My curiosity to explore nature by means of alternate senses brings me to the field of microwave sensing, imaging, and non-destructive testing where I am exploring how materials are interacting with electromagnetic waves. Listing some applied solutions that drove me recently in fulfilling my learning path:
Zubair Akhter received a bachelor’s degree in electronics and instrumentation engineering from the Anand Engineering College, Agra, India, in 2008, and an MTech. Degree in RF and microwave engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, India, in 2011. He obtained his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India, in 2018, with a focus on microwave imaging, sensing, & nondestructive testing of materials, through-wall imaging, and ultra-wide-band antennas. He has recently joined Technology Innovation Institute (TII), Abu Dhabi as a Senior Antenna Engineer and leading high power antenna and Radome team. Prior to TII, he was associated with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia as a Postdoctoral fellow where he worked with the world’s top funding agencies such as Lockheed Martin Corporation, Ericsson, SABIC, and Aramco for solving the applied industrial challenges. His research for Lockheed Martin on “ultra-thin, dual-mode wideband circular microstrip antennas for UAVs” was featured by the IEEE Open Journal of antennas and Propagation. Before joining KAUST, he was associated with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) Gas Research Center (GRC) as a Research Engineer.
His current research interests are in on-chip antennas, microwave imaging, non-destructive testing for the oil and gas industry, printed-flexible electronics, printed transparent antennas, and Chipless RFID based sensing. He has authored/co-authored over 65 international publications published in top-notch peer-reviewed journals such as IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques (MTT), IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, IEEE Sensors Journal, and various admired international conferences. He is an inventor of 6 US patents and has given 15 invited talks at various internationally recognized forums/institutions. He is a member of IEEE and founding chair of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Student Branch Chapter (SBC), Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India. He is currently an editorial board member in frontiers wearable electronics and served as a member of the Technical Program Committee in IMaRC-2021 and MAPCON-2022/2023. Dr. Akhter is a recipient of the Early Career Researcher Teaching Award from the Office of the Provost in collaboration with the Office of Vice President (Research) at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, KAUST.
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Senior Antenna Engineer at TII, Abu Dhabi Aug. 2023-onwards |
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Project: High power antennas and radar systems ATRC Abu Dhabi, UAE Description: As a Senior Antenna Engineer in the High-Power EM Division at the Directed Energy Research Center of the Technology Innovation Institute (TII) in Abu Dhabi, UAE, I am responsible for leading and conducting research in the field of antenna design and high-power electromagnetic systems. My work spans a wide range of applications, including next-generation communication systems, radar technologies, and high-power microwave devices. I am dedicated to pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the field of electromagnetic engineering and contributing to cutting-edge advancements in technologies. |
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Technical Fellow at Sahar Flow Solutions (KAUST) Mar. 2022-onwards (2Y-5M) |
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Project: Microwave Multiphase Metering for Oil and Gas Industry Saudi Aramco ($1.4M) Description: Multiphase flow in oil production consists of three phases, i.e., oil, water, and gas. This classification of MPFM’s is based upon how the gas phase is treated. The separated-flow MPFM measures the gas flow after the separation of it from the liquid phases (i.e., oil and water); this simplifies the measurement of the liquid phase. Additionally, in-line MPFMs treat the entire multiphase stream in a single conduit, which enables these and similar meters to be more compact in comparison to the separated-flow meters. In this assignment, a true 3-phase compact MPFM meter based on microwave sensing principles is being developed for the oil and gas industry. |
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Consultant Researcher, IMPACT Lab, KAUST Aug 2021-Mar.2022 (8M) |
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Project: Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces for 5G and Beyond Ericsson AB($270k) Description: The electromagnetic (EM) wave propagation of mm-Wave 5G communication suffers from high atmospheric attenuation and thus, the communication coverage is reduced to a line-of-sight (LOS) and can be blocked by obstacles. To establish a secondary LOS when the direct path is not available, the reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) can be utilized which can redirect the reflected wave using its sub-wavelength periodic tunable EM resonators. These RISs can be massively attached to the building walls, and windows, which form a reconfigurable propagation path in the environment. The project aims at solving the design and realization challenges such as large reflection bandwidth, precise 180∘ phase shift control, and proper feed network. |
