“Metasurface” (MTS) denotes a surface constituted at microwave frequency by PCB or 3D printed elements small in terms of wavelengths that collectively exhibits equivalent homogeneous boundary conditions to any interacting electromagnetic fields. MTSs have had and are having a strong impact in Antenna applications. In the years 2000-2010 MTS for antennas were essentially uniform in space and realized by periodic printed elements. This was the first generation of MTS. In the second generation (2010-2020), MTS for antennas was constructed in such a way to change boundary conditions in space and control the scattered field. Today we are facing a transition to the third generation of MTS antennas, where MTSs change boundary conditions in space and time, opening new perspectives in 5G communications and beyond. In this presentation, the evolution of MTS antennas is described, with new ideas and examples. Emphasis will be given on the use of reflective intelligent surfaces (RIS) for beyond 5G communications.

Stefano MACI is a Professor at the University of Siena since 97. The research interest of Prof Maci includes high-frequency and beam representation methods, computational electromagnetics, large phased arrays, planar antennas, reflector antennas and feeds, metamaterials and metasurfaces. Since 2000, he was member the Technical Advisory Board of 13 international conferences and member of the Review Board of 6 International Journals. In 2004 he was the founder of the European School of Antennas (ESoA), a post graduate school that presently comprises 34 courses on Antennas, Propagation, Electromagnetic Theory, and Computational Electromagnetics and 150 teachers coming from 15 countries. Since 2004 is the Director of ESoA. Since 2010 he has been Principal Investigator of 6 cooperative projects financed by European Space Agency. Professor Maci has been a former member of the AdCom of IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S), associate editor of AP-Transaction, Chair of the Award Committee of IEEE AP-S, and member of the Board of Directors of the European Association on Antennas and Propagation (EurAAP). From 2008 to 2015 he has been Director of the PhD program in Information Engineering and Mathematics of University of Siena, and from 2013 to 2015 he was member of the first National Italian Committee for Qualification to Professor. He founded and has been former Director of the consortium FORESEEN, involving 48 European Institutions. He was the principal investigator of the Future Emerging Technology project “Nanoarchitectronics” of the 8 th EU Framework program, and he is presently principal investigator of the EU program “Metamask”. He was co-founder of 2 Spin-off Companies. He has been a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S), and EuRAAP distinguished lecturer in the ambassador program. He was recipient of the EurAAP Award in 2014, of the IEEE Schelkunoff Transaction Prize in 2016, of the Chen-To Tai Distinguished Educator award in 2016, and of the URSI Dellinger Gold Medal in 2020. He is President Elect of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society 2022. His research activity is documented in 180 papers published in international journals, (among which 100 on IEEE journals), 10 book chapters, and about 450 papers in proceedings of international conferences. The papers he coauthored have been cited about 9000 times (h index 50, source: Google Scholar).

Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AEW&C) system is a system of systems with Integrated systems that work in synchronization with each other to provide a true force multiplier early warning capability. However, there are major challenges. These challenges become multi-fold in the case of integration of multiple RF systems onboard an aircraft with limited space, volume and power. The operational frequencies of the systems onboard an AEW&C system typically spreads from few MHz to tens of GHz. Effective realization and utilization of AEW&C in an operational environment requires integration of large number of antennas and external sensors. The mounting of antennae in a restricted space should not only provide good Field-of-View (FoV) but with minimal interferences between the systems. Measures are taken through spatial, temporal and spectral diversity to mitigate the challenges. The effect of aircraft structure on the antenna pattern and its impact on the performance of the system is another challenge to be addressed during the design and development of large scale complex airborne surveillance systems such as an Airborne Early Warning and Control system. Use of Computational Electromagnetic (CEM) analysis techniques to optimize the location for positioning the antennas on the aircraft fuselage provides a viable and practical solution to the problem.The design of LRUs to meet the EMI/EMC, Environmental Qualification standards are additional challenges faced by any airborne system designer. Further, the design of long-range medium-PRF airborne pulse-doppler radar with low sidelobes is itself very challenging along with the operation of SIGINT systems. In this address, the aspect of challenges in the Design, Development and Integration of an Indigenous Airborne Early Warning and Control System is described along with the practical solutions evolved to realize, flight test and induct the system into the Services.

