Iffat Naqvi | Central University of Punjab (original) (raw)

Papers by Iffat Naqvi

Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities

Furniture industry of Pakistan is considered as one of the high potential yet neglected clusters.... more Furniture industry of Pakistan is considered as one of the high potential yet neglected clusters. This industry is famous for its elaborate wooden carvings on the blocks of Sheeshum and Rosemary. The leading furniture making areas of Pakistan are Chiniot, Gujrat, Peshawar, Lahore and Karachi. However, Pakistan’s share in the international wooden furniture market is insignificant, despite the fact that the country has a history of craftsmanship and innovation in the field of wooden furniture. Especially Sindh region which specializes in wood furniture making have not been explored for its potential in increasing the furniture export. Further, there is a dearth of literature pertaining to their geographical clustering as well as the causes of the underdevelopment of interior Sindh’s wooden furniture industry. In response to this gap, this case study research a) conducts geographical mapping of Khairpur Mirs wooden furniture industry through GIS, and b) constructs a SWOT Matrix in ligh...

Electronics

A simple and compact antenna with a switchable beam for millimeter-wave communication is proposed... more A simple and compact antenna with a switchable beam for millimeter-wave communication is proposed in this paper. The antenna has a planar structure, and the design evolution is discussed. The beam switching functionality was achieved by incorporating two PIN diodes in the ground plane of the antenna. By switching ON either of the PIN diodes, the inverted L-shaped stub becomes connected to the ground plane and behaves as a cavity, which causes the dispersion of the radiation pattern. Therefore, a wide-angle (±18∘) beam-switching property can be achieved using a simple and low-cost technique, without the necessity to implement additional conventional circuits. The proposed antenna is characterized by a good performance in terms of return loss, bandwidth, measured gain up to 7.95 dB, and radiation efficiency up to 84%, making it a proper candidate for IoT technology and millimeter-wave 5G devices.

2019 International Conference on Electrical, Communication, and Computer Engineering (ICECCE), 2019

A single layer, low profile, wideband and high gain antenna array for the Millimeter Wave (MMW) a... more A single layer, low profile, wideband and high gain antenna array for the Millimeter Wave (MMW) applications is presented in this paper. Two configurations of arrays (array-1 and array-2) are designed and compared. 1 × 4 and 2 × 4 elements-based array-1 and array-2 respectively, are fed by a simple microstrip feedline which ensures low fabrication cost and simple fabrication process. Array-1 achieves a bandwidth of 10 GHz with a peak gain of 9.9 dBi while Array-2 attains a bandwidth of 17.2 GHz with a peak gain of 11.7 dBi. Further to enhance peak gain, a parasitic metallic strip is employed above the elements of array-2. An improved peak gain of 12.89 dBi is achieved at 42 GHz with a bandwidth of 17.5 GHz ranging from 37.3-54.8 GHz. Various parameters such as bandwidth, gain, radiation efficiency, radiation patterns (both E-field and H-field) and VSWR are analyzed and compared for all the proposed configurations. A VSWR of less than 2 is achieved over the entire operational bandwidth which ensures good impedance matching. The antenna array is designed and simulated using Computer Simulation Technology Microwave Studio (CST MWS).

2019 2nd International Conference on Computing, Mathematics and Engineering Technologies (iCoMET), 2019

This work proposes a compact, penta-band, slotted antenna with Defected Ground Structure (DGS). T... more This work proposes a compact, penta-band, slotted antenna with Defected Ground Structure (DGS). The proposed multiband resonator is intended for integration into microwave circuits and portable RF portable devices. The prototype with spurlines and DGS is designed on thin Rogers RT Duroid 5880 substrate having thickness 0.508 mm. The presented radiator is capable to cover the frequency bands 2.46–2.59 GHz, 2.99-3.78 GHz, 5.17–5.89 GHz, 6.86-7.36 GHz, 9.38-11 GHz. The impedance bandwidths of 5.24%, 23.68%, 12.8%, 7.24% and 16.08% is obtained for the covered frequency bands respectively. The antenna proposed in this work thus supports WLAN, WiMAX, ISM, LTE, Bluetooth, C-band and X-band applications. The radiator attains 4.2 dB peak gain. It is apparent from the radiation performance of the prototype, that it is an effective candidate for current and forthcoming multiband wireless applications.

