Title:
Introduction to Antenna Arrays, Antenna Array Classification, Short Review of Conventional Arrays and Synthesis Techniques

Abstract:
Antenna arrays are a key technology in several Electromagnetics applicative scenarios, including satellite and ground wireless communications, MIMO systems, remote sensing, biomedical imaging, radar, and radioastronomy. Because of their wide range of application, the large number of degrees of freedom at hand (e.g., type, position, and excitation of each radiating element), the available architectures, and the possible objectives (maximum directivity, minimum side lobes, maximum beam efficiency, etc.), the synthesis of arrays turns out to be a complex task which cannot be tackled by a single methodology. Despite a wide heterogeneity, most of the synthesis approaches share a common theoretical framework, which is of paramount importance for all engineers and students interested in such a topic. The objective of the short course is therefore to provide the attendees the fundamentals of Antenna Array synthesis, starting from intuitive explanations to rigorous mathematical and methodological insights about their behavior and design. Moreover, recent synthesis methodologies will be also discussed with particular emphasis on unconventional architectures for complex communications and radar systems. More specifically, advanced methodologies for the design of both clustered and thinned architectures will be introduced, and their application in the synthesis of linear arrays will be illustrated also with a set of "Hands on" software classes.

Title:
Evolutionary Algorithms and Applications to Antenna Design

Abstract:
Popular evolutionary algorithms, Genetic Algorithms (GAs), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Differential Evolution (DE), Ant Colony Optimization (ACO). Emerging Nature inspired algorithms, Biogeography-based optimization (BBO), Artificial Bee Colony (ABC), Harmony search (HS). Multi-objective algorithms. Applications to antenna and 5G network design.

Title:
Machine Learning Basics and Applications to Antennas and Propagation

Abstract:
Introduction to machine learning basics, regression, classification. Machine learning methods classification. Popular methods, Support vector machines (SVMs), Gaussian process (GP), Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). Ensemble learning methods. Deep learning methods and applications. Software tools and frameworks for machine learning, Python (Scikit learn), Matlab (Statistics and Machine learning toolbox), Caffe. Applications to antenna and propagation.

Title:
Interaction of antennas and the human body in the context of wireless body area networks

Abstract:
Wireless body area networks (WBANs) are increasingly used in the healthcare domain, mainly in the area of health monitoring. The miniaturization of medical sensors incorporating wireless technologies, the decrease in power consumption due to novel communication protocols and the possibility of wirelessly powering some of these medical devices have all contributed to the fast development of this area. One of the critical components in these modern biomedical devices is the antenna, which has to meet strict specifications, in order to fulfill its transceiving role. The antennas of both implanted and wearable biomedical devices are challenged by the surrounding environment of tissues, which present an inhomogeneous distribution of electrical properties. Moreover, the antenna characteristics are affected by the lossy nature of human tissues, which have to be exposed up to limits determined by the respective safety standards/guidelines. The talk will focus on the general specifications of antennas incorporated in WBANs devices, and will further show examples of antennas designed for in-, on- and off-body communications.

Title:
Theory and design of small antennas for modern wireless communications

Abstract:
We present the fundamental principles of electrically small antennas and their theoretical implications, including fundamental limits in performance such as quality factor, bandwidth and directivity. The most prominent Chu limit that is a theoretical bound of the antenna quality factor is discussed in detail, along with issues of antenna efficiency which is a particular challenge in the design of small antennas. It is also discussed how the quality factor is related to the behavior of antenna input impedance close to resonance and how this affects the antenna bandwidth. In addition, several guidelines are provided for the design of small antennas for modern wireless communications and techniques for their experimental chacterization are also laid out.

Prof. Sotirios K. Goudos

Short CV

Sotirios K. Goudos received the B.Sc. degree in Physics in 1991 and the M.Sc. of Postgraduate Studies in Electronics in 1994 both from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. In 2001, he received the Ph.D. degree in Physics from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and in 2005 the Master in Information Systems from the University of Macedonia, Greece. In 2011, he obtained the Diploma degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He joined the Department of Physics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 2013, where he is currently an Assistant Professor.

His research interests include antenna and microwave structures design, evolutionary algorithms, wireless communications, and semantic web technologies. He is member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Antennas and Propagation (IJAP), the International Journal of Energy Optimization and Engineering, the EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking and the International Journal on Advances on Intelligent Systems. Dr. Goudos was the Lead Guest Editor in the 2016 and 2017 Special Issues of the IJAP with topic "Evolutionary Algorithms Applied to Antennas and Propagation: Emerging Trends and Applications". He was also the Lead Guest Editor in the 2018 Special Issue of the EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking with topic “Optimization methods for Key Enabling Technologies: 5G, IoT and Big Data”. He was the Editor of the book "Microwave Systems and Applications", InTech publishers, 2017. Dr. Goudos has served as the Technical Program Chair in the International Conference on Modern Circuits and Systems Technologies (MOCAST). He is sub-committee chair in the Asian-Pacific Microwave Conference (APMC 2017) in the track of Smart and reconfigurable antennas. He has also served as a member of the Technical Program Committees in several IEEE and non-IEEE conferences. Dr. Goudos is a member of the IEEE (Senior member), the IEICE, the Greek Physics Society, the Technical Chamber of Greece, and the Greek Computer Society.

