Will Hedgecock

About

Research scientist and engineer working across signal processing, embedded and cyber-physical systems, wireless sensor networks, and applied AI. Industry experience includes founding Fazecast to commercialize centimeter-accurate GPS localization research and directing engineering at V5 Systems, including development of the first self-powered, edge-AI gunshot localization system. Inventor on four issued U.S. patents, with an IEEE RTSS Outstanding Paper Award and an ACM MobiSys Best Paper Runner-Up.

Research interests

• Digital signal processing
• High-accuracy localization
• Embedded systems & electronics
• Wireless sensor networks
• Cyber-physical systems
• Applied AI & edge machine learning
• Programming languages & software engineering
• Computing education

Experience

1. Senior Research Scientist & Adjunct Assistant Professor

   May 2020 – Present

   Vanderbilt UniversityNashville, TN

   Institute for Convergent Software Integrated Systems (ICONS) · College of Connected Computing (CCC)

   Lead collaborative, project-based research in cyber-physical systems, artificial intelligence, and wireless sensor networks. Projects include ultrasonic guided-wave communication for wire-free digital connectivity across spacecraft hulls, an infrastructure-free proximity and ranging device for naturalistic monitoring of child–caregiver interactions, and AI-assisted tools for the design of complex systems such as unmanned vehicles.

   • PI or Co-PI on multiple interdisciplinary projects with collaborators at national and international universities
   • Manage teams of researchers, collaborators, and graduate students across active projects
   • Identify funding opportunities and write grant and R&D proposals for new research directions
   • Teach graduate and undergraduate courses, including courses on artificial intelligence

2. Director of Engineering

   May 2016 – May 2020

   V5 Systems, Inc.Fremont, CA & Nashville, TN

   Directed engineering R&D for sensor- and AI-based products and established the company’s R&D engineering office and team in Nashville. Led development of the V5 Gunshot Localization System (GSL), the first self-powered, AI-based gunshot detection system running entirely at the edge of the Internet of Things.

   • Owned all aspects of GSL product creation: infrastructure design, hardware and software development, marketing materials, and customer demonstrations
   • Protected company IP through ongoing patent analyses and patent filings
   • Served as liaison between engineering and sales to align product development with customer needs and specifications
   • GSL deployments helped police apprehend the perpetrators of multiple active shooting incidents (case study)

3. Founder & CEO

   May 2014 – Present

   Fazecast, Inc.Nashville, TN

   Founded a company to commercialize the PinPtr Positioning Platform, a high-precision, low-cost GPS localization technology developed through academic research. Developed software and algorithmic enhancements to PinPtr to attract pilot customers and outside investment and to support scaling.

   • Completed two commercialization accelerators: Jumpstart Foundry and the NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program
   • Awarded a $200K NSF Accelerating Innovation Research–Technology Translation (AIR-TT) grant to transition PinPtr from research to industry
   • Negotiated a Joint Development Agreement with V5 Systems to develop and commercialize a gunshot detection system based on prior academic research

4. Independent Software Developer

   Oct 2013 – May 2018

   CDX, Inc.Nashville, TN

   Designed and built the CDX TrAction radio airplay monitoring system from the ground up. TrAction detects airplay in real time from the Internet simulcast streams of radio stations, using wavelet-based audio fingerprints (temporally ordered identifiers unique to each song) to achieve a near-100% detection rate without metadata analysis, ID3 tagging, or audio watermarking.

   • Monitors every radio station that streams its broadcast online, rather than a small panel of major-market stations
   • Gives record labels, booking agents, and managers actionable airplay data for targeted marketing and promotion

5. Postdoctoral Researcher

   May 2014 – May 2016

   Graduate Research Assistant

   Aug 2008 – May 2014

   Vanderbilt University, Institute for Software Integrated Systems (ISIS)Nashville, TN

   Researched distributed and wireless sensor networks under Akos Ledeczi, most notably high-accuracy localization, including novel techniques that use commercial-grade, single-frequency GPS receivers to achieve centimeter-scale relative localization. Also built prototype systems for web-based visualization of pollution models from irregularly sampled spatio-temporal observations.