2019 IEEE 4th International Conference on Computer and Communication Systems (ICCCS), 2019

This work presents a tri-band planar antenna array envisioned for assimilation into future 5G mm-... more This work presents a tri-band planar antenna array envisioned for assimilation into future 5G mm-wave wireless communication applications. The proposed assembly comprises of four antenna elements excited by a 1times41 \times 41times4 T-junction power divider/Combiner and Defected Ground Structure (DGS). The antenna array presented in this work is modeled on Rogers RT/Duroid 5880 substrate with an overall size of 14times60times0.78714 \times 60 \times 0.78714times60times0.787 mm3. The frequency bands covered by the antenna system are centered at 29, 37.37 and 41 GHz with 10 dB bandwidths of 1.25, 1.3 and 2.14 GHz respectively. The peak gain attained by the antenna array is 11.8 dB. The proposed design with compact, simple and low profile assembly along with good radiation characteristics ascertains to be appropriate for mobile terminals and handheld wireless devices.

Electronics, 2022

The work in this article presents the design and realization of a low-profile, four-port MIMO ant... more The work in this article presents the design and realization of a low-profile, four-port MIMO antenna supporting fifth-generation (5G) wireless applications operating at a millimeter-Wave (mm-Wave) band. Each MIMO antenna is a 2-element array fed with a corporate feeding network, whereas the single antenna is a patch with a bow-tie slot at the center and slits at the edges. The vertical and horizontal slots are incorporated as a Defected Ground Structure (DGS) to optimize the antenna performance. In addition, a slotted zig-zag decoupling structure is etched from edge to edge on the top side to enhance the isolation. Significant isolation (>−40 dB) is achieved between antenna elements by employing spatial and polarization diversity techniques. The proposed antenna covers the 5G mm-Wave band with a −10 dB bandwidth ranging from 27.6–28.6 GHz, whereas the maximum gain attained for the proposed structure is 12.02 dBi. Moreover, the lower correlation values, higher diversity gain, and...

2020 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and North American Radio Science Meeting, 2020

In this work, a flexible and compact UWB antenna envisioned for assimilation in to wireless commu... more In this work, a flexible and compact UWB antenna envisioned for assimilation in to wireless communication applications is proposed. The CPW-fed, asterisk shaped antenna with semicircular ring affixed on the top side is designed. The numerical analysis depicts that an impedance bandwidth covered by the proposed antenna is 3.8 - 9.51 GHz with respect to −10 dB reference. Moreover, flexibility analysis exhibits good radiation performance for the bent configuration radii of 10 and 20 mm. However, minor inconsistencies are noticed in comparison with unbent situation. Moreover, the peak realized gain in the standard operating UWB is 2 - 4.47 dBi, whereas radiation efficiency of more than 85% is obtained for the presented antenna. Hence, the compactness of the antenna structure, flexibility and UWB performance ascertains the suitability of the design for integration in to flexible devices.

This qualitative research explores the factors behind the downfall of the jute industry in Pakist... more This qualitative research explores the factors behind the downfall of the jute industry in Pakistan, specifically in region of Sindh. Through preliminary informal interviews, a major cause of downfall is identified which is the lack of formal knowledge management mechanism within the firms and industry. Accordingly, a knowledge transfer mechanism is proposed for the efficacy of knowledge transfer in the firms and hence improves the overall knowledge management of the industry which is later validated through formal interviews with industry experts. The literature states that in Pakistani context there is a dearth of awareness of the proper knowledge transfer in SMEs. For this research, to fulfill the aim of exploration of the factors behind, a collapsed jute firm is taken into consideration in the Sindh region of Pakistan as a case study. Therefore, to ascertain reasons of the downfall of the industry, semi-structured interviews were conducted from 11 personnel from industry and academia and were analyzed by using the manifest qualitative content analysis technique to identify the underlying rationales and gap between the connected entities. The findings suggests that, there are many veiled factors behind the downfall of the prosperous firm, amongst those is the lack of government support, since Pakistan is the jute dependent country ,so in such environment the unit setups look forward for the helping hand from the government. Additionally, it was also found that in Pakistani context there is no any practice of succession planning in the firms of any type, leading to many unspoken problems. One of such problem is absence of codification, which in turn makes difficult for the firms to transfer the knowledge to the coming generations. It was also observed that, the industrial units are always looking forward to have a collaborative link to the knowledge generating units known as universities. Likewise the academia is also intended to approach to have such linkages to the industries to create a more developed milieu. On the whole this study is an attempt to comprehend the significance of knowledge transfer as one of the factor in understanding the downfall of the firm and to look for the ways with which the knowledge management of the industry can be developed.

