Short Courses, Tutorials and Workshops

Presented by: William Kozma Jr, Dr. Christopher Anderson, Brian Lain

Location: TBD

Radio wave propagation models are developed to predict expected signal loss between a transmitter and a receiver. Historically, consideration of terrain effects (diffraction) and atmospheric effects (time variability, hydrometeors, etc.) dominated modeling approaches. For decades, improvements in modeling these effects, combined with time and frequency management, supported the growth of spectrum utilization. With the continuing explosion of high-bandwidth mobile networks, historical modeling and spectrum management methods are no longer sufficient to support increases in spectrum demand. This has renewed focus on improving propagation modeling accuracy through the inclusion of losses due to the presence of buildings and vegetation (collectively referred to as ‘clutter’). The near simultaneous explosion of high-fidelity data sources, such as sub-meter level resolution lidar, that are being made freely available to the public has supported improved clutter modeling techniques. This tutorial introduces participants to modeling mid-band propagation loss due to clutter through a hands-on, interactive workshop. Participants will spend the morning becoming familiar with measured radio propagation data, lidar data, and existing propagation models. They will learn how to ingest, process, and utilize these resources. In the afternoon, participants will learn how to develop statistical and site-specific clutter models, including data analysis and model evaluation. The workshop will provide participants with tools, data, and resources to continue to explore the field of mid-band clutter modeling and engage in existing open-source modeling efforts led by NTIA/ITS.

Presented by: CHUEHJEN (Ethan) LIN, Jimmy Hsu, Shunlin Chen, Ming Li, Shih-Cheng Lin, Sheng-Fuh Chang, You-Cheng Chen, Kai Zeng

Location: TBD

This short course addresses programmable electromagnetic environments for 6G, focusing on how reconfigurable electromagnetic structures, MIMO arrays, and integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) can be jointly controlled and experimentally realized through coherent multi-layer control architectures. Emphasis is placed on control frameworks that bridge electromagnetic reconfiguration, array-level beamforming, and system-level closed-loop adaptation, enabling a direct translation from theoretical models to practical implementations. System-level decisions are deterministically mapped to physical electromagnetic states via hardware-level digital interfaces such as SPI, enabling low-latency, repeatable, and verifiable validation on system-level testbeds. By prioritizing control realization and experimental platforms over simulation-centric analysis, the short course provides a clear pathway from electromagnetic theory to deployable 6G systems. Application examples including RIS-assisted links, Lens-based architectures, adaptive MIMO, ISAC, and hybrid terrestrial–non-terrestrial networks (NTN) illustrate how unified control enables practical and scalable 6G operation.

Presented by: Mauro Ettorre, Anthony Grbic, Ifana Mahbub, Paolo Rocca, Keisuke Noguchi, Naoki Shinohara

Location: TBD

Wireless power transmission is an exciting technology designed to create a truly mobile experience without the limitations of cords. This technology eliminates the need for physical connections between energy-receiving devices and the power grid and has the potential to transfer available solar energy from space to Earth. WPT could benefit a wide range of devices, including sensors, portable electronics, electric and autonomous vehicles, biomedical devices, power grids, etc. The goal of this course is to provide a foundational understanding of wireless power transmission in both the non-radiative/reactive near field and far field. We will describe wireless power transfer systems using electromagnetic field and circuit analyses to understand coupling among devices, their physical implementation, and highlight the design parameters and limitations of these systems, as well as possible directions for future research. Additionally, the course will cover the standardization process and the current standards in the field, helping students familiarize themselves with this emerging technology.

Presented by: Parinaz Naseri

Location: TBD

This short course introduces machine learning-augmented metasurface design, bridging traditional electromagnetic theory with modern AI-driven methodologies. Participants gain hands-on experience with techniques that accelerate design while enabling novel functionalities difficult to achieve conventionally.