   • Contributed to projects in model-integrated computing, cyber-physical systems, and embedded devices
   • Carried projects through their full life cycle, from idea development and funding through theoretical research, implementation, and working prototypes
   • Wrote and published journal and conference papers, and presented at conferences, seminars, and tech talks
   • Helped write and edit research and grant proposals for a variety of funding agencies

6. Project Engineer

   Aug 2007 – Aug 2008

   ToshibaNashville, TN

   Designed and developed HDTV user interfaces for European models of Toshiba digital televisions.

   • Extensive C and C++ development
   • Interfacing with HDMI, MPEG-2, and standard PAL/NTSC video
   • Industry-grade quality assurance testing and debugging

7. Software Engineer

   Summers & winters, 2006–2007

   Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC)Pensacola, FL

   Worked independently and with a team of research engineers on new ways to deliver information to people in high-stress, highly interactive situations, such as flying an aircraft or navigating underwater with low visibility, notably through a tongue-tactile device that conveys information as electrical pulses.

   • Implemented and deployed modular software agents in Java, C++, and JNI
   • Conducted in-field testing of experimental modules

Education

1. Ph.D., Electrical Engineering

   Jan 2010 – May 2014

   Vanderbilt UniversityNashville, TN

   Dissertation

   Precise Real-Time Relative Localization Using Single-Frequency GPS

   Advisor

   Akos Ledeczi

2. M.S., Electrical Engineering

   Aug 2008 – Dec 2009

   Vanderbilt UniversityNashville, TN

   Thesis

   Mobile Air Quality Monitoring and Web-Based Visualization

3. B.E., Computer Engineering · Minor in German

   Aug 2004 – May 2008

   Vanderbilt UniversityNashville, TN

Grants & Funding

$2.04M in funding as PI, Co-PI, or Co-Investigator from NSF, NIH, and Vanderbilt, plus senior-personnel and research roles on additional NIH, NSF, DARPA, and NASA awards.

As PI, Co-PI, or Co-Investigator

• 2025–2027

  SCC-CIVIC-FA Track B: Community-Based Gunshot Alert System

  National Science Foundation · Award 2527317

  Co-PIs: Akos Ledeczi, Charles Loeffler (University of Pennsylvania), Kathleen Padilla (Texas State University)

  PI$698,169
• 2024–2025

  SCC-CIVIC-PG Track B: Community-Based Gunshot Alert System

  National Science Foundation · Award 2431234

  Co-PI: Akos Ledeczi

  PI$74,962
• 2024–2027

  Caregiver–Child Proximity and Attachment Security

  NIH / NICHD · R21HD111744

  PI: Kathryn Humphreys

  Co-Investigator$435,875
• 2024

  Toward an Artificial Intelligence-Based Music Tutor

  Vanderbilt Learning Innovation Incubator (LIVE) · Spark Research Grant

  With Pascal Le Boeuf (Blair School of Music)

  PI$10,000
• 2023–2027

  Collaborative Research: CPS: Medium: A3EM: Animal-Borne Adaptive Acoustic Environmental Monitoring

  National Science Foundation · Award 2312391

  PI: Akos Ledeczi

  Co-PI$749,976
• 2023–2024

  BeatBlox: Teaching Computer Science through Music (Team “Code to Joy”)

  NSF VITAL Prize Challenge · Finalist; Semi-Final ($20,000) and Final ($50,000) round awards