Prof. Stavros Koulouridis

Short CV

Stavros Koulouridis was born in 1975, in Athens, Greece. He received the Diploma Engineer in Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Ph.D. degrees in Microwave engineering from National Technical University of Athens, Greece, in 1999 and 2003, respectively.

From 1999 to 2003 he worked as Research Engineer in Microwave and Fiber Optics Lab and Biomedical Simulations and Imaging Unit, National Technical University of Athens. He taught several classes in the School of Pedagogic and Technological Education (ASPAITE) from 2000 to 2003. He was also teaching assistant from 2000 to 2002 in National Technical University of Athens. From 2004 to 2008, he worked as Postdoctoral Researcher at the Electroscience Laboratory, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA. In March 2009 he joined Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of Patras, Greece and since August 2013 he holds an Assistant Professor position. He leads the Microwave Communications group. His research interests include Antenna and Microwave Devices Design, Development and Fabrication of Novel Materials, Microwave Applications in Medicine, Electromagnetic Optimization Techniques, Applied Computational Electromagnetics.

He was the recipient of a three year PhD Scholarship on Biomedical Engineering from Hellenic State Scholarships Foundation in 2001. In May 2005 he received the annual award for the best dissertation in National Technical University of Athens. He is the Chair of IEEE AP/MTT/ED Local Greek Chapter. He was the General Chair of IWAT 2017 (International Workshop in Antennas Technology). He has published over 80 refereed journals and conference proceeding papers. He is serving as a reviewer for several scientific international journals.

Prof. Andrea Massa

Short CV

Andrea Massa (IEEE Fellow, IET Fellow, Electromagnetic Academy Fellow) received the “laurea” degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy, in 1992 and Ph.D. degree in EECS from the same university in 1996. From 1997 to 1999, he was an Assistant Professor of Electromagnetic Fields at the Department of Biophysical and Electronic Engineering (University of Genoa). From 2001 to 2004, he was an Associate Professor at the University of Trento. Since 2005, he has been a Full Professor of Electromagnetic Fields at the University of Trento, where he currently teaches electromagnetic fields, inverse scattering techniques, antennas and wireless communications, wireless services and devices, and optimization techniques.

At present, Prof. Massa is the director of the network of federated laboratories “ELEDIA Research Center” [ELEDIA@UTB in Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei), ELEDIA@UniCAS in Cassino (Italy), ELEDIA@UESTC in Chengdu (China), ELEDIA@USIL in Lima (Perù), ELEDIA@UniNAGA in Nagasaki (Japan), ELEDIA@L2S in Paris (France), ELEDIA@CTU in Prague (Czech), ELEDIA@AUTH in Tessaloniki (Greece), ELEDIA@UniTN in Trento (Italy), ELEDIA@TSINGHUA in Beijing (China), ELEDIA@Innov'COM in Tunis (Tunisia)]. Moreover, he is Adjunct Professor at Penn State University (USA), Professor @ CentraleSupélec (France), and UC3M-Santander Chair of Excellence at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain). He has been holder of a Senior DIGITEO Chair at L2S-CentraleSupélec and CEA LIST in Saclay (France), Visiting Professor at the Missouri University of Science and Technology (USA), the Nagasaki University (Japan), the University of Paris Sud (France), the Kumamoto University (Japan), and the National University of Singapore (Singapore). It has been appointed IEEE AP-S Distinguished Lecturer (2016-2018).

Prof. Massa serves as Associate Editor of the “IEEE Transaction on Antennas and Propagation” and Associate Editor of the “International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies” and he is member of the Editorial Board of the “Journal of Electromagnetic Waves and Applications”, a permanent member of the “PIERS Technical Committee” and of the “EuMW Technical Committee”, and a ESoA member. He has been appointed in the Scientific Board of the “Società Italiana di Elettromagnetismo (SIEm)” and elected in the Scientific Board of the Interuniversity National Center for Telecommunications (CNIT). He has been appointed in 2011 by the National Agency for the Evaluation of the University System and National Research (ANVUR) as a member of the Recognized Expert Evaluation Group (Area 09, ‘Industrial and Information Engineering’) for the evaluation of the researches at the Italian University and Research Center for the period 2004-2010. Furthermore, he has been elected as the Italian Member of the Management Committee of the COST Action TU1208 “Civil Engineering Applications of Ground Penetrating Radar”.

His research activities are mainly concerned with inverse problems, analysis/synthesis of antenna systems and large arrays, radar systems synthesis and signal processing, cross-layer optimization and planning of wireless/RF systems, semantic wireless technologies, system-by-design and material-by-design (metamaterials and reconfigurable-materials), and theory/applications of optimization techniques to engineering problems (tele-communications, medicine, and biology).