Presented by: Thomas E. Roth, Weng C. Chew

Location: TBD

There is currently an explosive advancement in quantum information processing technology underway that has the potential to revolutionize society through the use of quantum computers, quantum communication systems, and quantum sensors that can outperform the best classical technologies. Antenna and propagation technologies are no exception, with many longstanding challenges potentially becoming addressable using these new quantum technologies. Further, because these emerging devices significantly involve electromagnetic effects there is an important role that classically-trained electromagnetic engineers can play in making these quantum technologies a reality. This course aims to introduce these engineers to the topics of quantum electromagnetics under the assumption that the students have no prior background in quantum physics. To support this, we will discuss the fundamentals of quantum theory with a specific focus of building a description of the quantization of electromagnetic fields. These fundamentals are then extended to look at how various quantum electromagnetic effects are central to applications of quantum communications. The interactions of electromagnetic fields with superconducting circuit qubits are also covered to provide an understanding of the underlying operations occurring at the hardware level in one of the leading quantum computing architectures. The students will leave the course with an understanding of how single- and two-qubit gates are performed, how qubit states are measured, and other engineering constraints encountered with this quantum computing platform.

Presented by: Sofie Pollin, Zhuangzhuang Cui, George Shaker, Yang Miao

Location: TBD

Next-generation wireless systems are evolving beyond pure data delivery to become intelligent, human-centric infrastructures capable of perceiving and interacting with the physical world. Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) is a key enabler of this transformation, allowing radio systems to simultaneously support connectivity and high-resolution sensing. In particular, ISAC opens new opportunities for contact-free human sensing and health monitoring, leveraging advances in antennas, propagation, waveform design, and electromagnetic modeling. Unlike communication-centric ISAC tutorials, this course places antenna design, propagation effects, and electromagnetic interaction with the human body at the core of system performance and sensing reliability. This half-day tutorial provides a comprehensive overview of ISAC-enabled human sensing, with a strong emphasis on antenna and propagation aspects, radio-body interaction, and system-level integration. The tutorial covers fundamental principles and practical implementations for detecting human presence, localizing and tracking individuals, characterizing limb motion through macro- and micro-Doppler signatures, and estimating vital signs such as respiration using mmWave and WiGig signals. It further addresses channel measurement and modeling challenges introduced by the human body, as well as the role of digital twins and clinical radar benchmarks in validating real-world health monitoring systems. By bridging electromagnetic theory, antenna systems, propagation modeling, and signal processing, this tutorial aims to equip participants from the Antennas and Propagation community with both theoretical insight and practical tools to contribute to emerging ISAC-driven healthcare and human-centric applications in 6G and beyond.

Presented by: Afshin Abbaszadeh, Jordan Budhu, Filippo Capolino

Location: TBD

Chapter I: Leaky-wave antennas have been extensively investigated in literature and are commonly realized using planar guided-wave configurations, such as grounded dielectric slabs, often incorporating periodic metallic elements. Seminal work by Oliner showed that high-gain leaky-wave radiation can be achieved through a sinusoidal modulation of the surface impedance along the propagation direction. In this course, for a planar LWA, a Generalized Dispersion Equation (GDE) is derived for arbitrary periodic modulation and then the GDE is specified for a sinusoidal modulation. Chapter II: The holographic technique, where an interference pattern is translated into an impedance profile, has been successfully applied to planar and canonical conformal antenna platforms. However, these implementations rely on uniformly periodic unit cells, limiting their extension to arbitrary conformal surfaces. Recent advances such as point-shifting and Voronoi partitioning address this limitation by adapting unit cell geometries to local curvature. Dr. Kelvin Nicholson and collaborators further applied this approach to Conformal Leaky Wave Antennas (CLWAs), but their method required extensive full-wave simulations, making the design process computationally expensive. Furthermore, they were unable to treat both polarizations, limiting the efficiency of their designs. In this work, we introduce a fully analytic design framework for holographic CLWAs that eliminates the need for full-wave solvers during synthesis and that treats both polarizations leading to the possibility of circularly polarized (CP) radiated beams. The proposed approach offers a simplified, computationally efficient, and physically transparent alternative to purely numerical methods, enabling practical realization of antennas on complex conformal geometries. The analytic nature of the approach allows for the design of electrically large CLWAs. This is especially important in scenarios involving aircraft as the antennas are usually large and conformal as well as requiring CP beams. This course will present the formulation, fabrication, measurement, and validation of this analytic framework, establishing a direct pathway for efficient CLWA design. Several conformal leaky wave antenna examples will be presented along with fabrication and measurement validation. Chapter III: Leaky wave antennas can be periodically coupled with another “associated” parallel waveguide forming various kinds of exceptional points of degeneracy (EPD). Therefore we will show simple strategies to make a LWA+EPD system including an analytic formulation and design steps to recognize when an EPD is present. The associated waveguides could be (a) lossless and gainless, or (b) can have period gain elements, leading to different functionalities. LWAs in case (a) can be used for sensing applications where the radiation pattern width or the pointing angle is very sensitive to perturbations of any parameter of the LWA. LWAs in case (b) instead are active and can be used to radiate high power with very directive beams or to form radiating oscillators where the radiation from every part of a large LWA is coherent with low phase noise, forming a very directive high power beam. In general, LWAs with EPDs have narrow bandwidth though they possess other unique characteristics and they are easy to fabricate.

