Jonatan Muñoz awarded the COIT-AEIT prize for best doctoral thesis on telecommunication engineering technologies and applications
Postdoctoral researcher Jonathan Muñoz, who forms part of the CIMITEC group of the Department of Electronic Engineering, was awarded a prize by the Official Association of Telecommunications Engineers for his PhD thesis on planar microwave sensors.
Jonathan Muñoz, postdoctoral researcher of the research group Metamaterials Research Centre for Innovation in Electronic and Communication Technologies (CIMITEC) of the Department of Electronic Engineering, UAB, was awarded the XLIII Award for Excellence in Telecommunication Engineering in the category of Best Doctoral Thesis in Telecommunication Engineering Technologies and Applications. The distinction is awarded by the Official Association of Telecommunication Engineers and the Spanish Association of Telecommunications Engineers (COIT-AEIT) to highlight the latest trends and goals in the field of telecommunications engineering and to promote academic excellence and innovation.
Prior to his PhD, Dr Muñoz's research career began as technical research support staff in the ECAS group at the UAB. After finishing his master's degree in Telecommunication Engineering, Muñoz joined the CIMITEC research group to do his PhD. During his doctoral research he collaborated with the prestigious centre LAAS-CNRS (Toulouse, France) during a 3-month stay, and obtained the International Doctor Mention and the qualification of cum laude. Muñoz has participated in 4 competitive research projects and is co-author of the book Planar Microwave Sensors, published by Wiley/IEEE Press in 2022. He has also published more than 40 papers in international journals and conferences, with a total of more than 600 citations.
Study and development of microwave sensors
In recent years, significant efforts have been made in the study and development of microwave sensors, in particular for applications related to the characterisation and composition of materials. Microwaves are extremely sensitive to the materials with which they interact, and this is the reason why microwave technology is increasingly useful for materials detection, with the implementation of microwave sensors that are highly sensitive, robust, low-cost, small-sized and low-profile.
Jonathan Muñoz's doctoral thesis is entitled "Highly Sensitive Planar Microwave Sensors for Dielectric Characterization of Solids, Liquids, and Biosamples". It focuses on planar microwave sensors based on resonant components for the characterisation of materials, including solids, liquids and biosamples. Planar microwave sensors are of particular relevance because their low profile is suitable for many applications where bulky sensors are very limited. The results obtained in this thesis extend the state of the art in the field of planar microwave sensors. Proof-of-concept prototypes (in microstrip technology) support the validity and feasibility of the suggested devices, and theoretical expressions, circuit simulations, electromagnetic simulations and experimental results are in agreement in this thesis.