Professor, University of Hawaii, USA
Professor, University of Hawaii, USA
Institute Director, IHF – RWTH Aachen University, Germany
Title of the Talk: Application of Robotic Systems in Modern Antenna Measurements
Director General, SAMEER (R&D of MeitY), GoI
The rapid advancement of computational capabilities has intensified the pursuit of optimal solutions for complex engineering system designs. Traditional brute-force optimization methods are increasingly being replaced by advanced Evolutionary Optimization (EO) methodologies. In recent years, EO techniques have found widespread applications in the design of highly complex engineering systems. Among the various EO approaches, nature-inspired algorithms such as Genetic Algorithms (GA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), and the more recent Brain Storm Optimization (BSO) have gained significant attention. GA enables global exploration of the cost surface through stochastic processes governed by Darwinian evolutionary principles—adaptation, selection, survivability, and mutation. PSO, inspired by the collective intelligence of swarms, models the cooperative behavior of agents (analogous to bees) as they converge toward the most optimal solution using both cognitive and social information. BSO, on the other hand, mimics the collective problem-solving behavior of human brainstorming to achieve efficient global optimization. This Plenary Mater Talk presentation will: (a) provide an engineering-oriented introduction to GA, PSO, and BSO, highlighting their fundamental concepts and recent advances for both new and experienced users; (b) demonstrate the application of these EO techniques to diverse electromagnetic engineering problems, including space and planetary missions, medical and wireless devices, multifunction and adaptive antennas, metamaterials, and nanostructures, (c) assess the advantages and limitations of these optimization techniques in practical engineering contexts and (d) discuss the integration of machine learning techniques and AI platforms to expedite computational processes and enhance optimization efficiency.
Yahya Rahmat-Samii is a Distinguished Professor, and the Former Chairman of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, USA. He was a Senior Research Scientist with the Caltech/NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, USA. He received his B.S. for the University of Tehran, Iran, with highest honor and his M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA. He is a holder of the Northrop-Grumman Chair in electromagnetics at UCLA, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE), a Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) and the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts. He was the 1995 President of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society and the 2009–2011 President of the United States National Committee (USNC) of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI). He has also served as an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer presenting lectures internationally. He has authored or coauthored more than 1200 technical journal and conference papers and has written over 40 book chapters and 7 books. He has more than 20 cover-page IEEE publication articles. His research contributions cover diverse areas of modern electromagnetics and antennas spanning from small medical antennas to large space deployable antennas. His research interests include electromagnetics, antennas, measurements and diagnostics techniques, numerical and asymptotic methods, satellite and personal communications, human/antenna interactions and medical application, metamaterials and periodic structures, and nature-inspired optimization algorithms.
Dr. Rahmat-Samii is a life fellow of IEEE and fellow of AMTA (Antenna Measurement Techniques Association), ACES (Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society), EMA (Electromagnetics Academy), and URSI (International Union of Radio Science). He was a recipient of the Henry Booker Award from URSI, in 1984, which is given triennially to the most outstanding young radio scientist in North America, the Best Application Paper Prize Award (Wheeler Award) of the IEEE TRANSACTIONSON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION in 1992 and 1995, the University of Illinois ECE Distinguished Alumni Award in 1999, the IEEE Third Millennium Medal and the AMTA Distinguished Achievement Award in 2000. In 2001, he received an Honorary Doctorate Causa from the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. He received the 2002 Technical Excellence Award from JPL, the 2005 URSI Booker Gold Medal presented at the URSI General Assembly, the 2007 IEEE Chen-To Tai Distinguished Educator Award, the 2009 Distinguished Achievement Award of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society, the 2010 UCLA School of Engineering Lockheed Martin Excellence in Teaching Award, and the 2011 campus-wide UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award. He was the winner of the 2011 IEEE Electromagnetics Field Award. He was also a recipient of the Distinguished Engineering Educator Award from The Engineers Council in 2015, the John Kraus Antenna Field Award of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society and the NASA Group Achievement Award in 2016, the ACES Computational Electromagnetics Award and the IEEE Antennas and Propagation S. A. Schelkunoff Best Transactions Prize Paper Award in 2017, and the prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2019. The medals are awarded annually to a group of distinguished U.S. citizens who exemplify a life dedicated to community service. These are individuals who preserve and celebrate the history, traditions, and values of their ancestry while exemplifying the values of the American way of life and are dedicated to creating a better world. He is also the winner of the 2011 IEEE Electromagnetics Field Award. He received the Harrington–Mittra Computational Electromagnetics Award in 2022 and the recipient of the 2023 USNC-URSI Outstanding Educator Award. He is the Designer of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society original logo which was displayed on all IEEE AP-S publications. In 2023, he was designated as a “Legend of Electromagnetics” by the IEEE AP-S, with the YouTube link for his interview available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HO2-nrC2rCM.
Abstract: Electromagnetics is the cornerstone of modern electrical and electronic systems, shaping how we live, work, and interact with the world. As the foundational principle behind electronic design and innovation, solving electromagnetic problems is not just essential—it is transformative. Over the past four decades, computational electromagnetics (CEM) has made remarkable strides in solving electromagnetic problems, with numerous techniques emerging to tackle increasingly complex challenges. In this talk, I will present a unifying theoretical framework that integrates diverse computational methods under a single mathematical structure, offering deeper insight into their connections and hybridization. I will then describe a novel computational approach that leverages the equivalence principle to simplify multilayer structure analyses into single-layer computations, significantly enhancing efficiency without sacrificing accuracy. Finally, I will explore the groundbreaking potential of time-reversal techniques for shape reconstruction, opening new possibilities in imaging and inverse scattering.
