not a challenging environment anymore," he says.
He learned that someone with his sort of experience was retiring at CERDEC. He applied for and got the job in time to work with his predecessor for a few months before he left.
Today, it still feels wonderful to Hoque that his research is applied so quickly in Iraq. "We are providing real assistance to the ultimate mission that saves the lives of our warfighters. It gives me great satisfaction to provide an effective communication solution," he says. Hoque feels there's a good representation of minorities at CERDEC.
Hoque's wife, who is "the main inspiration and support" for his career, is a medical analyst. He's proud of his son, who recently got his BSEE, and his daughter, who is a sophomore at Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey.
D/C |
