Dr. William Imbriale

“JPL Antennas”

IEEE MTT/AP Orlando chapter & Raj Mittra Distinguished Lecture Program

Thursday, Feb. 11^th, 2016 (5:00 PM-6:00 PM)

SPEAKER: Dr. William A. Imbriale

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, USA

ABSTRACT:

Dr. Imbriale wrote a book entitled Spaceborne Antennas for Planetary Exploration (Wiley Interscience 2006) which traces the development of the antennas used on JPL Spacecraft from their inception on the very first US Explorer Mission in 1958 to the present. The focus is on antennas that have flown on JPL spacecraft or were used for JPL scientific instruments that have flown on other spacecraft. The book primarily deals with the RF design and performance of the antennas and associated front-end equipment, but also includes a chapter on mechanical development.

This book is complementary to Large Antennas of the Deep Space Network also by William A. Imbriale (Wiley Interscience 2003), which describes the JPL ground network antennas. However, whereas the ground antennas are primarily for telecommunication, the antennas on the Spacecraft can serve the dual purpose of a science instrument or communication of the science and telemetry data to earth.

This talk discusses highlights from both books.

BIOGRAPHY:

Dr. Imbriale has recently retired from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in Pasadena, California where he was a senior research scientist in the Communications Ground System Section. Since starting at JPL in 1980, he has led many advanced technology developments for large ground-station antennas, lightweight spacecraft antennas, and millimeter-wave spacecraft instruments. During 2012 he was on sabbatical at UCSD where he taught antenna courses and worked on Radio Astronomy antennas and during 2009 he was on 6 month sabbatical at Cornell University where he supported the design of the Square Kilometre Array and continued that work at JPL. Prior to the Sabbaticals, he was a Principle Investigator (PI) on a technology contract for the Earth Sciences Technology Office (ESTO) to develop a subreflector consisting of MEMS switches integrated with patch reflect array elements that will compensate, in real time, for on-orbit distortions of a membrane inflatable antenna. Prior to joining JPL, he was employed at the TRW Defense and Space Systems Group He has published extensively and has won three best paper awards. Dr. Imbriale is a Life Fellow of the IEEE and has received numerous NASA honor awards, including the Exceptional Service Medal and in 2012 he was awarded the Distinguished Engineer Award which is annually presented to a Rutgers Engineering graduate who has made significant technical contributions in their career.