Dr K Rajalakshmi Menon, Outstanding Scientist/ Scientist ‘H’ has been appointed as Director CABS on 31 Dec 2021. Dr K Rajalakshmi Menon joined CABS/DRDO in 1988 after her MSc in Computer Science from University of Poona. She further obtained her Masters in Engineering and PhD IISc. She has made significant contributions in design and development of Airborne Surveillance Systems. Her area of expertise includes System Engineering of Complex Systems, Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR), Image Intelligence, Guidance and Control, Battle Management, System Design and System Analysis of Airborne Radars and EW sensors. As Team Leader for the Clutter Characterisation Project, she was instrumental in integration and flight testing of a radar on an aircraft for the first time in the country. She has played a pivotal role in the design, development, integration, testing and delivery of indigenous Airborne Early Warning & Control System (AEW&C). In the AEW&C Program, she took up many leadership roles; as Deputy Project Director and Project Director for System Engineering (SE), System Test and Integration Rig (STIR) and Ground Exploitation System (GES) and design & development of Command and Control (C2) functions, viz., Threat Evaluation, Weapon Assignment, Intercept Control and Guidance for Battle Management to enable Network Centric Operations of AEW&C. The C2 functionalities meeting the IAF tactics has been developed for the first time in the country. As, coordinator for indigenous datalinks development, she has successfully demonstrated the communication capability between AEW&C and Ground Exploitation System meeting the operational role. She rose to the post of Associate Programme Director (AEW&C) in 2015 and led the System Engineering, Mission System Integration and Flight Testing, which culminated into induction of AEW&C system into IAF, in Initial Operational Capability (IOC) configuration in Feb 2017. She led all the flight test campaigns of AEW&C from 2013 to 2017. As System Engineer of AEW&C, she applied the principles successfully from concept to delivery, resulting in India becoming the fifth country in the world to have an indigenous AEW&C system. After the successful induction of AEW&C in IOC configuration, she led the design and development of Imaging Radars for UAVs, Fighters, Satellites and manned platforms during her brief tenure at LRDE, Bangalore from Jul 2017 to Jan 2019, wherein introduced novel technologies for developing very high resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). She was also the Associate Director at LRDE. Subsequently, as Associate Director, CABS, she led various projects and programs on Air to Ground Surveillance, specifically towards developing the technologies for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR). She has been the Project Director for ISR Project and Program Director-Designate for Intelligence, Surveillance, Targeting and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) Program for IAF and for a similar program for NTRO. She is member of Institute of Council of System Engineers (INCOSE), Senior Member IEEE and Chairperson, IEEE AESS, Bangalore Chapter, Fellow of IETE and Life Member of Aeronautical Society of India(AeSI). She is a recipient of Laboratory Scientist of the year Award in 2006, Technology Group Award in 2008 for Mission System Controller Development, DRDO Award for Path Breaking Research for developing critical technologies for AEW&C in 2012, DRDO Scientist of the year Award in 2015 and DRDO Technology Group Award for the design and development of Intercept Control and Battle Management System for AEW&C in 2018. She is also a recipient of Outstanding Women Scientist/Technologist/ Engineer Award for2018 from Aeronautical Society of India and Distinguished Alumni Award for 2019 from the prestigious Indian Institute of Science. She is one of the 51 Women Achievers in STEM, all over India and is profiled in e-book launched by Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) in 2021.

