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Scott T. Porter founded
RDI Systems in January 1998, following
over six years of consulting in the
medical field. Porter received his
technical training is in the area of
Physics (B.S. - University of
Missouri-Rolla), Electrical Engineering
(M.S. – Columbia University, NYC), and
Electro-Physics (PhD program at Brooklyn
Polytechnic Institute). He completed
all the research work for his PhD, but
was a few courses short when his career
took him to California.
 In
1958, at age 25, Porter was named
Program Manager for a $4.2 million
dollar high power klystron vacuum tube
development effort (over $26M in today’s
dollars). This vacuum tube was 14 feet
in height, weighed 4,500 pounds, and
generated 30 Megawatts of power at 1.3
GHz. It had the capability of
simultaneously tracking 50 incoming
ballistic missile targets and
discriminating those that had nuclear
warheads and those that were decoys.
This program preceded the Star Wars
missile defense program by some 25
years—some aspects still represent the
state-of-the-art, more that 45 years
later. Following that, in 1959 Porter
became the first person to generate 1
Megawatt of power at 12.4 GHz.
Porter developed a 10
Megawatt version of the klystron tube in
1959 that was incorporated into one of
the first linear accelerators to be used
for external beam radiation treatment of
cancer. More than two decades later the
role of the linear accelerator was
solidified as the most common form of
external beam therapy.
The majority of his
professional career has been in the high
technology field. His education—plus
on-the-job experience—has allowed him to
make significant contributions in a
range of fields including, but not
limited to, radar, missile defense,
vacuum tubes, semiconductors, microwave
and RF oscillators, high power
amplifiers, antennas, and a wide variety
of microwave, aircraft, and space
components.
 Porter
spent a number of years developing
non-destructive testing (NDT) equipment
and procedures using ultrasound. This
included equipment to test composite
sections of the B-1 bomber. During this
time, Porter presented a number of
technical papers on the theory and use
of ultrasonic non-destructive testing to
examine the internal integrity of
structures.
 He
was also heavily involved in developing
the use of lasers for cutting and
welding. This included the design of
tooling and techniques to enable 0.010”
aluminum sheet to be “stitch” welded to
vertical ribs of 0.010” aluminum—without
destroying either the sheet or vertical
ribs. This application was for antennas
for the AMRAAM missile. Accuracy was of
utmost importance. Also, weight saving
is of top priority in any missile
program because of its effect on the
overall range of the missile. The
development of the customized tooling
and techniques that allowed the use of
laser technology for mass production of
AMRAAM antennas satisfied these
objectives.
 Porter
has been involved in the space program
as a supplier of “space qualified”
components—and as a supplier of
commercial products that met the “space”
requirements of the International Space
Station.
In response to a need
from NASA, Porter was able to supply a
commercial grade amplifier that met all
the size, weight, and electrical
requirements for the external
“phased-array” antenna of the
International Space Station (ISS), but
he did not have the facilities necessity
to certify the amplifiers as
space-qualified. NASA took the
amplifiers and subjected them to their
incoming tests and found the commercial
amplifiers fully compliant with NASA’s
space qualification requirements. The
amplifiers have now been “flying” on the
outside of the ISS over five years—in
the harsh environments of space—without
a failure. Porter understands the
importance of quality.
 The
Persian Gulf War in 1991 saw the
introduction of many technologies never
seen by the public before. Included in
this was the J-STARS (Joint Surveillance
Target Attack Radar System) ground
surveillance and battle management
radar. The J-STARS can track the
movement of every vehicle larger than a
Honda Civic, traveling more than 5
mph—from 200 miles behind the enemy
lines—and transmit this information in
real time to the allied commanders on
the ground. An example of the display
screen received by the commanders during
the retreat of Iraqi forces out of
Kuwait is shown in the photo to right.
Former Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney
called this “The Mother of All
Retreats”.
Porter designed the
24-foot antenna that is housed in a
radome under the front of the E-2C
aircraft. The J-STARS was undergoing
field trials with civilian technicians
at the time of the start of the Persian
Gulf War. General Norman Schwarzkopf
requested it be made available for use
by the allied commanders—which it was.
It had a major impact on the outcome of
the war—including being able to locate
the mobile SCUD launchers.
  Over
the past 25+ years Porter has had full
profit and loss responsibility for a
number of companies—primarily, though
not exclusively, in the high-tech
industry. As a consultant he has
functioned as an individual contributor
as well as, from time-to-time, holding
the title of, and functioning as, Vice
President of Engineering, Program
Management, Sales, Marketing, Contracts,
or Operations; also, General Manager,
EVP, or President/COO—ultimately turning
the responsibility over to a recruited,
full-time employee at the appropriate
time. Some have been short time
assignments and others have been
long-term. Some have been part-time and
others full-time. Porter also completed
graduate work at UCLA in what might best
be described as a Master’s Degree in
Total Management—although the official
designation was a Professional
Designation in Total Quality
Management. His formal business
training includes in-house courses while
at Varian Associates in Palo Alto that
are the equivalent of a MBA from
Stanford.
“because of the
expertise!!!” |
