Keith Lofstrom

Keith Lofstrom is an American electrical engineer. He has a BSEE and MSEE from University of California, Berkeley.[1] He is more widely known in the space advocacy community for a ground-based space launcher design, the Launch Loop,[2][3][4] for which he has been credited by name in several works of science fiction.[5][6][7][8] Frederik Pohl, who used the idea in several of his stories, once wrote that, of all the non-rocket spacelaunch concepts, he liked the Lofstrom Loop "best of all."[9]

As an electrical engineer, Lofstrom specializes in mixed-signal integrated circuit design. A paper he wrote on boundary scan methods was one of two to receive an Honorable Mention at the 1997 IEEE International Test Conference.[10] One of his 9 patents is for a way to read an individual digital ID for integrated circuits that arises from random atomic variations inherent in the semiconductor device fabrication process.[11][12][13]

One of his more recent efforts in speculative space systems is Server Sky, a very large satellite constellation in Earth orbit using thin-film solar cells to power data center computers integrated into the same wafers as the PV cells.[14]

See also

References
  1. Lofstrom, Keith (1975), "Sinusoidal supply Josephson logic", U.C. Berkeley masters thesis
  2. Lofstrom, Keith H. (8–10 July 1985). "The launch loop -- a low cost Earth-to-high orbit launch system - Paper 85-1368" (PDF). Monterey, CA: 21st AIAA, SAE, ASME, and ASEE, Joint Propulsion Conference. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. Radley, Charles (September 14, 2009). "Local inventor says launch loop would greatly reduce cost of space travel". Gadgets and Tech: Portland Science Examiner. San Francisco: Examiner.com.
  4. Alexander Bolonkin (2006). "8". In Badescu, Viorel; Cathcart, Richard Brook; Schuiling, Roelof D. (eds.). Space Towers. Macro-engineering: a challenge for the future. Springer. pp. 146–7. ISBN 1-4020-3739-2.
  5. Pohl, Frederik (1983). "Gateway III — Beyond the Gate (Part 1 of 3)". Amazing Science-Fiction. Ultimate Pub. Co. 57: 80.
  6. Pohl, Frederik (1983). Heechee Rendezvous. Heechee Saga. 3. Ballantine Books. p. 91. ISBN 0-345-30062-9.
  7. Clarke, Arthur C.; Pohl, Frederik (February 2009). The Last Theorem. London: HarperVoyager. p. 55. ISBN 978-0-00-729002-4.
  8. Forward, Robert L. (1985). Starquake. London: Ballantine. p. v. ISBN 978-0-345-28349-8.
  9. "Interview with Frederik Pohl". Amazing Science-Fiction. Ultimate Pub. Co. 69 (590): 98. 1995.
  10. IEEE International Test Conference Proceedings. 1997. p. 8. ISBN 0-7803-4210-0.
  11. US 6161213, Lofstrom, Keith, "System for providing an integrated circuit with a unique identification", published Dec 12, 2000, issued Dec 12, 2000
  12. "A unique, repeatable, individual digital ID". Nov 30, 2007. Retrieved 2011-07-24.
  13. Lofstrom, K.; Daasch, W.; Taylor, D. "IC Identification Circuit using Device Mismatch" (PDF). 2000 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference Digest of Technical Papers. 43. IEEE Cat. No. OOCH37056. Retrieved 2011-07-24.
  14. Lofstrom, Keith (Winter 2010). "Server Sky - Data Centers in Orbit". Online Journal of Space Communication (16).
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