## Comment and reply in IEEE journals (IEEEtran)

If one likes to mimic the style of the comments of the replies in some IEEE journals like IEEE TAP, one needs to make few changes to the manuscript.

Firstly, one needs to use the technote option of the IEEEtran document class:

\documentclass[technote]{IEEEtran}

In the preamble, you just add:

\usepackage[absolute]{textpos}
\setlength{\TPHorizModule}{1cm}
\setlength{\TPVertModule}{1cm}


Just after the \begin{document}

\begin{textblock}{16}(1.5,1)
\end{textblock}


Here is a complete minimal working example (MWE):

\documentclass[technote]{IEEEtran}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{cite}
\usepackage{graphicx}

\usepackage[absolute]{textpos}
\setlength{\TPHorizModule}{1cm}
\setlength{\TPVertModule}{1cm}
\begin{document}

\begin{textblock}{16}(1.5,1)
\end{textblock}

\title{Comments on blah blah blahhhh blahhhhhhhhhh''}

\author{John Babajuni and Joe Babajuni \thanks{This work was partly supported by blah blah.}    }
\maketitle
\begin{abstract}
\lipsum[1]
\end{abstract}

\begin{IEEEkeywords}
Some keywords, keyword, blah
\end{IEEEkeywords}

\section{Introduction}
\lipsum
\end{document}`

## Top 5 challenges faced by Immigrants

No matter whether you are planning for immigration or you are already an immigrant, it’s essential to gather as much information as you can, to understand the potential challenges you may face. Acknowledging there would be barriers in your way, is the first step in being a successful immigrants. In this article, we will look at some of those challenges and later, in a series of articles we will look at some of the solutions to tackle them.

1. ### Language Problem

It is no surprise that the greatest barrier to integration into the host country is low language proficiency. Your ability in expressing your thoughts and needs, affects every aspects of your life. Language is a key communication indicator, which has a big impact on how others assess your general proficiency. Without a sufficient knowledge of official language in your host country, all your technical skills, qualifications and, experiences could be…

View original post 324 more words

## How to simulate extinction cross section using the optical theorem?

I was asked to explain the method I used to simulate and find extinction cross section of the antennas in my paper. I thought I write a blog post for someone who might be looking for the same problem on the internet.

Well, there are basically two different methods. One method is to find the scattered fields by the scatterer. Then, one should calculate the power of scattered fields over the $4\pi$ steradian of the space. The power dissipated in the object should be also calculated. Then, one can find the extinction cross section by converting the sum of the absorbed and scattered powers into the cross section.

The second method, which is also simpler, is to use the optical theorem (see Wiki for further details). It readily relates extinction cross section with scattering amplitude of the object in the forward direction.

$\sigma_{ext} = -\frac{4\pi}{k} \Im{f(\hat{i},\hat{i})}$

Therefore, we are down to finding scattering amplitude of the object. The method that I found simple to implement was introduced by Gustafsson et al (2012). This was introduced for the measurement purposes. I also used it to model the extinction cross section in full-wave EM packages like FEKO, CST, Ansys, etc. Based on this method, we place the scatterer in the origin. A spherical source is used to illuminate the scatterer, and the field is also recorded in the forward direction ($AUT$). We also measure(or simulate) without the presence of the scatterer. This is basically to get an account of the path loss and phase delay between the source and observation points.  Then, we can have:

Then, by the optical theorem, we can find the extinction cross section as:

$\sigma_{ext}=\Im \{h\}$

where

$h=\frac{2\pi d}{k}( \frac{AUT-REF}{REF})^*.$

Note 1: Time dependence

In the above discussions, a time dependence of $\exp(j\omega t)$ is assumed. If one prefers \$latex \exp(-j\omega t) dependence, he/she should change the sign in (1) and omit the conjugate operator in (2). I found this worth to mention since I was used to get negative cross sections while I measured my antennas in [1]. I spent almost two months, to measure, and re-measure, and re-measure the cross sections, and I was getting the negative cross sections. I started asking people about the issue. Finally, one of the authors in [2] pointed the time dpendence issue to me,

Note 2: On the modelling $\sigma_{ext}$ of an antenna

Extinction cross section of an antenna can be found the same way as a general object. The only difference is one should add a load into the antenna terminals to setup the model or apparatus properly.

Note 3:

The imaginary part of $h$ stands for the extinction cross section, while I am not aware of any physical interpretation for the $\Re h$, though both of them have dimensions of the area. I believe intuitively one might somehow relate $\Re h$ to the stored energy around the scatterer.

[1] M. Shahpari and D. V. Thiel, “The Impact of Reduced Conductivity on the Performance of Wire Antennas,” in IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 63, no. 11, pp. 4686-4692, Nov. 2015. doi: 10.1109/TAP.2015.2479241 arXiv: 1509.06709  RG: Priprint

[2] M. Gustafsson, J. B. Andersen, G. Kristensson and G. F. Pedersen, “Forward Scattering of Loaded and Unloaded Antennas,” in IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 60, no. 12, pp. 5663-5668, Dec. 2012. doi: 10.1109/TAP.2012.2214191 RG: Preprint

## Matlab with Dual license keis

Those professionals who provide consultancy to different companies often need to use the license keies provided by the particular firm. This often involves using VPN connection to the server and also change of the license kies. Fortunately, change of the licenses are possible in Matlab. In this method illustrated in Matlab Central, we introduce a second license server, in case the connection to the first server is down, Matlab looks up the second license server. Having said that, the first server should be the most commonly used server since Matlab tries to ping it first and waits for its response. Running the Matlab with the second license is considerably slower.

