As a founder and chief engineer of RD Instruments, I played a major role in the development of Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers. These sonar systems revolutionized the way oceanographers measure currents in the ocean and the way flow in rivers is measured. They have become the standard that is used to validate all other current measurement methods and are used to measure currents around oil drilling platforms, in ports and harbors and to measure the flow down rivers, and sewer just to give a few examples of their applications. Oceanographers can measure currents up to 1 km below the ship that holds the system. Since current measurement is fundamental to the understanding of the oceans, these sensors have substantially increased mankind's understanding of the oceans and weather, including El Nino events.
I have 7 patents and contributed to many others. I originated the idea for the company's biggest advancement, the BroadBand Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler technology that has dramatically improved the accuracy and performance of Doppler systems. I developed a method that was never patented, to determine the volumetric flow (discharge) in a river from a moving boat being driven along a random path across a river with only the velocity information that an ADCP (no compass, no navigation) could obtain. I led the development of the company's most successful product line, the Workhorse, reducing manufacturing cost by 2/3 while improving performance, and reducing size and weight. I personally did the electrical design and dictated the mechanical design.
RD Instruments now has 180 employees, is represented worldwide by its sale office at its San Diego headquarters, a sales office in Nice, France and Shanghai, China and sales representatives worldwide. Over 2500 instruments have been sold.
With Lee Gordon, I have founded Doppler, Ltd. of Poway California to pursue applications for my latest invention, a Laser Doppler Velocimeter or Vibrometer that is optically as simple as a laser pointer yet has the same accuracy. By eliminating Bragg cells and the other complications of traditional LDV's cost, weight, size and power have been reduced while reliability has been improved. Application include point-and-shoot Stethoscopes, machinery health monitoring, accelerometer substitute.
| Electronic Circuit Design | Digital Signal Processor design (TMS320) |
| RF Circuit Design | System Performance Prediction |
| Power Circuit Design | Signal to Noise Budget |
| Random Error Estimation | Bias Error Estimation |
| Power Budget | Hardware Design |
| Firmware Design | Acoustic Transducer Design |
| System Engineering |
2003 Engineer of the Year in San Diego
Designed and marketed innovated Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers
Designed acoustic Doppler systems
Designed Power Supplies
Designed Integrated Circuits
Designed Power Supplies for the Viking Mars Lander's Doppler Radar and Altimeter Systems, Doppler System Engineer.
August 03, 2005