IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. AP-29, NO.

1, JANUARY 1981 129

The Design of a Microstrip Antenna Array for aUHF Space Telemetry Link
ROBERT E. POST, SENIOR MEMBER, IEEE , AND DAVID T. STEPHENSON, MEMBER,IEEE

Absfract-An array of microstrip antenna panels was designed for

use on a small instrumented satellite as part of a 4M-MHz telemetry
link between that satellite and NASA’s shuttle spacecraft. A roughly
omnidirectional $-plane pattern was desired. The 1.4-wavelength
diameter of the satellite and the various ports and structures on its
surface presented strong constraints on the antenna array design.
Eight antennas, each one a quarter-wavelength panelwithone ra-
diating and one shorted edge, were chosen. A $-plane pattern ripple
of 4.4 dB and a gain of at least 0.1 dB relative to a half-wavelength
dipole were realized. The design technique used for the individual
antenna panels included the study of feed-point location for im-
pedance matching and theeffect of losses in the dielectric. A
superposition method was used to synthesize the radiation patterns for
different numbers and different excitations of antennas on the
satellite.

e = a
I. INTRODUCTION
Fig. 1. Physical configuration of PDP and coordinate system, showing

A NINSTRUMENTEDspaceprobecalleda“plasmadiag-
nostics package” (PDP) has been designed and constructed
in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at theUniversity
two quarter-wavelength microstrip antenna panelsin one quadrant.

planecontaining the z axis;inthisplane 0 is the angular

of Iowa. Thispackage, the latest in along series of space probes
builtby the staff of that department, isdesigned t o fly on
NASA’s Shuttle O F T 4 mission in a captive mode and on the
Spacelab I1 mission as areleased independentsatellite.Its
purpose is, in general, to investigate upper atmosphere pollu-
tion by Shuttle rocket exhaust and other effects of the Shuttle’s
presence.
Radio telemetry from the PDP to the Shuttle vehicle will
utilize a narrow-band (0.2 MHz) UHF link at 400.6 MHz. The
design of this link includes the design of a transmittingantenna
system to be placed on the outside of the PDP. This antenna
design was subcontracted to Iowa State University and is the
subject of this paper.
The given design specifications are described the in following
paragraphs. Additional important design constraints were im-
posed by the physical construction of the PDP. The effect of
these constraints on the antenna design is covered in Section
11. Section 111 discusses in detail the design of the antenna ele-
ments themselves. Design equations are presented, and the ef-
fects of dielectriclossareconsidered.Section IV covers the
arraying of the antennas, their excitations, and the resulting
radiation pattern and gain of the system.
Fig. 1 shows the geometry of the PDP and the system of
coordinates usedinthis paper t o describetheantennasand
their patterns. The origin of coordinates is at the center of the
PDP’s cylindrical volume, with the z axis aligned with the axis
of thecylinder.The $-plane is the plane 0 = 90° (spherical
coordinates) in which 9 is the angular variable. A &plane is a
Manuscript received August 28, 1979; revised March 2, 1980. This
work was supported in part by the Engineering Research Institute, Iowa
State University, and in part by NASA under University of Iowa Sub-
contract 11843.
Theauthors are with theDepartment of ElectricalEngineering,
Iowa State University, Ames. IA 50011.
variable.
Four columns of 5-cm square cross section are mounted on
the PDP. Their purposes include serving as mounting points for
four fiber glass booms about 1.75 m in length which contain
electricalcablesandareused to holdprobes.Othersmall
probes or apertures are placed on or in the four quadrants of
the PDP;thesearediscussedinmoredetaillater.The PDP
exterior is aluminum.
The PDP is t o carrya 1-W, 400.6-MHz transmitter.The
antenna system is t o havea 50-R input impedance. It is to
provide roughly omnidirectional coverage in the @-plane,with
radiation pattern minima no lower than 2 dB below the level
radiated by an optimally oriented half-wavelength dipole. Ra-
diation in directionsnear the +z axis is of little importance
due to the way in which the PDP will be positioned relative to
the Shuttle vehicle. Polarization is immaterial, as the Shuttle
receiving antenna will have separateoutputsfor linearly
polarized components in two orthogonal directions.
11. FACTORS AFFECTING ANTENNA CHOICE
AND LOCATION
A . Physical Constraints
The most important design limitations are those imposed
on the sizes, shapes, and positioning of the antenna elements
by the structure of the PDP and the locations of its various
probes and apertures. Each of the four quadrants of the PDP
has the general form shown in Fig. 1. About 5 cm of clearance
is required on one side of each of the square columns to ac-
commodate the long booms when they are folded up close t o
the package. The experiments to be performedin spacere-
quire probes or apertures near the centers of each quadrant
of the PDP. Their sizes vary; the area shown in Fig. 1 is a maxi-
mum area.
The remaining space in each quadrant is available for mount-

