QAMMER H. Abbasi SMIEEE, FRET, FRSA, Reader, Deputy Head, Communications Sensing and Imaging Group, Co-Manager RF and Microwave Facility at the James Watt School of Engineering and Deputy Theme Lead, Quantum Technologies at Advance Research Centre University of Glasgow has been awarded an Industrial Fellowship from the Royal Academy of Engineering and will join Edinburgh based Celestia UK for the next twelve months.
Abbasi, lead in antenna and healthcare sensing research at the Communications, Sensing and Imaging group at the University of Glasgow, will bring his specialist experience in antennas and RF propagation, for 5G, 6G, Quantum and other applications to support Celestia UK’s current work in designing a new generation of satellite communications systems.
“The UK space sector is booming at the moment and Celestia UK is among the pioneers who are developing electronic beam steering solutions for satellite communications,” says Abbasi. “I have experience which is directly relevant to the areas they are working on and it means I can apply it to real-time production, which will be game-changing for their business and the industry as a whole.”
Celestia is developing an innovative all-in-one multi-beam and multifunctional satellite gateway using advanced technologies that are capable of tracking and communicating with several low and medium earth orbit satellites simultaneously, whether from a fixed ground location such as a data centre or a moving vehicle, for example, an aeroplane.
It offers major advantages in operational and installation costs as well as offering orders of magnitude higher bandwidth between ground-based equipment and satellites when compared to conventional solutions.
“I shall be collaborating with the business on this programme with the expectation that by the end of 2023, I will come up with a novel radiating element design for the antenna which will be applicable in future beam-steering solutions for satellite communications,” he continues.
“I am excited to have the opportunity of being part of Celestia UK and am looking forward to leading the industrial perspective for product development in satellite communications. I would also like to become a bridge for greater interaction for industry with different funding bodies such as the UK Space Agency, the European Space Agency and the knowledge transfer partnership from Innovate UK,” he adds.
In welcoming Qammer to the team, Malachy Devlin, CEO of Celestia UK comments, “Having the chance to work with Qammer and benefit from his extensive research experience will be very advantageous and we are delighted to have him on board. This example of aligning academic research and industry developments ensures that we can accelerate the knowledge transfer of new discoveries into the ambitious programmes we are undertaking and bring ground-breaking new solutions to the market more quickly.”
The Royal Academy of Engineering Industrial Fellowships scheme enables mid-career academics and industrialists to undertake a collaborative research project in either an industrial or academic environment, where one party would host the other. The scheme aims to strengthen the strategic relationship between industry and academia by providing an opportunity to establish or enhance collaborative research between the two parties.
Details of this year’s Industrial Fellowships can be found here https://raeng.org.uk/news/new-industrial-fellowships-awarded-for-projects-that-address-a-range-of-societal-challenges
More information about Celestia UK including career opportunities is at https://www.celestia-uk.com/ @UkCelestia and LinkedIn.
