cornell_mar42 (I don't use Discord often - if no reply use other contacts above)
EXPERIENCE:
Former Chief Telephony Technologist - Voxware, Inc.
IEEE Blockchain Local Group Founder - IEEE Florida West Coast Section, Region 3
Internet Telephony Business Initiative Director, Applied Research - Telchordia Technologies / SAIC
Distinguished Engineer Manager and Independent Contributor - Cisco Systems, Core IOS Group
CTO Office Scientist/Independent Contributor - Cisco Systems, Collaboration CTO Group
Network Characterization District Manager - Bellcore
Over 59 issued US patents (more internationally)
PRESENT ACTIVITIES:
Thanks for visiting my personal URL!
If you are reading this, you might be interested in my skill set and what I have been doing lately.
I am professionally active in a variety of professional activities and am open to part-time and/or fulltime
employment in areas of professional interest to me (signal processing, AI/ML, blockchain, cryptocurrencies,
digital data processing and analytics, acoustics, and application of these technologies in embedded systems).
I have always been interested in progression of Web1, Web2 and Web3 technologies.
In the Internet Telephony days of Web1, I was I was Co-Chair of the Voice over IP Forum
(merged into the IMTC, which then merged into
Metro Ethernet Forum - now a global industry association of
network, cloud, and technology providers).
For most of Web 2, I worked for Cisco Systems, where I authored
many Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Request for Comments (RFCs) as well as patented many
Internet-related techniques (mostly for real-time media, see link at left for specifics).
I am the founder of my consulting business - AcousticComms Consulting.
My specialty is robust low bit rate communications in reverberant rooms (e.g., normal living areas).
AcousticComms has two issued patents (US 11,881,317 and US 11,923,085) which use ultrasound-based (non-herable)
spread spectrum communications for use in contact tracing applications (COVID and similar).
AcousticComms also has one patent pending which uses a derivative communications technology as an out-of-band
factor in a Multi-Factor Authentication, MFA, framework (non-profisional patent is filed). This technology uses a keyed
form of spread-spectrum thwarting both reply and relay attacks (common attack vectors in authentication
applications).
Please click on this AcousticComms Consulting link for details
of the technology and PowerPoints on the use cases.
I am also an educator and lecturer on blockchain and crypto mechanics.
In late 2022 I created a panel session at the first IEEE-sposored Global Emerging Technology Blockchain
Forum (IEEE GET Blockchain 2022 Forum: Blockchain & Beyond )
titled "Blockchain Governance : Impacts on Security and Privacy".
All major government authorities at that time didn't know or have legilative or regulatory standards for crypto
(most treated crypto as a commodity or a futures contract - not crypto!).
I have given a half-day tutorial titled "Essential Public Permissionless Blockchain and Cryptocurrency
Mechanics for Engineers" at SoutheastCon23 (
slides here ).
I have also presented long-form talks at the University of South Florida - Electrical Engineering Department (
slides here ),
the University of South Florida - Computer Science Department (
slides here ), and at the University of Minnesota (
slides here ).
I also gave an invited talk at the International Symposium on Intelligent Computing and Networking 2024 (ISICN 2024) (
slides here ).
I am presently working on a whitepaper titled "Bitcoin Masquerades as a Currency; Is
Continued 'Halving' Inevitable or Wise?" (
current version here ) - please let me know if you or anyone you know would want to collaborate on it.
BACKGROUND/HISTORY:
My education has been focused on the confluence of the following set of technologies:
machine learning (Keras/TensorFlow), signal processing, adaptive systems and analytics
(including classification, clustering, neural networks, and vector quantization),
communications (theory and practice), speech signal processing, acoustics and
computer networking (mostly transport layer).
During my mid-career Ph.D. (see link at left) I invented the Pitch Mode Modulation
Model (then a new speech model).
In 2018 I obtained an Artificial Intelligence and Specializations Nanodegree at Udacity.
However, most of my joy comes from implementation of new technologies born out of the intersection of these areas.
I have done this in a variety of roles.
I began my career in Bell Labs and they sent me to Cornell University to complete my masters.
Between that education and my latest full-time employment at Cisco Systems I have had a wonderful career spanning
the roles of independent contributor, engineering manager (Cisco), engineering director (Bellcore),
research manager (Telcordia Technologies), task-force manager (telco operating company VP readouts),
and being an early VoIP evangelist (gave many conference presentations and sought out by US senator to provide
technology counsel in DC).
I was Chief Telephony Technologist for
Voxware,
an Internet Telephony startup, during their IPO in 1996.
I have given back to my profession in the participation on boards of startups (e.g., Red Shift Company),
public university research boards (e.g., Industrial Advisory Board member as a
Rutgers CAIP Fellow),
technical conference leadership (IEEE International Conference on Communications Technical Program
Committee Vice-chairman and more), and various university outreach programs (including Rutgers,
Stanford, UT Dallas, USF, and Cornell).
You can call me a nerd evangelist who gets excited about the potential of new technologies growing out of the
art in many different fields. I am a prolific inventor/innovator with 59 issued US patents (1 more pending)
and 19 more issued or pending internationally (see link at left).
I have also enjoyed leading high-class technical talent (Distinguished Engineers and MTS) in my technology areas
as well as guiding university students as an external member for Ph.D. or Masters thesis committees.
My recent passions are acoustic information transfer, blockchain, crypto, machine learning for speech and noise
reduction applications, rate adaptation for media (voice/video/share) sent over the Internet,
lossless compression, practical FEC optimizations (patented a form of "something for nothing" FEC), and
proximity solutions. References for these works can be found at the links at the left.
Enough about me on this page. Peruse the links at the left for more information.
Feel free to contact me via email or phone. Thanks for listening.
Regards,
Michael A. Ramalho, Ph.D.
Me riding at NYC Five Boro Bike Tour
(May 2023)
