Jimmy K. Omura (born September 8, 1940 in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...

) was an electrical engineer and

information theorist Information is an abstract concept that refers to something which has the power to inform. At the most fundamental level, it pertains to the interpretation (perhaps formally) of that which may be sensed, or their abstractions. Any natur ...

. Omura received his B.S. and

M.S. A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medicine ...

from

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

, and his Ph.D. from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, all in electrical engineering. He was a professor of

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

for 15 years. His notable work includes the design of a number of

spread spectrum In telecommunications, especially radio communication, spread spectrum are techniques by which a signal (electrical engineering), signal (e.g., an electrical, electromagnetic, or acoustic) generated with a particular Bandwidth (signal processi ...

communications systems, and the Massey-Omura cryptosystem (with

James Massey James Lee Massey (February 11, 1934 – June 16, 2013) was an American information theorist and cryptographer, Professor Emeritus of Digital Technology at ETH Zurich. His notable work includes the application of the Berlekamp–Massey algorithm t ...

). With

Andrew Viterbi Andrew James Viterbi (born Andrea Giacomo Viterbi, March 9, 1935) is an electrical engineer and businessman who co-founded Qualcomm Inc. and invented the Viterbi algorithm. He is the Presidential Chair Professor of Electrical Engineering at th ...

he co-authored ''Principles of Digital Communication and Coding'' (), a standard textbook in

digital communications Data communication, including data transmission and data reception, is the transfer of data, signal transmission, transmitted and received over a Point-to-point (telecommunications), point-to-point or point-to-multipoint communication chann ...

. He also co-authored the ''Spread Spectrum Communications Handbook'' (). Omura and

Dave Forney George David Forney Jr. (born March 6, 1940) is an American electrical engineer who made contributions in telecommunication system theory, specifically in coding theory and information theory. Biography Forney received the B.S.E. degree in elect ...

independently realized that the

Viterbi decoder A Viterbi decoder uses the Viterbi algorithm for decoding a bitstream that has been encoded using a convolutional code or trellis code. There are other algorithms for decoding a convolutionally encoded stream (for example, the Fano algorithm). Th ...

was optimal and that it could be applied to intersymbol interference, not just binary convolutional codes as originally described. According to his friend and colleague

Martin Hellman Martin Edward Hellman (born October 2, 1945) is an American cryptologist and mathematician, best known for his invention of public-key cryptography in cooperation with Whitfield Diffie and Ralph Merkle. Hellman is a longtime contributor to the ...

, Omura told him that once you understood dynamic programming, the optimality of Viterbi decoding followed immediately. And the intersymbol interference result derived from the fact that that phenomenon is just a convolutional code over the reals instead of over GF(2). In 1981, Jim K. Omura was elevated to the grade of

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE ...

fellow for contribution to information and communications theory as applied to communications systems design. Omura founded the data security company Cylink, which had an IPO in 1996 and was acquired by

SafeNet SafeNet, Inc. was an information security company based in Belcamp, Maryland, United States, which was acquired in August 2014 by the French security company Gemalto. Gemalto was, in turn, acquired by Thales Group in 2019. The former SafeNet' ...

in 2003. He was the technology strategist for the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation during 2002 - 2011. In 2005, Omura received the

IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal The IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal is an award honoring ''"exceptional contributions to communications and networking sciences and engineering"'' in the field of telecommunications. The medal is one of the highest honors awarded by the Instit ...

. He was elected a member of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...

in 1997 for contributions in spread-spectrum communications and data encryption. He was inducted into the Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame in 2009. Omura died August 29, 2024 in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, California.

References

External links

Biography
at the Moore Foundation

at IEEE History Center

at USC Viterbi School of Engineering Living people American information theorists American electrical engineers MIT School of Engineering alumni Stanford University School of Engineering alumni 1940 births Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering {{US-electrical-engineer-stub