A.J. Van Dierendonck 2011
A.J. Van Dierendonck
MS '65, Electrical Engineering
PhD '68, Electrical Engineering
Los Altos, Calif.
Few individuals have made more significant contributions to the development of the Global Positioning System (GPS) than A.J. Van Dierendonck. Over the past 37 years, he has worked on signal design, system architecture, receiver design, accuracy enhancements, and the development of new applications.
Van Dierendonck first became involved with the GPS system in the early 1970s. As a GPS technical manager and then as a consultant, he led the development of the ground control system while also contributing to the design of the broadcast signal, system architecture, and receiver design. He developed the concept of GPS Time and led the design of the broadcast navigation message, which allows the receivers to predict each satellite’s location, thus determining the receiver location by ranging methods.
It was Van Dierendonck’s many contributions to receiver design that are partly responsible for the receiver’s evolution to versions with greater accuracy. His contributions to aircraft navigation include methods to improve accuracy through the use of correction and integrity signals from geostationary satellites.
An international consultant, Van Dierendonck is a partner in GPS Silicon Valley, a small firm that is virtually the sole provider of advanced scientific GPS equipment to universities and science organizations worldwide for monitoring signal impairments. A fellow of IEEE, he was inducted into the GPS Hall of Fame in 1999. He received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from South Dakota State University.
Van Dierendonck and his wife, Marcene, live in Los Altos, Calif., and are members of the Order of the Knoll Campanile Society.
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