About the Workshop

 

In September 2014, Dr. Isabelle Saves, then Attache (Science and Academic Affairs) of the Consulate General of France in Hong Kong and Macau requested a meeting between Professor Dominique Baillargeat and Professor Chi Hou Chan for possible research collaborations. Professor Baillargeat is the Director of the XLIM Institute of Research, a joint institute between the University of Limoges and the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and Professor Chi Hou Chan is the Director of State Key Laboratory of Terahertz and Millimeter Waves (City University of Hong Kong (CityU)) (SKLTMW). Since the first visit of Professor Baillargeat to City University of Hong Kong on December 8, 2014, many exchanges of faculty members and students have taken place, leading to joint publications, a paper award and funded projects.

To expand the scope of collaboration, a team of 8 faculty members, including 6 SKLTMW members, from the Department of Electronic Engineering (EE) of CityU led by Professor Stella Pang, Head of EE visited XLIM/University of Limoges in May 2018. The purpose of the visit was to explore means to enhance collaborations between the two institutions in student training and research activities. During the meeting, it was decided to organize a workshop at CityU in early December 2018 with the objective of extending the collaborative research to other research areas. Currently, there are three on-going research programs, namely, Triaxial Piezoelectric Magnetometers (PROCORE scheme), Reconfigurable Millimeter-Waves and Terahertz Devices with Functional Active Materials, and Millimeter-Waves and Terahertz (THz) Imaging (TRS project funded by HK Research Grants Council). Possible projects on Massive MIMO and NOMA Techniques and Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering (CARS) Microspectroscopy were discussed during the May visit to XLIM.

XLIM has a broad scope of expertise including electronics, high-frequency circuits, photonics, mathematics, computer, imaging, system simulation, optoelectronics, and RF and laser instrumentation with applications in telecom networks and space, secured environments, bioengineering, materials and energy and imagery. All of these areas of competences are in alignment with the research focuses of CityU EE Department in applied electromagnetics, optoelectronics, electronics, nanotechnology and biosystems, wireless communications, networking and computer engineering and control system. XLIM is one of the major national laboratories in France with 440 researchers. CityU EE also enjoys an international reputation, being ranked the 37th worldwide and the first in Hong Kong in electrical & electronic engineering by the Shanghai Ranking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2018. Tightly knitted research collaborations across a broad field of electrical & electronic engineering between the two research partners set to create a great impact to the science and engineering communities. The existing collaboration already makes us a forerunner in the research of reconfigurable millimeter-wave antennas and THz tunable electromagnetic devices by organic integration of expertise in antenna design (CityU) and novel materials (XLIM). Another emergent strength is in THz imaging through the synergetic efforts in imaging processing (XLIM) with THz measurement techniques (CityU).

At the dawn of the 5th Generation wireless communications era, wireless communications technologies are being moved beyond microwaves into the millimeter-wave (MMW) and even THz regimes due to the increasing demand for data speed and the saturation of the microwave spectrum. Also, MMW and THz are becoming keys for security screening because of their better resolution and material penetration compared to microwaves. The modelling of the propagation channel and the design of components and systems require engineers and scientists with the appropriate understanding of and exposure to electromagnetic simulators. In addition, MMW and THz have applications in monitoring the glucose level in blood and the detection of pollutants for food safety. For the latter, there is an increasing amount of research on the use of THz for biomedical imaging, and chemical and biological sensors. Of course, technologies in enhancing the channel throughputs are also important for 5G and beyond.

The ageing of population and shrinkage of workforce are common problems encountered by highly developed economies. France and Hong Kong are of no exception. The inventions of new technologies in disease detection, drug deliveries, food safety, etc., are essential for enhancing the living quality of human life. Topics on biomedical applications of computing, electronic, THz and optical technologies are also covered in the workshop.

Organizers
 
Sponsor