The mission of the WiDE Laboratory is to advance the state of the art and educate the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs in the following domains:

  • Wireless Systems, Antennas and Sensors
  • Connected and Autonomous Cyber-Physical Systems

To improve the performance of wireless devices and systems, team members perform focused research on:

  • Material engineering for high-frequency applications
  • Novel advanced manufacturing techniques for RF and optical communications applications
  • Optimized 3D antenna and circuit geometries
  • RF-based sensors for harsh environments and aerospace applications
  • Hardware security for high-frequency electronics
  • Proficient Artificial Intelligence, trustworthiness and robustness
  • Safety and security of connected and autonomous systems
  • Mobile and ubiquitous computing

In addition to this generalized context, laboratory researchers have expertise on a wide range of topics in avionics and aerospace communications and sensing, including RADAR, satellite communications, and UAS Sense and Avoid.

Learn More About the Research Group

Some of the WiDE Lab Group's recent research projects include:

  • Antennas and Electronics for Aerospace Applications
  • mm-Wave Reconfigurable Systems
  • Structural Monolithic RF Electronics
  • Additive Manufacturing of RF Circuits and Antennas

Journal Publications

Roger B. Tipton, Dianhao Hou, Eduardo A. Rojas-Nastrucci, Thomas M. Weller, Venkat R. Bhethanabotla, “Laser Enhanced Direct Print Additive Manufacturing of Embedded Circular Cross-Section Optical Fiber Interconnects for Board Level Computing Devices,” Additive Manufacturing, Volume 34, 2020, 101227, ISSN 2214-8604, .

Clayton Neff, Eduardo A. Rojas-Nastrucci, Justin Nussbaum, Darrell Griffin, Thomas M. Weller, and Nathan B. Crane, "Thermal and Vapor Smoothing of Thermoplastic for Reduced Surface Roughness of Additive Manufactured RF Electronics," accepted in IEEE Transactions on Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology, 2019.

R. A. Ramirez, E. A. Rojas-Nastrucci and T. M. Weller, "Laser-Assisted Additive Manufacturing of mm-Wave Lumped Passive Elements," in IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 66, no. 12, pp. 5462-5471, Dec. 2018.

E. A. Rojas-Nastrucci, J. Nussbaum, T. M. Weller and N. B. Crane, “Ka-Band Characterization of Binder Jetting for 3D-Printing of Metallic Rectangular Waveguide Circuits and Antennas," in IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 65, no. 9, pp. 3099-3108, Sept. 2017.

E. A. Rojas-Nastrucci, Harvey Tsang, Paul Deffenabugh, T. M. Weller, Ramiro A. Ramirez, D. Hawatmeh, and Kenneth Church, “Characterization and Modeling of K-Band Coplanar Waveguide Digitally Manufactured Using Pulsed Picosecond Laser Machining of Thick-Film Conductive Paste,” in IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 65, no. 9, pp. 3180-3187, Sept. 2017.

E. A. Rojas-Nastrucci, A. D. Snider and T. M. Weller, "Propagation Characteristics and Modeling of Meshed Ground Coplanar Waveguide," in IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 64, no. 11, pp. 3460-3468, Nov. 2016.

J. Castro, E. A. Rojas-Nastrucci, A. Ross, T. M. Weller and J. Wang, "Fabrication, Modeling, and Application of Ceramic-Thermoplastic Composites for Fused Deposition Modeling of Microwave Components," in IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 65, no. 6, pp. 2073-2084, June 2017.

Thomas P. Ketterl, Yaniel Vega, Nicholas C. Arnal, John W. I. Stratton, Eduardo A. Rojas-Nastrucci, María F. Córdoba-Erazo, Mohamed M. Abdin, Casey W. Perkowski, Paul I. Deffenbaugh, Kenneth H. Church, and Thomas M. Weller, "A 2.45 GHz Phased Array Antenna Unit Cell Fabricated Using 3-D Multi-Layer Direct Digital Manufacturing," in IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 63, no. 12, pp. 4382-4394, Dec. 2015.

R. A. Ramirez, E. A. Rojas-Nastrucci and T. M. Weller, "UHF RFID Tags for On-/Off-Metal Applications Fabricated Using Additive Manufacturing," in IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, vol. 16, no. , pp. 1635-1638, 2017.

Juan Castro, Eduardo Rojas, Thomas Weller, and Jing Wang, “High-Permittivity and Low-Loss Electromagnetic Composites Based on Co-fired Ba0.55Sr0.45TiO3 or MgCaTiO2 Microfillers for Additive Manufacturing and Their Application to 3-D Printed K-Band Antennas”, in Journal of Microelectronics and Electronic Packaging 2016 13:3, 102-112.

Conference Publications

Carlos R. Mejias-Morillo, and Eduardo A. Rojas-Nastrucci, “Z-Meandering Miniaturized Patch Antenna Using Additive Manufacturing,” 2020 IEEE Radio and Wireless Symposium (RWS), San Antonio, TX, 2020.