The demonstration of how to transmit and receive radio waves, first done by Sir J.C. Bose in 1894, led to the opening up of a new window to the Universe. Radio astronomy involves tight interaction with many fields of engineering, especially those relevant to MAPCON! India has a strong tradition in this branch of astronomy, starting with Prof Govind Swarup who kicked off activities in this area at TIFR in 1963. In this talk, we will trace the fascinating story of radio astronomy and the engineering behind it, with special emphasis on its growth and current status in India, ending with the frontline Indian facility -- the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT). The GMRT, a world class low frequency radio observatory operational since 2002, consists of 30 fully steerable antennas of 45 metre diameter each and can be used as an aperture-synthesis array for imaging, as well as a phased array to study compact radio sources such as pulsars. It uses several interesting and innovative ideas and technologies. We have recently completed a major upgrade of the GMRT that has improved its sensitivity by a factor of three and has also made it a much more versatile instrument. This upgrade, which employs some cutting edge new technologies, will keep the GMRT at the forefront as one of the most sensitive facility in the 100 to 1500 MHz range for the next decade or so. This talk will spotlight some of these multi-disciplinary technological aspects of the GMRT, and also take a look into how it has improved our understanding of the Universe, and what the future holds.

Professor Yashwant Gupta presently at the position of Distinguished Professor in the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), heads TIFR's National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, located in Pune, as the Centre Director. He obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. in Radio Astronomy from the University of California, San Diego in 1990, after completing his Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 1985. Professor Gupta is known for his research on pulsars (which are very rapidly rotating, highly magnetised neutron stars) and the interstellar medium, as well as development of instrumentation and signal processing techniques for radio astronomy. In particular, he has contributed significantly to the building and running of the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) observatory -- a world class facility located near Pune and operated by NCRA -- right from its conceptualisation to its recent upgrade. He also spearheads India's participation in the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project -- an international collaborative project to design and build the next generation global radio astronomy facility. He has published more than 175 research articles in international journals, and has also delivered several plenary speeches and keynote addresses in several international and national level meetings. He is a member of several professional bodies: the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the International Union of Radio Science (URSI) and also a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He has also been elected to the main national academies of science and engineering in India: INSA and INAE. For his contributions, Prof. Gupta has also been honoured with a number of awards: in 2007, he was awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India -- one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to physical sciences. Recently, in 2019, he and his team have been awarded the Zubin Kembhavi Award by the Astronomical Society of India, for the work of the upgrade of GMRT. In 2022, he has been selected for the Murli M. Chugani Memorial Award of the Indian Physics Association, for his achievements in applied physics.

Density Functional Theory (DFT) is a common method for quantum calculations that offers a good balance between accuracy and computational cost. An important challenge in both ground state and excited state DFT is the calculation of electrostatic and electrodynamic induced potentials, as well as the Fock exchange interaction. For the ground state, we present an accurate scalar Green’s function kernels to efficiently evaluate the Hartree and Fock potentials using a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) method to solve the Poisson equation. We demonstrate the efficiency of this method, using hybrid and screened hybrid DFT, to study the properties of silicon quantum dots comprising over a thousand atoms (3 nm diameter). In the excited state, electrodynamic fields are formally incorporated within time dependent Density Functional Theory (TDDFT) by considering both induced scalar and vector potentials. The Hamiltonian is described in both the Coulomb and Lorenz gauges, and the advantages of the latter are outlined. Integral expressions are defined for the retarded potentials of each gauge and a methodological approach to evaluating these nontrivial expressions with a low computational cost is adopted. The faster potential calculations enables the study of larger systems, such as nanoscale antennas.

Amir Boag received the B.Sc. degree in electrical engineering and the B.A. degree in physics in 1983, both Summa Cum Laude, the M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering in 1985, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering in 1991, all from Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. From 1991 to 1992 he was on the Faculty of the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Technion. From 1992 to 1994 he has been a Visiting Assistant Professor with the Electromagnetic Communication Laboratory of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 1994, he joined Israel Aircraft Industries as a research engineer and became a manager of the Electromagnetics Department in 1997. Since 1999, he is with the Physical Electronics Department of the School of Electrical Engineering at Tel Aviv University, where he is currently a Professor. Dr. Boag's interests are in computational electromagnetics and acoustics, numerically efficient algorithms for quantum-electromagnetic simulations, radar imaging, and design of antennas and optical devices. He has published over 130 journal articles and presented more than 290 conference papers on electromagnetics and acoustics. Prof. Boag is an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation. He is a Fellow of the Electromagnetics Academy. In 2008, Amir Boag was named a Fellow of the IEEE for his contributions to integral equation based analysis, design, and imaging techniques.

