Key Research Areas & Activities
Electromagnetic and Optical metasurface design
- Metamaterials design and characterization
- Design of metasurfaces and characterisation
Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS)
- Smart Reflectors: Research into “Beyond-Diagonal RIS” (BD-RIS) to allow for more complex signal manipulation and wider coverage.
- STAR-RIS: Developing Simultaneously Transmissive and Reflective surfaces that can serve users on both sides of a surface (e.g., inside and outside a building).
- Self-Powered Surfaces: Creating “zero-energy” surfaces that use ambient backscatter or energy harvesting so they don’t need a power plug.
Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC)
- Holographic MIMO: Researching “Stacked Intelligent Metasurfaces” (SIM) that can perform signal processing directly in the wave domain, reducing the need for power-hungry digital processors.
- Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM): Using materials to “twist” radio waves into a spiral, allowing multiple data streams to be sent on the same frequency.
Extreme Environment & Specialty Materials
- Bio-compatible Materials: Researching “Internet of Bio-NanoThings” (IoBNT) materials that can communicate inside the body for medical monitoring.
- Low-Observable (Stealth) Materials: Developing materials for defense that can absorb radar signals while maintaining high-speed communication links.
- Self-Healing Materials: “Fit-and-forget” materials that can repair themselves after environmental wear-and-tear, essential for infrastructure like 6G towers.