George Frye: Difference between revisions

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{{Person
{{Person
|Names=George Joseph Frye
|Names=George Joseph Frye
|Affiliations=Tektronix ; Frye Electronics
|Countries=USA;
}}  
|Affiliations=University of Kansas;Tektronix;Frye Electronics
}} co-invented the [[random sampling]] technique.


[[Category:Biography needed]] ''please add bio''
George Frye grew up in Kansas City, Missouri and attended Rockhurst High School in Kansas City.
After that, he attended Rockhurst College as a physics major.
He transferred to the University of Kansas and studied electrical engineering.
As an undergrad project, he built a [[wikipedia:Carrier_current|carrier current]] system for the campus.
During these early years, George was active on ham radio (W0EZU) and eventually worked all continents.


In 1973, he incorporated ''Frye Electronics'' to produce audiological test equipment (Ref. 1, 2).
During undergrad, Frye worked at Wilcox Electric, initially in shipping,
later on the assembly line, soldering, and later helping debug 10 kW shortwave transmitters.
As a grad student, also at the University of Kansas, under Professor Norris Nahman,  
he developed the [[random sampling]] technique under a grant from the US National Security Agency.


==Products==
George writes:
<blockquote>
“But then realized that an NSA project I worked on while going for my MSEE at KU showed the way to generate real time sampling pulses at very high frequencies.
Just use a klystron. Velocity modulate the beam at the desired sampling frequency and then place a catch electrode at the point where the electrons combine in pulses at the modulating frequency. Klystrons usually place a cavity there to collect the amplified RF signal.
That  was the basis for the project I was assigned to 60 years ago…”
</blockquote>
 
While still in Kansas City, he took a job at Bendix Corporation.  That was work for the Department of Defense.
 
In 1962, he joined [[Norm Winningstad]]'s sampling group at Tektronix.
Their group was in a building on Barnes road. Later, they moved to the second floor of [[Building 50]] on the Tektronix Campus.
 
George's first assignment at Tek was to build a high speed (around 100 MHz) square wave waveform generator for internal purposes.
It didn't go into production.
 
After Norm Winningstad left Tektronix in the mid-1960s, George Frye's manager was [[Al Zimmerman]].
 
Frye is listed as "Project Engineer, Electrical" on the [[4S2A]] sampling plug-in for the [[661]].
In the late 1960s, he was involved ("head man") with the development of the [[S-1]] and [[S-2]] sampling heads.
The sampling technology used in those sampling heads was similar to previous instruments, just modularized.
 
In terms of making high speed sampling heads,
Tek was at a disadvantage compared to HP because HP had faster snap-off diodes.
This enabled HP to generate very sharp sampling strobe pulses
and therefore achieve small aperture time and therefore good high frequency response.
George Frye pondered how to build a very fast (low aperture time) sampler using the components Tek had at the time.
He decided to leverage the very short turn-off time of Tek's Schottky diodes.
This led to the invention of the traveling wave sampling gate, [[Patent US 3629731A|US patent number 3629731]].
In this new sampling gate design, the aperture time is not a function of the length of the sampling strobe pulse.
Only the falling edge matters. Another way of viewing this is that conventional sampling heads depended on the
sampling pulse having a high second derivative, whereas the new design only required a high first derivative.
This led to a significantly faster sampling head.
The first product using this new sampling gate design was the [[S-4]], which has a rise time of 25 picoseconds.
 
===After Tektronix===
George Frye left Tektronix in 1972.
In 1973, he incorporated ''Frye Electronics'' to produce audiological test equipment <ref>George Frye: ''[https://www.electronicdesign.com/displays/george-frye-family-need-leads-better-hearing-aid-and-new-industry Family Need Leads To A Better Hearing Aid And A New Industry]''. Electronic Design, Nov 2008</ref><ref>[https://www.frye.com/wp/history/ Frye Electronics: History]</ref>.
 
Frye Electronics produces instruments for measuring the performance of hearing aids.
As of May 2023, George is still actively involved with Frye Electronics.
 
===Selected publications===
* George Frye and Norris S.Nahman, ''[[Media:Frye_random_sampling_oscillography.pdf|Random Sampling Oscillography]]''. IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, Vol. IM-13 Issue 1, March 1964
* George Frye, ''[[Media:Frye_s4_gate.pdf|A new Approach to Fast Gate Design]]'', 1968 (also in [[Media:Service Scope 52 Oct 1968.pdf | Servicescope No. 52, Oct 1968]])
* George Frye, ''[[Media:Frye_subnanosecond_pulse_gen.pdf|A Predictable Subnanosecond Step Generator]]''. IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, Vol. IM-17 No. 4, December 1968
{{Documents|Author=George Frye}}


* Project Engineer on [[4S2A]] (1966; see [http://w140.com/tek_4s2a_eng_spec.pdf Tektronix 4S2A Engineering Specification])
* Designed [[S-4|S-4 Sampling Head]] (1968-1990)
{{Designer|George Frye}}
{{Designer|George Frye}}
* Project Engineer on [[4S2A]] (1966; see [[Media:tek_4s2a_eng_spec.pdf|Tektronix 4S2A Engineering Spec]])
* Designed [[S-4|S-4 Sampling Head]] (1968)
{{Patents|George Frye}}
{{Patents|George Frye}}


==Publications and Patents==
==Links and References==
* [http://w140.com/frye_s4_gate.pdf A new Approach to Fast Gate Design] (also in [[Media:Service Scope 52 Oct 1968.pdf | Servicescope No. 52, Oct 1968]])
<references />
* [http://w140.com/frye_subnanosecond_pulse_gen.pdf ''A Predictable Subnanosecond Step Generator.''] IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas. Vol. IM17 No. 4 (Dec 1968)''. IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas. Vol. IM17 No. 4 (Dec 1968)
* [[Media:062-1244-00.pdf | Time-Domain Reflectometry Measurements]], 1973 (contrib.)


==Links and References==
# [http://www.electronicdesign.com/displays/george-frye-family-need-leads-better-hearing-aid-and-new-industry George Frye: Family Need Leads To A Better Hearing Aid And A New Industry]. Electronic Design, Nov 2008
# [http://www.frye.com/wp/history/ Frye Electronics: History]


[[Category:Tektronix people]]
[[Category:Tektronix people]]