George Goussetis is one of a team of scientists pushing the boundaries of innovation, dealing in concepts and applications in technology that would have been unimaginable not so many years ago.
Dr Goussetis is a reader in Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Queen’s Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology (ECIT) where thinking outside the box is encouraged. ‘This exciting environment,’ he says, ‘is very much the reason I’m here.’ Born in Greece, he came to the UK in 1998 on an Erasmus exchange for three months ‘and ended up staying 14 years.’ He did his PhD at the University of Westminster in microwaves and microwave filters. From there he obtained a postdoctoral position at Loughborough University before moving to Heriot-Watt in Edinburgh and then Queen’s in 2006. In that year he was awarded a five-year research fellowship by the Royal Academy of Engineering.
His research interests at ECIT include numerical electromagnetics, microwave filters, antennas, frequencyselective surfaces and microwave heating. ‘The cluster in which I work deals with high frequency electronics and in that field we sit comfortably among the best in the UK, both in terms of our size and facilities, but also and more importantly the output.’
Specific projects include – research into systems which operate as ultra-fast high speed wireless connections for the home environment. ‘Rather than connecting your dvd or Blueray in the conventional manner, we’ve developed a way of doing this through a wireless link.’
Sources of funding for the research are diverse and include support from the EPSRC, from the EU, from industry – including a recent grant from Samsung – and from the European Space Agency.
Dr Goussetis believes in the advantages"The main concept is considering whether we can actually reproduce the electronic properties of real materials." of spending time with commercial firms. ‘Last year I was seconded to one in Dublin which manufactures its own chipsets – integrated circuits for use with microprocessors – which it then sells to electronic companies. And I’m also scheduled to go on secondment to a company in Austria, one of the big European chip manufacturers.
‘It’s very important to get to know what’s needed in industry so that you can direct your research to areas that are relevant. You get to know how industry works, you make valuable contacts. As an academic, you may come up with ideas but you need the pathway to capitalise on them so it’s helpful to know people who can make things happen.’
The ECIT philosophy of blue skies, as well as strategic and industrial research projects, is one that Dr Goussetis is happy to embrace. ‘My PhD was very much focused on applied mathematics and since then I have been heavily involved in a field of engineering and physics called metamaterials. These are artificial materials which are engineered to have properties that may not be found in nature. It’s the topic for which I received my research fellowship – a field that really started no more than 10 or 12 years ago so it’s very much blue sky.
‘The main concept is considering whether we can actually reproduce the electronic properties of real materials – such as in refraction...the straw bending in the glass...but also producing properties that are not otherwise available naturally. Through this we are pursuing something of a holy grail – the concept of cloaking – how you can dress something like a building with something else – like a kind of film of light - in order to render it invisible.
‘There are potential applications in defence, of course, but lately people have been wondering if you could make this work in other areas. Could you actually cloak buildings from earthquakes or a tsunami?’
He is constantly scanning new horizons. He is involved in a knowledge transfer project funded by the Royal Society looking at selective shielding of buildings from cyber attack.
‘It’s relevant to banks, for example, which want to maintain a wireless network which is physically secure and confined within the building, but they also want to have wireless access to the outside world by mobile. I use the example of the microwave oven: the grid behind the glass has apertures large enough to let light go through but small enough to keep the radiation inside. We’re looking at the idea of conductive paint or a stencil to achieve the same result.’
He says, ‘In general, we’re looking into components, concepts and approaches for systems that are one or two generations ahead. It might be in the area of telecommunication, of sensing, or there may be medical applications. But we’re also keeping in touch with the needs of industry now as well as in the next five years. The impact, in terms of wealth creation, policy-making and general benefits to society, is immense.’
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