Andrew C. M. Austin

Senior Lecturer
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
University of Bristol
Bristol, United Kingdom

Email: a.austin [at] bristol.ac.uk
Office: MVB-413


Biography

Andrew C. M. Austin received the BE (Hons) and PhD degrees in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Auckland in 2007 and 2012, respectively. From 2011 to 2013 he was a postdoctoral researcher with the Electromagnetics Group at the University of Toronto, Canada. From 2014 to 2016 he was a scientist with the Telecommunication Circuits Laboratory at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. From November 2016 to June 2023 he was a lecturer and then senior lecturer in the the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Software Engineering at The University of Auckland. In July 2023 he moved to take up an academic post with the Communication Systems and Networks Group in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Bristol.

Research Areas

My current research is focused around five related themes:

  • Analysis and design of future wireless systems and networks (including true full-duplex, low-complexity MIMO, and mmWave systems), with a particular interest in hardware implementation;

  • Radar systems, with a focus on novel architectures for small satellites;

  • Radiowave propagation and channel characterisation, particularly in man-made structures such as buildings;

  • Antenna design, with a focus on space applications for small satellites, and indoor mmWave wireless systems; and

  • Computational electromagnetics, with a focus on developing novel techniques to efficiently estimate uncertainty and sensitivity.

I have a number of on-going research projects in these areas and welcome any inquiries from prospective ME and PhD students.

Current Research Students

  • Dev Singh, PhD, multidisciplinary trust in heterogenous fifth generation mobile communication networks.

  • Priya Mittal, PhD, passive reflectors for millimetre systems in indoor environments.

  • Annalisa Tresoldi, PhD, deployable structure for a synthetic aperture radar antenna for small satellites.

  • Simone Mencarelli, PhD, antennas for small-satellite synthetic aperture radar.

  • Oliver Kim, PhD, development of radar systems for nano-satellites.

Alumni

  • 2024, Qingqing Dong, PhD, "Neural Network Aided Self-interference Cancellation for True Full-Duplex Wireless Communications". [thesis]

  • 2023, Jan Krecke, PhD, "Mission Requirements for a Dedicated Small-Satellite SAR System". [thesis] Radar Engineer, Synspective, Japan.

  • 2023, Logan Small, ME (1st Class Honours), "Detecting Ships using Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery". Research Engineer, NZ Defence Technology Agency.

  • 2021, Oliver Kim, ME (1st Class Honours), "Indoor Propagation for 5G Applications using HMSIW Antennas" [thesis]. PhD student, University of Auckland.

  • 2020, Farrukh Latif, ME (Honours), "Seismic Resilience Evaluation of Fixed Communication Infrastructure Systems" [thesis]. Senior Manager, NBN, Australia.

  • 2019, Shiyang Wu, ME (Honours), "Long Range Wide Area Network for Wireless Underground Sensor Networks" [thesis].

  • 2018, Damla Guven, ME (1st Class Honours), "Implementation of a Channel Sounder for Indoor Millimetre Wave Systems at 60 GHz" [thesis]. Communications Researcher, NIST, USA.

Selected Publications

As per publisher requirements all papers hosted on this website are pre- or post-prints.

Journal Papers

Q. Dong, A.C.M. Austin, and K.W. Sowerby, "Augmentation of self-interference cancellation for full-duplex using NARX neural networks", accepted for publication in IEEE Wireless Communication Letters, Dec. 2023, (to appear). [pdf]

A. Tresoldi, J. Shore, A.C.M. Austin, and G. S. Aglietti, "Development of a deployable Synthetic Aperture Radar antenna for a nanosatellite conceptual design", Acta Astronautica, vol. 210, pp 488–497, Sept. 2023, [pdf]

D.P. Singh, K.W. Sowerby, and A.C.M. Austin, "Distributed trust and reputation management for future wireless systems", IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 60, no. 10, pp 44–48, Oct. 2022. [pdf]

J. Krecke, M. Villano, N. Ustalli, A.C.M. Austin, J.E. Cater, and G. Krieger, "Detecting ships in the New Zealand exclusive economic zone: Requirements for a dedicated SmallSat SAR mission", IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, vol. 14, pp. 3162–3169, Mar. 2021. [pdf]

A.C.M. Austin, "Uncertainty quantification and parameter estimation in the finite-difference frequency-domain method using polynomial chaos", Journal of Progress in Electromagnetics Research M, vol. 101, pp. 117–126, Feb. 2021. [pdf]

G. Hu, A.C.M. Austin, V. Sorokin, and L. Tang, "Metamaterial Beam with graded local resonators for broadband vibration suppression", Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 146 (2021) 106982, May 2020. [link]