0018-926X/81/0100-0129$00.75 0 1981 IEEE

 . .,
' 130 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. AP-29, NO. 1, J A N U h Y 1981

shown in Fig. 1, it is clear that the only kind of microstrip

antenna panel that will fit into the space between the probe
aperturelocationsandthecolumns isaquarter-wavelength
panel with its radiating and shortededges oriented vertically as
in Fig. 1 and its length L h / 4 equal to 18.75 cm. The angular
position of its radiating edge with respect to the centerof the
quadrant of the PDP is designated QR, and it extends a dis-
\COAXIAL FEED CABLE' tance W/2 above and below z = 0. Following a discussion of
the design details of the microstrip panels, the array design and
ON LEVEL theexperimentalandcalculatedperformanceresults will be
f+ OF BACKPLANE
presented.
(a) (b)
111. DESIGN OF ANTENNA ELEMENTS
p-x-t--+l

7
DRIVING
POINT
(C)
Four parameters must be considered and evaluated in the
process of designing the microstrip antenna elements. These
parameters are 1) the resonant frequency, 2) the driving-point
impedance, 3) the bandwidth, and 4) the effect of internal
loss.These factors will be discussedindividuallyin the fol-
Fig. 2. Microstripantennapanelsasconsidered for PDP. (a) Half-
wavelength. (b) Quarter-wavelength. (c)Trmmission-linemodel of lowing paragraphs.
quarter-wavelength panel. The determination of the physical length of the antenna
element ( L h / 4 of Fig. 2(b)) and the location of the feed line
ing antennas, but equipment layout inside the PDP makes it connection that will result in the desired resonant frequency
difficult t o install antenna feeds near the bottom of the pack- and driving-point impedance are facilitated by using a short-
age. In order to produce a &plane pattern with a maximum at circuited transmission line model of the microstrip element. A
6 = 90°, antennaplacement wouldhave t o be symmetrical sketch of the transmission-line model is shown in Fig.2(c).
above and below z = 0. For these reasons, the best places for Y o is the characteristic admittance of the microstrip transmis-
mounting antennas are the regions on either side of the probe sion line, X is the location of the feed point with respect t o
aperture locations near z = 0. the short-circuited end of the transmission line and X + {=
Lh14, the length of the microstrip section. The other physical
B. The Microstrip Antenna Panel dimensions of the antenna element (the spacing between the
plates H and the width of the plates W) determine the charac-
Microstrip antenna elements [ 11 were chosen as the anten-
teristicimpedance of the microstriplineand theaperture
nas for the PDP for several reasons, including their mechanical
admittance. W is specified such that the structure is not reso-
simplicity and ruggedness and the fact that they may be con-
nant in that direction; that is, W is not some multiple of one-
formed to the mounting surface and do not protrude very far
half wavelength in the transmission line. The radiating aperture
outfromthatsurface.Althoughthemicrostripantenna is
of the microstripelement is characterized by theaperture
inherently rather narrow-band, the operating bandwidthof 0.2
admittance Y,, which is made up of a radiation conductance
MHz at a center frequency of 400.6 MHz presents no prob-
G , and a susceptanceB,.
lems. The operating wavelength, together with the size of the
The design process begins at the point where values of the
PDP and some structural irregularities on its surface, dictate
characteristic admittance Y o , the center frequency of opera-
the use of separate antenna panels with feed circuitry inside
tion fo and the aperture admittance Y , have been determined.
the package rather than a single printed circuit array and in-
The admittance looking into the right-hand side of the trans-
tegratedfeednetwork as is sometimes used at higherfre-
mission line model (see Fig. 2(c)) from the location of feed
quencies. Each panel is fed with a coaxial cable from behind
point can be readily determined by lossless transmission-line
the mounting surface.
theory [ 6 1. The real and imaginary parts of the admittance
Fig. 2(a)illustratestheimportantparameters of ahalf-
are
wavelength (in the dielectric) microstrip antenna of the type
considered for this project. In Fig. 2(b) is shown the corre-
sponding quarter-wavelength version [ 21 . The lengths L of the
panels are determined by the operating frequency and the di-
electric permittivity, while the widths W affect primarily the
radiation conductance and may therefore be chosen independ- and
ently of L 131. Thecenterconductor of the coaxialfeed
cable is connected to theupperconductingsheet, and the
outer conductor is connected to the backplane. These connec-
tions are made along the centerline ( W / 2 from either edge of
the panel) and at a distance X from the panel center that is
determined by the desired driving-point impedance 141, [ S I .
For reasons of efficiency,weight,andtherequirements
imposed by a space environment, it was decided t o use a free- Since the shorted section to the left of the driving point can
spacedielectric.Thissets thedimension L h p of the half- only present a shunt susceptance, Gin is set equal to the de-
wavelength panel at very close to one-half of a free-space wave- sireddriving-point admittance G,, atthecenterfrequency
length,or37.5cm. In view of the dimensionallimitations fo. Equation (l), whichisreducible to [5, eq. ( l ) ] of
EPHENSON:
ANDPOST ANTENNA
ARRAY FOR UHF
TELEMETRY
SPACE
LINK 131

