Curriculum Vitae

Richard Thomas Lord

BSc (Elec Eng)       PhD (Elec Eng)

 

 

Personal Details

Name:   Richard Thomas Lord
Occupation:   Electrical Engineer
Address:   [please email me]
Telephone:   [please email me]
Email:   rlord@ebe.uct.ac.za
Date of Birth:   18 May 1972
Place of Birth:   Windhoek, Namibia
Identity Number:   [please email me]
Nationality:   South African
Marital Status:   Married
Languages:   English, German and Afrikaans
Fluently spoken, read and written
Driving Licence:   Code A and EB, no restrictions

Tertiary Education

Jan 2002 - Oct 2002:   Postdoctoral research at the German Aerospace Institute (DLR),
Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
2000:   PhD (Electrical Engineering), University of Cape Town
1994:   BSc (Electrical Engineering) with first class honours,
University of Cape Town

The title of my PhD thesis is: "Aspects of Stepped-Frequency Processing for Low-Frequency SAR Systems."

This thesis investigates the use of stepped-frequency waveforms to synthetically increase the total radar bandwidth to obtain higher range resolution, applied to Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) systems. It also investigates methods to suppress Radio Frequency Interference (RFI), which significantly degrades the image quality of SAR systems operating in the VHF/UHF-Band.

Sport:   Aikido club member: 1991 - 1992
Squash club member: 1992 - 1994
Tai Chi club member: 1997 - 1999, club chairperson 1998 - 1999
Other:   Ballroom Dancing society member: 1993 - 2000
Tutoring for Electromagnetic Course in 1995


Awards, Scholarships, Fellowships


Matriculation

1979 - 1984:   Primary School: Deutsche Schule Windhoek, Namibia
1985 - 1990:   Secondary School: Deutsche Oberschule Windhoek, Namibia
School Certificate:   Cape Senior Certificate, Full Matriculation Exemption, 1990

Subjects Passed Grade   Symbol  
English (first language)   Higher Grade  
B
German (first language)   Higher Grade  
B
Afrikaans (2nd language)     Higher Grade  
B
Mathematics   Higher Grade  
A
Physical Science   Higher Grade  
A
Technical Drawing   Higher Grade  
A
     
Aggregate  
A


Senior School Activities and Achievements:

At high school I took actively part in our school's annual athletics and swimming events, apart from attending Karate lessons. As co-editor of our school's pupil's magazine and as a school prefect I developed my leadership and organisational skills. I also took trombone and theory of music lessons at the conservatoire for music in Windhoek, and was part of our school's theatre group. This allowed me to enjoy an active extra-mural and social life.


Extra-Mural Activities and Achievements:

Offices Held:   School Prefect, 1989 - 1990
Co-editor of school's pupil's magazine, 1989
Class captain, 1987 - 1988
     
School Awards:   1990 - Won Science Trophy for achievements in Physical Science
1990 - Won Hannah Callard Trilingual Trophy
1989 - Completed a course in Electronics and Computer Science
1989 - Winner of Std. 9 Mathematics Olympiad in Namibia
1988 - Won school's annual speech competition
1986 - First prize in Rössing's "Young Scientists" competition
     
Sport:   Karate, brown belt, 1985 - 1990
     
Other:   Member of school's theatre group, 1986 - 1990
Trombone, Grade 5, distinction pass, 1990
Theory of Music, Grade 6, merit pass, 1989


Skills

Management Skills:
  • Management of sub-contract work in the Radar Remote Sensing Group (RRSG) at UCT
  • Assistance with the budget of the RRSG
  • Research assistance to postgraduate students
   
Interpersonal Skills:
  • Confident leadership skills
  • Ability to communicate well
  • Excellent team working skills
   
PC Skills:
  • Unix (Linux, Solaris), MS Windows, DOS
  • IDL, C, familiar with C++, Python
  • MathCAD, MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
  • Linux utilities

Academic and Professional Interests


Employment

Nov 2002 - present:   Senior Scientific Research Officer at the Radar Remote Sensing Group at the University of Cape Town.
Responsibilities include:
  • Actively involved with the design of an airborne X-Band SAR demonstrator system (SASAR II);
  • Responsible for the signal processing of SASAR II;
  • Simulation studies and system level design of a space-borne SAR system;
  • Simulation studies and system level design of an unmanned airborne vehicle (UAV) SAR system;
  • Contract work for Kentron, OTB, SunSpace, Reutech and CSIR Defencetek.
   
Jan 2002 - Oct 2002:   Postdoctoral research at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR).
Accomplishments include:
  • Involvement with the development of synthetic aperture radar processing algorithms for the future German TerraSAR-X remote sensing satellite;
  • Development of a space-borne SpotLight SAR simulator, which can accurately simulate raw SpotLight SAR data;
  • Investigation of approximations of a SpotLight SAR processor, which was developed by a colleague at the DLR.
   
Mar 2000 - Dec 2001:   Scientific Research Officer at the University of Cape Town.
Accomplishments include:
  • Processing of stepped-frequency data for the CSIR's RoofSAR system;
  • Writing of time-domain SAR processor;
  • Presentation of Introductory and Advanced Radar Course;
  • Presentation of Basic Course in IDL at UCT.
   
1991, 1992, 1993:   Vacation work for SWAWEK (Namibia) in the December holidays

Professional Affiliations


Hobbies and Interests


References

Prof. Michael R. Inggs
Department of Electrical Engineering
University of Cape Town
Private Bag
7701 Rondebosch
South Africa

Tel: +27 (0) 21 - 650 2799
Fax: +27 (0) 21 - 650 3465
Email: mikings@ebe.uct.ac.za


Michael Eineder
German Aerospace Centre (DLR)
Remote Sensing Technology Institute
Oberpfaffenhofen
D-82234 Wessling
Germany

Tel: +49 (0) 8153 - 28 1396
Fax: +49 (0) 8153 - 28 1444
Email: Michael.Eineder@dlr.de


Publications

View list of publications here.


 

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