COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING RESEARCH AREA

School of Electrical Engineering has five major research area in communication which are Advanced RF and Microwave (ARFMRG), Advanced Telecommunication Technology (ATT), Light communication research (LCRG), Acoustic (ARG) and Sonar and maritime research (STAR). The ARFM Research group carry out various types of research on passive and active RF and microwave components. The passive devices include antenna and filter designs such as wearable antenna, metamaterial antenna, UHF antenna, reconfigurable antenna and array antenna. The active devices include amplifier, mixer and oscillator. The group is also interest in the field of electromagnetic propagation, RFID, RF Transceiver and the specific absorption rate (SAR). The scope of this potentially wide area of research is governed by the extensive knowledge in the group for the requirements of modern technology. Advanced Telecommunication Technology (ATT) research group is composed of researchers in the field of network communication. In line with the research theme of internet of everything (IoE) solutions, the research activities are divided into two main research teams which are the pervasive networks and networks computing & security. The Lightwave Communication Research Group (LCRG) is the home of experienced researchers in the field of photonics and telecommunications. LCRG is equipped with the state-of-the-art facilities that are to realize the simulation, fabrication and characterization of optical devices and systems. The group is involved in R&D and consultation services that are related to photonic based telecommunication devices, system and technology. Acoustics Research Group (ARG) is composed of researchers in the field of acoustics that branch out the study and experimental works in the area of room acoustics and environmental noise, flexible Surface Acoustics Wave (SAW) and microwave sensory devices, nanomaterial, microwave propagation, microwave dielectric measurements, and numerical methods in electromagnetic. Besides exploring new methods of fabricating SAW sensors and improving its sensing performance, the researchers have designed and experimented in the devices with different nanostructured materials as sensing layers, for gas and bio-sensing applications. For the researches in microwave sensors, which are normally applied in the fields of biological and agricultural engineering, the researchers now are expanding the research area in the development of microwave reflectometer and metamaterial absorber, and to design many other microwave passive devices. The Sonar and maritime focus on the research of sonar instrumentation and sound from the swiftlet bird

Wireless Communication Centre(WCC) is one of the High Centre of Excellence (HiCoE) endorsed by the Ministry of Education (MoE) Malaysia. WCC focusses on research, products commercialization, contract research and consultancy services. WCC works closely with both local and international telecommunication operators, manufacturers and regulators including Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT), Ministry of Defense Malaysia, Malaysia Centre of Remote Sensing (MACRES), Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), SIRIM, Petronas, Maxis, Celcom, MIMOS, ATSB and ANGKASA. WCC has also played a vital leading role in International Mobile Telecommunication 2000 (IMT-2000) standardization activities in Malaysia. In November 2014, WCC reached another important recognition with the MoE awarding the status of Higher Institutional Centre of Excellent (HICoE). WCC currently focuses its resources to future 5G wireless communications, in particular on the research and development (R&D) of 5G antenna and propagation.

NICHE AREAS

Fundamental Research Application Areas

Antenna – MIMO, Textile, Dielectric, Array, Reconfigurable, metamaterial, Flexible, waveguide, Smart antenna and mm wave antenna

RF/microwave/mm wave devices – Filter, Amplifier, Oscillator, coupler, beamforming & feeding network, Microwave Sensors, passive devices and active devices

Metamaterial – Artificial Magnetic Conductor, Electromagnetic Band Gap, Lefthanded metamaterial,

Wideband & Narrowband Channel Measurement & Modelling

Propagation – satellite, mobile, microwave and wideband systems

Modulation and Coding Scheme & Multiple Access Scheme

Electro-magnetic Field & Biological Effects , Specific Absorption rate (SAR)

Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) - Network and Channel Coding, Cognitive Radio Network (CRN) Data Management, Sustainable Energy

Internet‐of‐Things (IoT) – Internetworking Machine-to-Machine, Positioning & Location Tracking, Security, Smart Grid, Software‐Defined‐Networks (SDN)

