Current handset antennas use typically 90 to 99% of the available RF energy to heat up the user and the device radiating only 1 to 10 % of the energy. Similarly, mobile access points waste a large portion of the transmitted RF energy by spreading it to unintended directions where the energy is wasted or it causes interference to other systems.
This presentation describes a new way to realize adaptive and reconfigurable antennas for mobile terminals. The method utilizes many radiating elements simultaneously in a collaborative manner so that the efficiency can be maintained high in all use cases across a very large frequency band. The method necessitates a multi-channel transceiver, which can replace currently used analog matching networks.
On access point side, modular three dimensional mmW antenna arrays are presented. The modular antenna arrays provide better performance in terms of efficiency, bandwidth and beam steering range than conventionally used planar PCB antenna arrays. Modular antennas facilitate integrating active electronics, such as phase shifters, on a single 2D PCB.

There has been an enormous research effort into artificially synthesized materials, aka ‘metamaterials’ that have novel and unusual material properties and find suitable uses in many microwave and antenna applications, including performance enhancement of legacy antennas. In an attempt to produce a formalism that classifies these properties we introduce the concept of meta-atoms (MTAs), that are ‘meso’ scale particles, and have typical sizes much less than the wavelength at which the antenna will be operating. They could therefore be assembled to form synthetic materials of some predefined properties required for a particular application. A project entitled “Synthesizing 3D Metamaterials (MTMs) for RF, Microwave and THz Applications,” has been established in UK to study and classify these meta-atoms and produce structures that can be manufactured with Additive Manufacturing (AM) techniques, such as 3 D printing. This talk will focus on the topic of artificial synthesis of materials and present some real-world examples of their practical implementation. Unlike many of the previous works on MTMs, the focus of our work is on developing materials utilizing materials which operate away from the resonance range of the particles. Hence, they are not narrowband, dispersive, or lossy, as some of the early versions of the MTMs, e.g., Double-negative (DNG) or Zero-index (ZI) types, were reputed to be; and, consequently, they find wider range of applications in modern antenna design problems, as we will demonstrate via a number of illustrative examples.

Near-Field techniques are increasingly used for the characterization of intentional and non-intentional radiating systems. Such a trend may be explained by different factors whose the major one is probably the development of the probe array disruptive concept that has resulted in a drastical reduction of the measurement time. On the other hand, the continuous growing of the computer power according to the Moore’s law has enabled to speed up standard Near-to-Far Field transformations based on modal expansions but also to exploit all the flexibility offered by efficient inverse source algorithms for diagnosis purposes of both coherent and stochastic radiating systems. This presentation retraces the evolution of Near Field techniques and provides some examples of practical relevance in the fields of antenna measurements, Electromagnetic Compatibility / Signal Integrity testing, and Specific Absorption Rate assessment. Furthermore, more prospectively, it addresses the challenging issues raised by Very Near Field techniques.

Low-power and miniaturized sensor devices are required in the healthcare sector to detect and record human physiological signals for continuous and 24 hours monitoring. These devices are made wireless in order to increase patient comfort, to enable patient mobility, and to facilitate monitoring anywhere and anytime. Several wireless body sensor devices are used to form an intelligent communication network, known as wireless body area network, to establish a reliable remote monitoring in various environments. In the future, especially with the emergence of the Internet-of-Things (IoT) in healthcare, there will be many more biomedical sensor devices developed connecting patients to the Internet, enabling patient monitoring anywhere, anytime and in a continuous manner. A critical challenge for biomedical sensor technologies is the limited energy source as small batteries are the only option to provide energy. Batteries have two main challenges: they need to be regularly monitored for their charge status, and they need to be frequently recharged or replaced. This talk will present some recent sensor devices developed by our group at Monash University, Australia. Our biomedical sensor devices are designed with energy harvesting techniques to enable autonomous and long term monitoring capability. The talk covers some low-power electronics design, wireless solutions and energy transmission/harvesting techniques for implantable and wearable sensors to achieve continuous monitoring. The talk will also highlight our recent research activities in non-contact sensing, and wearable blood pressure sensing and monitoring.