Derneryd, can then be solved for b: B,, the aperture susceptance, was calculated using an expres-
sion for fringing capacitance developed by Bewley [ 91. Calcu-
lations based on the fringing capacitance model for the aper-
ture susceptance resulted in thebest agreement between theory
and experiment. The expression forfringing capacitance is
where

Since L is not known at this point, the approximate vaue of

X/4 was used in evaluating C f The resulting value of Cf was
3.42 pF which produced an aperture susceptanceof
B, = 8.59 X mhos

and Bo is the propagation constant at the center frequency.
The plus sign in (3) is used to determine 5 when the length of
the microstrip section LA,^ in Fig. 3) is less than A/4. After
determining Po{, the value of tan PO( is substituted into (2)
to determine Bin at the frequencyfo.
The shorted section of microstrip line attached to the left-
hand side of the driving point (see Fig. 2(c)) serves to resonate
the structure by providing a value of susceptance which can-
cels the susceptance presented by the right-hand section. That
is,
at 400 MHz. It should be noted that the microstrip antenna
can be scaled in frequency by a corresponding change in di-
mensions. That is, Z , , G , , and B, involve ratios of dimensions
and wavelengths so a half-scale model operates at twice the fre-
quency of a full scale model.
When the parameters calculated in the preceding paragraph
were substituted into (4a), (4b), and (5) along with G d p =
0.02 (&p = 50 a), the resulting values of transmission line
length and feed point location were

-]Yo cot POX= -]Bin

and
or
X =4.56 cm.

Thesevalues comparedquite well withexperimental values

This completes the calculation of the length of the microstrip
section of the quarter-wavelength element,
andthelocation of thefeedpoint relative to theshort-cir-
cuited end X.
Forthe radiatingelementsusedinthisapplication, the
width of the radiating slot W was selected as 24.98 cm and the
height of the radiating slot H was set at 1.27 cm. Using these
values and E, = 1, the following parameters were determined.
Z o , the characteristicimpedance of the microstrip, was cal-
culated using the formula presented by Schneider[ 71,
120n
zo = (7)
W/H + 2.42 - 0.44HIW + (1 - H/W)6
In this case, W/H = 19.68; substituting into (7) yields Zo =
16.53 a.
G,, the aperture admittance,was calculated using the
expression developed by Harrington [ 81,
where h is the wavelength and k is the wavenumber. For the
dimensions of the radiators under consideration,
G , = 2,776 X mhos 400
at MHz.
found by a process of cut-and-try on a one-half scale model
until the desired values of z d p and fo were obtained. This pro-
cedure led t o values of L = 8.45 cm and X = 2.578 cm, which,
when doubled for purposes of comparison, become L = 16.9
cm and X = 5.156 cm for a full-scale model. The discrepancy
between the experimental and theoretical values of L and X
could arise from several sources. Two likely candidates are 1)
the reactance associated with the coaxial line t o microstrip line
transition at the feed point, and 2) the perturbation of the
fringing field at the aperture due to the cylindrical nature of
the ground plane presented by thePDP model.
The bandwidth of the quarter-wavelength radiating element
(Fig.2(b)) was computed by means of amicrowavecircuit
analysis program. Under the assumption that the aperture con-
ductance remains constant and the circuit losses negligible, the
predicted bandwidth is 24 MHz centered on 400 MHz. Since
bandwidth was not an important consideration in this applica-
tion, measurementsof bandwidth were not made.
At one point in the design of this antenna system, radiating
elementsmadefromsheets of 3.175-mmthick copper-clad
Teflon-fiber glass material having a dielectric constant of 2.34
were consideredfor use in the array.Amicrostripantenna
element based on this material was investigated using a com-
puter analysis program. The analysis indicated that, ignoring
loss in the dielectric, the major effect is to reduce the band-
width of the radiating structure, a reduction t o 4 MHz in the
example considered.
Another significant effect on the radiation characteristics of
the microstrip antenna is due to losses in the dielectric mate-
rial filling the microstrip line. The effectof this losswas studied
132 TRANSACTIONS
IEEE ANTENNAS
ON PROPAGATION,
AND VOL. AP-29, NO. 1, JANUARY.1981

