At the Kooy Symposium 2017, the annual Kooy Prize was awarded to Michiel van Tent Beking. From eight entries, the jury unanimously chose his graduation thesis, which he wrote at Thales as part of his studies at the University of Twente's Faculty of 'Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science'. Through his research into the use of specific mathematical principles in radar processing, he demonstrated that it is possible to achieve the same detection reliability in radar with (much) fewer antenna elements as is currently the case.
Graduation project in which mathematical theory improves radar sensitivity
Ir. E. W. Pijpers chairs the jury and comments: "This year, we had the opportunity to assess eight high-quality entries, and after extensive pluses and minuses, Michiel's thesis - entitled Sparse Array Antenna Signal Reconstruction using Compressive Sensing for Direction of Arrival Estimation - ultimately came out unanimously. The application of mathematical principles to contemporary radar techniques was judged to be highly innovative."
Michiel van Tent Beking received the prize - a cash prize - on 12 April from the chairman of KIVI's Defence&Safety Department: Jan Wind. Here he confessed: "Actually, I was not aware that my graduation thesis had been submitted for assessment. In that respect, it was a double surprise. But a very nice one! For me, among other things, it has been a confirmation that the switch I made from the Navy to business has been a good one for me personally. However, I won't deny that it is definitely an advantage that this research, as well as the work I now do within Thales, has direct added value for my former employer."
Text: Marjolein de Wit-Blok
