Fraser Thomson Email & Phone Number

Victoria, Bc, Ca

Victoria, Canada And Los Angeles, California

Greater Los Angeles Area

As a member of JPL's Navigation and Ancillary Information Facility (NAIF) team, I was one of a small team of four software engineers building a new and improved, object-oriented (C++) version of NASA/JPL's SPICE software toolkit and data product suite. SPICE allows users to determine the position, velocity, pointing, instrument field-of-view, etc. of artificial and natural bodies in the solar system to an extremely high degree of accuracy, thus supporting both planning and data reduction activities for space scientists and space mission planners working on active or proposed space flight missions. SPICE is used by hundreds of operations and science teams, working with spacecraft flown by many different nations around the world.

San Francisco Bay Area

Council member, consulting in the telecommunications, space science, and physical sciences domains.

San Mateo, California

Responsible for guiding the engineering development of capabilities and features included in Questiny's proprietary Wireless Network Simulator (WiNS) software tool; a multi-spectral, multi-network telecommunications system network planning and analysis tool used by Questiny in our consulting activities, and also used by our customers to perform self-evaluation of their own telecom systems and system designs. Also responsible for identifying new business opportunities and building relationships with potential and existing clients for/of our small, boutique telecommunications consulting firm.

Palo Alto, California

Senior analyst assigned to multiple company-wide new business activities, delivering critical communications system modeling expertise to guide satellite system design. Developed custom software tools to precisely estimate the overall performance of a network of communications satellites, ground-based fixed/mobile users, and system gateways.

Developed probabilistic risk models to guide early design decision-making for space transportation and lunar architecture systems in a risk-informed manner. Built simulation tools that coupled probabilistic failure data with computational physics models to characterize the response of human spaceflight systems in the event of a full or partial system failure, and the subsequent risks presented to human crews. Designed and built subsystem- and system-level risk models that explored the ways in which different space exploration system elements could functionally support one another in the event of single or multiple failures. Most of this work was done in support of NASA's Constellation program.

Mountain View, California

Performed statistical analysis of Cooper-Harper ratings provided by NASA pilots during orbital rendezvous and lunar landing flight simulations. Investigated the limitations of statistical analysis as applied to ordinal data and proposed new ways (e.g., Kendall-tau tests) of determining the degree of correspondence between different rankings. Created new ways of visually displaying data taken during the piloted simulation runs in an effort to determine common elements amongst the most successful flight outcomes. (Part-time during Ph.D)

Radio Science Team Member, Cassini mission to Saturn. My doctoral research focused on remote detection of geophysical structures in Saturn's rings by analyzing radio signals transmitted from the Cassini spacecraft, through the rings, and received on Earth by the antennas of NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN). During these experiments, we discovered fine-scale (~50-100 meters) periodic structures within the rings that were predicted by dynamicists, but had never before been detected.

Pasadena, California

Studied noise processes and stability in electronic oscillators, culminating in an internal report and a refereed journal publication. Contributed a chapter section on ring occultation for an upcoming book on radio science, to be published in Wiley’s JPL Science and Technology Series. (Part-time during Ph.D.)

Mountain View, California

Theoretical research into modes of electromagnetic induction that are thought to power electric currents inside Jupiter's moon Europa. (Part-time during Ph.D)

Santa Rosa, California

Provided telecommunications system design support (simulation software side) and training to dozens of engineering professionals. Managed a portfolio of clients, acting as liaison between customers and our software engineering team to continuously improve our commercial computer-aided design (CAD) tools. Selected as the sole representative of HP EEsof USA on a team-building mission to HP offices in Belgium and France, and to represent HP on customer visits in Western Europe (June/July 2000).

Folsom, California

Successfully led the assembly and test program for a $US 500,000 satellite transceiver. Designed and developed numerous electronic filters for mobile communications networks. Duties included all prototype engineering, manufacturing, testing, and final design for manufacturability. These efforts culminated in several successful commercial products for L3.

Cambridge, Canada

As a member of the Space Science group, I successfully managed assembly, test, and verification activities for the NASA Scatterometer (NSCAT) remote sensing satellite program. As a member of the corporate research and development team, I designed, built, and tested next-generation components for communications satellites using superconductive thin film technology.

Ph.D., Electrical Engineering

Activities and Societies: Stanford Intercollegiate Ice Hockey Team; Stanford Recreational Sailing Team; Recording artist, included.

Certificate, Stanford Ignite (Summer Institute For Entrepreneurship)

Spacecraft Mission Design

M.S., Aeronautics/Astronautics

Focus areas included orbital mechanics, space systems engineering, compressible flow, and propulsion systems.

M.S., Electrical Engineering

Focus areas included electromagnetics, optics, radar, and signal processing.

M.Eng, Engineering

M.Eng Thesis: "Transversal and Elliptic Function Microwave Filters on Microstrip utilizing High-Temperature Superconductive Thin Films"

B.Sc.E, Electrical Engineering

Activities and Societies: Varsity Rowing Team (Crew), VP Science '91 (1989), Chairman of Engineering Week (1989), Clark Hall Pub Staff.

The Roots

Certificate, Computer Science

Completed the Beginner and Intermediate classes in this three-class certificate program.