by means of the computer analysis program. For the case of a

substrate material with a dielectric constant of 2.34 and a dis-
sipation
factor
of
approximately12
percentof
the in-
cident power is dissipated in the dielectric material. When the
dissipation factor increasest o 10-2, 59 percent of the incident
power is dissipated in the dielectric material. Internal dissipa-
tion can severely degrade the efficiency of microstrip antennas
fabricatedfromdielectric materialswhich arenormallycon-
sidered tobe low-loss substratematerials. For thisreason
radiating elements using free-space dielectric were selected for
this application.

IV. ARRAY DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE

Thispartofthe design problem involves the number of

microstrip antenna panels needed on the PDP, the positions
$R at which they should be located, and how they should be
phased.
Uniformity of the radiation pattern in the &plane is the
primary consideration in this part of the design. On the PDP
the distancebetweencorrespondingpoints in two adjacent
quadrants is almost exactly one wavelength. Therefore, grating 0
0 30 60 90
lobes would be expected to cause substantial ripple in the pat- $, DEGREES
tern [ 101 , [ 1 1] unless the antenna(s) in each quadrant radiated (b)
uniformly over that quadrantof space, and zero elsewhere.
Fig. 3. @-plane radiation patterns with one antenna panel per quadrant.
To confirm that prediction and to develop an analysis tech- ( a ) Measured pattern of antennain one quadrantonly. (b) Synthesized
nique for evaluating different combinations of antennas and pattern with an antenna in each quadrant.
excitations, measurementswere made of therelative amplitude
and phase (as functions of @)of the field radiated by a half- by two factors. The first is the dimensional constraint illus-
scale PDP model with a single antenna panel in one quadrant. trated earlier in Section 11. The second is the fact that thesur-
Theantenna wasaquarter-wavelengthpaneloriented as in face waves excited on the outside of the PDP by the radiating
Fig. 1 with its radiating edge located at an angular position @R panels arepartiallyreflectedbythesquarecolumns; this
which could be varied. Fig. 3(a) shows the amplitude pattern makes the pattern strongly dependent on @R if the panels are
with = 20'. Thepatternshows clearly theeffectofexcita- t o o close tothe columns. An examination of some single-
tion of the entire PDP by the antenna and of fields diffracted panel patterns, and the requirements for mechanical clearance
aroundthe package.Half-power beamwidth is 118'. Nexta next to the columns,indigate that the largestvalueof @R
composite pattern of four such panels, each positioned in its that can be used is about 20 .
own quadrant at $R = 20°, was calculated by superposition Because the radiatingedgesof the two panels are facing
(in amplitudeandphase) of four of the single-antennapat- each other (Fig. l), they must be fed 180' out,of phase in
terns, with each one offset spatially from the previous one by order that their radiated fields at a distant point at @ = 0 will
90'. Indeed, by this superposition technique the patternsof 2, be in phase. Each quadrant, therefore, has a 3-dB divider with
4 , o r 8 symmetrically placed panels c o d d be determined, and a 180' phase shifter in one branch.
the effect of different phases and/or amplitudes of panel ex- Fig. 4(a) shows the measured @-plane radiation pattern of
citations could be examined as well. The validityof this proce- thehalfscale PDPmodel having two quarter-wavelength
dure was confirmed at one point by comparing the measured antenna paneis positioned at GR = +20'. This pattern is more
pattern of an eight-panel PDP model with the calculatedeight- directive than the single-panel pattern of Fig. 3(a) and nearly
panel pattern based on a measured two-panel pattern. symmetrical about @ -= 0 with small asymmetries caused by
In the case of four panels withequal-amplitudein-phase feeding and construction irregularities. In Fig. 4(b) is shown
excitation, the amplitude of the composite @-planeradiation onequadrantofthesynthesized @-plane patternforeight
pattern exhibited a peak-to-peak ripple of 9.8 dB. One quad- panels (one pairineachquadrant),obtainedbythesame
rant of this pattern is shown in Fig. 3(b). The maximum value methodas was described inconnectionwith Fig. 3(b). All
of I E(@)I is 1.89, relative t o a maximum level of 1.0 for the quadrantsareexcitedin phase. Twofeaturesareevident:
single-panel pattern. Clearly,a stronginterferencebetween first, the ripple in the pattern is only 4.4 dB as compared t o
panels is taking place. 9.8dBwithjustfourantennas;second,the peakvalue of
Inordertoreducethisinterferenceandsmoothoutthe IE(@)I in the composite patternis 1.1 1, relative t o a peak level
@-plane pattern,twoantenna panelswereplaced in each of 1.0 for the two-panel pattern of Fig. 4(a). These features
quadrant, as shown in Fig. 1. When the panels in each quad- indicate that much less interference between quadrants is tak-
rantaresufficientlyfarapartand phased as atwo-element ing place.
broadside pair, their increased directivity, compared with that Also shown in Fig. 4(b) is the gain of the eight-panel array
of a single panel, strongly reduces interference with the anten- on the PDP withrespect to ahalf-wavelength dipole.These
nas in the other quadrants. Freedom of choice of@R is limited values were measured with the aid of a tuned dipole which was
POST AND STEPHENSON: ANTENNA ARRAY FOR UHF SPACE TELEMETRY LINK 133