C. R. Mejias-Morillo, A. Gbaguidi, D. W. Kim, S. Namilae and E. A. Rojas-Nastrucci, "UHF RFID-Based Additively Manufactured Passive Wireless Sensor for Detecting Micrometeoroid and Orbital Debris Impacts," 2019 IEEE International Conference on Wireless for Space and Extreme Environments (WiSEE), Ottawa, ON, Canada, 2019, pp. 41-47.

Seng Loong Yu, Eduardo A. Rojas-Nastrucci, " Characterization of Microdispensed Dielectric Materials for Direct Digital Manufacturing Using Coplanar Waveguides," 2019 IEEE 20th Annual Wireless and Microwave Technology Conference (WAMICON), April 2019.

E. A. Rojas-Nastrucci, Ramiro Ramirez and T. M. Weller, "Direct Digital Manufacturing of mm-Wave Vertical Interconnects," 2018 IEEE 19th Annual Wireless and Microwave Technology Conference (WAMICON), April 2018.

R. A. Ramirez, D. Lan, E. A. Rojas-Nastrucci and T. M. Weller, "Laser Assisted Additive Manufacturing of CPW mm-Wave Interdigital Capacitors," 2018 IEEE/MTT-S International Microwave Symposium - IMS, Philadelphia, PA, 2018, pp. 1553-1556.

Eduardo Rojas-Nastrucci, Ramiro Ramirez, Derar Hawatmeh, Di Lan, Jing Wang and Thomas Weller, “Laser Enhanced Direct Print Additive Manufacturing for Mm-Wave Components and Packaging,” ICEAA 2017, Verona, Italy, September 2017.

J. Castro, E. Rojas, T. Weller and J. Wang, "High-k and low-loss electromagnetic composites for direct digital manufacturing of mmWave devices," 2017 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation & USNC/URSI National Radio Science Meeting, San Diego, CA, 2017, pp. 897-898.

E. A. Rojas-Nastrucci, J. Nussbaum, T. M. Weller and N. B. Crane, "Meshed rectangular waveguide for high power, low loss and reduced weight applications," 2016 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS), San Francisco, CA, 2016, pp. 1-4.

Eduardo A. Rojas-Nastrucci, Justin Nussbaum, Thomas M. Weller, and Nathan B. Crane. “Metallic 3D Printed Ka-Band Pyramidal Horn using Binder Jetting”. IEEE MTT-S 2016 Latin America Microwave Conference (LAMC).

J. Castro, E. Rojas, A. Ross, T. Weller and J. Wang, "High-k and low-loss thermoplastic composites for Fused Deposition Modeling and their application to 3D-printed Ku-band antennas," 2016 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS), San Francisco, CA, 2016, pp. 1-4.

D. Hawatmeh, E. Rojas-Nastrucci, and T. Weller. “A Multi-Material 3D Printing Approach for Conformal Microwave Antennas”. 2016 International Workshop on Antenna Technology. March 2016.

Vera-Lopez, A.L.; Rojas-Nastrucci, E.A.; Cordoba-Erazo, M.; Weller, T.; Papapolymerou, J., "Ka-band characterization and RF design of Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS)," in 2015 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS), vol., no., pp.1-4, 17-22 May 2015.

Jonathon O‘Brien, Maria Cordoba Erazo, Eduardo Rojas, Juan Castro, Mohamed Abdin, Jing Wang, Gokhan Mumcu, Kenneth Church, Paul Deffenbaugh, Thomas Weller. “Miniaturization of Microwave Components and Antennas Using 3D Manufacturing”. 9th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP 2015). Lisbon, Portugal, April 2015.

Rojas-Nastrucci, E.A.; Weller, T.; Lopez Aida, V.; Fan Cai; Papapolymerou, J., "A study on 3D-printed coplanar waveguide with meshed and finite ground planes," 2014 IEEE 15th Annual Wireless and Microwave Technology Conference (WAMICON), vol., no., pp.1,3, 6-6 June 2014.

Eduardo A. Rojas-Nastrucci, Ramiro A. Ramirez, Sean T. Murphy, Mike Newton and Thomas M. Weller. “A Direct Digital Manufactured RFID System Applied to Teaching Antenna Theory to Pre-College Students.” International Symposium on Microelectronics Oct 2015, Vol. 2015.

Juan Castro, Eduardo Rojas, Thomas Weller and Jing Wang, "High-k and Low-Loss Polymer Composites with Co-Fired Nd and Mg-Ca Titanates for 3D RF and Microwave Printed Devices: Fabrication and Characterization" Wireless and Microwave Technology Conference (WAMICON), 2015 IEEE 16th Annual. April 2015.

