Interview with Rick Sturdivant

Featured Engineer

Rick Sturdivant

Rick Sturdivant - President of Microwave Packaging Technology, Inc.

How did you get into electronics/ engineering and when did you start?

My interest in engineering started at a young age. From about 11 years old, I was interested in radio electronics and build many dozens of electronic projects. Amateur radio was another big influence on me choosing electrical engineering as a career. I’ve been in this industry since 1989 and started Microwave Packaging Technology in 2003.

What are your favorite hardware tools that you use?

I enjoy using network analyzers to characterize high frequency electronic components. Spectrum analyzers have always fascinated me.

What are your favorite software tools that you use?

One of my favorite engineering software tools is High Frequency Structure Simulator (HSFS) which performs electromagnetic analysis using the finite element method. When I started using this software nearly 20 years ago, it revolutionized the design of microwave & millimeter wave circuits. I also like to use Microwave Office for circuit designs because it’s a very intuitive user interface and it performs everything from simple circuit simulations to complex integrated circuit and even system design.

What is the hardest/trickiest bug you have ever fixed?

Over the years, there have been many tricky bugs. The more complex the module or system, the more difficult it is to solve. As a young engineer, I really enjoyed developing passive filters at frequencies above 10GHz. I spent many hours writing custom design software using FORTRAN and perfecting my analysis techniques. You need to have a bit of grey hair to know what FORTRAN is! However, most of those software programs are useless now since that functionality is included in the engineering design software.

What is on your bookshelf?

Actually, I am a bit of a book worm and I my collection of books. They are real books, with paper. Amongst the myriad of technical engineering books, some of the most noteworthy items on my book shelf include the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Nonlinear Microwave and RF Circuits by Stephen A. Maas (I have the first AND second editions),and a bottle of vintage port.

What has been your favorite project?

A stand-out favorite has been developing tile array TR modules for airborne radar systems. The reason it is a favorite is the work was challenging and we had a great team of engineers.

Do you have any note-worthy engineering experiences? (blowing up things, getting shocked, etc.)

I had an experience once when I was performing some high powered tests to push a X-Band circulator to failure. The power level got so high that the circuit began to have corona effects at its connector. The circuit eventually caught on fire & a flame shot up an inch above the circuit!

What are you currently working on?

Our Company is currently working on very high powered radar modules using gallium nitride (GaN) Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMICs). It’s ground-breaking technology, both challenging & exciting!

What direction do you see your business heading in the next few years?

We want to continue to grow our Company & expand our business with more emphasis on standard products.

What challenges do you foresee in our industry?

Technology is always marching forward. The biggest challenge I foresee is an uncertain business climate.

About Me

I have a passion to learn a foreign language and have been studying Spanish. In my free time, I’m primarily a bookworm at heart. A recent hobby I’ve picked up and enjoy is brewing my own artisan beers and flavored sodas.

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