Student Competition Winner 2007

The entries for the 2007 FEKO student competition was of such a high standard that it was a very hard task to choose a winner! Congratulations to all students who submitted an entry. Your work was of exceptional quality.

Winner

In the end there can be only one winner and this year the winner is Brad Kramer from Ohio State University, studying under Prof. John Volakis and Dr. Chi-Chih Chen.  The topic of Brad's submission was: "Size Reduction of a UWB Low-Profile Spiral Antenna via Inductive Loading".  Brad created an innovative design which required skilled FEKO modeling and compared the simulated results to a measured result from the prototype antenna.  Brad wins the grand prize of a sponsored trip to an academic conference in his field of study.

Figure 1: Brad Kramer UWB gain comparison - Simulation vs Measurement

Honorable mention

Given the exceptionally high standard of work of the entrants to the competition, it was decided that honorable mention prizes of $200 Amazon.com gift vouchers will be awarded to a further three entrants (in no particular order):

• Kichul Kim for his entry titled "CEM Modeling and Applications of Carbon Nanotubes and Related Nano-Components", studying under prof Dejan Filipovic at the University of Colorado, Boulder, USA.  Kichul pursued an innovative application of a material with a frequency dependent complex conductivity.  Careful use of FEKO's advanced scripting interface to model frequency dependent material parameters and excellent correlation with published literature earns Kichul an honorable mention.
• Gideon Wiid for his entry titled "Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) Characterisation and Computational Modelling of Karoo Array Telescope (KAT) Structure and Cabling", studying under Prof. Howard Reader and Dr. Riana Geschke at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa.  Gideon modeled and built scale models to help minimize radio interference on the signal path of the KAT radio telescope dishes and cabling.  Gideon's careful attention to small FEKO model details at high frequencies resulted in very good agreement between measurement and simulation, earning Gideon an honorable mention.
• Taeyoung Yang for his entry entitled "Cellular Phone and Hearing Aid Interaction:  An Antenna Solution", studying under Dr. William Davis and Dr Warren Stutzman at Virginia Tech, USA.  Taeyoung proposes new antennas for mobile phones that minimize near-field radiation toward the phone from the user's head and per implication also minimize interference with hearing aids.  The FEKO analysis of these antennas next to an IEEE SAM phantom head and the good comparison of the  simulated result with measurements made inside a phantom with the SPEAG DASY4 system earns Taeyoung an honorable mention.