Prof. Will of Loughborough University, Loughborough, U.K.

Abstract:
With the new upcoming technologies such as 5G/6G networks, internet of things, vehicle-to-everything networks, satellite communications, satellite constellations and integrated communication & sensing; there have been significant improvements in developing new reconfigurable RF frontend systems such as antennas and metasurfaces. This talk will present some of the work developed by the Wireless Communications Research Group at Loughborough University focusing on additive manufacturing for RF systems, optically transparent antennas, new electromagnetic metasurfaces, via-free substrate integrated waveguides, intelligent beam-steering antennas, and more.
 

Biography:

Prof. William G. Whittow FIET AFWES SFHEA SMIEEE (MIEEE 2012, SMIEEE 2012) received the B.Sc. degree in Physics and the Ph.D. degree in Computational Electromagnetics from the University of Sheffield, Sheffield, U.K., in 2000 and 2004, respectively. From 2004 to 2012, he was a Research Associate at Loughborough University, Loughborough, U.K. In 2012, he became a Lecturer in the Wolfson School of Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering (WSMEME) at Loughborough University. He became a Senior Lecturer in 2014, a Reader (Associate Professor) in 2018, and a Professor of Radiofrequency Materials in 2020. He leads the Wireless Communications Research Group (WiCR) and is the Director the Connected Infrastructure Research Priority. He is a named Investigator on research grants totalling in excess of £15m. He has authored more than 330 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers in topics related to metamaterials, metasurfaces, synthetic and heterogeneous dielectrics, dielectric measurements, 3D-printing, wearable antennas and phantoms, specific absorption rate, embroidered antennas, inkjet printing, and RFID tags. He led an IET book titled “Bioelectromagnetics in Healthcare: Advanced sensing and communication applications” in 2022. He is an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer in Additively Manufactured RF Devices for the IEEE Council on RFID. From 2007-2011, he was the Coordinating Chair of the Loughborough Antennas and Propagation Conference (LAPC). He has served as an Associate Editor of IET’s Electronics Letters and also Microwaves, Antennas and Propagation. He serves on the technical programme committees of several IEEE international conferences. He has been asked to give more than 35 invited conference presentations; a 4-day invited workshop on bioelectromagnetics and teaches about dielectric measurements at the European School of Antennas. In 2017, he won the Women in Engineering Society (WES) Men As Allies Award and he is the inaugural male Associate Fellow of WES. He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Dr. Bansal of Loughborough University, Loughborough, U.K.

Biography:

Dr Aakash Bansal (MIEEE) is the Royal Academy of Engineering UK Intelligence Community Research Fellow and a Lecturer in Applied Electromagnetics at Loughborough University, UK. He received his Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech.) in electronics and communication engineering from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi (India) in 2017 and did his PhD Dissertation on Active Millimeter-Wave Beam-Steering Antenna Array Systems for 5G and beyond from Loughborough University (UK) in 2022. Previously, he worked as a Research Associate with CSIR – Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute, Pilani (India) from 2017 – 2019 and as a Future Networks Engineer for Satellite Applications Catapult (UK) in 2022 – 2023. His research interests include beamforming, beam-steering antennas, intelligent metasurfaces, dielectric lenses, antenna arrays, antennas for space and orbital angular momentum waves. He has received IEEE Richard E. Merwin Student Scholarship in 2016, CSIR Young Engineer Award in 2018, Loughborough University’s Sir Robert Martin University Prize in 2020, Electronics Weekly's Bright Sparks Award 2020 and Loughborough University’s Doctoral Researcher’s Presidential Award in 2022