16th Mediterranean Microwave Symposium Hosted ...

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scheduled: a city tour of Abu Dhabi and a banquet/dinner where the awards were presented (Figure 6). During the MMS2016 banquet, the MMS2016 Best Paper ...
16th Mediterranean Microwave Symposium Hosted by Al Ain University ■ Nazih Khaddaj Mallat



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xcellent organization” and “great gathering” are some of the complimentary words we received from the attendees of the 16th Mediterranean Microwave Symposium (MMS2016), which was held at Al Ain University of Science and Technology (AAU) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on 14–16 November 2016. MMS2016, technically cosponsored by three prestigious IEEE Societies [t he IEEE Microwave T heor y a nd Tech­­ni­­ques Society (MTT-S), the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society (IMS), and the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S)], aimed to provide a congenial venue for members of the international academic community to present the latest developments and recent advances in relevant fields that include microwave engineering, RF circuits and systems, antenna

Nazih Khaddaj Mallat ([email protected]) is the dean of the College of Engineering, Al Ain University of Science and Technology, United Arab Emirates. Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2017.2712399 Date of publication: 8 August 2017

technologies, wireless communications, and a broad range of high-frequency topics such as terahertz and photo­ nic technologies. During the opening ceremony, AAU President Ghaleb Al Refae stressed AAU’s keen desire to participate in local and international conferences that contribute to strengthening scientific research and innovation. Dr. Nazih Khaddaj Mallat, dean of the AAU College of Engineering and MMS2016 general chair, organized and hosted this conference as a way of enhancing AAU’s relations with various academic institutions locally, regionally, and internationally. During the opening ceremony, he conveyed his gratitude to conference sponsors (the Abu Dhabi Convention Bureau, TRANSCO, and Motabaqah/ Keysight Technologies) for their generous support and efforts; to the conference’s Organizing, Technical Program, and Media Committees; and to all volunteers and conference participants who played a critical role in ensuring a successful event, wishing them all further progress in their endeavors. A group photo was taken at the end of the opening ceremony, as shown in Figure 1.

MMS2016 exceeded expectations in many ways. In addition to five talks provided by three prominent ­keynote speakers from Canada (2016 MTT-S President Ke Wu; Yahia Antar, a past AP-S Distinguished Lecturer; and Tayeb Denidni), one from the United States (Mona Jarrahi, an MTT-S Distinguished Lecturer), and one from the United Kingdom (Akram Alomainy), we received a total of 155 regular papers from 23 different countries. After undergoing rigorous technical reviews, the conference program included a total of 96 technical papers (an acceptance rate of 61.93%) organized within 18 oral sessions spread over the three-day conference. All accepted and presented papers at MMS2016 have been posted to the IEEE Xplore database. Figures 2–5 show the keynote speakers being honored by the AAU presi­ dent, the MMS2016 general chair, and the AAU vice president. There were also three specialized tutorials addressing state-of-the-art topics: “Millimeter-Wave Anten nas for 5G Cellular Communications,” by Tayeb Denidni; “Sustainable and LowCost Electromagnetic Technologies for the Internet of Things: Experiences

Figure 1. A group photo taken at the conclusion of the MMS2016 opening ceremony.

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Figure 2. Prof. Ke Wu (center) being honored by AAU President Ghaleb Al Refae (left) and Dr. Nazih Khaddaj Mallat.

Figure 4. Prof. Mona Jarrahi (center) being honored by President Al Refae and Dr. Khaddaj Mallat.

Figure 3. Prof. Yahia Antar (center) being honored by President Al Refae and Dr. Khaddaj Mallat.

Figure 5. Prof. Tayeb Denidni (center) being honored by AAU Vice President Abdelhafeez Belarabi (left) and Dr. Khaddaj Mallat.

at Electromagnetic Labs in Lecce,” by Luciano Tarricone; and “Intrabody Com­munication for WBANs: Recent Advances and Future Directions,” by Akram Alomainy and Raed Shubair. Besides the conference’s t­echnical activities, there were two social activities scheduled: a city tour of Abu Dhabi and a banquet/dinner where the awards were presented (Figure 6). During the MMS2016 banquet, the MMS2016 Best Paper Award (sponsored by AAU) was announced. The selection was for an original paper in the field of microwave communications and based on originality, utility, timeliness, and clarity of

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Figure 6. The well-attended MMS2016 banquet.



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Figure 7. The Best Paper Award winners being presented their US$1,000 prize.

presentation. The prize is US$1,000 (Figure 7). In addition, the Yarman and Carlin Best Graduate Student Paper Awards (first, second, and third ranked) were presented to young microwave engineers/scientists who presented the three best research papers during MMS2016. The prize for first place is US$500 (Figure 8), while the prizes for second and third place are US$300 and US$200, respectively. The awarded papers were selected by a committee formed by the general chair. In addition, AAU Vice President Ab­­ delhafeez Belarabi honored the members of the symposium’s Organizing Committee, as shown in Figure 9. Also during the closing banquet, Dr. Khaddaj Mallat announced that MMS2017 will be held in Marseille, France, on 28– 30 November 2017 and urged all those present to plan to attend. The award winners in the two best paper categories were as follows.

Best Paper Award “Design of a Two-LNAS-Switch-Module for Biomedical Applications in an L-Band Radiometric System,” by Muhammad M. Usmani, Raid J. Hadi, Carl Sandhagen, and Axel Bangert.

Yarmin and Carlin Best Student Paper Award Figure 8. The first place Yarmin and Carlin Best Student Paper Award winners being presented their US$500 prize.

First Place “A Foldable Textile-Based Broadband Archimedian Spiral Rectenna for RF Energy Harvesting,” by Randa El Khosht, Maha El Feshawy, Menna El Shorbagy, Monica Farag, Ahmed Elsaid, Hany Hammad, and Amr Talaat

Second Place “Innovative Tunable Microstrip Atten­­ uators Based on Few-Layer Graphene Flakes,” by Muhammad Yasir, Maurizio Bozzi, Luca Perregrini, Silvia Bistarelli, Antonino Cataldo, and Stefano Bellucci.

Third Place

Figure 9. The symposium’s Organizing Committee members being honored by AAU Vice President Belarabi (third from right).

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“Smart Antenna-Based Partial Discharge Detection and Classification System,” by Ruba Alkadi, Abdelrahman Shaath, Firas Gefe, Sana Jaber, Nadin Al Rayes, Ayman El-Hag, and Nasser Qaddoumi 

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