PhD students hosted by IT were distinguished with the Best Student Paper Award at one of the world’s largest wireless power events.

The winning paper, titled “A Hybrid System Combining SWIPT and Backscatter Techniques”, was authored by PhD students Felisberto Pereira and Marina Jordão (hosted by IT in Aveiro), along with researcher Ricardo Correia. The students were supervised by Nuno Carvalho, senior researcher and coordinator of the Wireless Communications Scientific Area at IT.

“Our work consists of a hybrid system that is able to transmit energy and information at the same time. This way, we are able to power sensors/identifiers and at the same time select the ones we want to obtain information from, and decide how we want that information”, said Felisberto Pereira.

“To put it simply, this technology allows all RFIDs (Radio Frequency Identification) we have today in the most varied objects to be more intelligent. Since their information can be managed dynamically, we move from unidirectional communication to bidirectional communication — all of this without the need for batteries or other power sources”, the student added.

The WPTC is hosted under the Wireless Power Week (WPW) 2020, an event sponsored by the IEEE Microwave Theory Technique Society (MTT-S), the Power Electronics Society (PELS), and the AirFuel Alliance (AFA).

It aims to bring together leading academic scientists and scholars to share experiences and research results on all aspects of wireless power across the electromagnetic spectrum. In addition to technical sessions, the conference features keynote speeches, tutorials, workshops, a student competition, and industry exhibitions.

This year’s WPTC was held virtually from Seoul, South Korea, from November 15-19. The winners of the Best Student Paper will be awarded with a certificate and a symbolic cash prize.

Photo (from left to right): PhD students Marina Jordão and Felisberto Pereira, with Ricardo Correia