Biography: Olga Borić –Lubecke received the B.Sc. degree from the University of Belgrade in 1989, the M.S. degree from Caltech in 1990, and the Ph.D. degree from UCLA in 1995, all in electrical engineering. Since 2003, she has been with the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where she is currently a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Prior to joining UH, she was with Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies where she pioneered research in biomedical applications of wireless systems. From 1996 to 1998 she was a visiting researcher at RIKEN, in Sendai, Japan. From 1995 to 1996 she was a resident research associate at NASA JPL. She has authored over 250 publications, two books, four book chapters, and three patents, and co-founded two start-up companies. Prof. Borić–Lubecke is an IEEE Fellow, a Fulbright Senior Scholar (Malaga, Spain), and a Foreign Member of the Academy of Engineering of Serbia.
Webpage: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olga-boric-lubecke-210212b0/
Biography:Victor M. Lubecke is a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Hawaiʻi, Mānoa, specializing in wireless sensing and integrated transducers. He was previously with Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, where his research focused on remote sensing and microelectromechanical systems for biomedical and industrial applications. Before that, he was with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and the Institute for Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), where his research involved terahertz and MEMS technologies for space remote sensing and communications. He has authored over 250 peer-reviewed publications, holds seven U.S. patents, and co-founded two start-up companies. He is an IEEE Fellow, a Fulbright Senior Scholar, and an emeritus Distinguished Microwave Lecturer (DML) of the IEEE MTT-S.
Webpage: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victor-lubecke-837214b0/
Biography: Dirk Heberling (born 15.08.1961) (M’03-SM’10) studied electrical engineering and graduated with a Dipl.-Ing. degree from RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany, in 1987. There, he also received the Dr.-Ing. degree in 1993 for his thesis on conformal microstrip antennas.
From 1987 to 1993, he was employed as a scientist at the Institute for RF-Technologies, RWTH Aachen University. In 1993, he joined IMST GmbH, Kamp-Lintfort, Germany, to establish a new Antenna Section, and from 1995 to 2003, he was head of the Antennas Department, which was reorganized into the Department of Antennas and EMC in 1998. From 2003 to 2008, he took over the Department of Information and Communication Systems of IMST GmbH, and in 2008, he moved to RWTH Aachen University in Germany, where he is Head of the Institute and holder of the chair for High Frequency Technology. In addition, in 2016, he became director of the Fraunhofer Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques, FHR.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Heberling is a member of VDE and from 1998 to 2017, he was a member of the ITG expert group 7.1 “Antennen”, which he directed as chairman from 2002 to 2003 and from 2014 to 2017 again. During this time, he was responsible as General Chairman and organizer of the international antenna conference INICA 2003, September 2003, Berlin, and the German Microwave Conference GeMiC 2014, March 2014, Aachen. Since 1998, he has been a member of the European competence projects for antennas COST 260, COST 284, IC0603, and IC1102. From 2002 to 2007, he was the German delegate of COST 284, and from 2011 to 2016, the German delegate and secretary of IC1102. From 2002 to 2003, he was co-organizer of the European network of excellence on antennas, ACE. He is a member of the steering committee and organizing committee for the European Conference on Antennas and Propagation, EuCAP. From 2016 to 2019, he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Antenna Measurement Techniques Association (AMTA) and became president in 2018, and a senior member since 2020. In 2016, he was elected for 4 years in the technical decision board (Fachkollegiat) of the German Research Foundation, DFG.
Abstract: Industrial robots are increasingly being employed as positioning systems for antenna measurements in both industry and academia, due to their high flexibility, precision, and reliability. Mass-produced for automated production lines, these robotic platforms are available for a variety of device sizes and payloads, making them a cost-effective solution. They enable complex trajectories and support unconventional test setups, paving the way for innovative measurement approaches that are often unfeasible with traditional mechanical positioning systems. This versatility is particularly advantageous for near- field antenna measurements, where robots facilitate the efficient scanning of multiple geometries within a single system and can handle irregular distributions of sampling points. Another promising application lies in compressed sensing techniques, which can significantly reduce measurement time, an especially valuable benefit in production testing environments. Despite these advantages, several key challenges must be addressed to fully exploit the potential of robotic positioners in antenna measurements. Accurate alignment of the robot’s coordinate system with the device under test is critical for obtaining reliable results, and trajectory planning algorithms must consider collision avoidance, sampling density, and velocity limitations. Additionally, seamlessly integrating the radio frequency (RF) subsystem with the robotic positioner and minimizing the electromagnetic scattering from the robot itself requires a careful system design. This talk provides an overview of recent developments in robotic antenna measurements and demonstrates practical implementations using the robot-based antenna test facility at the Institute of High Frequency Technology, RWTH Aachen University. It also examines the technological hurdles, potential solutions, and opportunities offered by robotics in this field, showcasing how industrial robots are a key enabler for innovative antenna measurement techniques and multifunctional facilities.
Biography: Olga Borić –Lubecke received the B.Sc. degree from the University of Belgrade in 1989, the M.S. degree from Caltech in 1990, and the Ph.D. degree from UCLA in 1995, all in electrical engineering. Since 2003, she has been with the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where she is currently a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Prior to joining UH, she was with Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies where she pioneered research in biomedical applications of wireless systems. From 1996 to 1998 she was a visiting researcher at RIKEN, in Sendai, Japan. From 1995 to 1996 she was a resident research associate at NASA JPL. She has authored over 250 publications, two books, four book chapters, and three patents, and co-founded two start-up companies. Prof. Borić–Lubecke is an IEEE Fellow, a Fulbright Senior Scholar (Malaga, Spain), and a Foreign Member of the Academy of Engineering of Serbia.
Webpage: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-rao-hanumantha-6130644/?originalSubdomain=in