Mahmoud Wagih

Mahmoud Wagih received his B.Eng. (Hons.) in September 2018, and his award-winning Ph.D. on rectenna design in April 2021, both in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Southampton.

He is currently at the University of Glasgow leading the Green RF-Enabled Electronics Lab, having held a UKIC Fellowship from the Royal Academy of Engineering. His interests broadly cover antennasand RF-enabled sustainable systems for energy harvesting, sensing, and wearable applications. He has published  120 journal and conference publications and 2 patents, and has been principal/co-investigator on over £9M research projects.

Dr. Wagih is a Senior Member of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI). He is a Member of and a Speakers’ Bureau speaker for the IEEE Microwave Theory & Techniques Technical Committees TC-26, RFID, IoT, and Wireless Sensors. He received 20+ awards including multiple IEEE Best Paper/Presentation (IMS, WPTC, PowerMEMSx2), the EurAAP Per-Simon Kildal Best PhD in Europe in Antennas and Propagation, 2 URSI Young

Scientist Award and was listed in Forbes 30 Under 30 for Science & Healthcare, 2024.  He has served on multiple TPCs, e.g. TPC Co-chair for IEEE SAS 2025, and member of IMS TPC. He is a Topic Editor for the IEEE Journal of Microwaves, and an Associate Editor for Royal Society Open Science.

Abstract:

Traditionally, sensors have used either resistance, capacitance, or voltage potential to detect physical or chemical parameters. However, this has imposed limitations on their sensing range and sensitivity, power/circuit requirements, and required complex microcontroller circuits to create wireless IoT sensors. Microwaves, on the other hand, are a non-destructive method of observing the physical world through permittivity and conductivity. The sensing elements are microwave components such as resonators, lines, and antennas, with tunable interaction with “matter” in their near- and far-field. Advances in material science including 2D and polymer/carbon-based functional materials applicable to microwave sensing will be discussed. Examples of battery-free wireless-powered sensors, enabled by RFID, will be introduced, exploring how antenna-based sensors could enable Joint Sensing and Communication (JSAC) in 6G and beyond. Finally, the environmental impact of microwave sensors will be highlighted, through cradle-to-grave life cycle assessments (LCA).