Reconfigurable antennas have become the need of the hour to provide the flexibility in satellite communication. In this talk, what are different types of Reconfigurable antennas , need of reconfigurability and fundamental concepts of achieving beam reconfigurability are discussed. Advances and emerging trends in technologies like holography based reconfigurable metasurface antennas, digital beam forming reconfigurable antenna, active integrated miniaturized phased array, ferro-electric property based reconfigurable antenna, Lens based antennas, mechanically reconfigurable antennas etc. along with their applications are discussed.

Milind Mahajan obtained his B.E . (electronics) degree in 1991 from Marathwada University, Aurangabad and M.Tech. degree in Microwave Engineering from I.I.T., BHU, Varanasi in 1993. He received Ph.D. degree from D.D. University, Nadiad in 2015. He started his carrier in Spacecraft Payload Group of Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad from 1993. He is currently working as Group Director, Antenna Systems Group. He has worked as guest Scientist at German Aerospace Centre (DLR) in 2001. He was the designer of shaped reflectors and Dual Gridded Reflector Antennas, high power helix antenna, multiple beam antennas for the various INSAT and GSAT programs. His current areas of interests are metasurface based reconfigurable antennas, contoured beam reflector antennas and digital beam forming based antennas. He held many responsibilities as Deputy Project Director, Comm. Payload Antenna Systems of INSAT-4A/4B/4C,GSAT-5/5P GSAT-7/7A and Advanced Communications Satellite , GSAT-11/19 projects. He has led the team to develop the antenna systems for navigation satellites, radar imaging satellites and Chandrayaan-2 missions. He is recipient of Space Gold Medal of Astronautical Society of India in 2005, ISRO’s team excellence awards in 2007, 2008, 2015 and 2017. He has more than 50 publications in national/ international journals and conferences and 5 national /international patents to his credit.

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 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.

The Microwave/millimetre-wave technology had taken strong root in the country in 1895, when JC Bose pioneered the mm-wave wireless technology in India. Ever since, there has been a widespread activity in this field and a robust eco-system comprising of several academic institutes, R&D laboratories, test & measurement facilities, public and private industries has been established in India. This has enabled the country to achieve considerable success in theoretical research, indigenous design, development of various microwave/mm-wave systems, sub-systems and components. Some of the sub-areas wherein substantial achievements have been made include: antennas, coaxial and waveguide passive components, GaAs active devices, MIC and MMIC modules, RF-MEMS, high power vacuum electronic devices, solid-state devices, TR-modules, microwave power modules, systems for civilian and defence communications, satellite communications, deep-space communications; high resolution space-borne imaging sensors, radiometers, scatterometers, altimeters, weather radars, defence radars, missile guidance and electronic warfare systems; microwave driven particle accelerators, intense x-ray sources for hyperthermia, radiography and cargo scanners; microwave heating for drying and disinfection of food, material processing, and area-sanitization; mm-wave plasma diagnostic and microwave/ mm-wave plasma heating for fusion reactors (ITER & IPR-Tokamak) etc. Besides this, several initiatives have also been taken in the THz-wave domain, such as, THz astronomical telescope, imaging system and short range high data rate communication system etc. However, despite our successes in indigenous development of several complex component, device and system technologies, the translation of technology to market has been rather limited. Moreover, the manufacturing base for special materials, components and devices is almost non-existent with us, leading the local industry to be largely dependent on imports. It is also difficult to find enough industry-ready engineers in-spite of a huge number of electronics engineers graduating every year. Thus, there is a need to take a holistic view of the microwave-terahertz-wave technology domain, which is so crucial for national development. It is in this context that, the Indian National Academy of Engineering has set up an expert group on, “Advanced Microwave-THz-wave technology & Applications- Way ahead for India” _to evolve a position paper to serve as a reference document for various stake holders and policy makers. The group is involved in making a thorough assessment of the technology status and market scenario in short- and long- term, identify the facilitating factors for growth of indigenous technology and industry in this strategic area and propose intervention measures. In this talk, a brief perspective on the MW-THz-wave Technology and Applications in the Indian context will be presented on behalf of the expert group, with a view to connect with the stake holders and the experts to gather further inputs on the subject.

