Dr. Miguel Ferrando-Rocher of University of Alicante, Spain

Since 2015, numerous satellite communications companies have designed and launched high throughput broadband systems to connect rural and underserved markets. These satellite systems have become more technologically feasible than those two decades ago, due to advances in wireless technologies as well as decreases in launch service and manufacturing costs. Non-cost prohibitive user terminals (UTs) and service plans, however, are required for a profitable broadband business, particularly in rural areas.

Ku- and Ka-Band satellite UTs require highly directive antennas to close RF links with satellites orbiting at altitudes of a few hundred to a few thousand kilometers above the earth’s surface. Fixed parabolic reflectors are commonly used for conventional geostationary (GEO) satellite systems, which do not necessitate tracking, as the satellite’s position relative to the user terminal is fixed over time. LEO constellations, however, require tracking and satellite-to-satellite handovers to maintain connectivity. These features, along with cumbersome mechanics and form factors, make parabolic antennas less attractive for LEO systems. Flat-panel antennas with low profiles and user-friendly installation processes have therefore become critical components in successful satellite broadband systems. 

In this talk, an overview of a new type of family of low-loss antennas based on the recently developed gap waveguide technology is presented. This low-cost and low-loss waveguide technology can be considered as a good candidate to be used as the core RF building block of the FPA systems

Biography:

Miguel Ferrando-Rocher is a Telecommunications Engineer from the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), Valencia, Spain, since 2012 and a PhD engineer since 2018. In 2012, he joined the Complex Radiation Systems Team at the Institute of Electronics and Telecommunications in Rennes (France) as a researcher, where he was involved in reflectarray antennas for satellite applications in collaboration with Thales Alenia Space.

In 2016, he joined Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden, as a visiting researcher. Since 2013, he has been a researcher at the Antenna and Propagations Lab. (APL) Institute for Telecommunications and Multimedia Applications (iTEAM) at UPV. His current research interests include satellite communications-on-the-move (SATCOM-on-the-move), high gain arrays in Gap Waveguide (GW) technology and millimeter wave components. Dr. Ferrando-Rocher received the Best Young Researcher Award in Spain in the field of antennas and propagation at the URSI Conference in 2017. In 2019, he also received of COIT-AEIT Award from the Colegio Oficial de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación (COIT) and the Asociación Española de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación (AEIT). His doctoral thesis based on new antenna solutions in the millimeter band for satellite communications was awarded the AIRBUS SPACE and DEFENCE award (2019). He was also honored with the Extraordinary Doctoral Thesis Award of the Universitat Politècnica de València (2020). During his education, he also received an Erasmus scholarship to study at the University of Ghent (Belgium) in 2010.

From 2018 to 2020 he also worked as Chief Innovation Officer at Stratolloon, a start-up dedicated to innovation in the high-altitude research business and which has been recognized with important national and international awards (such as the Explorer program of Santander X or Galileo Masters of the European Union Agency for the Space Program).

Since September 2019 he joins as Assistant Professor Doctor at the University of Alicante, within the Department of Physics, Systems Engineering and Signal Theory, collaborating since then in the research activity of the Microwaves and Electromagnetism Group (GMECA) investigating mainly the Corona Discharge-Breakdown in devices in Gap Waveguide technology.

Finally, he has been elected by the IEEE (the world's largest technical professional organization) as an Ambassador for the Young Professionals program to inspire and inform future generations on a variety of technical and non-technical topics in the field of Antennas and Propagation.

Email:

Address:University of Alicante, Spain, , Alicante, Valencia, Spain