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FINDER – Development and Commercialization of an earthquake victim detecting radar at JPL

Wednesday, April 13, 2016
3:00pm to 4:00pm
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Introduction: FINDER (Finding Individuals for Disaster and Emergency Response) is a low power radar developed at NASA's JPL. The radar detects buried victims in rubble using microwave sensors for human vital signs. FINDER got its first real disaster experience a year ago in Nepal, where it was used in the rescue of 4 buried victims in Chautara. Jim Lux, the developer of FINDER, will discuss the creation of the product and the path to commercialization.

 

Bio: Jim Lux has been an engineer at Jet Propulsion Laboratory for 17 years, he is currently managing the development of two small satellites to measure the properties of the ionosphere.  In addition to FINDER, Jim also works on communications systems for deep space exploration, radars to help land on Mars and measure the winds on Earth, and was a Principal Investigator for experimental radios on the International Space Station.

Before coming to JPL, Jim developed products for a physical special effects company as well as visually stopping time, making it rain on command, lighting really big fires, making household appliances fly through the air, and creating the world's largest artificial tornado. He has run a software consulting company, and developed equipment to monitor communications and radar systems. He's worked on a variety of software development projects in both embedded and enterprise scale environments with real-time needs, such as the LAPD ECCCS dispatch system.

Event organized by the Caltech Entrepreneurship club (Zach, [email protected]) and Caltech Alpine Club (Cody, [email protected])