Lalit Kumar obtained Ph.D. from BITS, Pilani. He is Chairman, INAE Expert group on ‘Microwave-Terahertz-wave Technology & Applications, CSIR-CEERI, Pilani; Adjunct Professor, BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad; and Editor, IEEE-TED. He was Director, MTRDC-DRDO, Bangalore; Chairman, CEPTAM-DRDO, Delhi; Scientist, CSIR-CEERI, Pilani; Research Fellow: University of Tuebingen, Philips, Hamburg and Lancaster University; and AICTE_INAE Visiting Professor at IITs and engineering institutes. He attended leadership courses at IIMs, NIAS and Harvard University. His contributions include: theory and CAD for electron-optical systems and microwave structures; indigenous development of VEDs: TWTs, MBK, coaxial-magnetron, MPM and transmitters; and research on: gyrotron, HPM devices, and vacuum-microelectronic devices. Fellow: INAE and IETE; Fellow & Founder President (2005-07) VEDA-Society; Senior Member, IEEE/EDS; Member: IPA, IVS, MSI, IEEE-EDS TC-VED (2006-15), EXECOM-IEEE Delhi (2017-19), General Chair, IEEE-IVEC-2011, Bangalore. Co-guest Editor, Special issue-IEEE-TED. Received: DRDO Agni Award–2003 & 2013, IETE RL Wadhwa Award, IETE-IRSI-(83) Award, IETE-JC Bose Award, and CEERI Best Project Award.

The Microwave/millimetre-wave technology had taken strong root in the country in 1895, when JC Bose pioneered the mm-wave wireless technology in India. Ever since, there has been a widespread activity in this field and a robust eco-system comprising of several academic institutes, R&D laboratories, test & measurement facilities, public and private industries has been established in India. This has enabled the country to achieve considerable success in theoretical research, indigenous design, development of various microwave/mm-wave systems, sub-systems and components. Some of the sub-areas wherein substantial achievements have been made include: antennas, coaxial and waveguide passive components, GaAs active devices, MIC and MMIC modules, RF-MEMS, high power vacuum electronic devices, solid-state devices, TR-modules, microwave power modules, systems for civilian and defence communications, satellite communications, deep-space communications; high resolution space-borne imaging sensors, radiometers, scatterometers, altimeters, weather radars, defence radars, missile guidance and electronic warfare systems; microwave driven particle accelerators, intense x-ray sources for hyperthermia, radiography and cargo scanners; microwave heating for drying and disinfection of food, material processing, and area-sanitization; mm-wave plasma diagnostic and microwave/ mm-wave plasma heating for fusion reactors (ITER & IPR-Tokamak) etc. Besides this, several initiatives have also been taken in the THz-wave domain, such as, THz astronomical telescope, imaging system and short range high data rate communication system etc. However, despite our successes in indigenous development of several complex component, device and system technologies, the translation of technology to market has been rather limited. Moreover, the manufacturing base for special materials, components and devices is almost non-existent with us, leading the local industry to be largely dependent on imports. It is also difficult to find enough industry-ready engineers in-spite of a huge number of electronics engineers graduating every year. Thus, there is a need to take a holistic view of the microwave-terahertz-wave technology domain, which is so crucial for national development. It is in this context that, the Indian National Academy of Engineering has set up an expert group on, “Advanced Microwave-THz-wave technology & Applications- Way ahead for India” _to evolve a position paper to serve as a reference document for various stake holders and policy makers. The group is involved in making a thorough assessment of the technology status and market scenario in short- and long- term, identify the facilitating factors for growth of indigenous technology and industry in this strategic area and propose intervention measures. In this talk, a brief perspective on the MW-THz-wave Technology and Applications in the Indian context will be presented on behalf of the expert group, with a view to connect with the stake holders and the experts to gather further inputs on the subject.