2019 22nd International Multitopic Conference (INMIC), 2019

This paper demonstrates a compact Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) antenna supporting millim... more This paper demonstrates a compact Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) antenna supporting millimeter-wave (mm-wave) 5G communication applications. The antenna structure proposed in this work is a two-port MIMO antenna system, where each MIMO element consists of 1×2 linear array fed with parallel feed network. The prototype is designed on Rogers R043S0B substrate with the board dimensions of 25×35×0.762 mm3. Defected Ground Structure (DGS) is incorporated to optimize the performance of the demonstrated structure. The resonant frequency band covered by the MIMO antenna array ranges from 38.8- 42.9 GHz, thus covering 4.1 GHz wide bandwidth. Whereas, the peak gain attained for the resonant band is 9.86 dB. Moreover, significant isolation is obtained between the MIMO elements. In addition, diversity performance of the demonstrated antenna structure is analyzed through Envelope Correlation Coefficient (ECC), Total Active Reflection Coefficient (TARC), Mean Effective Gain (MEG), and Channel Capacity Loss (CCL). The simple structure, planar configuration, and radiation characteristics validates the presented MIMO antenna array as a suitable candidate for the forthcoming mm-wave 5G applications.

Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, 2021

2021 International Conference on Electrical, Computer, Communications and Mechatronics Engineering (ICECCME), 2021

This work presents a simple structured and circularly polarized (CP) antenna for fifth-generation... more This work presents a simple structured and circularly polarized (CP) antenna for fifth-generation (5G) communication applications. The presented antenna is a rectangular patch antenna resonating at 28 GHz. The circular polarization is obtained by truncating the corners of the antenna and etching a diagonal slot in the center of the patch antenna. The proposed antenna attains impedance bandwidth ranging from 26.778 - 28.6 GHz and 3-dB axial ratio bandwidth from 26.6 - 29.2 GHz. Furthermore, an antenna gain of 9.25 dBi is attained for the proposed geometry. In addition, MIMO capability is obtained for the proposed antenna with significant isolation, good correlation coefficient, and polarization diversity. These radiation characteristics of the proposed structure validates its suitability for 5G millimeter-wave (mm-wave) devices.

AEU - International Journal of Electronics and Communications, 2021

Abstract This article presents a printed antenna owing the advantages of compact size and simple ... more Abstract This article presents a printed antenna owing the advantages of compact size and simple geometrical configuration for fifth-generation (5G) 28 GHz communication systems. For better performance and miniaturization purposes, both the ground plane and the radiator of the patch antenna are defected with a rectangular slot. The antenna presents a wide operating bandwidth and high radiation efficiency while keeping reasonable gain. Furthermore, two elements Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) configuration of the proposed antenna was designed for MIMO applications. The MIMO antenna is also characterized by a good envelope correlation coefficient (ECC), low Channel Capacity Loss (CCL), and high diversity gain, which proves that the presented antenna can be seamlessly housed in miniaturized 5G smart devices. The proposed work is verified by experiments which are well-matched with predicted results. In comparison with other related works, the presented work is dominant in terms of wide operating bandwidth, high isolation, low ECC, and compact design.

Journal of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science, 2021

In this paper, a compact, wideband, printed antenna is proposed for millimeter-wave fifth-generat... more In this paper, a compact, wideband, printed antenna is proposed for millimeter-wave fifth-generation communication systems. The proposed design is a patch antenna with a defected ground structure, in which ground plane defects are utilized to reduce resonance and achieve wideband operation. The optimized antenna dimensions are 2.5 mm × 4.5 mm with a substrate thickness of 0.203 mm. A prototype antenna was fabricated and measured to verify the performance, and it was established that the simulated and measured results were in good agreement. The measured bandwidth was approximately 6.4 GHz (26.5–32.9 GHz) with a peak gain of 5.62 dBi and an efficiency in operational bandwidth of 84%. The compactness, wide bandwidth, and decent gain suggest that the proposed antenna is a potential contender for forthcoming communication systems.

