3D printed antennas, metamaterials, and metasurfaces for microwave applications
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3D printed antennas, metamaterials, and metasurfaces for microwave applications
Tue, 21/03/2023 - 11:00 to 12:00
Location:
Speaker:
Prof. William G. Whittow
Affiliation:
Loughborough University
Synopsis:
My research relates to radiofrequency materials which encapsulates altering the dielectric properties and internal / external shape to design novel antennas, filters, and metamaterials. I have been working in this area for more than a decade and recently led a large multi-institution project on this topic. 3D printing not only allows control of the external shape, the local relative permittivity can be tailored to precise specifications by controlling the internal geometry and hence varying the ratio of air and filament. The local relative permittivity can then be graded in all three axes for extra degrees of freedom. This can be exploited to create flat grade index lenses as well as hybrid lenses. By using specialist printers and careful control of the settings, filaments with relative permittivities up to 15 can be printed. Ceramics can be used for ultra-low loss materials. The talk will demonstrate how these RF materials can be used to create artificial dielectrics, filters, metamaterials, and bespoke antennas. The talk will also cover the challenges of measuring dielectric properties. We have recently developed a bespoke system to measure the properties of anisotropic and (dia)magnetic materials. In addition, we will discuss inkjet printing including on curved surfaces; and metasurfaces.
Biography:
Prof. William G. Whittow AFWES SFHEA SMIEEE 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 Hub. He is a named Investigator on research grants totalling in excess of £14m. He has authored more than 250 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. 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 30 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. Approximately 100 of his academic journal papers can be freely downloaded here: http://publications.lboro.ac.uk/publications/all/collated/elwgw.html