High-performance microwave devices and subsystems are used in a wide spectrum of communication systems, in particular wireless base stations, communications satellites, earth stations, and other wireless point-to-point repeaters. The demand for such high-performance technologies originated from the exorbitant price operators paid to acquire the spectrum rights and the high cost of sending a communications satellite into orbit. As a result, system architectures have evolved to meet the characteristics specific to these demands, such as high data rates and high transmitting power. Currently, the modern Information Society - where everything must be connected at any time and at any place- is motivating and pushing a vast research activity in microwave frequencies. The need for miniaturization, lower mass, higher power, harsh environment test, reconfigurability and flexibility is implicit in the rapidly emerging new communication systems. This talk goes over a few key developments, primarily in the areas of microwave filters, multiplexers, MEMS, high power designs, temperature compensation, tunable devices, advanced design techniques and robotic automation. As 5G wireless communications systems development is moving at full speed with a new proposal for an Internet of Space (IoS), we will soon also witness thousands of small satellites launched into low-Earth orbits, with altitudes less than 1000 miles. The microwave subsystem in each satellite functions like a wireless base station, which also requires high-volume production. These developments lead to an interesting technology convergence from ground to space. The IoS is now identified as a as future direction by The IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society. The 5G/IoS system also demands a highly-integrated microwave design with a smaller footprint, lower mass, higher power level and significantly lower cost. The technologies presented in this talk are key building blocks to advance the 5G/IoS communications system to provide competitive services in relevant markets.

Detailed physics based computational electromagnetic field models of multi component energy systems enable the evaluation of realistic waveforms of voltages and currents for low and high frequency operation. These models also enable inclusion of practical effects such as parasitic elements, leakage saturation, and switching patterns during the system operation. This is essential for studying signatures from individual components and connected systems which is necessary during the design stage. These models also enable the evaluation of conducted and radiated electromagnetic fields in machinery, cables and power converters used in multi component energy systems. The models enhance our ability to determine their signatures and EMI interactions as well as evaluate the effectiveness of connecting controllers and/or other components.
Including detailed physical parameters such as geometrical features, material and thermal models in addition to their variation during their dynamic operation, yields the satisfaction of accurate levels of design objectives which can prove to be useful in devising mitigation strategies such as attenuators and shields. These studies are necessary for product design and for the product to be compliant from EMC point of view.
In multi-scale multi-component system, a number of active and passive components exist and are responsible for the production of unwanted ground currents. The paths to ground allow low and high frequency currents to close a loop between the components. Grounded connection points form paths through high frequency ground capacitors. This current flow between grounding points, of the various components, occurs due to the unbalancing of loading conditions, inter- component fault condition, switching activities and associated harmonics. The high frequency portion of the current due to switching devices couples the control circuits through low-voltage low-current elements and negatively affects the operation of the system.
From an electromagnetic signature point of view, the low and high frequency currents form loops passing this current and the resulting electromagnetic field will radiate in the surrounding environment. Any current loop with either DC or AC currents in the operational system will cause signature issues. If the amplitude of current is large enough to produce detectable field, the signatures must be evaluated for specific applications in order to develop mitigation strategies.
In this presentation, we will show modeling details and procedures to quantify signatures and EMI of actual physical components in several practical examples.

Computational electromagnetics methods (CEMs) have been widely used for modeling and simulating various electromagnetic radiation, scattering, propagation, and sensing processes for many years. Mathematically, CEMs can be classified into frequency- and time-domain types. While during the study of many complex electromagnetic environment effects (E3) and electromagnetic compatibility problems, time-domain CEM should be one much better choice.
In this presentation, both finite difference time domain (FDTD) and time domain integral equation (TDIE) methods will be introduced and compared for simulating E3 problems related to warship and other electrically large platforms. In particular, their key issues for large-scale parallelization based on high performance computer will be introduced, with a series of challenging problems and solutions addressed. On the other hand, the development of high performance CEMs and their successful applications in China recently will also be addressed.

