ECE fac candidate, Nader Behdad

Nader Behdad is currently in the UM EECS RadLab group as a Ph.D. candidate.
Title: THE NEXT GENERATION OF ANTENNAS FOR WIRELESS INTEGRATED MICRO-SYSTEMS
—–
Abstract: The goal of the Center for Wireless Integrated Micro-Systems at the University of Michigan is to develop functional micro-systems combining micro-power integrated circuits, wireless interfaces, and Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) in a platform suitable for a wide range of applications. One example of such an application is a miniature integrated environmental monitoring system that uses an integrated wireless interface to transmit the recorded data using radio frequency signals. Such systems require electrically small antennas that can easily be integrated with their RF transceiver circuits and provide adequate bandwidth for the system to operate. Developing viable methods for designing such antennas is the main subject of this presentation.
—–
The presentation will begin with an overview of a number of antenna miniaturization techniques and examples of miniaturized antennas that are 15 to 20 times smaller than their commercial counterparts will be presented. The focus of the second half of the presentation will be on developing methods for bandwidth enhancement of such antennas. In particular, a method for designing electronically reconfigurable antennas will be studied in detail. The application of this technique in the design of an antenna with two operating bands that can be tuned independently over a wide frequency range will also be discussed and measurement results of this highly tunable dual-band antenna will be presented.