S. Wu, A.C.M. Austin, A. Ivoghlian, A. Bisht, and K.I-K. Wang, "Long range wide area network for agricultural wireless underground sensor networks", Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing, July 2020. [link]

A.C.M. Austin and M.J. Neve, "Efficient field reconstruction using compressive sensing", IEEE Trans. Antennas and Propagation, vol. 66, no. 3, pp. 1624–1627, March 2018. [pdf]

S. Giovinazzi, A.C.M. Austin, R. Ruiter, C. Foster, M. Nayyerloo, N.-K. Nair and Liam Wotherspoon, "Resilience and fragility of the telecommunication network to seismic events: Evidence after the Kaikoura (New Zealand) earthquake sequence", Bulletin of the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 318–328, June 2017. [pdf]

M. Yousefbeiki, A.C.M. Austin, J.R. Mosig, A.P. Burg and J. Perruisseau-Carrier, "Spatial multiplexing of QPSK signals with a single radio: Antenna design and over-the-air experiments", IEEE Trans. Antennas and Propagation, vol. 64, no. 12, pp. 5131–5145, Dec. 2016. [pdf]

A.C.M. Austin, "Wireless channel characterisation in burning buildings over 100–1000 MHz", IEEE Trans. Antennas and Propagation, vol. 67, no. 7, pp. 3265–3269, July 2016. [pdf]

A.C.M. Austin, "Performance estimation for indoor wireless systems using the FDTD method", IET Electronics Letters, vol. 48, no. 17, pp. 1376–1378, Aug. 2015. [pdf]

A. Balatsoukas-Stimming, A.C.M. Austin, P. Belanovic and A.P. Burg, "Baseband and RF hardware impairments in full-duplex wireless systems: experimental characterisation and suppression", EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking, 2015:142, May 2015. [pdf]

A.C.M. Austin and C.D. Sarris, "Efficient Analysis of Geometrical Uncertainty in the FDTD Method using Polynomial Chaos with Application to Microwave Circuits", IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 61, no. 12, pp. 4293–4301, Dec. 2013. [pdf]

A.C.M. Austin, N. Sood, J. Siu and C.D. Sarris, "Application of polynomial chaos to quantify uncertainty in deterministic channel models", IEEE Trans. Antennas and Propagation, vol. 61, no. 11, pp. 5754–5761, Nov. 2013. [pdf]

P.S. Taylor, A.C.M. Austin, E.A. Parker, M.J. Neve, J.C. Batchelor, J.T.-P. Yiin, M. Leung, G.B. Rowe, A.G. Williamson and K.W. Sowerby, "Angular independent frequency selective surfaces for interference control in indoor wireless environments", IET Electronics Letters, vol. 48, no. 2, pp. 61–62 , Jan. 2012. [pdf]

A.C.M. Austin, M.J. Neve and G.B. Rowe, "Modelling propagation in multi-floor buildings using the FDTD method", IEEE Trans. Antennas and Propagation, vol. 59, no. 11, pp. 4239–4246 , Nov. 2011. [pdf]

A.C.M. Austin, M.J. Neve, G.B. Rowe and R.J. Pirkl, "Modelling the effects of nearby buildings on inter-floor radio-wave propagation", IEEE Trans. Antennas and Propagation, vol. 57, no. 7, pp. 2155–2161, July 2009. [pdf]

Conference Papers

A. Tresoldi, J. Shore, A.C.M. Austin, G.S. Aglietti, "Deployer design and testing of a deployable rolled-up composite SAR antenna (DERAC-SAR) for cubesats", accepted for presentation at the European Conference on Spacecraft Structures Materials and Environmental Testing, March 2023.

S. Mencarelli, M.J. Neve, and A.C.M. Austin, "Nanosatellite SAR preliminary system design for New Zealand maritime and terrestrial remote sensing", accepted for presentation at the 2023 European Conference on Antennas and Propagation, April 2023.

A. Tresoldi, J. Shore, S. Mencarelli, A.C.M. Austin, G.S. Aglietti, "Ploy region study of a high-strain composite rolled-up deployable shell for a nanosatellite SAR antenna", accepted for presentation at the 2023 AIAA SciTech Forum, Jan 2023.

S. Mencarelli, A.C.M. Austin, and M.J. Neve, "A smaller-than-nominal-swath design methodology for ship detection synthetic aperture radars on small satellites", 2022 International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation, Oct. 2022.

Q. Dong, A.C.M. Austin, and K.W. Sowerby, "Neural Network model-based self-interference cancellers for true full-duplex systems", 2022 International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation, Oct. 2022.

