Summer School Microwaves and MM-waves for the Design of Advanced Wireless Links: Communication, Sensing and Power Transfer

This Summer School offers 6 ECTS credits through the delivering of 52-hour lectures. Attendees will get an introduction to EM fundamentals and then they will learn how to apply those to the design and implementation of future communication systems, radars, wireless sensing systems, wireless networks and high-frequency circuits.

The Summer School lectures are subdivided into two parts.

The first part is devoted to a concise and basic description of the most important EM phenomena: wave propagation in free space, inhomogeneous media and guiding structures; properties and characteristic parameters of passive devices, transceivers and antennas. Experimental measurements and introduction to commercial EM solvers are also planned.

The second part of the lecturers is devoted to highlight how the EM phenomena and devices previously reviewed are applied in some of the most advanced wireless systems.

Lecturers, from both academia and ICT industry, will focus on the design criteria, technical features, architectures and innovative aspects directly induced by EM concepts in non-terrestrial networks, 5G mobile communications, wireless power transfer systems, V2X communications, global LEO constellation networks, microwave systems for aerospace and defense. To fully pursue the Summer School goals and provide the most effective outcome, lecturers are selected among academia (University of Pisa and University of Bologna), ICT industry and international research centers.

On one day of the Summer School week, the lectures will be given at the Marconi’s Museum in Villa Griffone, Pontecchio Marconi (close to Bologna). In the morning, the attendees will have a guided tour of the museum and see some experiments emulating those made by the pioneer of the radio communications (Nobel Prize for Physics, in 1909) in his family country estate in the late XIX century. In the afternoon, two lecturers on WPT (wireless power transfer) systems and RIS (Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces) for 6G mobile communications will be given by recognized experts from the University of Bologna. The bus transfer for the round trip to Pontecchio Marconi will be provided by the Summer School organizers.

Students interested to earn the 6 ECTS credits are required to agree with the Summer School coordinators on a Project Work topic, and then submit their written report no later than 30 August 2025 (pdf submission by email to paolo.nepa@unipi.it and andrea.michel@unipi.it).

The program will be activated also in distance learning mode (TEAMS platform).

Aim

The inaugural edition of this Summer School aims to introduce the attendees to the building blocks required to understand the basic principles, the implementation strategies and the design criteria of the most common wireless systems operating in the microwaves and mm-waves frequency bands. An overview of the fundamental electromagnetic (EM) phenomena will be provided and exploited, to describe the most important high-frequency devices of the wireless system physical layer.

The Summer School will support the gain of skills useful to control the EM propagation, thus helping the attendees to face the challenging and ever-evolving specifications of advanced wireless systems.

The Summer School can be of interest for students (PhD students, postgraduate students, and undergraduate students who are close to getting their degree), practitioners and industry employees, who are involved in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) fields and aim to exploit the EM phenomena to shape future communication systems, radars, wireless sensing systems, wireless networks and high-frequency circuits.

Lecture contents do not require a background in electromagnetics, yet experimental measurements and commercial simulation tools will be used to validate EM basic concepts, as an effective alternative to conventional approaches based only on analytical derivations.