Raymond J. Leopold is one of the three engineers who in late 1987 conceived of and later designed the

Iridium satellite constellation The Iridium satellite constellation provides L band voice and data information Pass (spaceflight), coverage to satellite phones, pagers and integrated transceivers over the entire surface of Earth. Iridium Communications owns and operates the Sa ...

, the first realization of global, wireless, personal communications.

Career

Leopold joined

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent p ...

in 1987 after having spent a career in the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

where he held a variety of technical and technical management positions. He directed the development of communications systems at the Electronics Systems Division in Massachusetts. He served two

tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 ...

The Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a metony ...

, one in the

Office of the Secretary of Defense The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) is a headquarters-level staff of the United States Department of Defense. It is the principal civilian staff element of the U.S. Secretary of Defense, and it assists the Secretary in carrying out aut ...

and one on the Air Staff. He taught for over five years at the

United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and Uni ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, and worked in

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...

for four years at the

Air Force Weapons Laboratory The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is a scientific research organization operated by the United States Air Force Materiel Command dedicated to leading the discovery, development, and integration of aerospace warfighting technologies, pl ...

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

. He was also an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the genera ...

of electrical engineering at

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

, and he had been a

senior lecturer Senior lecturer is an academic rank. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, and Israel senior lecturer is a faculty position at a university or similar institution. The position is tenured (in systems with this concep ...

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the mo ...

and had chaired the Industry Advisory Board for the Aero/Astro Department. He has also lectured at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

Education

Leopold earned three degrees in electrical engineering, a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

from the

in 1967, a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

from

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...

in 1968, and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

from the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

in 1973. He was also honored with a Doctor of Telecommunications Management Degree from

South Dakota School of Mines and Technology The South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (South Dakota Mines, SD Mines, or SDSM&T) is a public university in Rapid City, South Dakota. It is governed by the South Dakota Board of Regents and was founded in 1885. South Dakota Mines offers ba ...

in 1997. He has completed Executive Education courses at the

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

(Sloan), The University of California (Berkeley), The Center for Creative Leadership, and The Defense Systems Management College.

Iridium satellite constellation

The Iridium system integrates a

packet-switched In telecommunications, packet switching is a method of grouping data into '' packets'' that are transmitted over a digital network. Packets are made of a header and a payload. Data in the header is used by networking hardware to direct the pac ...

architecture within its globally deployed constellation of satellites together with the

circuit-switched Circuit switching is a method of implementing a telecommunications network in which two network nodes establish a dedicated communications channel ( circuit) through the network before the nodes may communicate. The circuit guarantees the full b ...

architecture of the

public switched telephone network The public switched telephone network (PSTN) provides Communications infrastructure, infrastructure and services for public Telecommunications, telecommunication. The PSTN is the aggregate of the world's circuit-switched telephone networks that ...

. It was created by Leopold and Bary Bertiger and Ken Peterson.

Awards and honors

* Pioneer Award, Mobile Satellite Users' Association, May 2008 (with Bary Bertiger and Ken Peterson) "... for the Invention of the Iridium Satellite System" * Laureate for Space,

Aviation Week and Space Technology ''Aviation Week & Space Technology'', often abbreviated ''Aviation Week'' or ''AW&ST'', is the flagship magazine of the Aviation Week Network. The weekly magazine is available in print and online, reporting on the aerospace, defense and aviati ...

, March 1997 "for the Invention of the Iridium (Satellite) Personal Communications System (with Bary Bertiger and Ken Peterson) * Biennial Communications Award, American Institute of Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineers (AIAA), May 1998 "...for inventing LEO Mobile Communications, IRIDIUM Satellite System, and for developing systems architecture, directing systems engineering, creating global TDMA/FDMA telephony concept, and initiating a multibillion-dollar business." (with Bary Bertiger and Ken Peterson) * The IEEE Third Millennium Medal, Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE), March 2000 "... for leadership in the field of wireless communications." * Fellow of the IEEE, Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE), January 1997 “...for leadership and contributions to worldwide satellite communications and personal wireless.” * Dan Noble Fellow, Motorola, Inc., November 1995, Motorola’s Highest Technical Award “... for leadership in creative and innovative technical contributions and, in particular, for his role in co-inventing the overall Iridium satellite cellular communications system and in gaining its critical global backing.”

Publications

* Motorola's IRIDIUM system: low-Earth orbit global cellular communications network, R. J. Leopold, Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium, 1992. * The Iridium Communications Systems, R. J. Leopold, Singapore ICCS/ISITA '92. 'Communications on the Move', 1992. * The IRIDIUM communications system, R. J. Leopold; A. Miller, Microwave Symposium Digest, 1993. * The IRIDIUM communications system, R. J. Leopold; A. Miller, IEEE Potentials,1993. * The IRIDIUM TM/SM1 Personal Communication System, M. Borota; K. Johnson; R. J. Leopold; A. Miller, VLSI Circuits, 1994. * Low-earth orbit global cellular communications network, R. J. Leopold, Communications, 1991. * CELESTRITM Ka-Band sharing, R. J. Leopold, Aerospace Conference, 1998.

Gallery

Iridium_Creators.jpg, The three engineers who created the Iridium Satellite Constellation. Dr._Raymond_J._Leopold.jpg, Dr. Leopold showing an Iridium Satellite model and Iridium Satellite Phone. Ray_Leopold_Air_Force.jpg, Ray Leopold pictured with a T-38.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leopold, Raymond J. Living people American electrical engineers Scientists from Chicago United States Air Force Academy alumni North Carolina State University alumni University of New Mexico alumni Engineers from Illinois Year of birth missing (living people) Military personnel from Illinois