Department of Signal Theory and Communications (COMMSENSLAB)

A María de Maeztu unit since

The UPC-CSLab (Communication and Sensing Lab) is a research unit within the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC). The unit vision is based on the following principles: excellence in education and teaching, competitive research at international level and close interaction with industry. The UPC ranks on the top 100 in the Academic Ranking of World Universities, and its Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers ranks number 5 in Europe and 40 in the World.

The lab activities, in engineering electromagnetics, include computational electromagnetics, device and material characterization, circuits, sub-systems and complex system design, algorithms for data analysis in a frequency range that spans from the MHz to the optical range including the THz range of frequencies for applications in communications, medical and bio-sensing and remote sensing.

UPC-CSLab is organized around the following main areas:

• AEC Advanced Electromagnetic Computing

• MPAT. Microwave to Photonic Advanced Technology

• EMPSI. Electromagnetic Microwave to Photonic Sensing and Imaging

• ECS. Electromagnetic Cognitive Sensing

• RSSD. Remote Sensing with Single and Distributed Small Sensors

The expertise available within the unit allows having a comprehensive approach to research activities that extend from fundamental electromagnetic theory passing through device design and characterization and reaching system integration and data exploitation. Integration is fostered by sharing common research facilities that include computational and software resources and laboratory equipment.

The unit is fully instrumented to perform measurements of materials, devices, and subsystems in a wide frequency range, from microwaves, terahertz and optics. From the computational facilities point of view the unit manages its own cloud computing based on a cluster of multi node blade servers interconnected to a distributed data storage system, with a present capacity of 100TB, through a 10Gigabit Ethernet network. In these cluster. simulations with proprietary software as well as commercial software packages are run. Available software packages are CST-Studio, HFSS, ADS, Matlab, ENVI-IDL and others.

There is a stable population of 30 PhD students. The consolidated policy of early talent detection has been reinforced by attracting foreign students. The unit graduates are very well perceived by both industry and research institutions opting to positions in top-ranked institutions.

Key Facts of Department of Signal Theory and Communications (COMMSENSLAB)

7 Patents
Patents by CommSensLab, as of 2016, of which 5 already registered.
54 Papers
Published research articles as of 2016, of which 34 in Q1 journals.
12 Industry Impacts
7 high-tech start-up companies, 5 new high-tech company departments based on CommSensLab Research & Ph.D./Postgraduates.
43 Theses
Theses presented in 2016, including 34 TFG, 5TFM and 4 Ph.D.
Being one of the María de Maeztu units is an honor and a recognition to the work done by many faculty members, some of them already retired. At the same time, it is with a great sense of responsibility that we undertake this task, an impressive responsibility to outperform, to produce even more and better for the benefit of the society that is investing on us, and that of humankind at large.
Adriano Camps
Director at COMMSENSLAB