Lalit Kumar obtained Ph.D. from BITS, Pilani. He is Chairman, INAE Expert group on ‘Microwave-Terahertz-wave Technology & Applications, CSIR-CEERI, Pilani; Adjunct Professor, BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad; and Editor, IEEE-TED. He was Director, MTRDC-DRDO, Bangalore; Chairman, CEPTAM-DRDO, Delhi; Scientist, CSIR-CEERI, Pilani; Research Fellow: University of Tuebingen, Philips, Hamburg and Lancaster University; and AICTE_INAE Visiting Professor at IITs and engineering institutes. He attended leadership courses at IIMs, NIAS and Harvard University. His contributions include: theory and CAD for electron-optical systems and microwave structures; indigenous development of VEDs: TWTs, MBK, coaxial-magnetron, MPM and transmitters; and research on: gyrotron, HPM devices, and vacuum-microelectronic devices. Fellow: INAE and IETE; Fellow & Founder President (2005-07) VEDA-Society; Senior Member, IEEE/EDS; Member: IPA, IVS, MSI, IEEE-EDS TC-VED (2006-15), EXECOM-IEEE Delhi (2017-19), General Chair, IEEE-IVEC-2011, Bangalore. Co-guest Editor, Special issue-IEEE-TED. Received: DRDO Agni Award–2003 & 2013, IETE RL Wadhwa Award, IETE-IRSI-(83) Award, IETE-JC Bose Award, and CEERI Best Project Award.

Advancement in industry automation, bio-imaging, bio-sensing, military applications have generated research interest in mmW and THz technology. Development of mmW/THz solid- state source with appreciable power is attracting attention of researchers due to their important applications in short range terrestrial and airborne communication including space-based communication. Some of the THz sources reported in the literature are electron beam, optically pumped far-infrared gas lasers, semiconductor QCLs, resonant tunneling diode, IMPATT diode and Gunn diode. Cascaded frequency multipliers are also in use for high frequency generation. These solid-state sources can be tuned to appropriate THz frequency. IMPATT devices based on Si are reported to provide high power at different frequencies in mm-wave window. But the power generated by these sources at THz is not sufficient for intended applications. The researchers are therefore exploring solid-state sources at THz frequency band which should be compact, cost-effective, efficient and powerful. In this respect, the potentiality of IMPATT devices based on WBG semiconducting materials such as SiC, GaN and type-IIb diamond as high-power sources has been reported at THz frequencies.

Madhumita Chakravarti completed her B Tech and M Tech degree from Instt. Radio Physics and Electronics, Calcutta University. She worked in the field of programmable and re-configurable Airborne RF Sensors for various Air defence and Area Defence Missile programs of DRDO. She has developed multi-function RF Chips for indigenous development of sensors. The system designed by her has been inducted to Indian Air Force and Indian Army. Presently, she is serving as the Director of Centre for Millimeterwave Semiconductor Devices and Systems (CMSDS), a DRDO lab in Kolkata. She is recipient of Path Breaking Technology Award of DRDO in 2010 and in 2017. She received felicitation from State of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for developing MSMEs in 2015. She has received INAE Woman Engineer of the Year Award 2021. Apart from this, she has served as secretary for IEEE Hyderabad Section in 2015-16. She is founder Chair of IEEE MTT/AP/EMC Chapter, ad-com member of MTT-s in 2009, founder member of WIE affinity group and founder Chair of AESS Chapter in IEEE Hyderabad Section.