Presented by: Eng Leong Tan

Location: TBD

This short course will introduce new fundamental equations of electromagnetics (EM) that replace Maxwell’s fields/potentials with single physical quantity unifying all electrostatics, magnetostatics, electrodynamics and quantum-EM interactions. Since Maxwell-Hertz-Heaviside era, the longstanding dilemma to use either fields or potentials and gauge for electromagnetics will be reviewed. The concept and utilization of field-impulses will be shown to be capable of not only resolving such century-old field-potential/gauge dilemma, but also aptly describing quantum-EM (e.g. Aharonov-Bohm) effects. Theoretical formulation of field-impulse equations and applications for Poynting vector, Hertzian dipole radiation and Schrodinger equation, etc. will be discussed. New explicit FDTD methods using field-impulses superseding fields and potentials, along with efficient fundamental implicit FDTD schemes will be presented. Several mobile apps for technology-enhanced teaching/learning of electromagnetics and transmission line circuits will also be demonstrated.

Presented by: Lars Jacob Foged , Vince Rodriguez, Guest lectures that contributed to the IEEE std149 and 1720 will be invited to focus on their specific contributions depending on their availability.

Location: TBD

This short course provides an overview of antenna measurement practices in accordance with IEEE Standards 1720 and 149, as promoted by the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society’s Standards Committee. The course combines theoretical foundations with practical implementation guidance, emphasizing: Range and method selection, measurement goal, measurement accuracy, traceability, and uncertainty evaluation. Contributors involved in developing these standards will present key clauses and share insights on their rationale and best practices. Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of modern, state-of-the-art measurement techniques as outlined in the IEEE standards.

Presented by: Vishwanath Iyer, Sekhar Sekharan, Peter DiMeo

Location: TBD

This workshop explores the role of AI in accelerating workflows that begin from an antenna concept to its integration into system level models. We begin with a library of pretrained surrogate models that enable accurate, near-instant evaluation and rapid exploration of common antenna families and then introduce an AutoML platform that lets nonexperts train custom predictors for new geometries and requirements. Next, we cover optimization using surrogate techniques on different antenna families including popular evolved pixelated antenna topologies, the results for which will be presented and followed up by refinement with customized genetic algorithms to meet objectives such as miniaturization while preserving resonance, bandwidth, and efficiency. We then present a deep learning generative approach for 3D radiation-pattern reconstruction. Specifically, a U-net–based model that infers full 3D patterns from sparse azimuth/elevation cuts is introduced, delivering higher accuracy and speed than traditional reconstruction methods and validated across diverse antennas. This includes a discussion of current and emerging challenges. Next, a Python + MATLAB EM co-design pipeline demonstrates how to generate and simulate parametric RF structures using MATLAB’s Antenna and RF PCB capabilities while leveraging Python’s optimization and deep-learning ecosystem to iteratively evolve designs. Finally, we show how these EM artifacts can be dropped directly into user-friendly system-level simulations, linking EM results to RF chains, waveforms, and link-budget models for end-to-end performance evaluation and decision-making.