21

Fig. 5. e-planeradiationpattern in plane = 0 withtwoantenna

panels in one quadrantat OR = k20”.

thicknessof1.25cmandthroughwhich the antenna panels

are mounted by means ofstand-offs.
These results are reasonable in view of the package geom-
etry. The outer surface of the space blanket is aluminum, so its
0 1 I I I . I I I I primary effect is to increase the diameter of the PDP slightly.
0
’ $, DEGREES
KO 90
Scatteringfromtheboomsandotherprobeswouldresult
primarilyfrom radialfield componentsnearthe PDP, but
(b)
Fig. 4. @plane radiation patterns with two antenna panels per quad- when the antenna panels on either side are phased for broad-
rant.(a)Measuredpattern of antennasinonequadrant only. (b) side far-field radiation, their radially directed near-fields would
Synthesizedpatternwithantennas in eachquadrant. Gain indB tend to cancel.
with respect to half-wave dipoleis shown.
SUMMARY
substituted for the model. Clearly the absolute gain specifica-
The design of the eight-element array of microstrip radiators
tion is being met. presented in thispaper successfully met the constraints im-
Fig. 5 shows the radiation pattern in the &plane at @ = 0
posed by the physical structure of the PDP and the signal re-
from two panels in one quadrant. Half-power beamwidth is
quirements imposed by the telemetry link. The design equa-
81’. Thecommentsaboveconcerninginterquadrantinter-
tions for the antenna panels satisfactorilypredictedthe im-
ference suggest that the &plane pattern of the PDP with eight
portant properties of the antennas, including a reduction in
panels will be essentially the same as that of Fig. 5 in the area
efficiency due t o dielectric loss. For the antenna array on the
of the “mainbeam”around 0 = 90’. At 0 = 0’ and180°,
PDP, a superposition method based on amplitude and phase
however,nulls will appearinthepatternduetoantenna
measurements of aone- or two-panel modelenabled the ef-
symmetry.
fects of different array excitations and numbers of elements to
All of the calculations and measurements described thus far
bestudiedwithoutthe necessity ofactuallybuildingthe
weremade on either a half-scale or a 1/7-scale PDP model,
antennas and feed circuitry for each differentcase.
with the antennapanel(s) and the squarecross section columns
present on theouter surface but with no extendedbooms REFERENCES
(Fig. 1) or other structures on the model. Three other tests
R . E. Munson. “Conformal microstrip antennas and microstrip
were made t o determine the effectsof a) the extended booms, phased arrays,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. AP-22, pp.
b)an H-F antennaprobemountedinthecenterofone 74-78,Jan. 1974.
quadrant,andc)analuminum-and-mylar “space blanket” C. W. Garvin, R . E. Munson, L. T. Oswald, and K . G . Schroder,
placedover the PDP surface butunderneaththeantenna “Missile base mountedmicrostripantennas,” IEEE Trans.An-
tennas Propagat., vol. AP-25. pp. 604-610. Sept. 1977.
panels. In each case, measurements were made using two an- A. G. Derneryd, “Linearly polarized microstrip antennas.” IEEE
tenna panels; the synthesis technique was used t o derive the Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. AP-24, pp. 846-851, Nov. 1976.
