The Ilmenau scientist M.Sc. Muhammad Ehtisham Asghar has been awarded the Best Paper Award at the first "International Conference on Microwave, Antennas & Circuits" (ICMAC 2021).
The staff member at the RF and Microwave Research Group received the honor as first author of the publication "Validation of scaled model locomotive by comparing numerical simulation and measurements," which was produced as part of the discoRAIL research project.
In the project led by Professor Matthias Hein, a team of researchers from TU Ilmenau at the Thuringian Innovation Center for Mobility (ThIMo) studied the radiation behavior of antennas on locomotive roofs on a scaled-down model and thus made it accessible for measurement in laboratories. This now provides engineers in research and development with an easy way to develop and optimize antennas for innovative train radio systems in automated rail transport that meet future rail radio standards. The discoRAIL project "Digital services connected rail traffic" was implemented for Funkwerk Systems GmbH in Kölleda within one and a half years and successfully completed in 2021.
The award-winning publication describes the construction and validation of a scaled-down model of a locomotive with the same shape and superstructure as the series under investigation. Compared to previous research on car antennas, the researchers had to find solutions to a number of new questions here, as locomotive roofs are much larger and more complex in structure than car roofs. The expert jury responsible for selecting the Best Paper Award:
This is the first time in the world that a study has been conducted on a truly scaled-down model of a locomotive, and the computer-simulated and subsequently metrologically examined test scenarios that were carried out have a pilot character.
ICMAC was held in Islamabad on December 21-22, 2021, and was also the first IEEE Conference on Antennas and Circuits in Pakistan. About 120 research papers from 22 countries were submitted for the conference, covering areas including antennas, microwave components, and IC design. Muhammad Ehtisham Asghar received the Best Paper Award from the hands of the President of Pakistan, His Excellency Dr. Arif Alvi, during the closing ceremony of the conference.