I grew up in the rainy city of Seattle where the winters were usually spent indoors. And a child I remember being inexplicably drawn towards exploring the inner workings of things. I did this by taking those things apart as it was well before the internet and YouTube. This behaviour was driven mostly by curiosity with maybe a little childhood autism at play, but I definitely remember the feeling of gratification when something made sense. I think my interest in electronics began around the age of eight or nine when my father bought me a pair of two way radios. How did such a device work? In this case taking it apart didn't result in any aha moment so the local Columbia Branch library became my source of information. I was fortunate that my father was an avid reader, I think mostly fiction, but nonetheless he regularly took me to the library and Shorey's Bookstore which brings back wonderful memories.
I was raised in a working class family who encouraged my sister and I to find work from a young age. After picking strawberries for a few summers I ended up finding a part-time job working at Holly Park Greenhouse which is still there! Then I got a cushy job serving ice cream at Baskin Robbins on MLK Jr Way South (also still there!). After high school I worked as a teller for Seafirst Bank for a short time before I was off to the University of Washington. And while at the UW I worked as a copy machine operator for Rainier Bank in the basement of the Rainier Tower building. I ended up majoring in electrical engineering and since companies recruited on campus I had a job lined up with Boeing Aerospace in Kent Space Center. But I had no idea what I was getting into and was assigned, for what seemed at the time, the daunting task of designing an RF circuit board to down-convert and digitize a radio signal from a Navy JTIDS terminal. It was also my first exposure to surface mount components and microstrip/stripline designs but fortunately I had a good mentor (GWF). The engineering process of going from paper design to circuit boards, chassis and racks, then delivering and integrating at a Naval facility in San Diego was intense and at the same time appealing to me.
After 4 years at Boeing I moved to Los Angeles to work for NEC America doing cell site maintenance and upgrades. And shortly afterwards I ended up at TRW in Redondo Beach, California, courtesy of someone I used to work with at Baskin Robbins. It's strange how something seemingly innocuous like scooping ice cream can change one's future. TRW was a great place to work and I also found Los Angeles to be a fun place to live while in my 20s and 30s. I worked with a group of modem engineers and we specialized in the development of high data rate satellite ground station receivers. These experiences at Boeing and TRW (now part of Northrop Grumman) were my formative years as an engineer and played an important part of who I am today. But in a strange way, those earlier experiences particularly at the greenhouse and copy center have shaped me as a person as well.
Fast forward to halfway through my career, I made a switch from communications to the world of radio astronomy and live in the small town of Hilo, Hawaii, population of 44,370 (2022). Going from industry to a research organization was a difficult transition for me but I've found that most academic organizations are of the accommodating sort. I've definitely learned a lot of new things pertaining to astronomy and astronomical techniques that are not a normal part of communications. And like most things in life, the more I learn the more I know what I don't know. A big THANKS to the people that have and continue to share their knowledge with me, you know who you are. I'm blessed and thankful to still be doing something that I yearned to do as a child. Afterall, how many people can say that about their work?
The ASIAA Hawaii office was established to support the SMA project on Maunakea (20% partnership with SAO) then later the AMiBA project on Maunaloa, the GLT in Thule Air Base, Greenland (also partnered with SAO), and most recently the FRB project in Pahala. As of this writing, we have a total of 7.5 individuals that are composed of 1 director, 1 scientist, 1 engineer (me), 3 technicians (1 for SMA & 2 for FRB projects), 0.5 IT, and 1 administrator. Not included in this tally are 1 engineer supporting the GLT from Leon France and 1 scientist supporting TAOS-2 from Philadelphia PA.
Whether you are interested in only one particular project or to get a general feel for what we do here in our ASIAA Hawaii office, I hope you find some of the things interesting and informative. All photos in this site were taken by me using either an iPhone or Lumix GF3, unless mentioned otherwise. Credits and acknowledgements for individuals working on particular items in addition to myself are provided in parentheses.
- Derek
Though my role in system designs is relatively infrequent, when involved I generally concentrate my early efforts working closely with scientists/system engineers toward developing an initial architectural system block diagram. Crude as it may be at this stage, it’s my attempt at laying out hardware solutions for others to scrutinize. From here, trades and compromises are made until we arrive at an architecture that is realizable within the constraints of the project. It’s analogous to design by committee and is rarely a smooth process that's full of ambiguity and personalities. But if done correctly can make a huge difference on the outcome of a project.
The GLT system design depicted above was developed in collaboration with my colleague, C.C. Han, in Taipei along with the science team which included M. Inoue, S. Matsushita, and K. Asada. We started from scratch in 2012 and iteratively evolved with increasing details. As of this writing we are on Rev-0U, 21st revision.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2fxpxqaaegomg2i/Electronics_System_Block_2022-8-3_0U.pdf?dl=0
My favorite thing to work on, for better or worse, is with the development of custom instruments. I typically use a combination of circuit board designs and connectorized RF and/or optical components and integrate into a standalone EMI chassis. And more often than not, I end up doing the mechanical design and assembly which can often be an integral part of the units thermal and electrical performance. My aim is for clean and simple designs that are both functional and aesthetically satisfying to myself and the final end user. I don't consider myself an artist but this is one of my few creative outlets that I spend a lot time thinking through carefully with an eye toward craftsmanship. You can find out more about the instrument designs that I have been involved with by visiting the Projects at the top of this page.
The LO Reference Test Module shown above was developed for the ALMA project in collaboration with my engineering colleague, C.C. Han in Taipei. Software development was provided by R. Srinivasan. This was one of the more complex units I worked on at ASIAA and is described further by navigating to the More tab at the top right then to the ALMA Projects.
http://www.asiaa.sinica.edu.tw/gallery/show.php?i=d26da3f5e0870bf0e0d94e5ddec8598c
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