John O'Sullivan (engineer)

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John O'Sullivan
John-OSullivan 20130528.jpg
O'Sullivan in 2013
NationalityAustralian
EducationUniversity of Sydney
OccupationEngineer
Engineering career
Employer(s) CSIRO
Awards Prime Minister's Prize for Science
M. A. Sargent Medal

John O'Sullivan is an Australian engineer.

Fourier transforms and WiFi

In 1977, John O'Sullivan, while working at the Dwingeloo Radio Observatory in the Netherlands, co-authored a paper in the Journal of the Optical Society of America titled "Image sharpness, Fourier optics, and redundant-spacing interferometry" [1] with J. P. Hamaker, and J. E. Noordam. In this paper, they presented a technique for sharpening and improving picture clarity in radio astronomy images.

Contents

In the early 1990s, O'Sullivan led a team at the CSIRO which patented, in 1996, the use of a related technique for reducing multipath interference of radio signals transmitted for computer networking. This technology is a part of all recent WiFi implementations. [2] As of April 2012, the CSIRO has earned over $430 million in royalties and settlements arising from the use of this patent as part of the 802.11 standards with as much as a billion dollars expected after further lawsuits against other parties. [3] [4]

O'Sullivan joined Morse Micro in 2019. The Sydney-based company is developing a Wi-Fi microprocessor, now known as Wi-Fi HaLow.

Qualification

Career

Research highlights

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. Hamaker, J. P.; O'Sullivan, J. D.; Noordam, J. E. (1977), "Image sharpness, Fourier optics, and redundant-spacing interferometry", J. Opt. Soc. Am., 67 (8): 1122–1123, Bibcode:1977JOSA...67.1122H, doi:10.1364/JOSA.67.001122
  2. Older WiFi implementations which only support 802.11b do not use patented technology
  3. Moses, Asher (1 June 2010). "CSIRO to reap 'lazy billion' from world's biggest tech companies". The Age. Melbourne.
  4. "CSIRO wins legal battle over Wi-Fi patent". The Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Melbourne. 1 April 2012.
  5. 1 2 3 4 2009 Prime Minister's Prize for Science award citation Archived 2011-02-21 at the Wayback Machine
  6. Invention: Wireless LAN for high speed data transfer
  7. US 5487069,O'Sullivan, John D.; Daniels, Graham R.& Percival, Terence M. P.et al.,"Wireless LAN",published 23 January 1996. The present invention discloses a wireless LAN, a peer-to-peer wireless LAN, a wireless transceiver and a method of transmitting data, all of which are capable of operating at frequencies in excess of 10 GHz and in multipath transmission environments.