Distinguished Lecture: Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces for Communications and Radars

Distinguished Lecture: Title: Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces for Communications and Radars Abstract: In recent years, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) have shown promising abilities to control and manipulate electromagnetic (EM) waves through modified surface boundary conditions. These surfaces are electrically thin and comprise an array of spatially varying sub-wavelength scattering elements (or meta-atoms). Through careful engineering of each meta-atom, RISs can transform an incident EM wave into an arbitrarily tailored transmitted or reflected wavefront. Recent developments in RISs have opened exciting new opportunities in antenna design, as well as communications and radar systems. RISs – wherein meta-atoms are embedded with active components – lead to the development of low-cost, lightweight, and compact systems that can produce programmable radiation patterns, jointly perform multi-function communications, and enable advanced radars for next-generation military platforms. This talk will introduce RISs and their various applications in designing simplified communications and radar systems, wherein the RF aperture and transceiver are integrated within the RIS. For example, dynamic reconfiguration of the RIS aperture in a wireless communications transmitter facilitates beam steering, frequency agility, and phase modulation without conventional front-end devices such as phase-shifters, mixers, and switches. We will present our recent work on reconfigurable RIS control, RIS-enabled direct signal modulation, and deep learning-based RIS design. Finally, we will present deploying RIS as a reflector in the wireless channel for aiding non-line-of-sight radar and joint radar-communications. Bio: Kumar Vijay Mishra (S’08-M’15-SM’18) obtained a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and M.S. in mathematics from The University of Iowa in 2015, and M.S. in electrical engineering from Colorado State University in 2012, while working on NASA’s Global Precipitation Mission Ground Validation (GPM-GV) weather radars. He received his B. Tech. summa cum laude (Gold Medal, Honors) in electronics and communication engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur (NITH), India in 2003. He is currently Senior Fellow at the United States Army Research Laboratory (ARL), Adelphi; Technical Adviser to Singapore-based automotive radar start-up Hertzwell and Boston-based imaging radar startup Aura Intelligent Systems; and honorary Research Fellow at SnT – Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust, University of Luxembourg. Previously, he had research appointments at Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Bengaluru; IIHR – Hydroscience & Engineering, Iowa City, IA; Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, Cambridge, MA; Qualcomm, San Jose; and Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. Dr. Mishra is the Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Communications Society (2023-2024), IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society (AESS) (2023-2024), IEEE Vehicular Technology Society (2023-2024), and IEEE Future Networks Initiative (2022). He is the recipient of the IET Premium Best Paper Prize (2021), U. S. National Academies Harry Diamond Distinguished Fellowship (2018-2021), American Geophysical Union Editors’ Citation for Excellence (2019), Royal Meteorological Society Quarterly Journal Editor’s Prize (2017), Viterbi Postdoctoral Fellowship (2015, 2016), Lady Davis Postdoctoral Fellowship (2017), DRDO LRDE Scientist of the Year Award (2006), NITH Director’s Gold Medal (2003), and NITH Best Student Award (2003). He has received Best Paper Awards at IEEE MLSP 2019 and IEEE ACES Symposium 2019. Dr. Mishra is Chair (2023-present) of the Synthetic Apertures Technical Working Group of the IEEE Signal Processing Society (SPS) and Vice-Chair (2021-present) of the IEEE Synthetic Aperture Standards Committee, which is the first SPS standards committee. He is the Vice Chair (2021-2023) and Chair-designate (2023-2026) of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI) Commission C. He has been an elected member of three technical committees of IEEE SPS: SPCOM, SAM, and ASPS; and IEEE AESS Radar Systems Panel. Since 2020, he has been Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, where he was awarded Outstanding Editor recognition in 2021. He has been a lead/guest editor of several special issues in journals such as IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Signal Processing, and IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications. He is the lead co-editor of three upcoming books on radar: Signal Processing for Joint Radar-Communications (Wiley-IEEE Press), Next-Generation Cognitive Radar Systems (IET Press Radar, Electromagnetics & Signal Processing Technologies Series), and Advances in Weather Radar Volumes 1, 2 & 3 (IET Press Radar, Electromagnetics & Signal Processing Technologies Series). His research interests include radar systems, signal processing, remote sensing, and electromagnetics. Virtual: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/362160