Keynote Topics

Title: UWB Future 5G Transceivers & Wearable Electronics

Speaker: Prof. John L. Volakis, Florida International University (FIU)

Abstract: Future communication links (future 5G) will require higher data rates, multiple beams, and higher transmit/receive gains, in addition to smaller weight, cost, and power. With the growing interest for reduced size platforms and the requirement for ultra-wideband (UWB) performance to address multi-functionality, there is a strong need for UWB RF front-ends with ultra flexible interfaces. The latter will include millimeter wave and THz capabilities to enable increased spectral efficiency, multi-functionality and security. Simultaneous transmit and receive (STAR) transceivers are also becoming a focus for the coming decade.
Further, in recent years, a variety of flexible fabric-based electronics have been proposed. To this end, our team proposed a new class of conductive textiles that have demonstrated unique capabilities in terms of flexibility, durability and manufacturing-ease using standard automated embroidery machinery. These electronic threads (E-threads) have the capability to generate fully embroidered microwave circuitry that has the same electrical properties as traditional microwave circuits printed on PCBs. As such, a new class of wearable devices that are fully integrated and inconspicuously placed within clothing is possible.
This presentation will focus on innovative methods for handling UWB communications with RF front end and back-end capabilities having historically low power and game-changing frequency-independent operation. They will include low power MIMO and beamforming across large bandwidths, from MHz to millimeter wave bands. Challenges in realizing future textile-based electronic devices, including wearable wideband transceivers will be presented. Among them, reliable wearable interconnects, chipsets that are less bulky and integrated with the textile circuitry, and manufacturing challenges will be discussed.

John

Bio: John L. Volakis is the Dean of the College of Engineering and Computing at Florida International University (FIU), and a Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept. He is an IEEE, AAAS, NAI, URSI and ACES Fellow. Prior to coming to FIU, he was the Roy and Lois Chope Chair in Engineering at Ohio State and a Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept. (2003-2017). He also served as the Director of the Ohio State Univ. ElectroScience Laboratory for 14 years. His career spans 2 years at Boeing, 19 years on the faculty at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, and 15 years at Ohio State. At Michigan he also served as the Director of the Radiation Laboratory (1998-2000).
Prof. Volakis has 39 years of engineering research experience, and has published over 450 journal papers, 950 conference papers, over 30 chapters and 31 patents. In 2004, he was listed by ISI Web of Science as one of the top 250 most referenced authors, and his google h-index=74 with over 29000 citations, among the largest in Engineering. He mentored over 100 Ph.Ds/Post-Docs and has written with them 43 papers which received best paper awards. He is one of the most active researchers in electromagnetics, RF materials and metamaterials, antennas and phased array, RF transceivers, textile electronics, millimeter waves and terahertz, EMI/EMC as well as EM diffraction and computational methods. He is also the authors of 9 books, including the Antenna Handbook, referred to as the "antenna bible." His research team is recognized for introducing and/or developing 1) hybrid finite method for microwave engineering, now defacto methods in commercial RF design packages, 2) novel composite materials for antennas & sensor miniaturization, 3) a new class of wideband conformal antennas and arrays with over 30:1 of contiguous bandwidth, referred to as tightly coupled dipole antennas, already garnering over 6 million citations, 4) textile surfaces for wearable electronics and sensors, 5) battery-less and wireless medical implants for non-invasive brain signal collection, 6) diffraction coefficients for material coated edges, and for 7) model-scaled radar scattering verification methods.

Title: Update of Modeling and Synthesis of Microwave Metalens Antennas

Speaker: Prof. Zhining Chen, National University of Singapore

Abstract: Metalens at microwave bands has widely been studied for performance-enhanced antennas. The metalens antennas are capable of enhancing gain, achieving beamscanning, and converting polarization of EM waves. Using metamaterials and metasurfaces, the metalens has been more compact and thinner compared with full dielectric ones. This talk will update the recent progress in the modelling and synthesis of metalens antennas. First, the true transformation optics is applied to Luneburg lens for metamaterial-based compact antenna design. The transformed metalens antenna keeps the feed on/near the surface of lens, one of the most important features of Luneburg lens antenna. Then a deep learning-enabled synthesis method with prior knowledge is developed to increase the degrees of design freedom for the enhancement of phase shift range of metacells and the increase in database of metacells. As example, the gain bandwidth of metalens antenna is greatly enhanced.

