The Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) today honored Luke Fay as the 2015 recipient of the organization’s highest technical honor, the Bernard J. Lechner Outstanding Contributor Award. The presentation was made during the ATSC Broadcast Television Conference, “Tune In to the Future,” at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center.
Fay, a Senior Staff Engineer at Sony Electronics, is the chairman of the Specialist Group focusing on the ATSC 3.0 physical layer standard (S-32). He also serves as Vice-Chair of the Technology Group developing the overall ATSC 3.0 standard (TG-3). His previous ATSC contributions include specialist group work during the final phases of ATSC Mobile DTV standardization and participation in the next-generation broadcast planning team that was a precursor to TG3. “Luke Fay’s leadership of the Specialist Group on the ATSC 3.0 Physical Layer has been exemplary,” said ATSC President Mark Richer. “Luke is an excellent engineer with extraordinary leadership skills that are contributing to momentum behind the ATSC 3.0 standard.”
Fluent in Japanese, Fay is a former Field Application Engineer who worked initially with GPS products. He also worked in R&D in digital demodulation, which Fay says “were designs never too far from television-related products. I came full circle in a way: starting with TV receivers and coming back to define the future of television.” A member of the IEEE, Fay holds both Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Electrical Engineering.
The Lechner Award is bestowed annually to an individual representative of the ATSC’s membership whose technical and leadership contributions to the ATSC have been invaluable and exemplary. The title of the award recognizes the first recipient in 2000, Bernard Lechner, for his outstanding services to the ATSC. The honoree is selected by the ATSC Board of Directors and presented at the ATSC’s spring meeting. Lechner passed away in 2014 after a long career in TV technology.
Recipients of the ATSC Lechner Award:
- 2000 – Bernard Lechner, Consultant
- 2001 – Rich Chernock, Triveni Digital
- 2002 – Regis Crinon, Microsoft
- 2003 – Glenn Adams, Extensible Formatting Systems, Inc
- 2004 – Graham Jones, National Association of Broadcasters
- 2005 – John Henderson, Hitachi
- 2006 – Art Allison, National Association of Broadcasters
- 2007 – Mark Eyer, Sony Electronics
- 2008 – Michael Dolan, TBT
- 2009 – Wayne Bretl, LG Electronics/Zenith
- 2010 – Pat Waddell, Harmonic
- 2011 – Jim Starzynski, NBC Universal
- 2012 – S. Merrill Weiss, MWG Group
- 2013 – Mark Aitken, Sinclair Broadcast Group
- 2014 – James Kutzner, PBS
- 2015 – Luke Fay, Sony Electronics
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About the ATSC: The Advanced Television Systems Committee is an international, non-profit organization developing voluntary standards for digital television. The ATSC member organizations represent the broadcast, broadcast equipment, motion picture, consumer electronics, computer, cable, satellite, and semiconductor industries. For more information visit www.atsc.org