BIOGRAPHY

Dr. ing. Ben A. Witvliet was born in Biak, Netherlands New Guinea in 1961. He graduated in Electronics and Telecommunications in 1988. He worked in electrical engineering in moshav Nes Ammim in Israel, in international telecommunication network management at KPN in The Netherlands. From 1993 to 1995, he was responsible for the operation and maintenance of the shortwave broadcast station of Radio Netherlands in Madagascar, comprising two 300 kW transmitters and 13 high gain curtain antennas supported by 130 m high towers. Subsequently he was the technical manager for the installation and maintenance of UHF (TV), VHF (FM) and medium wave broadcast transmitters for NOZEMA in The Netherlands.

In 1997, he was employed by the Radiocommunications Agency Netherlands as a broadcast specialist in an applied research group. Projects included the immunity of cable TV networks to over-the-air DVBT-transmissions, synchronous FM broadcasting, UHF long-distance propagation measurements and the realization of a helicopter-borne system for the measurement of the effective radiated power and antenna diagram of high-power VHF FM broadcasting towers. He is currently a technical expert in the Spectrum Management department of the Radiocommunications Agency, participating in international spectrum management and ITU study groups.

With part-time research, conducted between 2011 and 2015, he obtained his PhD at the University of Twente in The Netherlands. His dissertation on Near Vertical Incidence Skywave antennas and propagation won the Anton Veder scientific research award. From 2017 to 2019 he combined his work for the Radiocommunications Agency Netherlands with part-time work as Research Manager (Radio Science) at the Centre for Space, Atmospheric and Oceanic Science of at the University of Bath in the United Kingdom, traveling weekly. He participated in the TREASURE-GNSS H2020 research program, for which he organized the Bath Summer School.

He currently works part-time as a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Radio Systems group of the Faculty of EEMCS of the University of Twente. He participates in the PITHIA-NRF and PARATUS projects, both funded by the European Commission.

His scientific interest comprises antennas, radio wave propagation, radio noise, and antenna and RF measurements. He was guest editor of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine special issue on HF Radio Systems and Techniques and is a reviewer for several journals.