Raj and Jeannette Mittra Distinguished Lecture in Electrical Engineering: Practical antenna solutions enabled by soft and hard EM surfaces and metamaterials

Abstract: The presentation will describe how the concept of electromagnetically soft and hard surfaces and metamaterial horns came about. I will also discuss practical antennas enabled by these EM techniques, as well as future opportunities and challenges in antenna and RF design. 

Biography: Erik Lier received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway. He worked as a research scientist at the university and later at the Electronics Laboratory (ELAB), carrying out national and international research on microwave antennas and digital beamforming. He co-invented “Soft and Hard electromagnetic surfaces” which has become an accepted concept within the field of electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) structures. Dr. Lier also spent a year at UCLA as a research scholar studying phased array antenna technology.  

Since 1990 he has been with Lockheed Martin Space (via GE Aerospace and Martin Marietta), with focus on developing new spacecraft antenna and payload technology. He was instrumental in building up shaped reflector capability in the company, resulting in winning the Asiasat-2 satellite program. He has been involved in the development and modernization of the GPS satellite payload over more than 20 years. His main research contribution has been in the field of phased array antennas, including analysis, design, calibration and test. Dr. Lier was the phased array architect for the Ku-band receive phased array which was launched as a hosted payload on the AMC-14 spacecraft in 2008, and the antenna lead on a radar antenna demo which was jettisoned off of the international space station in January 2020. He has also been heading up the internal metamaterials research collaboration effort within the company, which has included university collaboration and has led to several groundbreaking and practical metamaterial-enhanced antennas for space and ground applications.  

Dr. Lier has authored and co-authored over 130 journal and conference papers, including two papers in the journal Nature, one book and two book chapters, and holds 36 patents. He received the 1993 GE Technical Excellence Award and the 2014 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Harold A. Wheeler Applications Prize Paper Award. He is a Lockheed Martin Senior Technical Fellow, and a Fellow of IEEE (Life Fellow from 2021) and IET.