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Postdoctoral Fellow, IMPACT Lab, KAUST Jan. 2020-Sep. 2021 (1Y-9M) |
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P2021(1 Ultra-thin conformal antennas for UAVs: Lockheed Martin Corporation ($250k) Description: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), also known as autonomous drones, are being utilized for a variety of applications such as disaster management, search and rescue, surveillance, and remote monitoring. The antenna, being the most important part of that wireless link, must be designed such that it seamlessly integrates with the drone without affecting its flight. This means the antenna must be thin, lightweight, conformal, and provide wide coverage. Here we provided a thin, plug-and-play conformal antenna system for a long-range HD video transmission where the antenna can be attached to the drone’s body on demand like a sticker, Additionally, antennas radiation pattern diversity is useful to extend the communication range and dual-band feature could be used to maintain the communication in presence of interference or jammers. |
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Research Engineer, Smart Sensing Group, Khalifa University, UAE July 2018- Sept2019 (1Y-3M) |
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Project: Black powder detection in natural gas pipelines ADNOC ($1.0 M) Description: Black powder (BP) is one of the most common contaminants in steel pipes used for the transportation of gas. It is an amalgam of iron sulfides, oxides, and carbonates. It is reported to originate from the milling of pipes, early detection of BP is incumbent to ensure the integrity of gas pipelines and to avoid catastrophe. In this project, a microwave sensing technology has been developed that utilizes a microwave probing mechanism to detect and monitoring of solid contaminants (BP) inside the natural gas pipelines.
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Research Associate, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India July 2013- Dec 2017 (4Yrs. 6M) |
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Project: Microwave imaging of concealed objects DST SERB India ($70k) Description: In this project, a novel concept in real-time 2D microwave imaging for security applications is introduced where the identification of the objects is made through both the geometrical and electrical properties. A calibration-independent, position-insensitive purely analytical method in the time domain is proposed to retrieve the permittivity, conductivity, and thickness of various materials. The requirement of reference measurement required for time-domain analysis is also removed in the proposed approach. A versatile dual-domain microwave imaging method is proposed to take advantage of the imaging schemes in both domains to facilitate real-time online monitoring of the scene using a non-iterative procedure requiring a less mathematical operation, which makes it suitable for a low-cost solution related to homeland security applications. |
Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical Engineering Jan 2012-Nov. 2017
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Institution Thesis Title Supervisor |
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Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, India Unified microwave imaging methodology for real-time monitoring and detection of objects Prof. Mohammad Jaleel Akhtar (IEEE Fellow). |
Master of Technology in Electronics and Communication Engineering Jun 2009-Jul. 2011
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Institution Thesis Title Supervisor |
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Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee, India Design, analysis, and implementation of concurrent dual-band wireless transceiver Prof. Nagendra Prasad Pathak (Senior Member IEEE) |
Bachelor of Technology in Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering Jun 2004-Jul. 2008
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University Project Supervisor |
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Abdul Kalam Technical University (formerly UPTU), Lucknow. India Representational model of the smart home environment Professor Mohammad Ayyub Khan, Dept. of E&I. AEC Agra. |
Intellectual Properties (Patents)
1. Zubair Akhter, and Atif Shamim, “Novel technique for the realization of low profile microstrip patch antennas” US Patent Provisional Appl. No. 63216138, Jun 2021.
2. Yiyang Yu, Zubair Akhter, and Atif Shamim, “Novel technique for on-chip artificial magnetic conductor thickness reduction” US Patent Provisional Appl. No. 63216136, Jun 2021.
3. Rana Bilal, Firas Fatani, M. Vaseem, Z. Akhter, and Atif Shamim, “Printed, Flexible, and Conformal BLE Wearables and Stickers Capable of Working with Bluetooth Mesh Network” US Patent Provisional Appl. No. 63/300392, Jan 2022.
4. Yiming Yang, M. Vaseem, Zubair Akhter and Atif Shamim “Screen-Printed, Transparent, Wideband, Polarization-Insensitive Resonator Design for Large Scale Application of 5G Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface”, jointly patented with Ericsson. Jul. 2022.
5. Zubair Akhter, M. A. Karimi, Atif Shamim, and Muhammad Arsalan “Compact Venturi with embedded DFOR sensors to measure multiphase flow rates” jointly patented with Saher flow and Saudi Aramco.
Peer-Reviewed Journals (Published)
International Conferences
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