Jim and Ellen King Dean of Engineering and Computing, School of Engineering
Distinguished Professor, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
The University of New Mexico
Dr. Christodoulou has disclosed 12 inventions, received four UNM-affiliated issued U.S. patents, and has three pending U.S. patent applications for his reconfigurable antenna and energy harvesting technologies. Dr. Christodoulou has also helped Bluecom Systems, an Albuquerque startup develop multi-band, multi-mode radios.
Reconfigurable antennas provide a paradigm shift in antenna design engineering. Reconfigurable antennas can provide great versatility to wireless devices due to their ability to dynamically change their operating frequency, bandwidth, and aperture area while keeping their formfactor more or less constant.
Dr. Christodoulou’s reconfigurable multifrequency antenna technology is a switchable antenna that incorporates RF-MEMS switches with planar antennas to increase the antenna’s ability to radiate over a wide range of frequencies. The antenna operates on very low power, is reliable, and is inexpensive to mass-produce. His reconfigurable filtenna technology is a new reconfiguration for frequency tunable antennas that changes the antenna’s operating frequency without adding components in its radiating surface by using a band-pass filter within the antenna’s feeding line. These technologies are suitable for cell phones and other personal electronic devices.
Dr. Christodoulou’s OPRAS antenna technology merges photonics with reconfigurable antennas and can be reconfigured dynamically at very high speeds. Discrete semiconductor photoconductive elements act as switches between antenna elements, dynamically changing the resonant frequencies of the antenna without using required bias lines to activate the switches. The technology is particularly suitable for military and stealth applications. His energy harvester technology uses ambient radiofrequency energy from TV signals to Wi-Fi signals, along with solar energy, and converts it into direct current power that can be used to power mobile devices throughout their daily use, eliminating the need for external charging.
Dr. Christodoulou’s research interests are in the areas of modeling of electromagnetic systems, machine learning in electromagnetics, high- power microwave antennas, reconfigurable antennas for cognitive radio, and RF/photonics.
ISSUED U. S. PATENT (UNM-AFFILIATED)
7,589,674 Reconfigurable Multifrequency Antenna with RF-MEMS Switches, issued September 15, 2009
8,482,465 Optically-Pumped Reconfigurable Antenna Systems (OPRAS), issued July 9, 2013
9,653,793 Systems and Methods for Reconfigurable Filtenna, issued May 16, 2017
9,768,338 Multi-Source Optimal Reconfigurable Energy Harvester, issued September 19, 2017
PENDING U. S. PATENT APPLICATIONS (UNM-AFFILIATED)
Dual-Matrix Composite Embedded Conductors and Deployable Structure
UAV-Enabled Electromagnetic Health Monitoring for Resilient Wind Turbines
3D Printed Miniaturized Quadrifilar Helix Antenna