I am a Principal Engineer and Manager in the R&D department at Zenith Electronics. This position reports to the Vice President of Zenith R&D. Zenith is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Korean company LG Electronics, part of LG. I lead a number of engineers and technicians, usually varying from 4 to 20, on one or more projects. This R&D group was part of the "Grand Alliance" that developed the digital television and HDTV system for the United States.
Right now I lead a diverse group of engineers in Mobile DTV technology support and promotion. Some current projects of this group include use of the mobile DTV technology that LG, Harris, and Zenith developed (and which has been written into the standards for the U.S. and other ATSC countries) for a Mobile Emergency Alerting system . I and my direct reports have worked on analysis and oversight of test results; seminars for broadcasters throughout the U.S.; and papers written by myself and by my direct reports for various consumer and broadcast technical venues.
I have been involved with Consumer Electronics since graduating from Illinois Institute of Technology, and I am an expert in television systems and theory, analog and digital communications, color reproduction, and MPEG digital video coding. (See a comprehensive MPEG Tutorial written by Mark Fimoff and myself: )
I hold more than 20 patents, and have published more than 15 papers, including two award winning papers on digital television transmission.
I often represent the company in national and international standards forums, and also participate in the writing of company position papers not personally attributed. I have served as a representative of the United States delegation to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
I am a member of several professional organizations, including IEEE, SMPTE, AES, and SID. I was co-recipient in 2006 of the IEEE Masaru Ibuka Medal for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Consumer Electronics Technology, and the same year received the SMPTE David Sarnoff Gold Medal for Meritorious Achievement in Television Engineering. In 2009, I was recipient of the ATSC Bernard J. Lechner Outstanding Contributor Award for contributions to digital broadcast TV standards development. In October, 2012 I became a Life Fellow of SMPTE.
My interest in imaging spills over into my hobbies of photography, computer graphics, reconstruction of early mechanical television systems, and restoration of early color TVs. I enjoy automobile trips and take more pictures on them than anyone I know. Some of my photography is posted on bretl.com and some on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/42002845@N02/
email: waynebretl "at" comcast "dot" net