The Industrial Microwave Modeling Group

Activities

Interaction with Industry and Academia

To extend the use of modeling in practice and ultimately reduce the cost of ovens, equipment, and food and improve their characteristics, the IMMG:

identifies and studies both commercial and academic modeling software applicable to typical problems in microwave power industry;
provides information support for the researchers and engineers regarding modern computational opportunities;
generates feedback to software designers to make their products consistent with the actual needs of the industrial sector.

To support further progress with practical modeling and CAD of applied systems of microwave power engineering, the IMMG administers and maintains:

The QuickWave-3D Users Group web site

- an educational resource and discussion board for the engineers and researchers working with the 3D conformal FDTD simulator QuickWave-3D.

The IMMG participates in organization of international conferences which include the above aspects in their goals and programs. Currently, the group is focused on the following events:

Research Activities

The main goals in research result from the ultimate need to be able to build microwave equipment with predictable and controllable heating performance. The major research directions currently include:

Development of techniques of control and optimization of processes and systems of microwave heating;
Microwave inverse problems and optimization with artificial neural networks

Among the ongoing projects:

FDTD-backed ANN-based computation and optimization for CAD of microwave systems and components.
Control and Optimization of Microwave Thermoprocessing
Comparative Analysis of Electromagnetic Modeling Software

Educational Activities

Students are involved in both the industrial and research activities at both undergraduate and graduate levels.

Undergraduates carry out Interactive and Major Qualifying Projects (IQP & MQP) which take up 1.5 semesters, and work in the frameworks of Independent Study Programs.
Graduate students work as research assistants and contribute to computations and interaction with both industry and software vendors
The group exercises different formats for students from other universities to participates in the IMMG activies and projects.

Completed Projects:

Upgrading 2D Modeling of Industrial Microwave Thermal Processing (Rakesh Shah, '99, Younes Horma, '00,)
Enhancements to the Use of Mathematical Modeling in the Microwave Power Industry (Adriano Palombizio, '99)
Modeling of High Power Water Load (Hauke Marshall, '01)
FDTD Algorithm for Modeling Electromagnetic Problems with Changing Geometry (Pawel Kopyt, Warsaw University of Technology, visiting WPI)
Method of Efficient Optimization of Microwave Systems (Veronika Mechenova, GS, '02)
Neural Network Optimization of Microwave Systems (Ethan Murphy, GS, '03)
Complex Permittivity Reconstructions with Neural Networks (Gregory Pettigrew, '03 and Pawel Kopyt, Warsaw University of Technology)
Slotted Waveguides as Excitation Systems of Microwave Ovens (Jaroslaw Antoniuk and Bartlomiej Salski, Warsaw University of Technology)
FDTD Modeling of the Sierpinski Carpet Fractal Antenna (Brian Cordes, '05)

Ongoing Projects:

3D Visualization of Electromagnetic Fields with MATLAB (Hauke Daempfling, GS)
Complex Permittivity Reconstruction with Neural Networks - Toward Applied Technology (Ethan Murphy, Colorado State University; Artur Moryc, Warsaw University of Technology)
Neural Network Optimization of Systems Represented by Limited FDTD Data (Ethan Murphy, Colorado State University)
Modeling and Optimization of Modified Fractal Antennas (Brian Cordes, GS)

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Last modified: Jan 20, 2007, 11:41 EST