Electronics, 2021

This paper presents a compact and simple reconfigurable antenna with wide-band, dual-band, and si... more This paper presents a compact and simple reconfigurable antenna with wide-band, dual-band, and single-band operating modes. Initially, a co-planar waveguide-fed triangular monopole antenna is obtained with a wide operational frequency band ranging from 4.0 GHz to 7.8 GHz. Then, two additional stubs are connected to the triangular monopole through two p-i-n diodes. By electrically switching these p-i-n diodes ON and OFF, different operating frequency bands can be attained. When turning ON only one diode, the antenna offers dual-band operations of 3.3–4.2 GHz and 5.8–7.2 GHz. Meanwhile, the antenna with single-band operation from 3.3 GHz to 4.2 GHz can be realized when both of the p-i-n diodes are switched to ON states. The proposed compact size antenna with dimensions of 0.27λ0 × 0.16λ0 × 0.017λ0 at the lower operating frequency (3.3 GHz) can be used for several wireless applications such as worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), wireless access in the vehicular env...

Applied Sciences, 2021

This paper presents the design and realization of a compact size multimode frequency reconfigurab... more This paper presents the design and realization of a compact size multimode frequency reconfigurable antenna. The antenna consists of a triangular-shaped monopole radiator, originally inspired from a rectangular monopole antenna. Slots were utilized to notch the desired frequency while the PIN diodes were utilized to achieve frequency reconfigurability. The antenna can operate in wideband, dual-band, or tri-band mode depending upon the state of the diodes. To validate the simulation results, a prototype was fabricated, and various performance parameters were measured and compared with simulated results. The strong agreement between simulated and measured results along with superior performance as compared to existing works in the literature makes the proposed antenna a strong candidate for ISM, 5G-sub-6 GHz, and S-band applications.

IEEE Access, 2020

This paper presents a compact frequency reconfigurable antenna for flexible devices and conformal... more This paper presents a compact frequency reconfigurable antenna for flexible devices and conformal surfaces. The antenna consists of a simple easy to fabricate structure consisting of a stub loaded circular radiator, designed on commercially available RT5880 flexible substrate (ε r = 2.2) with a thickness of 0.254 mm. The combination of stub loading and slot etching techniques are utilized to achieve the advantages of compactness, frequency reconfigurability, wide impedance bandwidth, and stable radiation pattern with structural conformability. The frequency reconfigurability is achieved by employing two pin diodes. Simulated and experimental results showed that the antenna operates in various important commercial bands, such as S-band (2 GHz-4 GHz), Wi-Max (3.5 GHz and 5.8 GHz), Wi-Fi (3.6 GHz, 5 GHz, and 5.9 GHz), 5G sub-6-GHz (3.5 GHz and 4.4 GHz-5 GHz), and ITU-band (7.725 GHz-8.5 GHz) with the additional advantages of structural conformability. Furthermore, the performance comparison of the proposed flexible antenna with the state-of-the-art flexible antennas in terms of compactness, frequency reconfigurability, and number of operating bands demonstrates the novelty of the proposed antenna and its potential application in heterogeneous applications. INDEX TERMS CPW-fed, conformability, frequency reconfigurable, heterogeneous applications, miniaturized, multiband, portable, wideband. ADNAN IFTIKHAR (Member, IEEE) received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI), Pakistan, in 2008, the M.S. degree in personal mobile and satellite communication from the University of Bradford, U.K., in 2010, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from North Dakota State University (NDSU), USA, in 2016. He is currently an Assistant Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, CUI. He has authored or coauthored 30 journals and conference publications. His current research interests include applied electromagnetic, reconfigurable antennas, leaky wave antennas, phased array antennas, and energy harvesting for low power devices.

Sensors, 2020

This work demonstrates an integrated multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna solution for L... more This work demonstrates an integrated multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna solution for Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Millimeter-Wave (mm-wave) 5G wireless communication services. The proposed structure is comprised of a two-element LTE MIMO antenna, and a four-element 5G MIMO configuration with rectangular and circular defects in the ground plane. For experimental validation, the proposed structure is fabricated on a Rogers RO4350B substrate with 0.76 mm thickness. The overall substrate dimensions are 75 mm × 110 mm. The proposed structure is capable of operating at 5.29–6.12 GHz (LTE 46 and 47 bands) and 26–29.5 GHz (5G mm-wave) frequency bands. Additionally, the measured peak gain of 5.13 and 9.53 dB is attained respectively for the microwave and mm-wave antennas. Furthermore, the analysis of the MIMO performance metrics demonstrates good characteristics, and excellent field correlation performance across the operating bands. Furthermore, the analysis of the Specific Abso...

