Speech Title: Prior Knowledge-Guided Deep Learning-enabled Generative Antenna Design

Abstract: Antenna technology has a rich history dating back to the 19th century, with continuous advancements aimed at meeting the escalating demands of wireless systems development. Over the past two decades, metamaterial-based antenna technologies have emerged as a significant avenue for enhancing various antenna parameters such as bandwidth, size reduction, gain enhancement, and mutual coupling suppression. Concurrently, the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly generative neural network methodologies, presents a promising frontier in antenna design innovation.

This keynote speech explores the transformative potential of deep learning (DL), a subset of machine learning (ML) within AI, in revolutionizing antenna design. The presentation begins by outlining the prospective impact of DL on antenna innovation, followed by the introduction of two design exemplars employing generative adversarial networks (GANs). These examples illustrate novel approaches to metacell design within metasurfaces, achieved through pixelization techniques and DL-driven algorithms. Notably, the incorporation of prior knowledge (PK) in DL-enabled synthesis is elucidated, showcasing its efficacy in synthesizing metacells for metalens applications.

Furthermore, the presentation showcases how metalenses synthesized using PK-DL techniques exhibit breakthrough performance and offer additional functionalities in metalens antenna design. The discourse concludes by contemplating the future trajectory of Antenna+AI integration, highlighting its potential to redefine the boundaries of antenna engineering.

Biography: Zhi Ning Chen received his two PhD degrees in 1993 and 2003, respectively. Dr. Chen has worked in academic, research organizations, and industry since 1988. He is currently a Provost Chair Professor and the Director of the Advanced Research and Technology Innovation Center at the National University of Singapore. Dr. Chen is the founding General Chair of several international workshops and symposiums, including the International Workshop on Antenna Technology (iWAT in 2005), International Symposium on InfoComm & Mechatronics Technology in Bio-Medical & Healthcare Application (IS 3Tin3A in 2010), International Microwave Forum (IMWF in 2010), Asia-Pacific Conference on Antennas and Propagation (APCAP in 2012), and Marina Forum (Mar-For in 2021). He has also been involved in many international events as a general chair, chair, and member of technical program committees and international advisory committees. He has been invited to deliver over 110 keynote, plenary, and invited speeches at international academic and industry events. Dr. Chen has published over 700 academic papers and seven books, as well as held over 36 granted/filed patents and completed over 42 technology licensing deals with industry. He is a pioneer in developing small and ultra-wideband antennas, wearable/implanted medical antennas, package antennas, near-field antennas/coils, three-dimensional integrated LTCC arrays, microwave metamaterial-metasurface antennas. Currently, Dr. Chen is focusing on the translational research of metasurfaces into antenna engineering as well as the development of algorithms, particularly machine-learning-enabled synthesis methods for metantennas. Dr. Chen is the recipient of the IEEE John Kraus Antenna Award (2021) and many other academic and engineering awards. He was elevated to the Fellow of the Academy of Engineering, Singapore in 2019, Fellow of the Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association (AAIA), and is serving as Vice President of AAIA. He was also elevated to Fellow of the IEEE for his contribution to small and broadband antennas for wireless applications in 2007. He is serving as a Member of the AdCom of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (since 2023). He served on the IEEE Council on RFID as a Vice President and a Distinguished Lecturer (2015-2021), as well as on the IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation as an Associate Editor (2012-2018, 2023-), and the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society as a Distinguished Lecturer (2009-2012).

 

Speech Title : Systems-on-Chiplets based Closed-loop Brain-Computer Interfaces to Enhance Vital Functions

Abstract: Closed-loop brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are intended to improve diagnosis efficiency, and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Implantable devices are used when wearable ones can’t be efficient for the same treatment. Also, artificial intelligence - based learning and processing techniques represent the central part to mimic regular brain operation. Consequently, these methods are emerging processing for embedded neuromodulation systems. This talk covers the implementation of wearable and implantable medical closed-loop neuromodulators based on custom system-on-chips (SoCs. It includes building procedure of BCIs which deals with multidimensional design challenges, biomarkers detection and electrical and optogenetic microstimulation. In these neuromodulation applications, information and electronics engineering are used to build : 1) Wearable closed-loop systems for non-invasive nanoimaging, and transcranial stimulation, and 2) Implantable BCIs which are very small overall volume and operate with very low-power budget. Case studies include several applications such as epilepsy, stroke, addictions, and vision.

Biography: Mohamad Sawan is Chair Professor in Westlake University, Hangzhou, China, and Emeritus Professor in Polytechnique Montreal, Canada. He is the founder and director of the Center of Excellence in Biomedical Research on Advances-on-Chips Neurotechnologies (CenBRAIN Neurotech) in Westlake University, and of the Polystim Neurotech Lab in Polytechnique Montreal. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Sherbrooke, Canada. He was awarded the Canada Research Chair in Smart Medical Devices (2001-2015) and was leading the Microsystems Strategic Alliance of Quebec (ReSMiQ), Canada (1999-2018). He is Co-Founder, Associate Editor and was Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems (2016-2019). He is Founder and Co-Founder of several International conferences and working groups in bioelectronics such IEEE NewCAS, BioCAS, etc. Dr. Sawan published more than 1000 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers, one Handbook, three books, 13 book chapters, 15 patents, and 30 other patents are pending. He received several awards, among them the Barbara Turnbull Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the J.A. Bombardier and Jacques-Rousseau Awards from the Canadian ACFAS, the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal, the Medal of Merit from the President of Lebanon, the Chinese National Friendship Award, and the Shanghai International Collaboration Award. Dr. Sawan is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Sciences of Canada (FRSC), a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (FCAE), a Fellow of the Engineering Institutes of Canada (FEIC), a Life Fellow of the IEEE (LFIEEE), and an “Officer” of the National Order of Quebec.

 

Biography: J. Joshua Yang is a professor of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Southern California. He was a professor of the ECE department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst between 2015 and 2020. He spent about 8 years at HP Labs between 2007 and 2015, leading the emerging devices team for memory and computing. His current research interest is Post-CMOS hardware for neuromorphic computing, machine learning and artificial intelligence, where he published several pioneering papers and holds 120 granted and about 60 pending US Patents. He is the Founding Chair of the IEEE Neuromorphic Computing Technical Committee, a recipient of the Powell Faculty Research Award and a recipient of UMass distinguished faculty lecturer and UMass Chancellor's Medal, the highest honor of UMass. He serves on the Advisory Boards of a number of prime international journals and conferences, including serving as an associate editor of Science Advances. Dr. Yang is a Clarivate™ Highly Cited Researcher in the field of Cross-Field. He was elected to the IEEE Fellow and the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) Fellow for his contributions to resistive switching materials and devices for nonvolatile memory and neuromorphic computing.

 

Invited Speaker

 

Biography: Prof. Weiwei Jiang received the B.Sc. Degree of Electronic Engineering and Ph.D. Degree of Information and Communication Engineering from the Department of Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in 2013 and 2018, respectively. He is currently an assistant professor with the School of Information and Communication Engineering, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, and Key Laboratory of Universal Wireless Communications, Ministry of Education. His current research interests include artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, wireless communication and edge computing. He has published more than 50 academic papers in IEEE Trans and other journals, with more than 2800 citations in Google Scholar. He is one of 2023 and 2024 Stanford's List of World's Top 2% Scientists.