Principal Software Engineer, Integrated Systems and Solutions
R. Norman Hurst is responsible for the development and advancement of SRI’s award-winning video test and measurement products.. He has created a number of easy-to-interpret testing tools including the Visualizer™ digital video test pattern (in use by all major networks), a 3D test pattern suite, and the Sarnoff® TG-series of sequence generators with A/V test patterns.
Hurst joined RCA Laboratories (now SRI) in 1980 as a member of the technical staff. His work involved the design of analog and digital electronic circuits and the invention and computer-based simulation of advanced television systems. He holds 35 U.S. and many international patents.
Hurst won a Technology and Engineering Emmy® Award for developing the MPEG Compliance Bitstreams DTV testing technique. In 2013 he achieved Fellow status as an exemplary member of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE). He also received the SMPTE Digital Processing Medal Award in recognition of his invention of methods for splicing MPEG-2 Transport Streams, the creation of test bitstreams, and the development of electronic test patterns to evaluate video encoding and processing systems.
Hurst has given numerous presentations to International Conference on Consumer Electronics (ICCE), SMPTE, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). His articles and tutorials have been published in such industry trades as the SMPTE Journal, Broadcast Engineering, and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Transactions.
Hurst received his B.E.E.E. from Stevens Institute of Technology. He has served as United Nations delegate to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU-R) in Geneva, and has participated in national and international standards bodies including SMPTE, Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), and ITU-R.