Antenna and RF Systems
The Antenna and RF systems research group covers a broad range of research topics in areas of antennas, radio frequency (RF) and microwave circuits, electromagnetic (EM) modelling techniques, digital signal processing (DSP), communication systems and wireless networks. These research aims at practical applications in small satellites (small satellites, mini-satellite, micro-satellite, nano-satellite and pico-satellite), global positioning system/global navigation satellite system (GPS/GNSS), unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), remote sensing, satellite communications, inter-satellite communication and space communication, as well as terrestrial wireless communications and radar systems.
The antenna related topics include novel designs and theoretical modelling of small antennas, broadband/wideband and multi-band antennas, dual-polarization antennas, smart antennas, active integrated antennas, re-configurable antennas, adaptive beam-shaping antennas, digital beamforming techniques and low-cost phased arrays. The application of DSP into antennas/RF circuits is of particular interest to the group.
The RF/microwave circuit topics include high-efficiency linear RF/microwave power amplifiers (high-efficiency class-E power amplifier, class-F power amplifier, LINC, pre-distortion linearization techniques, Doherty, EER, etc), filters, multiplexer and de-multiplexer, broadband low-noise amplifiers, etc.
The EM modelling related topics include the time-domain method (FDTD, etc) and frequency-domain methods (method of moment, etc) for 3-D modelling of antennas and microwave structures. These also include numerical optimization techniques for EM structures, and modelling of RF/microwave power amplifiers. Other topics such as EMC and antenna measurement techniques are also of interest.
The Antenna/RF system group has built a strong research profile in broadband planar antennas, dual-polarized antennas, active integrated antennas, polarization-agile antennas, broadband circularly-polarized antennas and arrays, compact multi-band antennas, smart antennas, dual-polarized multi-beam antennas, EM modeling techniques, high-efficiency RF/microwave power amplifiers designs (class-E, class-F, LINC), etc. For more information, please contact Dr. Steven Gao.
Research Collaborations are welcome. The group has close collaborations with Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd., EADS Astrium, National Physical Laboratory, UK, Agilent Technologies, University of Southampton, UK, University of Bath, UK, University of Calabria, Italy, etc.
Fig.1 Broadband high-efficiency active integrated antenna
Fig.2 Broadband high-efficiency circularly-polarized active transmitting array antenna
Fig. 3 High-efficiency class-E MMIC power amplifier in GaN technology
Fig. 4 High-efficiency class-F MMIC power amplifier in GaN technology