Global demand for energy has grown rapidly in recent years. To meet the long-term demand of global energy, different techniques of wireless energy harvesting were introduced. Harvesting RF energy is an alternative solution, especially with the advances and popularity of wireless communication devices. These communication devices are constantly transmitting RF energy, so RF energy harvesting paves a way to utilize the abundant scattered electromagnetic (EM) waves in our surroundings environment. The available EM waves (RF energy) can be in any polarizations, such as elliptical, linear, or circular. By using an appropriate receiving antenna, EM waves can be converted into electrical energy for low-powered devices, and thus, there is much focus put toward RF energy-harvesting (RFEH) systems, especially in the antenna designs. A CP antenna enables the system to harvest RF energy regardless of the device orientation as well as making the insensitive to polarization loss. The RF waves/energy that is found in the surrounding area can exist in any orientation and phase alignment, so CP antennas are more desirable for energy harvesting systems. A dual-feed structure provides a wider 3-dB AR bandwidth compared to the single-feed CP antenna, but it involves a bulky feeding system with a ground plane. For a single-feed CP antenna with compact size, the slight perturbing of the radiator structure for the single-feed configuration is required to excite two modes with a phase shift of 90°. There are different perturbation methods for a square patch radiator, such as truncated corners, slits, slots, and stubs, to generate CP radiation. This invited talk presents an overview on the antenna design considerations for RFEH systems and describes updates recent progress in the antenna technologies for RFEH. Compact and low-profile CP antenna designs will be also presented in detail for RFEH applications.

Dr Nasimuddin (M’2003-SM’2009) received his B.Sc. degree in 1994 from Jamia Millia Islamia, India, and his M.Tech. (Microwave Electronics) and Ph.D. degrees in 1998 and 2004, respectively, from the University of Delhi, India. Dr Nasimuddin has worked as a Senior Research Fellow (1999-2003) in DST sponsored project and CSIR grant, Senior Research Fellow in Engineering Science at Department of Electronic Science, University of Delhi, India. He has worked as an Australian Postdoctoral Research Fellow (2004-2006) in awarded Discovery project grant from Australian Research Council at the Macquarie University, Australia. Currently, he is working as a scientist III at the Institute for Infocomm Research, A-STAR, Singapore. He has published 220 journal and conference technical papers on microstrip-based microwave antennas and components. Three US/SG patents have been granted and two filed on leaky wave/RF energy harvesting/circularly polarized/grid antenna technologies. He has edited two books and contributed a chapter to a book “Microstrip antennas” published in 2011. His research interests include multi-layered microstrip-based structures, antenna system research and development. Dr Nasimuddin is a Senior Member of the IEEE and the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society. He was awarded a Senior Research Fellowship from the CSIR, India in Engineering Science (2001-2003); a Discovery Projects Fellowship from the Australian Research Council (2004-2006); Singapore Manufacturing Federation Award (with project team) in 2014, the Young Scientist Award from the International Union of Radio Science (URSI) in 2005, and Exceptional Performance Reviewer Award Certificate from the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society in 2019. He is an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Antennas and Propagation and various antennas/microwave/RF related journal’s editorial broad member. He has been members of organizing committees of several Antenna and Propagation included IEEE APS 2021 related conferences, serving as Publication Chair/Publicity Chair/Conference Secretary. He is the Chair of IEEE Singapore MTT/AP Joint Chapter.

The talk will outline a novel strategy for uncooled, tunable, multispectral infrared detection. Due to the low photon energy, detection of infrared photons is challenging at room temperature. One atom thick graphene offers an alternative mechanism bypassing material bandgap restriction. Further, the ability of carrier concentration modulation on graphene via external voltage offers dynamic spectral selectivity for “color” night vision/sensing. The performance of preliminary demonstration compares favorably even with present cryogenically cooled detection schemes paving the path for commercial development of many applications from space exploration to healthcare.