ZhiNingChen

Bio: Zhi Ning Chen is working in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore as a Professor and the Director of Advanced Research and Technology Innovation Center.
Dr Chen has published 680+ academic papers and six books and is holding 33 granted/filed patents. Recently he has focused more on the translational resaerch and technology development of metamaterial, metasurface, and metaline-based antennas: metantennas.
Dr Chen was elevated the Fellow of Academy of Engineering, Singapore in 2019 and a Fellow of the IEEE for the contribution to small and broadband antennas for wireless applications in 2007. He is the recipient of IEEE John Kraus Antenna Award 2021.
Dr Chen is the founding General Chairs of IEEE International Workshop on Antenna Technology (iWAT 2005), IEEE Asia and Pacific Conference on Antennas and Propagation (APCAP 2012), and Marina Forum on EM Metamaterials (Mar-For 2021) . He is the General Chair of IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting (APS/URSI 2021).

Title: On-chip terahertz antennas and arrays for 6G and beyond

Speaker: Prof. Chi Hou CHAN, City University of Hong Kong

Abstract: In this presentation, Professor Chan will present an overview of his research on on-chip antennas and arrays for the 6th generation (6G) wireless communications and beyond. For the passive antennas and arrays, his team focuses on improving the radiation performance in impedance and gain bandwidth and size reduction of the feeding network. Further manipulations of the radiation are achieved through off-chip lenses and metasurfaces. For beam steering and spatial power combining applications, antenna elements and their spacings need to be carefully designed to accommodate not only the antenna elements but also the active driving circuits within a limited chip size. All the passive and active antennas and arrays, operating up to 700 GHz, were fabricated by 65-nm CMOS technology and characterized by in-house measurement facilities.

ChiHouChan

Bio: Professor Chan received his PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in 1987 under the tutelage of Professor Raj Mittra. Prior to joining the City University of Hong Kong in 1996, he was a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle. Since 1998, he has been a Chair Professor of Electronic Engineering and is currently the Director of State Key Laboratory of Terahertz and Millimeter Waves (City University of Hong Kong). Initially trained in computational electromagnetics, his research interest has been extended to antennas, microwave and millimeter-wave components and systems, and more recently, terahertz science and technology. Professor Chan was elected a Fellow of IEEE in 2002 for his contributions to computational electromagnetics. He received the 2019 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society Harrington-Mittra Award in Computational Electromagnetics and the 2019 Distinguished Alumni Award from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UIUC.

Title:Massive Spatial Multiplexing in 6G: What kind of antenna arrays are needed?

Speaker: Prof. Emil Björnson, KTH Royal Institute of Technology

Abstract: Multi-antenna communication technology can, in theory, provide great bit rates between a transmitter and receiver through spatial multiplexing; that is, sending different spatial layers over different propagation paths. Unfortunately, traditional systems operate in the far field where there is often at most one strong propagation path. This might change in 6G. By increasing the carrier frequency, adding more antennas, and densifying the network infrastructure, we will enter a paradigm where communications mostly happen in the radiative near-field. In this keynote, we will revisit the fundamentals of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications and explore the new features that arise in the near field. The relation between spatial modes, spherical wavefronts, and array geometries will be described and illustrated. Is massive spatial multiplexing the next untapped signal dimension that can sustain the capacity growth in future networks?

emil_bjornson

Bio: Emil Björnson is a Professor of Wireless Communication at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. He is an IEEE Fellow, Digital Futures Fellow, and Wallenberg Academy Fellow. He has a podcast and YouTube channel called Wireless Future. His research focuses on multi-antenna communications and radio resource management, using methods from communication theory, signal processing, and machine learning. He has authored three textbooks and has published a large amount of simulation code.
He has received the 2018 and 2022 IEEE Marconi Prize Paper Awards in Wireless Communications, the 2019 EURASIP Early Career Award, the 2019 IEEE Communications Society Fred W. Ellersick Prize, the 2019 IEEE Signal Processing Magazine Best Column Award, the 2020 Pierre-Simon Laplace Early Career Technical Achievement Award, the 2020 CTTC Early Achievement Award, and the 2021 IEEE ComSoc RCC Early Achievement Award. He also received six Best Paper Awards at the conferences.

Title: Antenna Booster Technology: from Fundamentals to Applications

Speaker: Prof. Jaume Anguera, Founder and CTO at Ignion and Universitat Ramon LLull, Spain

Abstract: Addressed to Antenna, Microwave, RF, Wireless, and Electronics engineers to learn about Antenna Booster Technology to design wireless devices embedding antenna boosters. Antenna boosters are off-the-shelf electrically small components that can be integrated inside any wireless device for operation at any frequency band (0.4GHz-10.6GHz) through the proper design of a matching network. The antenna booster frequency bands of operation are easily adjusted-not by modifying its geometry but through the suitable matching-network design. This is a more straightforward, faster, and more familiar method for RF/microwave and wireless engineers, who are acquainted with the design of matching networks at every stage of a telecommunication system-for example, filters and amplifiers. Attendants will learn the physical insights of antenna boosters and how to design wireless devices (ex., IoT) integrating antenna boosters covering from single band to multi-band applications using passive matching networks and reconfigurable architectures. The presentation will give a general overview of the fundamentals of the technology till recent applications of antenna boosters embedded in IoT devices.