Juan Castro, Eduardo Rojas, Thomas Weller, and Jing Wang. “Engineered Nanocomposites for Additive Manufacturing of Microwave Electronics.” International Symposium on Microelectronics Oct 2015, Vol. 2015.

Ramiro A. Ramirez, Eduardo A. Rojas-Nastrucci, Thomas M. Weller, "3D Tag with Improved Read Range for UHF RFID Applications using Additive Manufacturing" Wireless and Microwave Technology Conference (WAMICON), 2015 IEEE 16th Annual. April 2015.

M. F. Córdoba-Erazo, E. A. Rojas-Nastrucci and T. Weller, “Simultaneous RF electrical conductivity and topography mapping of smooth and rough conductive traces using microwave microscopy to identify localized variations.” Wireless and Microwave Technology Conference (WAMICON), 2015 IEEE 16th Annual, Cocoa Beach, FL, 2015.

Jonathan M. O'Brien, Eduardo Rojas and Thomas M. Weller. “A Switched-Line Phase Shifter Fabricated with Additive Manufacturing.” 2013 International Symposium on Microelectronics (IMAPS 2013), Vol. 2013, No. 1.

María F. Córdoba-Erazo, Eduardo A. Rojas-Nastrucci and Thomas Weller. "Measurement of Electrical Conductivity of Direct Digital Printed Conductive Traces Using Near-Field Microwave Microscopy" 2014 International Symposium on Microelectronics (IMAPS 2014). San Diego, CA, October 2014.

Kenneth Church, Xudong Chen, Paul Deffenbaugh, Casey Perkowski, Sam LeBlanc, Eduardo Rojas, Thomas Weller, “Turning Printed Circuit Boards into Printed Circuit Structures using 3D Printing,” 2014 SMTA Conference, August 2014.

Faculty


Director, WiDE Lab


Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Ph.D. Students

  • Noemí Miguélez Gómez
  • Carlos R. Mejías M.
  • Seng Loong "Hanson" Yu
  • Daniel Sommer

Master's Students

  • Sabrina Yepez
  • Kevin Pepin
  • Justin Parkhurst

Undergraduate Students

  • Alondra Valentin-Torres
  • John I. Sahr

Alumni

  • Diego Rincon
  • Nicholas Moline
  • Dilara Boyaci
  • Sofia Mvokany
  • Eric Osorio
  • National Science Foundation
  • Air Force Research Library
  • NASA
  • Oregon State University
  • University of South Florida
  • nScrypt
  • Sciperio
  • L3Harris
  • Picoprobe
  • Intuitive Machines
  • Sensatek

From Concept to Orbit: A Student-Built Deployable Satellite Antenna  

Watch Embry-Riddle engineering students design, build, and test a foldable satellite antenna — from simulation and CAD modeling to advanced manufacturing and anechoic chamber validation. See how their work turns into real performance, pushing toward the next phase of the MTT-Sat Challenge.
A screenshot from the WiDE Lab Group's MTT-SAT video
Wireless Devices and Electromagnetics Lab students present their entry for the MTT-Sat Challenge

EE 430 - Introduction to Radio Frequency Circuits

This course introduces the fundamentals of radio frequency (RF) theory and circuits. The main topics in the RF theory part include RF behavior of common devices, transmission lines, Smith chart, impedance matching and S parameters. The main topics in the RF circuit part include filters, amplifiers, oscillators and mixers.

EE 430L - Radio Frequency Circuits Laboratory

This lab accompanies radio frequency (RF) circuits. The main topics of this lab include operating the RF measurement equipment; demonstrating the RF behavior of common devices; measuring the parameters of transmission lines; measuring the S-parameters of transistors and integrated circuits; matching the impedances of networks; and designing/testing filters, amplifiers and oscillators, as well as mixers.

EE  495N - Antenna Theory With Space and Aviation Applications

This course is intended to cover fundamental aspects of antenna engineering and expose the students to advanced antenna problems for aerospace and aviation applications. Antenna parameters such as bandwidth, gain, polarization and radiation pattern will be covered. Aviation and aerospace antenna embodiments such as reflector antennas, microstrip arrays, reflectarrays and deployable antennas will be studied. Study of state-of-the-art antennas, use of simulation tools, manufacturing equipment and testing facilities are expected. Special attention is given to solutions using additive manufacturing techniques. Simulations are done using Ansys HFSS, and testing is done using a far-field 1-20 GHz antenna anechoic chamber. Manufacturing is performed using a laser-based PCB system.

Associated Labs & Facilities

WiDE Lab
  • Daytona Beach College of Engineering
  • Daytona Beach Campus
  • The mission of the Wireless Devices and Electromagnetics (WiDE) Lab is to advance the state of the art of wireless circuits and antennas (up to mm-wave frequencies) while educating the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs in this domain.

Related Resources

Contact Us

Dr. Eduardo Rojas
Director, WiDE Lab