  Team: Akos Ledeczi, Corbette Doyle, Pascal Le Boeuf

  PI$70,000

Other funded roles

• 2023–2027

  Collaborative Research: Caregiver–Child Proximity and Attachment Security

  National Science Foundation · Award 2322837

  PI: Kathryn Humphreys

  Senior Personnel$237,191
• 2022–2027

  Parent–Child Proximity and Emerging Psychopathology

  NIH / NIMH · R01MH129634

  PI: Kathryn Humphreys

  Senior Personnel$3,949,328 to date
• 2020–2023

  AI-Assisted Cyber-Physical Systems Design

  DARPA, via AFRL · Contract FA8750-20-C-0537

  Researcher$5,259,151
• 2018–2021

  An Ultrasonic Wireless Sensor Network for Data Communication and Structural Health Monitoring

  NASA SBIR/STTR · Contract 80NSSC19C0011

  Prime: X-Wave Innovations, Inc.

  Researcher$749,999
• 2015–2018

  PFI:AIR-TT: High-Precision, Low-Cost GPS Cloud Service

  National Science Foundation · Award 1543098

  PI: Akos Ledeczi · small-business partner: Fazecast, Inc.

  Senior Personnel$202,231
• 2014

  I-Corps: A Community-Driven Precision GPS Service

  National Science Foundation · Award 1449767

  PI: Akos Ledeczi

  Entrepreneurial Lead$50,000

Amounts are total awards as reported by the sponsor; the NIH R01 amount is the total obligated to date.

Awards & Honors

• 2024

  Outstanding Paper Award

  45th IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium (RTSS 2024), York, England

• 2023

  VITAL Prize Challenge Finalist

  National Science Foundation · Team “Code to Joy” (BeatBlox), one of 18 finalist teams

• 2014

  Winner, Spark Nashville Pitch Competition

  Southern Alpha

• 2014

  1st Place, FlashPitch 2014 Entrepreneurial Competition

  Vanderbilt University Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization

• 2013

  Best Paper Award Runner-Up

  11th ACM International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications, and Services (MobiSys ’13), Taipei, Taiwan

• 2012

  Google Research Award

  Google

• 2010

  Best Poster Award

  25th ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC 2010), Sierre, Switzerland

• 2008

  Best in Program, Computer Engineering

  Vanderbilt University School of Engineering

• 2004

  National Merit Scholar

  National Merit Scholarship Corporation

• 2002

  Eagle Scout

  Boy Scouts of America

Publications

Patents

• 2021

  Robust Detection of Impulsive Acoustic Event Onsets in an Audio Stream

  U.S. Patent 11,133,023 · Filed Mar 10, 2021 · Issued Sep 28, 2021

  GrantedPDF
• 2021

  Acoustic Event Detection Using Coordinated Data Dissemination, Retrieval, and Fusion for a Distributed Array of Sensors

  U.S. Patent 11,127,273 · Filed Mar 15, 2021 · Issued Sep 21, 2021

  GrantedPDF
• 2020

  Systems and Methods for Transient Acoustic Event Detection, Classification, and Localization

  U.S. Patent 10,871,548 · Filed Dec 4, 2016 · Issued Dec 22, 2020

  GrantedPDF
• 2020

  Systems and Methods for Continuously Detecting and Identifying Songs in a Continuous Audio Stream

  U.S. Patent 10,534,777 · Filed Mar 10, 2016 · Issued Jan 14, 2020

  GrantedPDF
• 2014

  System and Methodology for a Community-Based, High-Accuracy Positioning Service Using a Network of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Receivers

  U.S. Provisional Application 62/067,917 · Filed Oct 23, 2014

  LapsedPDF
• 2014

  Method and System for High-Accuracy Differential Tracking of GPS Receivers

  International Application PCT/US2014/014702 · Filed Feb 4, 2014

  LapsedPDF

Software

Open-source libraries

• 2015

  jSerialComm

  Platform-independent serial port access for Java. Creator and lead maintainer; 1,500+ GitHub stars and 50+ releases on Maven Central.

  GitHubWebsite
• 2024

  musicxml

  MusicXML parsing, manipulation, and export library for Rust; 20,000+ downloads on crates.io.

