Inventor Profiles

Research area Research focuses on the broadly defined area of Applied Electromagnetics, specifically:

1. Electrically small antennas: Developing antennas systems that overcome the fundamental bandwidth-efficiency product limitations of conventional linear time invariant (LTI) antenna systems.
2. Phased-array antennas: Developing low-cost and complexity phased arrays as well as extremely high-power phased-array antennas for defense and wireless power beaming applications.
3. HF/VHF antenna systems: Developing compact, wideband antennas, small-aperture direction finding systems, impedance matching and decoupling networks, and self- and co-site interference suppression systems for use with single element HF antennas or HF antenna arrays.
4. High-power microwaves and vacuum electronics: Developing high-power, wideband microwave amplifiers, X-ray communications systems and rapid detection and suppression of multipactor events in space-based electronics.
5. Biomedical applications of RF and microwaves: Developing a traveling-wave, electron paramagnetic resonance imaging (EPRI) system and minimally invasive microwave ablation antennas for cancer treatment.

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What excites you about your work? 

“There are two things that I particularly enjoy about my work. The first one is the constant opportunity to learn new things. With every new concept I learn, I find out about many more that I was unaware I didn’t know. That is both humbling and motivating. The more experience I gain in my job as a ‘professor,’ the more I feel that I am really a student, and I like being a student. The second thing I really like about my job is the opportunity to work with and mentor so many bright students and postdocs. It is really rewarding to see them grow professionally and go on to do great things after they graduate.”

What do you hope to achieve? 

“In addition to continuing to do what I am doing now, I like to work on commercializing some of the technologies we have developed at UW-Madison over the years that have been patented by WARF. There are a few technologies that I think are really promising. One of them is related to the latest patent that WARF filed on a new electrically small antenna technology that we developed, through generous funding received from IARPA, for overcoming the fundamental bandwidth-efficiency product limitations of electrically small antennas. I think that this technology has a real potential for revolutionizing the manpack and vehicle-mounted tactical HF radio market.”

Professor Behdad is a prolific inventor. His innovations around antennas are highly relevant for industry and we are hopeful to license these into commercial products.

– Michael Carey, WARF, Licensing Manager