Gordon Apple

Dr. Apple's professional experience includes many different areas in the Telephone, Aerospace, Broadcast, and Personal Computer industries. He has been involved in digital communications, video compression, satellites, and computers for many years. After receiving his BSEE at the University of Arkansas and while completing his PhD at Purdue and working on a NASA research contract, he designed and lead a team to build the first transform codec (predecessor to the MPEG II codecs which make today's digital TV systems possible). While at Bell Laboratories, he was one of the designers of the first interframe video codec designed for commercial use. At North Electric he headed up a group which developed transmission and synchronization systems for one of the first digital telephone switching systems. At TRW, Dr. Apple was involved in many digital communication system projects including several satellites, modems, and data compression systems. He was the Systems Engineer for a major part of the Space Shuttle's Primary Communications System. He was the principle investigator and project manager of a study for CBS Television for data compression for High Definition Television transmission via Direct Broadcast Satellites. He also worked on video scrambling systems for cable television. He was Assistant Program Manager for development of highly sophisticated digital signal processing ground terminals for MILSTAR satellites. In 1982 he convinced Advanced Communications Corporation that digital transmission was the way DBS should eventually go. As a result, ACC was the first broadcast company in the world to commit to digital transmission using video compression. In 1987, he developed a plan for a new type of digital broadcasting system (later called "DIBS", for Digital Integrated Broadcast System) using both video compression and computer software techniques to transmit many new types of services and especially for large numbers of locally-interactive educational courses within each individual satellite transponder. The original ACE (Advanced Communications Engineering) was formed to further this technology. ACE DIBS became the technological basis of the YES (Your Educational Services) Networks, possibly the most ambitious educational initiative ever attempted. FEAT (Foundation for Educational Advancement Today) was headed by the Hon. Wilbur D. Mills and would have operated the YES networks using two donated transponders. A newly incorporated ACE and the associated technologies are totally owned by Dr. Apple who is now further developing these technologies. It is now operating under the service name "Ed4U", which is its registered trade mark Dr. Apple has been active in OOP (object-oriented programming) component software development and has published several papers and given many presentations on the application of such techniques to digital broadcasting, especially for education. He has written numerous proposals and a hundred or so concept and promotional papers for many purposes and organizations including two U.S. Presidents. He was cofounder and is head of a the Developer's SIG (Special Interest Group) of the Los Angeles Macintosh Group. He has worked for the US Dept. of Education in grading proposals for satellite delivered educational services. During the past several years, Dr. Apple has developed several computer programs to support various parts of the DIBS development: A simulator for evaluating digital demodulator performance; A graphical programming interface for linking simulation elements; A presentation program, Real-Time Presenter; A sophisticated word-processing module for text handling. The Real-Time Presenter program will serve as the basis for Ed4U's authoring tool and receiver presentation program.