From a distance, it’s just possible to believe that University of Waterloo engineering professor Safieddin (Ali) Safavi-Naeini, who currently occupies the NSERC/ BlackBerry Industrial Research Chair in wireless communication, has a dull, dry and theoretical job in academia.
But that assessment would likely be wrong. Safavi-Naeini is currently working on the next generation of advanced, low cost “intelligent” antennas, for use initially in communications between cars, aircraft, ship and satellites, but also eventually for use in consumer goods such as cell-phones, computers and anything needing to be connected to a larger, next generation (5G and beyond) network.
And Safavi-Naeini isn’t working alone on this project. As the director of the Centre for Intelligent Antenna and Radio Systems (CIARS), he’s backed by some of the finest minds in the field.
Members of the new intelligent antenna module inventor team at CIARS include (from left to right) PhD student Hussam Al-Saedi, research scientist Dr. Suren Goigoyan, research scientist Dr. Wael Abdel-Wahab, PhD student Mohammad Fereidani and CIARS director, Prof Salieddin Safivi-Naeini.