Prof. Debashis Chanda is a Professor, jointly appointed with NanoScience Technology Center, Dept. of Physics and College of Optics and Photonics (CREOL), University of Central Florida (UCF). Dr. Chanda received his PhD from University of Toronto. His PhD work was recognized in the form of several awards, including prestigious National Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) fellowship. Dr. Chanda completed his post-doctoral research with Prof. John A. Rogers at Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Quite a few of this research works were extensively covered by National Science Foundation news, BBC, Daily Mail, NBC, Fox, Science Radio and other national/international media outlets. His research has appeared on American Scientist magazine as focused article where it was outlined how companies like Intel, Toshiba etc are trying to adopt some of the printing techniques which were developed in his group. Dr. Chanda is a recipient of the 2012 DOE Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) Solar Energy Future Direction Innovation Proposal Award, 2013 NSF Summer Institute Fellowship and International Displaying Future Award-2016 by Merck Germany, UCF Reach of the Stars Award (2018) etc. Dr. Chanda’s research has been supported by NSF, DoD, DARPA, Florida Space Institute/NASA, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin etc. Apart from that Dr. Chanda is the founder of start-up, E-Skin Displays Inc., out of his research in California.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a low-cost wireless technology, enabling to engage, identify, locate, transact, and authenticate products. RFID market has identified as a growing market of enormous potential over the past few years. It is worth observing that most of RFID applications in logistics and other areas can successfully develop in the market only if the cost of RFID tags drops to a very low price. Standard RFID tags do contain chipsets, which need to get the power required for their activation from the reader, through a wireless power transfer procedure. In this context, chipless RFIDs represent an alternative approach for identifying objects, authenticating and sensing. The basic idea is to simplify the tag by removing any active circuit from it. Indeed, even if the cost of chipped RFID tags is already low (about 10 eurocents when distributed in large quantities), the removal of the microchip could make radio frequency labels available at a sub-cent cost. In this respect, it is important to consider that chipless tags fabrication is fully compatible with printed electronics low-cost manufacturing methods such as, for instance, screen printing, gravure, offset lithography, and inkjet printing. Another important advantage of chipless tags is to open the way of application of radio frequency labeling in extreme environments, where electronics may not be used. Some application examples of chipless RFID technology will be shown at the conference to the end of demonstrating its potentiality.

Giuliano Manara received the Laurea (Doctor) degree in electronic engineering (summa cum laude) from the University of Florence, Italy, in 1979. He was first with the School of Engineering of the University of Florence, Italy. Then, in 1987 he moved to the University of Pisa, Italy, where he is presently a Professor of Electromagnetics and Microwave Techniques at the Department of Information Engineering of the School of Engineering. Since 1980, he has been collaborating with the Department of Electrical Engineering of the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, where, in the summer and fall of 1987, he was involved in research at the ElectroScience Laboratory. His research interests have centered mainly on the asymptotic solution of radiation and scattering problems to improve and extend the uniform geometrical theory of diffraction (UTD). In this framework, he has analyzed electromagnetic wave scattering from material bodies, with emphasis on the scattering from both isotropic and anisotropic impedance wedges. He has also been engaged in research on numerical, analytical and hybrid techniques (in both frequency and time domain), scattering from rough surfaces, frequency selective surfaces (FSS), and electromagnetic compatibility. His research has also been focused on microwave antennas with application to broadband wireless networks and on the development and testing of new microwave materials (metamaterials) for electronic systems. More recently, he has conducted research on electromagnetic issues enabling the development of the Internet of Things (IoT), with specific attention to antennas for near-field applications and the analysis (theoretical and experimental) of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems. Prof. Manara has authored more than 160 papers on qualified technical journals with referees, and more than 250 papers presented at international conferences. He was elected an IEEE Fellow in 2004 for “contributions to the uniform geometrical theory of diffraction and its applications.” From August 2011 to August 2014, he served as the International Chair of URSI (International Union of Radio Science) Commission B – Fields and Waves. In this context, he was the General Chair of the URSI Commission B International Electromagnetic Theory Symposium (EMTS), held in Hiroshima, Japan, during May 2013. In 2017, he was elected an URSI Fellow. Since August 2021, he has been serving as an URSI Vice-President.