eight-panelpattern.Theresultsmay be summarizedbriefly J. Q . Howell, “Microstrip antennas,” IEEE Trans.Antennas
as follows. The effect of the long booms is t o increase the 9- Propagat., vol. AP-23, pp. 9LL93, Jan. 1975.
A . G. Derneryd, “ A theoretical investigation of the rectangular
planepatternripplebyabout1 dB. The H-F antenna .is a microstrip antenna element.” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat.,
resistively loaded TEM horn occupying the shaded area in the vol. AP-26, pp. 532-535, July 1978.
middleofthequadrantin Fig.1 andextending 36 cm out R. G. Brown. R . A. Sharpe, W . L. Hughes. and R. E. Post, Lines,
from the PDP; it was modeled bya structureofaluminum Waves,andAntennas, 2nd ed. Ne%, York: Ronald Press, 1973,
foil on a Styrofoamcoreandisthereforeexpectedto bea pp.27-35.
M. V. Schneider, “Microstrip lines for microstrip integrated
stronger scatterer than the actual TEM horn. The presence of circuits,” Bell Syst. Tech. J . , vol. 48, p. 1430. May-June 1969.
this structure has virtually no effect on the pattern. The same R. F. Harrington, Time-HarmonicElectromagneticFields. New
statement applies to the effect of the space blanket, having a York: McGraw-Hill, 1961, p. 183.
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[9] L. V. Bewley. Two-Dimensional Fields in ElecrricalEngineering.
New York: Macmillan, 1948, p. 123.
[ I O ] T. S. Chu. “On the use ofuniformcirculararraystoobtainRonaldPress.
omnidirectionalpatterns,” IRE Trans. Antennas Propagar.. vol.
AP-7, pp. 436-438, Oct. 1959.
[ I 1J V. GalindoandK.Green,“Anear-isotropiccircularlypolarized
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AP-13, pp. 872-877, Nov. 1965.
Robert E. Post (S’5&SM’66) was born in
Madison, WI, on October 13, 1928. He received
theB.Ed.degreefromtheUniversity of Wis-
consin, Whitewater, in 1951,and
the B.S..
M . S . , and
Ph.D.
degrees
fromIowa
State
University,Ames, in 1958.1960.and1962.
respectively, all in electrical engineering.
Since 1959 he has been on the teaching staff in
the Department of Electrical Engineering at Iowa
State University, Ames, where heis currently a
Professor of Electrical Engineering. His research
interestsare in theareasofmicrowaveengineeringandradiowave
propagationphenomena.In1966 he received the BendixCorporation
research award for outstanding contributions in microwave research.
He is
also a coauthor of the textbook Lines. Waves and Antennas published by
Dr. Post is a member of Eta Kappa Nu, Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Xi, and
Phi
Kappa Phi.
David T. Stephenson (S’65-M’66) was born in
1937 in Colfax, WA. He received the B.S.E.E.
degreein1958fromWashingtonStateUniver-
sity,Pullman, and theM.S.E.E.andPh.D.
degrees from the University of Illinois, Urbana,
in 1962 and 1965. respectively.
From 1966 to 1970 he was Assistant Professor
of ElectricalEngineeringatIowaState Uni-
versity,Ames,and is currently with that uni-
versity as Associate Professor of Electrical En-
gineering. He has taught in the areas of elec-
tromagnetictheory,radiowavepropagation,microwavemeasurements,
and antennas. His research interests have included antennas, radiowave
propagation. and radio noise from severe storms.
Dr. Stephenson is a member of Eta Kappa Nu, Sigma Xi, Phi Mu Alpha
Sinfonia. and the American Meteorological Society.