Management Team
Dr. Rick Twogood, CEO
Dr. Twogood has a broad range of technical and senior management experience, including over 32 years in the U.S. national laboratory system. While at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California, he managed large organizations and programs in national security research and development, laser programs and Department of Defense programs. From 1996 to 2000, Dr. Twogood was the Deputy Associate Director for Electronics Engineering, with management responsibility for that 750-person department at LLNL.
He also served as Deputy Associate Director for New Initiatives in the Engineering Directorate, and managed programs including non-acoustic anti-submarine warfare, laser guide stars, micropower impulse radar, strategic defense and other technologies. Dr. Twogood has a PhD in Electronics Engineering from the University of California at Davis and has over 30 publications in the field of digital signal and image processing. He is a senior member of the IEEE, and a member of the AIAA.
Dr. Faranak Nekoogar, CTO
Dr. Faranak Nekoogar serves as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Dirac Solutions Inc. (DSI), where she leads cutting-edge research and development in secure wireless communications and battery-free sensor technologies. An internationally recognized expert in ultra-wideband (UWB) communications and passive RFID systems, Dr. Nekoogar has been instrumental in advancing DSI’s mission to deliver resilient, high-performance solutions for
defense, government, and commercial applications.
Prior to joining DSI, Dr. Nekoogar spent over a decade at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), where she led and contributed to key R&D initiatives supporting Department of Energy (DOE) and Department of Defense (DoD) missions. Her work at LLNL focused on applying UWB and secure RF technologies to real-world
challenges in national security, nuclear monitoring, and mission-critical communications.
Earlier in her career, Dr. Nekoogar held a series of technical and leadership roles in wireless communications at
NASA Ames Research Center, as well as in electronic chip design and verifications in Silicon Valley semiconductor startups. She also served as a technology consultant to major corporations such as Lucent Technologies, Philips Semiconductor, IBM, and Qualcomm, specializing in electronic chip design, signal processing, and system-level
verification.
Dr. Nekoogar holds a Ph.D. in Applied Science and Engineering from the University of California, Davis, and is the author of three technical books as well as over 20 patents and invention disclosures in the field of wireless technology and embedded systems.
Torsten Eckert, VP of Software Development
Torsten serves as the Vice President of Software Development at Dirac Solutions Inc., where he leads the design and implementation of advanced software systems for secure wireless communication, embedded sensing, and real-time signal processing. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Mathematics and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (MSEE) from the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC).
A recognized expert in radar signal processing and RFID systems, Torsten specializes in algorithm development, firmware engineering, and software integration across both embedded and high-level platforms. His multidisciplinary background allows him to architect solutions that operate efficiently at both the hardware and software layers. At DSI, Torsten leads the development of:
- Custom signal processing algorithms for ultra-wideband (UWB) and passive RFID communications
- Embedded firmware for microcontrollers and software-defined radios (SDRs), optimized for low-power, real-time operation
- Secure and scalable software infrastructure for wireless sensor networks and edge computing platforms
- High-level applications and data pipelines for testing, control, and analytics (Python, C/C++, MATLAB, embedded C)
His leadership ensures that DSI's platforms are agile, secure, and optimized for deployment in harsh and mission-critical environments—from defense and aerospace systems to medical monitoring and industrial automation.
Scientific Advisors
Prof. Farid Dowla, Scientific Advisor for DoD Operations
Prof. Dowla is an expert in Signal Processing and RF communications with BS, MS, and Ph.D. in EE from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is the author of numerous publications, patents, and books in the area of wireless communications. He has been employed at LLNL for the past 31 years leading research for DOE and DoD on UWB communications and radars and is currently a Professor at University of California, Santa Cruz teaching communications, radar, and signal processing.
Prof. Matt Reynolds, Scientific Advisor for Government/Commercial Operations
Matt Reynolds is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Washington. He is also co-founder of the RFID systems firm ThingMagic Inc (acquired by Trimble Navigation), the energy conservation firm Zensi (acquired by Belkin), and the home sensing company SNUPI Inc (acquired by Sears). He is currently co-founder of the millimeter wave imaging firm ThruWave Inc.
Matt's research interests include millimeter-wave sensing and imaging, RFID, energy efficiency at the physical layer of wireless communication, and the physics of sensing and actuation. Matt received the Ph.D. from the MIT Media Lab in 2003, where he was a Motorola Fellow, as well as S.B. and M.Eng. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE, has received five Best Paper awards, the 2018 and 2019 ACM Ubicomp 10-Year Impact Award, and has 76 issued US patents and over 88 pending patent applications.
Accounting/Administrative Support
Liz O’Brien
Liz O’Brien has over 38 years of experience as an administrative assistant. Prior to joining DSI in 2010, she spent 16 years at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory providing administrative support to various organizations, including Dr. Twogood’s Imaging and Detection Program in Lasers. She also supported Dr. Twogood during his role as the Deputy Associate Director for Engineering and New Initiatives, and then went on to support various managers within the Engineering Directorate office, and later supported the head of the Forensic Science Department within Global Security. Liz has been working at DSI since it began in 2010 as the Office Administrator and manages bookkeeping, payroll and reporting tasks for government contracts.