Jaume Anguera

Bio: Dr. Jaume Anguera, IEEE Fellow, founder and CTO at the technology company Ignion (Barcelona, Spain). Associate Professor at Ramon LLull University and a member of the Smart Society research group. He is an inventor of more than 150 granted patents, most of them licensed to telecommunication companies. Among his most outstanding contributions is that of the inventor of Antenna Booster Technology, a technology that fostered the creation of Ignion. The wireless industry has adopted many of these products worldwide to allow wireless connectivity to IoT devices through a miniature component called an antenna booster that is ten times smaller than conventional antennas. Author of more than 260 scientific widely cited papers and international conferences (h-index 51). Author of 7 books. He has participated in more than 22 competitive research projects financed by the Spanish Ministry, CDTI, CIDEM (Generalitat de Catalunya), and the European Commission for an amount exceeding $13M as a principal researcher in most of them. He has taught over 40 antenna courses worldwide (USA, China, Korea, India, UK, France, Poland, Czech Republic, Tunisia, Perú, Brazil, Canada, Spain). With over 23 years of R&D experience, he has developed part of his professional experience with Fractus in South Korea in designing miniature antennas for large Korean companies such as Samsung and LG. Since 2017 he has been with Ignion in the role of CTO. He leads the company's R&D activity to create new products, envisage new technologies, technical evangelism, and provide technology strategy to scale the company's business. He has received several national and international awards (ex. 2004 Best Ph. D Thesis -two prizes, one given by Telefónica Mobile, 2004 IEEE New Faces of Engineering, 2014 Finalist European Patent Award). He has directed the master/doctorate thesis to more than 160 students, many of them have received awards for their thesis (COIT, COITT, Ministry of Education). His biography appears in Who'sWho in the World and Who'sWho in Science and Engineering. He is associate editor of the IEEE Open Journal on Antennas and Propagation, Electronics Letters, and reviewer in several IEEE and other scientific journals. He is an IEEE Antennas and Propagation Distinguished Lecturer and vice-chair of the working group "Software and Modeling" at EurAAP. More info at http://users.salleurl.edu/~jaume.anguera/

Title:Experimental Antenna Research - Past and Future

Speaker: Prof. Gert Frølund Pedersen, Aalborg University, Denmark

Abstract: Since the first mobile terminals and phones entered the market, many works on their actual coverage in the network have been carried out and troubles with the coverage reported. Now we have 5G advanced systems and the coverage is surely much better, but is the problem of good coverage everywhere solved? The talk will give a historical overview of the development of the methods used for evaluating the ability of a mobile phone to provide good coverage, including the vast experimental setups used and concluding with the Over The Air (OTA) measurements used worldwide today. Results of OTA performance evaluation of mobile phones done over the years for the Danish authorities will be shown, including the latest report listing the most popular phone models from spring 2023. Also the latest experimental setup in Aalborg will be shown - a large anechoic room which can take objects up to 3500 kg and measure all frequencies from around 100 MHz to THz. Examples of large constructions which can be measured are given; Wind turbine blades, live fighter jets and surely cars. During iWAT23 it will be possible to join tours to the new large antenna lab and see and ask questions to the lab engineers, as iWAT23 is taking place only a few hundred meters from the lab.

Gert Frølund Pedersen

Bio: Gert Frølund Pedersen was born December 2nd 1965 in Denmark. He is married to Henriette D. S. Pedersen since 1991 and has seven children, 2 boys and 5 girls. He received the B.Sc. E. E. degree, with honours, in electrical engineering from the College of Technology, Dublin, Ireland in 1991, and the M.Sc. E. E. degree and Ph. D. from Aalborg University, Denmark in 1993 and 2003. He has been employed by Aalborg University since 1993 where he is now a full Professor, heading the Antenna, Propagation and Millimetre-wave Systems section with more than 30 full-time researchers. His research has focused on radio communication for mobile terminals including small antennas, antenna systems, radio propagation and biological effects. He started the area of Over The Air (OTA) test for small active terminals including the antenna and developed the measuring setup, now used worldwide. He invented the integrated antenna in 1994 for mobile phones, used in most mobile phones today. He has worked closely with both national and international companies and designed more than 100 unique antenna solutions. He is currently involved in antenna systems for small devices, Satellites and 6G. His research merits include PI funding of more than 75 M€ mainly jointly with industry, and has published over 250 journal papers, 300 conference papers and holds more than 50 granted patents.




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