Hilmer Swanson

Education

Swanson was educated in his home town of Davenport, Iowa, from a rural one room school house to high school. The Army Signal Corps sent him to its school at Fort Gordon, where he graduated with honors. Upon demobilization with an honorable discharge on June 25, 1953, he went to Indiana and worked briefly with Bendix, then attended Valparaiso"s Technical Institute (closed 1991), and was awarded the degree of Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering.

He then was awarded the degree of Master of Science In Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University on February 4, 1959.

Career

He was then drafted into the United States. Army during the Korean War and served with the 10th Army Mountain Division at Fort Riley, Kansas. Hilmer was assigned to Fort Huachuca where he was involved with Department of Administration and Management transmitters with the United States Army Electronic Proving Ground (EPG), and began his career in radio. Swanson worked for Collins Radio in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Dallas, Texas before joining Gates Radio in Quincy Illinois, which was later bought by Harris Corporation.

Swanson worked for Harris for 35 years until retirement in 1999, primarily on the design of high efficiency amplitude modulation (Department of Administration and Management) transmitters.

His work led to a series of patents on various types of high efficiency modulation, and led to the first commercial implementation of pulse duration modulation (PDM) system, and later progressive series modulation (PSM), polyphase PDM, and digital amplitude modulation. Swanson"s patents led to almost all Department of Administration and Management broadcast transmitters being designed using digital modulation techniques, and made Department of Administration and Management vacuum tube transmitters obsolete.

Swanson designed and developed a 2 Million Watt transmitter for the Voice of America. lieutenant still stands as the worlds most powerful Department of Administration and Management Broadcast transmitter ever made.

One of his last works was a paper, "Performance of Modern Department of Administration and Management Modulation Methods for Linear Digital Broadcast Applications," co-authored with John DeLay.

He was survived by three sons, a daughter, and their families.

Achievements

• Swanson was a made a Harris Fellow, the highest honor given to an employee of that company. After retirement, Harris created a scholarship in Swanson’s name at the John Wood Community College in Quincy, Illinois for the study of radio broadcast technology. Phillip W. Farmer, former Harris Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "Mr. Swanson, a Senior Scientist at the Broadcast Communications Division has become a radio engineering legend in his own time. lieutenant is believed that no one has contributed more to the advancement of Department of Administration and Management broadcast radio transmitters than Hilmer Swanson. Most famous are his PDM and PSM modulation techniques, and his "Crown Jewel"—the digital Department of Administration and Management generation technology for Harris" DX series Department of Administration and Management broadcast product Lincolnshire." In 1990, Swanson received the National Association of Broadcasters Engineering Achievement Award. He was an honorary member of Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE), and a life member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and the Sigma Xi Science Honor Fraternity. Swanson was awarded at least 28 patents in at least six countries.

Membership

He was an honorary member of Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE), and a life member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and the Sigma Xi Science Honor Fraternity.