Robert Knust-Graichen Email & Phone Number

Fountain Valley, Ca, Us

Provide RF/Microwave engineering expertise and consulting services to client companies.

Facilitated the interface of photonic devices (LASERs and photo detectors) with RF components for high frequency fiber optic communications that utilize analog and digital links. Modeled RF circuits with photo detectors using HFSS at frequencies up to 25GHz. Laser characterization included RIN, power, wavelength, and spectrum analysis.

Responsible for first article manufacturing of W-Band antenna and servo assembly, coordinate engineering and manufacturing resources through procurement, fab, assembly, integration and top assembly test. Provided and carried out systems specification for Satellite Communications project.

CEO and Founder of Elite Systems Corporation with over 18 years experience in design, fabrication, integration and test of components and subsystems operating at frequencies from 80 MHz to 100 GHz. Provided guidance for teams transitioning products from engineering to production. Supported issue resolution of production anomalies. Supported bid and proposal efforts for various IR&D programs. Carried out customer interface and new product development. Most products designed to military specifications. Typical component designs included mixers, PAs, LNAs, power supplies, filters, frequency multipliers (active and passive), crystal oscillators and PLLs.

Established and directed proprietary microwave lab in accordance with requirements for antenna and missile seeker research & development. Supported research into phased array transmit/receive (T/R) modules, antenna design, RF systems, and fabrication / measurement of microwave and millimeter-wave components. Measurements included NF, P1db, IP3, Gain, S-Parameters, antenna patterns. GaN devices used for LNAs and power amplifiers.

Designed, synthesized, and developed requirements for hardware systems, subsystems, and components. Provided technical support and issue resolution for PAC3 (Patriot Advanced Capability) manufacturing and production areas. Carried out subsystem and component design for Ka-Band(30GHz), V-Band(60GHz) and W-Band(100GHz) industrial research and development (IR&D) seeker projects to improve performance of the transmitter and receiver sections. Millimeter-wave circuit design utilized GaAs FET devices for amplifiers.Selected Projects & Accomplishments at Boeing Instrumental in the quick fault isolation of waveguide rotary joints that caused damage to multiple production TWT (traveling wave tube) assemblies.  Successfully designed, fabricated, and tested RF and microwave radar components, subsystems, and systems for communication, satellite, radar, and guidance systems. Supervised team of four in identifying problem with supplier test equipment calibration and resolving ongoing radar antenna delivery issue, resulting in a savings of $500,000 per month.  Achieved >$100,000 in cost overrun savings by directing team of eight in identifying and resolving manufacturing process issues that led to radar antenna heat shield crisis. Used HFSS 3-D modeling to demonstrate how poor brazing of waveguide and pitting had created arcing problems in seeker gimbal assembly, avoiding >$100,000 in cost overruns.

Carried out system integration and test of wireless transceivers. ASIC controlled digital spread spectrum technology was used for transmitters and receivers operating at RF frequencies below 2.5GHz.Selected Projects & Accomplishments at Boeing Facilitated 12% profit for L-Band Transceiver program as new Lead System Integrator and accelerating delivery back on schedule through effective testing, cost & budget control, reproducibility and lean manufacturing techniques

Developed 1GHz - 20GHz software controlled Test Equipment Synthesizer. Hardware and circuit design tasks include Voltage Controlled Oscillators (VCOs), Phase Lock Loop (PLL) Synthesizers, active multipliers, amplifiers and filters. Microstrip and co-planar waveguide technology used on substrates.

Carried out RF engineering of radar components. Designed combination transmit/receive L-Band Switch Low Noise Amplifier for phased array radar receiver front end, operating in four-kilowatt high power pulsed RF environment.

Performed and directed RF and microwave design, test, and fabrication at Torrance Research Center. Served as Project Manager and Project Engineer on complex, mission-critical projects.  Managed $500,000 IR&D project to design and fabricate 20GHz thermo-electrically cooled low noise amplifier. Supervised up to five direct reports. Contributed to 5% sales increase as Project Engineer on initiative to design 60GHz receiver front end for NASA. Project published in Microwave Journal. Hardware used to promote sales. Led creation of 40GHz and 50GHz low noise amplifiers for NATO clients. Designed low quantity production phased array receiver front end, operating at 16GHz. Carried out design of millimeter wave PIN switches, mixers, and filters in 30GHz to 100GHz range.

 Responsible for RF design, fabrication and test of crystal controlled oscillators, RF power amplifiers and frequency multipliers (active and passive). This was part of a design effort for the solid state local oscillator (SSLO) subsystem of the Navy Standard Missile. This project was part of a major redesign of the SSLO. Only 15 months was allocated from start to finish. To reduce production cost, all components were modularized so that integration, tailoring and tuning were kept to a minimum.  Designed range gates for an active radar system as part of a study for terminal aided missile guidance.  Other work experience included fabrication of voltage controlled oscillators (VCO) for the Sparrow AIM7F Missile.

Master'S Degree, Communications Engineering

Bachelor'S Degree, Electrical And Electronic Engineering

Activities and Societies: Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers

Education record

 Project Management Certificate, University of California Irvine  Supervisory & Management Skills  Antenna Design & Analysis, Auburn.

Education record

Herman, M.I., Valas, S., McNay, D.M., Knust-Graichen, R.A., and Chen, J.C., “Investigation of Passive Bandpass Filters Using MMIC.

Education record

MS Office, MS Project, AutoCAD, Agilent ADS, Ansoft HFSS, Mathcad, Network Analyzers, Power Meters, LABView, Filters, Signal Generators.