Prof. Massa published more than 700 scientific publications (partial list available at: http://eledia.science.unitn.it/index.php/ricerca/pubblicazioni) among which about 300 on international journals and more than 450 in international conferences where he presented more than 150 invited contributions. He has organized more than 70 scientific sessions in international conferences and has participated to several technological projects in the European framework (20 EU Projects) as well as at the national and local level with national agencies (more than 150 Projects/Grants).

Prof. Giacomo Oliveri

Short CV

Oliveri Giacomo received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in Telecommunications Engineering and the PhD degree in Space Sciences and Engineering from the University of Genoa, Italy, in 2003, 2005, and 2009 respectively. He is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science (University of Trento) and a member of the ELEDIA Research Center. Moreover, he is Adjunct Professor at CentraleSupélec and member of the Laboratoire des signaux et systèmes (L2S)@CentraleSupélec Gif-sur-Yvette (France). He has been a visiting researcher at L2S in 2012, 2013, and 2015, Invited Associate Professor at the University of Paris Sud, France, in 2014, and visiting professor at Université Paris-Saclay in 2016 and 2017.

He is author/co-author of over 330 peer reviewed papers on international journals and conferences. His research work is mainly focused on electromagnetic direct and inverse problems, system-by-design and metamaterials, and antenna array synthesis. Prof. Oliveri serves as an Associate Editor of the IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, of the IEEE Journal on Multiscale and Multiphysics Computational Techniques, of the International Journal of Antennas and Propagation, of the International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks, and of the Microwave Processing journal. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE, and the Chair of the IEEE AP/ED/MTT North Italy Chapter.

Prof. Paolo Rocca

Short CV

Rocca Paolo received the MS degree in Telecommunications Engineering from the University of Trento in 2005 (summa cum laude) and the PhD Degree in Information and Communication Technologies from the same University in 2008. He is currently Associate Professor at the Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science (University of Trento) and a member of the ELEDIA Research Center. Prof. Rocca is the author/co-author of over 230 peer reviewed papers on international journals and conferences. He has been a visiting Ph.D. student at the Pennsylvania State University (U.S.A.), at the University Mediterranea of Reggio Calabria (Italy), and a visiting researcher at the Laboratoire des Signaux et Systémes (L2S@ Supélec, France) in 2012 and 2013. Moreover, he has been an Invited Associate Professor at the University of Paris Sud (France) in 2015. He has been awarded from the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society and the Italy Section with the best PhD thesis award IEEE-GRS Central Italy Chapter.

His main interests are in the framework of antenna array synthesis and design, electromagnetic inverse scattering, and optimization techniques for electromagnetics. He serves as an Associate Editor of the IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters.

Prof. Theodoros Samaras

Short CV

Theodoros Samaras received the Physics degree from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1990; the MSc degree in Medical Physics (with distinction) from the University of Surrey, UK, in 1991; and the PhD degree from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1996. In 1998, he joined the BIOEM/EMC Group, at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, where he was mainly involved with studying the temperature increase due to the absorption of electromagnetic energy in tissues, and the effect of heat diffusion in electromagnetic dosimetry. He subsequently moved to the Hyperthermia Unit, Erasmus Medical Centre of Rotterdam, The Netherlands, where he conducted research on treatment quality of superficial microwave hyperthermia for cancer treatment with a Marie-Curie Fellowship from the European Commission. In December 1999, he returned to the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where he is currently a Professor.

His research interests include numerical techniques and computer modelling with applications in biomedical technology and telecommunications, as well as therapeutic applications and safety of non-ionizing radiation. He is the (co-)author of more than 90 papers in peer-reviewed journals (h-index 22; total citations > 1400; source SCOPUS).

He has been serving as a reviewer for several journals and funding organizations and as the national representative to European research co-ordination actions (BM0704, BM1309, TD1104, CA17115, EMF-NET) and standardization committees (IEC TC106). He is currently member of the European Commission's Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks (SCHEER) and has been elected twice in the Council of the European Bioelectromagnetics Association (EBEA) and in the Board of the European Society for Hyperthermic Oncology.

Prof. Traianos V. Yioultsis

Short CV

Traianos V. Yioultsis received the Diploma degree (with highest honors) in electrical engineering, in 1992, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering, in 1998, both from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. From 1993 to 1998, he was a research and teaching assistant in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the same university. From 2001 to 2002 he was a postdoctoral research associate at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. Since 2002, he has been with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, where he is currently a Professor.

His current interests include the analysis, design and fabrication of microwave circuits/antennas, silicon integrated circuits and optical devices with fast computational and optimization techniques and the modeling of complex wave propagation problems. He has published more than 70 papers in international refereed journals, with over 1000 citations and an h-index of 18. He has served as principal investigator and participant in several national and international research projects and also as a member of the Editorial Board for IEEE Communications Letters and several international conferences.