Title: RFID-Inspired Sustainable Design: From Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) to Chipless Sensors
UHF RFID has proven its commercial viability across industries. This talk will introduce sustainability-driven electronics and sensors design that is inspired by the enablers of RFID. An overview into the sustainability metrics of microwave electronics through Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) will be first introduced. The approaches for enabling sustainable RF sensing and RFID including IC design to advanced sensing materials and biodegradable or recyclable electronics will be introduced. Finally, opportunities and challenges in near-field and far-field chipless RFID will be highlighted along with their full-life cycle footprint.
Mahmoud Wagih is a Reader (Prof) at the University of Glasgow, leading the Green Electronics Lab, and the Founder of RX Watt Limited, a wireless power and sensing spin-out. He published 130+ papers and 3 patents and received over 25 research awards including a Royal Academy of Engineering Medal and being in Forbes 30Under30. He is currently a Topic Editor for the IEEE Journal of Microwaves, a 2026 IEEE Distinguished Microwave Lecturer, and Co-Chair of IEEE MTT-S Technical Committee (TC26) on RFID, Wireless Sensors, and IoT.
Title: Improving the indoor millimeter wave signal coverage by printed metasurfaces
Millimeter waves offer high bandwidth for communications and enhanced resolution for sensing, making them attractive for emerging 5G/6G networks and radar applications. However, their propagation is primarily line-of-sight and is significantly attenuated in the atmosphere, leading to blind spots. To address this challenge, we propose a low-cost solution using printed metasurfaces. We investigated both three-layer (ground, dielectric film, metasurface) and five-layer (ground, dielectric film, metasurface, dielectric film, metasurface) configurations. Preliminary results demonstrate that printed metasurfaces can effectively redirect 28 GHz signals. Furthermore, a five-layer metasurface has been successfully implemented to split incoming radar signals, significantly reducing blind spots in 24 GHz indoor sensing for human activity monitoring.
Dr. Gaozhi (George) Xiao is an IEEE Fellow, a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada, and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. He currently serves as a Principal Research Officer at the National Research Council Canada. Since 2012, Dr. Xiao has been at the forefront of developing materials and processes for printing electronic devices. His innovations include high conductivity inks for antenna applications, low-loss dielectric materials for mmWave antennas, as well as stretchable conductive and dielectric inks. Dr. Xiao’s expertise spans multiple disciplines, including the Internet of Things (IoT), flexible electronics, fiber optic sensor systems, RFID, sensor fusion, and digital twins. His outstanding contributions have been recognized with several prestigious awards, including the 2025 Emily Sopensky Meritorious Service Award from the IEEE Council on RFID, the 2024 Career Excellence Award and the 2014 Technical Award from the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society, a 2022 Gold Edison Award for Materials Breakthrough in the Consumer Solutions category, and a 2022 Research and Development 100 Awards for Process Innovation. Additionally, Dr. Xiao served as the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Journal of Radio Frequency Identification from 2017 to 2022, and as an Associate Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement from 2020 to 2021.