Bernard (Ben) Gerard Lawrence

Tel: +61 405 274 337 (Mobile)

 

EXPERIENCE

RF Engineer (microwave IC)             Jul. 2003 to Present

Mimix Broadband: a commercial company of roughly 30 engineers designing state-of-the-art GaAs MMICs for the military and communications markets.

(www.mimixbroadband.com)

·        Designed low-noise amplifiers using GaAs pHEMTs

·        Involved in the design of a doublers using resistive HEMT mixer configuration and oscillators for the 30GHz region.

·        Involved in the test and measurement of on-wafer receivers, amplifiers, mixers, oscillators from 1GHz to 50GHz.

·        Designed and programmed a software suite for the automated control of on-wafer tests and measurements using the Labview and Labwindows control language. Such tests measured noise figure, S parameters, output power, IP3 and conversion gain of receivers, transmitters and amplifiers.

·        Derived models for pHEMT microwave transistors.

 

RF Engineer (microwave-optical design)             Dec. 2001 to Jul 2003

Redfern Integrated Optics: a commercial company of 18 engineers developing a laser-modulator device for the optical network market.

(www.rio1.com)

·        Involved with the development of directly modulated external cavity laser.

·        Design, testing, prototyping of microwave (thin-film) feed circuit for the optical modulator up to 12 Gbps

·        Design of RF packaging up to 20GHz

·        Design of a commercial electro-optical (Mach-Zehnder) modulators for high speed modulation of laser signals.

·        Purchasing of equipment and tools in the order of $60000.

·        Measurement of thin-film devices, optical lasers and optical modulators.

·        Electromagnetic microstrip design and compatibility modelling.

 

 

RF Engineer (magnetic resonance imaging)             Jan. 2000 to Dec. 2001

Centre for Magnetic Resonance, University of Queensland: a centre responsible for sales of up to $2million of components for magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy machines such as RF coils. (www.cmr.uq.edu.au)

·        Created a new methodology for the design of novel RF coils for Magnetic Resonance Imaging using advanced electromagnetic theory.

·        Using this methodology, transferred the design concept into real prototypes used in magnetic resonance imaging machines.

·        Investigated the effects on human electromagnetic models by the RF radiation in magnetic resonance imaging.

·        Assisted as tutor in “Magnetic Resonance Technology”, a recently instigated postgraduate course detailing the principles and instrumentation of magnetic resonance machines.

·        Collaborated with other researchers in associated projects such as active microwave power combiners and industrial RF wood driers.

 

Telecommunications Engineer             Aug. 1999 to Jan. 2000

University of Queensland

·        Investigated adaptive arrays for mobile communication use.  Work entailed a feasibility study into the implementation of a prototype base-station using an adaptive antenna array within a CDMA system.

·        Assisted in the publication of journal papers in the field of microwave engineering.

 

TECHNICAL SKILLS

·        Ability to design MMIC circuits such as amplifiers, mixer/doublers in GaAs process.

·        Achieve correct electromagnetic models using electromagnetic CAD software packages: Microwave Office, FEKO, HFSS, IE3D, Sonnet.

·        Program automated test and measurement software in Labview and Labwindows for the characterization of MMIC and optical devices and circuits

·        Assess device performance using RF probe stations, optical sampling oscilloscope, communication sampling oscilloscope (10Gbps), vector network analyzers, 10Gbps pattern generators and BERT, and Magnetic Resonance Imaging machines.

·        Use MATLAB, C languages in unix and PC environments.

·        Write technical reports and journal papers.

·        Develop new designs in electromagnetic engineering

·        Understand new concepts and translate into practical designs

 

EDUCATION

Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering      

Monash University (Melbourne) in conjunction with the CSIRO Division of Radiophysics,(Sydney)

 

Bachelor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (1^st class honours)

James Cook University, Townsville

 

AWARDS

CSIRO/Telecom postgraduate scholarship

Three year scholarship for study of a PhD in Engineering

University Medal

Award for academic excellence, James Cook University

 

REFERENCES

Upon request.