David A. Tonn

David A. Tonn
Adjunct Lecturer

Email: david.tonn@uconn.edu

Dr. Dave Tonn is an Senior Research Engineer with a major defense laboratory in the area.  He is a noted expert in antenna design and antenna measurement physics in the presence of the air-sea interface. His research interests include maritime antennas, antenna measurement methods, electromagnetic metamaterials for antenna applications, genetic algorithms in electromagnetics, very low frequency antennas and circuits, radio frequency (RF) electronics and instrumentation, and measurement instrumentation for RF devices. 

Professional Activities : 

  • Senior Member, Antenna Measurement Techniques Association (AMTA) 
  • Technical Reviewer, Progress in Electromagnetics Research (PIER), Int’l Journal of RF and Microwave Computer Aided Engineering, and several other journals
  • Vice Chairman, AMTA 2005 Symposium Host Committee

Awards :

  • 2021 Dr. Dolores Etter Award for Individual Scientific Achievement
  • 2020 Office of Naval Research Award
  • 2018 Admiral Bowen Award for Patented Inventions
  • UCONN Excellence in Teaching Award, 2012-13 Academic Year
  • 2013 IEEE Harry Diamond Memorial Award
  • Over 30 United States patents

Recent Publications :

  • D. Tonn, “Antennas in the Maritime Environment”, Book Chapter in: A. Ruffa and B. Toni (eds), Recent Trends in Naval Engineering Research, Springer, 2021.
  • D. Tonn and B. Toni, “An Exact Expansion of =1/ as a Sum of Exponentials”, manuscript in preparation.
  • D. Tonn, “A Novel Complex Image Expansion for Antenna Measurements Above a Lossy Half Space”, AMTA 2021 Proceedings, Denver CO. (Nominated for Best Paper Award).
  • D. Tonn, “Nearfield Antenna Measurements over Seawater: Challenges and Prospects”, AMTA 2020 Virtual Conference Proceedings.
  • D. Tonn, “Applications of Complex Image Theory for Nearfield Antenna Measurements Over Seawater”, Proc. of the 40th Annual Meeting of the Antenna Measurement Techniques Association (AMTA 2018), Williamsburg, VA, November 2018.
  • D. Tonn, “Nearfield Antenna Measurements Over Seawater – Some Preliminary Thoughts”, Proc. of the 39th Annual Meeting of the Antenna Measurement Techniques Association (AMTA 2017), Atlanta, GA, October 2017.
  • D. Tonn, S. Safford, “A Broadband Patch Antenna with an Anisotropic Superstrate – Design and Measurement Challenges”, Proc. of the 39th Annual Meeting of the Antenna Measurement Techniques Association (AMTA 2017), Atlanta, GA, October 2017.
  • D. Tonn. S. Safford, M. Lanagan, E. Furman, and S. Perini, “Implementation and Testing of Engineered Anisotropic Dielectric Materials”, Proc. of the 38th
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Selected Patents : 

  • 11,879,923: Method for estimating antenna gain via near-field measurements
  • 11,527,834: Broadband slotted antenna (Joint patent with 4 co-inventors)
  • 10,170,841: Dual mode slotted monopole antenna
  • 10,164,340: Broadband monopole antenna
  • 10,069,211: Broadband circularly polarized patch antenna and method
  • 10,014,584: Slotted antenna with uniaxial dielectric covering
  • 9,882,286: Cylindrical antenna using near zero index metamaterial
  • 9,882,273: Buoyant helical twin-axial wire antenna
  • 9,865,931: Broadband cylindrical antenna and method
  • 9,865,930: Slotted antenna with anisotropic magnetic loading
  • 9,553,368: Multi-band cable antenna with irregular reactive loading
  • 9,553,366: Twin-axial wire antenna
  • 9,407,010: Slotted antenna with anisotropic covering
  • 9,281,568: Apparatus and method for improving the gain and bandwidth of a microstrip patch antenna