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Dr. Ken Cooper

Senior RF Microwave Engineer

About

Bio

Ken Cooper is an RF Microwave Engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Since joining the lab in 2006, Ken has led the development of millimeter- and submillimeter-wave radar and heterodyne spectroscopic sensors for earth science, planetary science, and security. These include scanning THz radar systems for concealed object detection, a compact Doppler radar and spectrometer for cometary jet observation, differential absorption radars for humidity sounding on Earth and Mars, and millimeter-wave multi-frequency Doppler radar for studying cloud and precipitation physics.

Education

  • A.B. in Physics (summa cum laude), Harvard College (1997)
  • Ph.D. in Physics, California Institute of Technology (2003)

Research Interests

Millimeter- and submillimeter-wave remote sensing measurements, instrument systems, and devices.

Experience

Professional Experience

  • Principal Staff & Senior Research Scientist, RF Microwave Engineer, Submillimeter Wave Advanced Technology Group, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (2006 – Present)
  • Research Scientist, Science Applications International Corporation (2005 – 2006)
  • Postdoctoral Researcher, NIST-Boulder/UC Santa Barbara (2003 – 2005)
  • Graduate Research Assistant, California Institute of Technology (1997 – 2003)

Achievements

Awards & Recognitions

Publications

  1. Ken B. Cooper, Jose V. Siles, Juan M. Socuellamos, Choonsup Lee, Robert H. Lin, Uriel S. Escobar, Robert J. Dengler, and Raquel Rodriguez Monje, “A Power-Combined 240 GHz Frequency-Multiplier Source for Cloud Radar Applications,” IEEE Journal of Microwaves, 2025.
  2. Nitika Yadlapalli Yurk, Matt D. Lebsock, Juan M. Socuellamos, Raquel Rodriguez Monje, Ken B. Cooper, and Pavlos Kollias, “Vertical wind and drop size distribution retrieval with the CloudCube G-band Doppler radar,” Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 2025.
  3. Socuellamos, Juan M., Raquel Rodriguez Monje, Matthew D. Lebsock, Ken B. Cooper, Robert M. Beauchamp, and Arturo Umeyama. "Multifrequency radar observations of marine clouds during the EPCAPE campaign." Earth System Science Data, 2024.
  4. Socuellamos, Juan M., Raquel Rodriguez Monje, Ken B. Cooper, Matthew D. Lebsock, Srinivas PM Nagaraja, Jose V. Siles, Robert M. Beauchamp, and Simone Tanelli. "A G-band Doppler Radar for Atmospheric Profiling." IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 2024.
  5. Millán, Luis F., Matthew D. Lebsock, Ken B. Cooper, Jose V. Siles, Robert Dengler, Raquel Rodriguez Monje, Amin Nehrir et al. "Water vapor measurements inside clouds and storms using a differential absorption radar." Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 2024.
  6. Roy, Richard J., Ken B. Cooper, Matthew Lebsock, Jose V. Siles, Luis Millán, Robert Dengler, Raquel Rodriguez Monje, Stephen Durden, Forest Cannon, and Anna Wilson, “First Airborne Measurements with a G-band Differential Absorption Radar,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 60, pp. 1-15, 2022.
  7. Ken B. Cooper, Stephen L. Durden, Richard J. Roy, Jose V. Siles, Raquel Rodriguez Monje, Robert Dengler, Luis Millán, and Robert Beauchamp, “Improving FM Radar Dynamic Range Using Target Phase Noise Cancellation,” IEEE Journal of Microwaves 1, no. 2, 2021.
  8. Eric Kittlaus, Danny Eliyahu, Setareh Ganji, Skip Williams, Andrey Matsko, Ken Cooper, and Siamak Forouhar, “A Low-noise Photonic Heterodyne Synthesizer and its Application to Millimeter-wave Radar,” Nature Communications, 2021
  9. K. Lamer, M. Oue, A. Battaglia, R.J. Roy, K.B. Cooper, R. Dhillon, & P. Kollias, , “First light multi-frequency observations with a G-band radar,” Atmospheric measurement techniques, 2020.
  10. Ken B. Cooper, Richard J. Roy, Robert Dengler, Raquel Rodriguez Monje, Maria Alonso-delPino, Okan Yurduseven, Chaitali Parashare, Luis Millan, and Matthew Lebsock, “A G-band Radar for Humidity and Cloud Remote Sensing,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 2020.
  11. Roy, Richard J., Matthew Lebsock, Luis Millán, and Ken B. Cooper. "Validation of a G-band differential absorption cloud radar for humidity remote sensing," Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 2020.  
  12. Cooper, Ken B., Raquel Rodriguez-Monje, Robert J. Dengler, Corey J. Cochrane, Maria Alonso-Delpino, Adrian Tang, Tristan Ossama El Bouayadi, and Omkar Pradhan, "A Compact, Low Power Consumption, and Highly Sensitive 95 GHz Doppler Radar." IEEE Sensors Journal, vol. 20, no. 11, pp. 5865-5875, 2020.
  13. Cochrane, Corey J., Ken B. Cooper, Stephen L. Durden, Raquel Rodriguez Monje, and Robert J. Dengler. "An FPGA-Based Signal Processor for FMCW Doppler Radar and Spectroscopy," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 2020.