  GitHubDocs
• 2024

  amm_sdk

  Abstract Music Manipulation (AMM) SDK for Rust; 13,000+ downloads on crates.io.

  GitHubcrates.io
• 2025

  Rust bindings for the Opus audio codec

  opus-static-sys, libopusenc-static-sys, and libopusenc: bindings and a safe API for the reference Opus codec and Ogg Opus encoder; 12,000+ combined downloads.

  GitHubDocs
• 2022

  WebAudioAPI

  JavaScript library for music synthesis, playback, effects, and audio analysis built on the Web Audio API, with interactive demos.

  GitHubDocsDemo
• 2026

  nandlog

  Append-only, power-fail-safe, CRC-validated logging directly on raw SPI NAND flash, with no flash translation layer, filesystem, or heap.

  GitHub

Research systems

• 2024

  CivicAlert

  Firmware, edge-AI firmware, and hardware for a community-based gunshot alert system.

  Project siteGitHub
• 2024

  A3EM

  Firmware for Ambiq Apollo4-based tracking collars, AI training and deployment tools, and a web dashboard for configuring animal-borne acoustic monitoring deployments.

  Project siteGitHubDashboard
• 2021

  SymCAD & constraint-programming tools

  Symbolic part-manipulation library with FreeCAD hooks and constraint-programming design-space exploration for AI-assisted cyber-physical systems design.

  GitHubconstraint-prog
• 2020

  SociTrack / TotTag

  Wearable ultra-wideband ranging platform for measuring naturalistic proximity in caregiver–child interaction studies; firmware developer.

  GitHub

Talks & Presentations

Teaching

• 2023–2026

  CS 5260: Artificial Intelligence

  Instructor · Graduate · Vanderbilt University

  Spring 2023, Summer 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Summer 2025, Spring 2026

  Course code
• 2023

  CS 3281: Principles of Operating Systems I

  Instructor · Undergraduate · Vanderbilt University · Fall 2023

Professional Service

Conference organization

• 2024

  Session Chair

  EDULEARN24, International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies

• 2021

  Online Arrangements Chair

  ACM/IEEE International Conference on Information Processing in Sensor Networks (IPSN 2021)

Peer review

• 2026

  IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications

• 2018–2019

  International Conference on Control, Decision, and Information Technologies (CoDIT)

• 2015

  International Conference on Embedded Wireless Systems and Networks (EWSN)

• 2014

  IEEE Sensors Journal

• 2014

  Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems

• 2014

  International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS ’14)

• 2013

  Periodica Polytechnica Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Professional memberships

• IEEE

  Senior Member, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

• ACM

  Professional Member, Association for Computing Machinery

Leadership & boards

• 2014–Present

  Board President

  Fazecast, Inc.

• 2009–2011

  Advisory Board Member

  Vanderbilt Student Finance Committee

Professional Development

• 2019

  Immersive Italian Language Study Abroad Program

  Babilonia, Sicily, Italy · Sep–Oct 2019

• 2014

  Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Academic Commercialization Training

  National Science Foundation · Oct–Dec 2014

• 2014

  Business Accelerator Program

  Jumpstart Foundry, Nashville, TN · May–Aug 2014

Skills & Languages

Programming

• C
• C++
• Rust
• Python
• Java
• JavaScript
• TypeScript
• HTML/CSS
• PHP
• LaTeX

AI / ML frameworks

• PyTorch / LibTorch
• TensorFlow / Keras
• LiteRT (TensorFlow Lite)
• Quantization-aware training
• scikit-learn

Embedded & mobile

• FreeRTOS
• Ambiq Apollo4
• Ultra-wideband (UWB) ranging
• Android
• iOS

Databases

• SQL
• MySQL
• SQLite

Languages

• German — fluent reading and writing; professional working proficiency in conversation
• Italian — working proficiency in non-technical reading and writing; basic conversation

Licenses & Certifications

• 2020

  Notary Public

  State of Tennessee

• 2013

  Engineer in Training (EIT)

  National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES)