IEEE Awards Booklet - 2009 - 7

I E E E

M E D A L S

2009 IEEE
Dennis J. Picard Medal for Radar
Technologies and Applications

2009 IEEE
Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing Medal
Sponsored by Texas Instruments, Inc.

Sponsored by Raytheon Company

Philip Woodward

Charles Sidney Burrus

Photo Credit: Bill Taylor

For pioneering work of fundamental importance in radar
waveform design, including the Woodward Ambiguity
Function, the standard tool for waveform and matched
filter analysis

For contributions to Fast Fourier Transform algorithms,
digital filter design and signal processing education

Philip Woodward has profoundly influenced radar signal analysis
through his application of probability and statistics to recovering data from noisy samples. Dr. Woodward focused on
optimizing the information content of the radar signal instead of
its electrical strength in a time when the focus was on maximizing the electrical strength by comparison with that of the
background noise.

Recognizing the promise of digital signal processing (DSP) long
before most others, Charles Sidney Burrus helped move DSP
from an obscure discipline to a key component of the information
age by making important contributions to digital filtering and
Fast Fourier Transforms (FFTs). Known for the ability to extend
and explain difficult concepts in simple language, Dr. Burrus generalized the Cooley-Tukey algorithm (one of the most common
FFTs) as well as prime factor algorithms (the preferred method for
implementing FFTs of lengths other than powers of two).

He applied Bayesian probability techniques to eliminate everything but the desired information from radar echoes. The
Woodward Ambiguity Function provided the foundation for the
development of complex waveforms in modern radars and for
description of radar resolution and accuracy. It was able to show
graphically how range and velocity accuracy could be traded,
how spurious responses appear in both dimensions and the limitations governing the process. With computing power not
available at the time it was developed, it now has enabled
system designers to assess the capacity of a complex radar
transmission to detect the range and radial velocity of a target
and to define the optimum detection strategy.

His original work on methods to automatically generate code
have been the basis for subsequent developments in Fourier
transform computation, and recently his work on using FFTs to
factor very high-order polynomials has been recognized as an
alternative for phase unwrapping and determining the complex
cepstrum of long data sequences. Dr. Burrus' contributions to
theory and design of digital filters include introducing the first
direct design method for infinite impulse response digital
filters, which is still in use today, and improving upon the ParksMcClellan algorithm for finite impulse filter design by
developing a filter able to handle the very long lengths required
by modern applications.

Dr. Woodward's book, Probability and Information Theory, with
Applications to Radar, is considered a classic in the field of radar,
and his book entitled My Own Right Time is a classic in the field
of horological science. With both fields in mind, the U.K. Royal
Academy of Engineering awarded him their first-ever Lifetime
Achievement Medal. Dr. Woodward retired in 1980 as a deputy
chief scientific officer from the Royal Radar Establishment, where
he began working in 1940. He currently resides in Malvern,
United Kingdom.

Dr. Burrus helped build Rice University's reputation as a leading
institution in the field, receiving Rice's highest teaching award
five times, and plays a key role in the "Connexions" project, a
Web-based open-source textbook initiative for sharing signal
processing educational materials. An IEEE Life Fellow, Dr. Burrus
is currently the Maxfield and Oshman Professor Emeritus of
Engineering at Rice University, Houston, Texas, where he has
worked since 1965.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Awards Booklet - 2009