The first method to make a dual license configuration work is by environment variables

To enable this configuration, follow the instructions below:

Create an environment variable, MLM_LICENSE_FILE, and set it to the port@host of the server machines in order. For example:

The second method is to edit the shortcut to the Matlab icon by:

C:\…\matlab.exe -c port@hostname1;port@hostname2

However, I don’t personally use the second method since it looks I have to edit all the shortcuts (Start Menu, Desktop, etc) to run Matlab.

Finaly, Matlab support team provides the following extra tips:

NOTE: If you are running an R13 client or below, you will not be able to run the license manager in the port range 27000-27009. To allow this failover, you will need to set the port number for the license manager to a range such as 1700-1711.

Also, a colon should be used rather than a semicolon on Non-Windows (Unix) systems.

For MATLAB Distributed Computing Server, worker licenses can be split up between two license server systems since each worker license is a seperate MDCS session.

## Beginners guide to writing a manuscript in LaTeX —

Interactive course available now. LaTeX is a document preparation system for the communication and publication of scientific documents that include complex math expressions or non-Latin scripts, such as Arabic, Sanskrit and Chinese. It is widely used in many fields in academia, including mathematics, physics, computer science, statistics, economics and political science. In LaTeX the writer […]

## Do It Yourself (& not just on Tuesdays!)

Here at Shut Up & Write Tuesdays we love it when the folks who make up our little community take an idea and run with it. At the moment we’re particularly enamoured with #diysuwt, the hashtag that folks are using to organise their own shut up & write sessions on Twitter.

If you like the Shut Up & Write Tuesdays model, but can’t make it to our sessions or prefer to write on other days, then #diysuwt is for you! Our lovely @SUWTUK host Louca-Mai Brady has put together the following tips, to help you get the hang of it…

• Use the hashtag to notify others that you are going to be writing, to see if they want to join you, and to let them know when you are starting, finishing, and taking a break
• Use the Pomodoro format to write in blocks of 25minutes, with a 5minute break between…

View original post 92 more words

## Grants for electromagnetic research

I am writing this post thrilled with the fantastic news on the outcome of the first round of ARC grant announcements in 2016. On Friday 6th May, ARC announced the winners of ARC Laurette fellowships, ARC linkage projects, and ARC research hubs for collaboration with industry.

It is warm heartening that researchers from the University of Queensland and University of Adelaide could secure funding to do research on antennas, microwaves, and EM related projects.

Prof. Abbosh from ITEE of UQ is a leader on two industrial projects for collaboration with EM solutions and LICENSYS companies. The project with EM solutions is about providing satellite communications to those who live in rural and remote areas. This project is similar to one of the ARC discovery projects in our centre GBDTC which is led by Prof. Guo. Both grants promise to find innovative practical solutions to provide broadband internet to the remote areas.

Reconfigurable antennas for satellite on-the-move communications.

This project aims to design and develop low-cost reconfigurable end-user antennas that could be integrated with low-earth-orbit satellites so regional and remote Australians can access broadband. While broadband is taking its place alongside water and electricity as essential infrastructure, people in regional Australia lack genuine broadband services. These antennas are expected to give these communities reliable access to e-health services and distance education, and make their businesses more productive with access to new markets. The proposed antennas should also make broadband services available in the air, at sea, or on the move.

Another project is about collaboration with LICENSYS company and also QLD department of transport and main roads. It is anticipated that this project can provide real time information gathering about the roads and assist in making efficient decisions on the road and traffic management. Use of the radar technology in the heart of the project is something that I love 🙂 😉

In-road microwave system for traffic monitoring and vehicle identification.

This project aims to develop a cost-effective, in-road microwave radar system for traffic monitoring and vehicle identification. The ever increasing number of vehicles on our roads makes conventional approaches to traffic management less effective and prohibitively expensive. The new system will integrate chip-enabled license plate technology with novel microwave radar techniques to produce real-time data that supports immediate intervention for improved road safety, vehicle identification and driver validation. Multiple sensors will also provide uniquely rich data to improve traffic management decisions, road infrastructure planning and operation. This research could significantly reduce the effect of traffic incidents and congestions across Australia.

Prof. Fumeaux of Unversity of Adedaide is a founding member of a research hub for graphene research. Below is a summary of the mission statement of the research hub:

ARC Research Hub for Graphene Enabled Industry Transformation.

This research hub aims to provide the advanced materials industry with innovative solutions to tackle critical and complex challenges of national significance. The hub intends to leverage substantial existing and new investments to overcome fundamental scientific barriers and develop fit-for-purpose graphene products with and for its partners. Advanced materials, particularly graphene, are now considered promising for maintaining competitive advantages for industrial transformational progress; and advanced industries to drive prosperity where innovation underpins business to thrive globally. The anticipated impacts are long-term economic prosperity and growth.

I would like to warmly congratulate them and wish them all the best for their research.

P.S. Grant summaries are copied from the ARC RMS public website.