Keith Lofstrom

Keith Lofstrom (born 1953 in Portland, Oregon)[1] is an American electrical engineer. He has a BSEE and MSEE from University of California, Berkeley.[2] He is more widely known in the space advocacy community for a ground-based space launcher design, the Launch Loop,[3][4][5] for which he has been credited by name in several works of science fiction.[6][7][8][9] Frederik Pohl, who used the idea in several of his stories, once wrote that, of all the non-rocket spacelaunch concepts, he liked the Lofstrom Loop "best of all."[10]

As an electrical engineer, Lofstrom specializes in mixed-signal integrated circuit design. A paper he wrote on boundary scan methods was one of two to receive an Honorable Mention at the 1997 IEEE International Test Conference.[11] One of his 9 patents is for a way to read an individual digital ID for integrated circuits that arises from random atomic variations inherent in the semiconductor device fabrication process.[12][13][14]

One of his more recent efforts in speculative space systems is Server Sky, a very large satellite constellation in Earth orbit using thin-film solar cells to power data center computers integrated into the same wafers as the PV cells.[15]

He is signed up for cryopreservation with the Alcor Life Extension Foundation, since 1992.[1]

  1. ^ a b Chana Phaedra (2012). "Alcor Member Profile: Keith Lofstrom". Cryonics. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
  2. ^ Lofstrom, Keith (1975). Sinusoidal supply Josephson logic (Master's thesis). U.C. Berkeley.
  3. ^ Lofstrom, Keith H. (8–10 July 1985). "The launch loop -- a low cost Earth-to-high orbit launch system - Paper 85-1368" (PDF). Monterey, CA: 21st AIAA, SAE, ASME, and ASEE, Joint Propulsion Conference. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ Radley, Charles (September 14, 2009). "Local inventor says launch loop would greatly reduce cost of space travel". Gadgets and Tech: Portland Science Examiner. San Francisco: Examiner.com.
  5. ^ Alexander Bolonkin [in Russian] (2006). "8". In Badescu, Viorel; Cathcart, Richard Brook; Schuiling, Roelof D. (eds.). Space Towers. Macro-engineering: a challenge for the future. Springer. pp. 146–7. ISBN 1-4020-3739-2.
  6. ^ Pohl, Frederik (1983). "Gateway III — Beyond the Gate (Part 1 of 3)". Amazing Science-Fiction. 57. Ultimate Pub. Co: 80.
  7. ^ Pohl, Frederik (1983). Heechee Rendezvous. Vol. 3. Ballantine Books. p. 91. ISBN 0-345-30062-9. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  8. ^ Clarke, Arthur C.; Pohl, Frederik (February 2009). The Last Theorem. London: HarperVoyager. p. 55. ISBN 978-0-00-729002-4.
  9. ^ Forward, Robert L. (1985). Starquake. London: Ballantine. p. v. ISBN 978-0-345-28349-8.
  10. ^ "Interview with Frederik Pohl". Amazing Science-Fiction. 69 (590). Ultimate Pub. Co: 98. 1995.
  11. ^ IEEE International Test Conference Proceedings. 1997. p. 8. ISBN 0-7803-4210-0. [1]
  12. ^ US 6161213, Lofstrom, Keith, "System for providing an integrated circuit with a unique identification", published Dec 12, 2000, issued Dec 12, 2000 
  13. ^ "A unique, repeatable, individual digital ID". Nov 30, 2007. Retrieved 2011-07-24.
  14. ^ Lofstrom, K.; Daasch, W.; Taylor, D. "IC Identification Circuit using Device Mismatch" (PDF). 2000 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference Digest of Technical Papers. 43. IEEE Cat. No. OOCH37056. Retrieved 2011-07-24.
  15. ^ Lofstrom, Keith (Winter 2010). "Server Sky - Data Centers in Orbit". Online Journal of Space Communication (16).