The project will contribute to a major research initiative intended to develop generation after next technologies in applied electromagnetics. This project will be co-funded by Teledyne e2v.

The project will be concerned with the management of antenna sidelobes for applications in high power microwave systems. High power microwave transmitters increasingly are required to operate in complex environments where other nearby electronics, typically operating at much lower power levels, may be subject to undesirable interference. All antenna will form sidelobes, undesired secondary beams typically at rather lower power than the primary beam, but potentially still of moderate absolute power. Since these beams may make quite large angles to the intended primary beam, there is risk of problematic exposure to relatively nearby components. The project will explore schemes to mitigate these secondary signals.

 The main objectives of this project are:

• Investigation of options to minimise sidelobes in high power antenna
• Whilst maintaining high gain for primary beam
• Initially focussing on variation of slot type antenna
• Extending to a range of alternative antenna schemes
• Exploit advanced simulation techniques to predict antenna patterns
• Including near, intermediate and far field
• Undertake experiments to verify the predications using facilities at the University or at the project partner Teledyne-e2V
• The student will develop a range of transferrable skills in ‘in demand’ areas including
• Numerical simulation
• Experimental techniques

The PhD candidate to undertake this project will be part of a new EPSRC Energy Transfer Technology Skills and Training (S&T) Hub. The main aim of the S&T Hub, which has the form of a Doctoral Training Centre, is to train the next generation of leaders in energy transfer technologies spanning a range of applications. The Hub is supported by UK Government and many major high technology companies working in electromagnetics.

Each student funded by the Hub will have an industrial partner and have opportunities to work with and train alongside experts from industry. The Hub offers individual’s training for both a research and an industrial career path.

The student will be based at the University of Strathclyde but will be part of cohort of 12 PhD students across a number of UK institutions. The Skills and Training Hub will run online and face-to-face activities to facilitate cohort building and group learning exercises throughout the PhD programme. The duration of the PhD is 4 years, and the project is available for immediate start.

The PhD student will be physically located in the Atoms Beams and Plasmas Group in the Physics Department at the University of Strathclyde.

The industrial partner, Teledyne-e2v, is a major international company with interests in high power Microwave and RF systems, Power and Systems Engineering. The partner will provide PhD supervision, a placement and be part of the larger STH community benefiting in the diverse academic and industrial network offered by the STH.

Further information

We strongly recommend that you contact the supervisors for this project before you apply. Professor Kevin Ronald: K.Ronald@strath.ac.uk.

There may be some flexibility in the deadline, and it would be good to discuss in advance.