  14. Yurduseven, Okan, Ken Cooper, and Goutam Chattopadhyay. "Point-Spread-Function (PSF) Characterization of a 340-GHz Imaging Radar Using Acoustic Levitation," IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 20-26, 2018.
  15. Richard J. Roy, Matthew Lebsock, Luis Millán, Robert Dengler, Raquel Rodriguez Monje, Jose V. Siles, and Ken B. Cooper, “Boundary-layer water vapor profiling using differential absorption radar,” Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, vol. 11, no. 12, pp. 6511-6523, 2018.
  16. Jose V. Siles, Ken B. Cooper, Choonsup Lee, Robert Lin, Goutam Chattopadhyay, and Imran Mehdi, “A New Generation of Room-Temperature Frequency Multiplied Sources with up to 10x Higher Output Power in the 160 GHz - 1.6 THz Range,” IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology, vol. 8, no. 6, pp. 596-604, 2018.
  17. Adrian Tang, Yanghyo Kim, Theodore J. Reck, Goutam Chattopadhyay, Imran Mehdi, Brian J. Drouin, Ken B. Cooper, Nathaniel J. Livesey, and Mau-Chung Frank Chang, “DDFS and ΣΔ Approaches for Fractional Frequency Synthesis in Terahertz Instruments,” IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 410-417, 2018.
  18. Ken B. Cooper, Raquel Rodriguez Monje, Luis Millán, Matthew Lebsock, Simone Tanelli, Jose V. Siles, Choonsup Lee, and Andrew Brown, “Atmospheric Humidity Sounding Differential Absorption Radar Near 183 GHz,” IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, vol. 15, no. 2, 2018.
  19. Ken B. Cooper, Stephen L. Durden, Corey J. Cochrane, Raquel Rodriguez Monje, Robert J. Dengler, and Chad Baldi, “Using FMCW Doppler Radar to Detect Targets up to the Maximum Unambiguous Range,” IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, vol. 14, no. 3, 2017.
  20. Ken B Cooper and Roger Appleby, “Terahertz components and systems for defence and security imaging,” J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys., vol. 50, pp. 37-38, 2017.
  21. J.V. Siles, C. Lee, R. Lin, G. Chattopdhyay, T. Reck, C. Jung-Kubiak, I. Mehdi, and K.B. Cooper, “A High-Power 105-120 GHz Broadband On-Chip Power-Combined Frequency Tripler,” IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 157-159, 2015.
  22. T. Reck, C. Jung-Kubiak, J.V. Siles, C. Lee, R. Lin, G. Chattopadhyay, I. Mehdi, and K. Cooper, “A Silicon Micromachined Eight-Pixel Transceiver Array for Submillimeter-Wave Radar,” IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 197-206, 2015.
  23. K.B. Cooper and G. Chattopadhyay, “Submillimeter-Wave Radar: Solid-State System Design and Applications,” IEEE Microwave Magazine, vol. 15, no. 7, pp. 51-67, 2014.
  24. C.A. Leal-Sevillano, K.B. Cooper, E. Decrossas, R.J. Dengler, J.A. Ruiz-Cruz, J.R. Montejo-Garai, G. Chattopadhyay, and J.M. Rebollar, “Compact Duplexing for a 680-GHz Radar Using a Waveguide Orthomode Transducer,” IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 62, no. 11, pp. 2833-2842, 2014.
  25. C. A. Leal-Sevillano, K. B. Cooper, J. A. Ruiz-Cruz, J. R. Montejo-Garai, J. M. Rebollar, “A 225 GHz Circular Polarization Waveguide Duplexer Based on a Septum Orthomode Transducer Polarizer,” IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology, vol. 3, no. 5, pp. 574-583, 2013.
  26. Tomas Bryllert, Vladimir Drakinskiy, Ken B. Cooper, and Jan Stake, “Integrated 200-240 GHz FMCW Radar Transceiver Module,” IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 61, pp. 3808-3815, 2013.
  27. Ken B. Cooper, Goutam Chattopadhyay, Bob Dengler, Nuria Llombart, Richard E. Cofield, Choonsup Lee, Sergey Filchenkov, and Elena Koposova, “A grating-based circular polarization duplexer for submillimeter-wave applications,” IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. 22, no. 3, 2012, pp. 108-110.
  28. K.B. Cooper, R.J. Dengler, N. Llombart, B. Thomas, G. Chattopadhyay, and P.H. Siegel, “THz Imaging Radar for Standoff Personnel Screening,” IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology, vol. 1, no. 1, 2011.
  29. Nuria Llombart, Robert J. Dengler, and Ken B. Cooper, “Terahertz Antenna System for a Near Video Rate Radar Imager,” IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, vol. 52 (5), 2010.
  30. G. Chattopadhyay, J. S. Ward, N. Llombart, and K. B. Cooper, “Submillimeter-Wave 90° Polarizations Twists for Integrated Waveguide Circuits,” IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. 20 (11), 2010.
  31. N. Llombart, K.B. Cooper, R.J. Dengler, T. Bryllert, and P.H. Siegel, “Confocal Ellipsoidal Reflector System for a Mechanically Scanned Active Terahertz Imager,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, AP-58, 6, 2010.
  32. K.B. Cooper, R.J. Dengler, N. Llombart, T. Bryllert, G. Chattopadhyay, E. Schlecht, J. Gill, C. Lee, A. Skalare, I. Mehdi, and P.H. Siegel, “Penetrating 3D Imaging at 4 and 25 Meter Range Using a Submillimeter-Wave Radar,” IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory and Tech.,vol. 56, 2008.