Tera‐Hertz Communication

Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs)

Optical Communication Devices based on: Microelectromechanical System (MEMS) Polymer, Sol-gel derived material

Optical Communication Systems- Radio Over Fiber, Free-Space Optics, Optoelectronics Circuit System

Optical Communication Network - Photonics Physical Layer, Routing and Transport System, Optical Bandwidth Management

Optical Sensors - Fiber laser, grating sensor, Spectroscopy based sensor

Sonar Instrumentation

Sound system and analysis for Swiftlet

Robotic Arm for ROV

Room Acoustics

Speech Intelligibility

Environmental Noise

Surface Acoustics Sensors

Nanomaterials

Dielectric Measurements

RF, Microwave and Mil

limeter wave

Medical Monitoring

RFID

Energy Harvesting

WiFi

Absorber industry

3G, 4G and 5G system

UWB system

Microwave system

Internet Of Thing

Satellite system

RELATED ENTITIES

Research Groups Research Centers

Advanced Radio Frequency and Microwave Research Group

Advance Telecommunication Technology Research Group

Light Communication Research Group

Acoustic Research Group

Sonar and maritime Research Group

Wireless Communications Centre

SAMPLE PROJECTS

LOW PROFILE FOLDED REFLECTARRAY ANTENNA AT MILLIMETER WAVE

The research focuses on designing highly efficient power amplifiers in multiband applications that capable of meeting high demands as well as requirements for seamless and ubiquitous communications and it is led by Dr Farid Zubir. The features like relatively low power consumptions, excellent efficiency and linearity, higher capacity, wider bandwidth and better coverage are remains as technical challenges with many issues still need to be resolved. The fact that is necessary to bear all the weight of emerging applications creates additional requirements for desired multiband transmitter and receiver. The research also aims for some promising solutions that can minimise the losses when integrates power amplifier with other devices and this could be potentially improve the whole system efficiency as well as adopted in 5G systems in order to deliver some of the aforementioned targeted requirements.

HIGH EFFICIENCY FREQUENCY ADAPTIVE POWER AMPLIFIERS FOR

FUTURE WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS.

Low-profile antennas are attractive in communications and sensor applications due to desirable features such as low cost, light weight, conformability, and ease of integration. A major challenge in low-profile antenna design is the trade off between the (reduced) antenna profile and performance. Therefore, one attractive antenna concepts is folded reflectarray antennas that combine some of the best features of printed antenna arrays and reflector antennas. In this project, a folded reflectarray antennas for linear polarization in V band has been designed. Through simulation, a maximum directivity of the antenna is obtained as 21.5dB at 60GHz which is suitable for broadband millimeter wave communication.

WEARABLE ANTENNA AND SPECIFIC ABSORPTION RATE FOR MEDICAL MONITORING APPLICATIONS

In the broad context of Wireless Body Area network application especially for continuous monitoring in medical sector, the demand for flexible wearable antenna is growing. Research in developing a wearable antenna has received a great attention due to its flexibility and stretch-ability to be worn on the human body. The antenna for wearable application should operate properly in the vicinity of human body as the body itself could absorb the energy and degraded the antenna performance. This has also increases public concerns due to the adverse health effect the EM radiation may cause. Therefore, Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) is in great importance. SAR and on-body propagation are carefully measured in designing wearable devices for continuous medical monitoring purposes.

METAMATERIAL ANTENNA AND STRUCTURES

The concept of metamaterials (MTMs) enables the design of antennas and other microwave

structures with negative electromagnetic properties. Due to their exciting and unusual

features, MTMs have found applications in superlens, cloaks, and microwave components

such as antennas, absorbers, couplers, power dividers and phase shifters. The metamaterial

structures also can be designed for reflector (AMC), reconfigurable devices (EBG and AMC)

as well for gain enhancement of the antenna (LHM)