P.Q. Mittal, M.J. Neve, and A.C.M. Austin, "Improving millimetre wave coverage in an indoor environment using passive reflectors", 2022 International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation, Oct. 2022.

A. Tresoldi, A.C.M. Austin, and G.S. Aglietti, "Development of a deployable synthetic aperture radar antenna for a nanosatellite conceptual design", accepted for presentation at the 73rd International Astronautical Congress, Sept. 2022.

J. Krecke, M. Villano, A.C.M. Austin, J.E. Cater, and G. Krieger, "Design of SmallSat SAR for dedicated New Zealand applications", in European Conference on Synthetic Aperture Radar (EuSAR), March 2021. [pdf]

S. Wu, K.I-K. Wang, A. Ivoghlian, A.C.M Austin, Z. Salcic, and X. Zhou, "LWS: A LoRaWAN wireless underground sensor network simulator for agriculture applications", in IEEE International Conference on Ubiquitous Intelligence and Computing, Aug. 2019. [pdf]

A.C.M. Austin, D. Guven, M.J. Neve and K.W. Sowerby "60 GHz millimetre-wave channel characterisation for indoor office environments", in Proc. 2019 European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP), [pdf]

A.C.M. Austin, M.J. Neve and D. Guven, "Indoor millimetre wave channel measurements for 5G wireless systems", in Proc. 2018 European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP), [pdf]

A.C.M. Austin, O. Afisiadis and A.P. Burg, "Digital predistortion of hardware impairments for full-duplex transceivers", in Proc. 2017 IEEE Global Conference on Signal and Information Processing (GlobalSIP), Nov. 2017. [pdf]

O. Afisiadis, A.C.M. Austin, A. Balatsoukas-Stimming and A.P. Burg, "Analysis of full-duplex wireless links with asymmetric capacity requirements", in Proc. 2017 Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems, and Computers, Nov. 2017. [pdf]

A.C.M. Austin, A. Balatsoukas-Stimming and A.P. Burg, "Digital predistortion of power amplifier non-linearities for full-duplex transceivers", in Proc. IEEE workshop on Signal Processing Advances in Wireless Communications (SPAWC), July 2016. [paper] [poster]

O. Afisiadis, A.C.M. Austin, A. Balatsoukas-Stimming and A.P. Burg, "Sliding window spectrum sensing for full-duplex cognitive radios with low access-latency", in Proc. VTC'2016 Spring, May 2016. [pdf]

A.C.M. Austin, O. Afisiadis, A. Balatsoukas-Stimming and A.P. Burg, "Demonstration of concurrent spectrum sensing for cognitive radio using self-interference cancellation", in Proc. ACM MobiHoc'15, pp. 407–408, June 2015. [paper] [poster][See a video of demo in action!]

A.C.M. Austin, N. Sood and C.D. Sarris, "Quantifying uncertainty in ray-tracing models of radiowave propagation using polynomial chaos", in Proc. European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP), pp. 1768–1770 April 2014. [pdf]

A.C.M Austin and C.D. Sarris, "Efficient analysis of parameter uncertainty in FDTD models of microwave circuits using polynomial chaos", Proc. IEEE MTT-S Intl. Microwave Symp., June 2013. [paper] [slides]

A.C.M Austin and C.D. Sarris, "Ultra-Wideband Interference Modelling for Indoor Wireless Channels using the FDTD Method", Proc. URSI/IEEE Antennas Propag. Soc. Intl. Symp., July 2012. [paper] [slides]

M.J. Neve, A.C.M. Austin and G.B. Rowe, "Electromagnetic engineering for communications in the built environment", Proc. Euro. Conf. Antennas and Propag. (EUCAP), March 2012 (Invited Paper). [pdf]

A.C.M. Austin, M.J. Neve and G.B. Rowe, "Modelling Interference for Indoor Wireless Systems", Proc. URSI/IEEE Antennas Propag. Soc. Intl. Symp., June 2009. [paper] [slides]

A.C.M. Austin, M.J. Neve and G.B. Rowe, "Modelling Inter-Floor Radio-Wave Propagation in Office Buildings", Proc. URSI/IEEE Antennas Propag. Soc. Intl. Symp., July 2008. [paper] [poster]

PhD Thesis

Interference Modelling for Indoor Wireless Systems using the FDTD Method [pdf]

Lecture Notes

Service Roles

  • 2022-2023: Chair of the IEEE NZ Communications Society Chapter.

  • 2021-2023: Programme Director for the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Undergraduate Programme.

  • 2018-2023: Chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Student Staff Consultative Committee.

  • 2018-2023: Member of Faculty Research Committee.

  • 2017-2021: Branch Counsellor for The University of Auckland IEEE Student Branch.

CV