Research
Research Overview
Dr. Yoo's research is broadly at the intersection of electromagnetics and wireless systems, encompassing a broad range of topics. Specifically, I have been pursuing electromagnetic-based interdisciplinary research on metamaterials, metasurfaces, and their modeling and design techniques for various wireless systems, including wireless communication, remote sensing, imaging, and power transfer systems.
Uh, wait a minute. If you're not familiar with the term "metamaterials", please visit this page and read a short introduction to the field. I'd describe metamaterials as artificially structured materials used to control and manipulate various wave phenomena. As you may have heard, they are also well-known for their applications, including invisibility cloak, negative refraction, perfect lens, etc.
In recent years, the research focus within the field of metamaterials has shifted towards metasurfaces, which are electrically thin layers of metamaterial scattering elements. Among various configurations, waveguide-fed metasurfaces have proven to be useful for constructing electrically large radiative platforms, and therefore, they have revolutionized various technology sectors associated with wireless systems.
Ongoing Research Projects
This section will be updated soon. For those interested in exploring more details about our lab, here are some keywords--not an exhaustive list, though.
Metasurfaces as radiative platforms for next-generation (6G) wireless communication systems (e.g., metasurfaces for extremely large-scale massive MIMO, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, etc.)
Metasurfaces as radiative platforms for SAR imaging, radar, and remote sensing applications.
Metamaterials/metasurfaces for imaging applications.
So, what you can learn from our Group?
Most projects are externally funded by government or other sponsors, and the nature of funding may place constraints on research directions. However, our research group's basic approach is that we systematically connect the learned concepts in electromagnetics to identify and develop research ideas, employing interdisciplinary methods to further broaden our knowledge base.
Depending on your interests, you may choose to focus on developing a specific mathematical technique or different methods of simulations/experiments. Our group will provide support and resources to help advance your research. Following training, you will acquire knowledge, skill sets, and abilities to perform independent research.
Previous Research Projects
PI's Previous Research Projects (2015 - 2023)
Next-generation Metasurfaces (tentative title), funded by Kymeta Corporation, 2023
"Metasurface Antenna for Cloud-Targeting Radar (MACTRad): W-Band Metasurface Cloud Sensor", funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) ACT, 2022
"Beam-Steering Metasurface Antenna for Lunar Soil Moisture Sensing", funded by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) STTR 2019 Phase I and II
"Project Stratum: Enabling Rapid Revisit with Satellite Metasurface Microwave Antenna Technology", funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), 2021
"Wireless Communications with Metamaterial-Based Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces: Fundamentals, Optimization, and Experimentation", funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), 2021
"Extending the Coupled Dipole Model for Metasurface Antenna Design", funded by Kymeta Corporation, 2020
"Dynamically Reconfigurable, Conformal, Metasurface Apertures for Communications and Sensing Applications in Aerospace Platforms", funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), 2018