The coexistence of electric polarization and magnetization in multiferroic materials provides great opportunities for realizing magnetoelectric coupling, including electric field control of magnetism, or vice versa, through a strain mediated magnetoelectric coupling in layered magnetic/ferroelectric multiferroic heterostructures. Strong magnetoelectric coupling has been the enabling factor for different multiferroic devices, which however has been elusive, particularly at RF/microwave frequencies. In this presentation, I will cover the most recent progress on new integrated magnetoelectric materials, magnetoelectric NEMS (nanoelectromechanical system) based sensors and antennas. Specifically, we will introduce magnetoelectric multiferroic materials, and their applications in different devices, including: (1) novel ultra-compact RF NEMS acoustic magnetoelectric antennas immune from ground plane effect with < 0/100 in size, self-biased operation and ground plane immunity; (2) ultra-sensitive RF NEMS magnetoelectric magnetometers with ultra-low noise of ~1pT/Hz1/2 at 10 Hz for DC and AC magnetic fields sensing, which are the most sensitive room temperature nanoscale magnetometers, and (3) voltage tunable inductors, phase shifters, isolating bandpass filters, etc. These novel magnetoelectric devices show great promise for applications in compact, lightweight and power efficient sensors, antennas and tunable components for radars, communication systems, biomedical devices, IoT, etc..

Future communication links 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 apertures to enable increased spectral efficiency, multi-functionality and security, there is a strong need for small UWB apertures, particularly at millimeter wave frequencies. Such apertures enable increased spectral efficiency, spatial multiplexing, concurrent beams at different frequencies. Furthermore, UWB arrays offer high data rates and allow for secure communication using long codes that spread across the bandwidth. An added feature will be the capability for simultaneous transmit and receive (STAR) applications.
In addition to challenges in designing small size UWB arrays, traditional antenna arrays are associated with complex electronic back-end that are typically associated with large power requirements. For UWB arrays, beamforming should also be frequency independent. However, to date, there is no technology for low power and small form factor wideband beamforming. In fact, traditional beamformers are mostly suited for narrowband or multiband operation with inherently high power requirements.
This presentation will review traditional beamforming approaches, and presents innovative methods for handling UWB communications. We anticipate that a combination of UWB array with OS-CDM coding and autonomous beamforming mechanisms will lead to game-changing frequency-independent down-conversion, beam steering and MIMO across large bandwidths, from MHz to millimeter wave bands. At the conference, we will discuss system evaluation and performance of these concepts using simulations and model measurements.

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will be the largest radio telescope in the world and will be used to answer fundamental questions of science and about the laws of nature. When installed it will cover much of South Africa and Australia.
The total collecting area of the SKA will be well over one square kilometre or 1,000,000 square metres. To achieve this, the SKA will use thousands of dishes (high frequency) and many more low frequency and mid-frequency aperture array telescopes linked together over thousands of kilometres. Signals from these antennas are digitally processed, transported and correlated using a specialist data network with capacity approximately 10 times the current global internet.
To deliver transformational science requires transformational engineering. This lecture will provide an overview of the SKA and the engineering challenges it faces. It will particularly emphasise the various radio frequency technologies being used to provide frequencies from 50 MHz to 15GHz using a combination of advanced multiple beam array and reflector antennas. SKA is being designed and built by a world–wide consortium of approximately 100 organisations in 20 countries.

The evolution from present 4G LTE (or beyond 4G, B4G) to future fifth generation (5G) communication technology will be briefly described in this presentation. As the world is preparing to embrace the 5G communication system in the year 2020 or after, its related terminal mobile devices such as smart phone design operating in the sub-6GHz band will be discussed. The recently reported 5G antenna designs at Sub-6 GHz band with MIMO technology (such as 8x8 MIMO mobile devices) will be introduced, and their vital parameters such as Channel Capacity and Throughput will also be discussed in detail.