Holger H. Meinel
Biography
Fifty years ago, when Holger H. Meinel began his career, millimeter waves were used mostly in highly specialized military applications. Meinel contributed to those applications but later helped develop the millimeter-wave technology for commercial markets, particularly transportation. He was a key member of the radar-development team at AEG-Telefunken that produced a groundbreaking distance-warning radar for automobiles. He later joined Daimler AG and continued his pioneering work that resulted in Distronic, a breakthrough millimeter-wave radar system for the automotive market. Distronic has had major societal and economic impacts and is fundamental to the both the affordable collision-avoidance systems now used in cars worldwide, and to the technology set enabling progress toward autonomous driving.
Meinel was a senior engineer at Mercedes-Benz-Group (formerly Daimler AG), Stuttgart, Germany.
