Novel Techniques and Technologies of Microwave Non-destructive Sensors and Instruments

Dr. Amir Ebrahimi
Senior Research Fellow
School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

Abstract: The world is swiftly moving towards using smart devices for a broad range of applications, such as mobile phones, home appliances, medical diagnosis tools, and management tools across many industries, including food, healthcare, and agriculture. Using a network of smart electronics in these applications can provide huge time and energy savings. Sensors that are compatible with wireless networks are essential components in today’s smart technologies such as internet-of-things (IOT) and industry 4.0. Microwave planar sensors are ideal candidates in many of smart applications because of their low cost, high integration compatibility, real-time, non-destructive detection, and inherent compatibility with wireless technology. Various technologies and measurement principles can be applied in the design of microwave sensors. This presentation provides an overview on the recent advancements in the design of planar microwave sensors for various applications ranging from the detection of mechanical displacement to materials characterisations for industrial chemical, biological, and medical applications. The talk will cover our recent achievements in the design of microwave sensors with different measurement principles such as frequency shift, amplitude variation, and phase variation through design examples. Design methods will be discussed based on the analytical circuit models for optimisations of the sensor performance in terms of sensitivity and dynamic range.

Speaker’s Bio: Amir Ebrahimi received the B.Sc. degree in electrical engineering in 2008, the M.Sc. degree in microelectronics in 2011, and the Ph.D. degree with Dean’s Commendation from the University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia in 2016. He is now a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. He was a Visiting Research Fellow at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, during 2014-2015. His research interests include metamaterial inspired microwave devices, microwave circuit design, microwave filters, frequency-selective surfaces (FSSs) and nonlinear RF, and microwave circuits design and analysis. Dr. Ebrahimi was a recipient of the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF) Award (2013), the University of Adelaide D.R. Stranks Traveling Fellowship (2014), the Yarman–Carlin Best Student Paper Award at the Mediterranean Microwave Symposium (2015), the Simon Rockliff Scholarship (2016), the Best Paper award at the Australian Microwave Symposium (2016), Gertrude Rohan Memorial Prize (2017), and the CASS Foundation travel award (2019). He is currently acting as an associate editor of the IEEE Sensors Journal. He is a reviewer for several recognized international journals such as IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagations, and IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters.

Organized by: IEEE MTT-S Student Branch Chapter Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India.