Electronics, 2020

We present a 4-port Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) antenna array operating in the mm-wave ... more We present a 4-port Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) antenna array operating in the mm-wave band for 5G applications. An identical two-element array excited by the feed network based on a T-junction power combiner/divider is introduced in the reported paper. The array elements are rectangular-shaped slotted patch antennas, while the ground plane is made defected with rectangular, circular, and a zigzag-shaped slotted structure to enhance the radiation characteristics of the antenna. To validate the performance, the MIMO structure is fabricated and measured. The simulated and measured results are in good coherence. The proposed structure can operate in a 25.5–29.6 GHz frequency band supporting the impending mm-wave 5G applications. Moreover, the peak gain attained for the operating frequency band is 8.3 dBi. Additionally, to obtain high isolation between antenna elements, the polarization diversity is employed between the adjacent radiators, resulting in a low Envelope Correlati...

African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, 2021

The bottom-level weaker position of developing countries industrial clusters in GVCs make them pr... more The bottom-level weaker position of developing countries industrial clusters in GVCs make them prone to the threats of non-compliance of international standards and power dominance by lead firm in GVCs as empirically evident from the traditional industrial clusters of Pakistan. In the context of sceptical literature on the upgrading of supplier firms in GVCs, this research argues that the GVC analysis is limited because the GVC approach takes a quite identifiable linear perspective because the main actors taken into account are firms along the value chain and the lack of attention to the institutional context within which local firms interacting in GVC are embedded. The main research question is how do the innovation systems at the regional and national level support industrial clustered firms in their ability to upgrade from a position of SUPPLIERS to NODES in GVC through the links with knowledge institutes embedded in ISs and GVCs. This research tests the hypotheses using an empirical study of the ICT clusters of Pakistan significantly agglomerated in the cities of Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. The econometric analysis of cluster firms’ data shows that knowledge links with the knowledge institutes do not support the upgrading of firms in GVC. The policy implications for the upgradation of industrial clusters through the assessment of knowledge links is drawn for the other developing countries.

IEEE Access, 2020

Content-adaptive steganography intends to hide data in the complex texture content of the image. ... more Content-adaptive steganography intends to hide data in the complex texture content of the image. Recently, some secure steganography methods have been proposed to identify the textural complexity of an image. However, most of the techniques do not take into account the information of pixel variation around the central pixel in all possible directions and therefore they are unable to accurately analyse the texture complexity. This work offers a quality-enhanced and secure method of content-adaptive image steganography. The proposed method is divided into three sequential steps: image segmentation, pixel complexity identification, and data embedding. An input cover image is initially divided into small local regions and the pixel-complexity is identified based on the proposed Complex Block Prior (CBP) criterion. In a local block, a high pass filter (HPF) bank is applied and eight residual responses are obtained. Following the CBP criterion, a complexity level out of nine levels is assigned to an individualized pixel block. The pixels are then arranged in the priority of complexity from highest to lowest. Data embedding for the corresponding complexity level then takes place using the proposed adaptive embedding algorithm. Experimental results verify the preservation of visual quality of stego images produced by the proposed method. Three image datasets: Standard test images, BOWS2 and BOSS-base are used for the experimentation and comparison with prior state-of-art methods. Highest values of the IQ (image quality) parameters e.g., SSIM and WPSNR show the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities

Furniture industry of Pakistan is considered as one of the high potential yet neglected clusters.... more Furniture industry of Pakistan is considered as one of the high potential yet neglected clusters. This industry is famous for its elaborate wooden carvings on the blocks of Sheeshum and Rosemary. The leading furniture making areas of Pakistan are Chiniot, Gujrat, Peshawar, Lahore and Karachi. However, Pakistan’s share in the international wooden furniture market is insignificant, despite the fact that the country has a history of craftsmanship and innovation in the field of wooden furniture. Especially Sindh region which specializes in wood furniture making have not been explored for its potential in increasing the furniture export. Further, there is a dearth of literature pertaining to their geographical clustering as well as the causes of the underdevelopment of interior Sindh’s wooden furniture industry. In response to this gap, this case study research a) conducts geographical mapping of Khairpur Mirs wooden furniture industry through GIS, and b) constructs a SWOT Matrix in ligh...

Electronics

A simple and compact antenna with a switchable beam for millimeter-wave communication is proposed... more A simple and compact antenna with a switchable beam for millimeter-wave communication is proposed in this paper. The antenna has a planar structure, and the design evolution is discussed. The beam switching functionality was achieved by incorporating two PIN diodes in the ground plane of the antenna. By switching ON either of the PIN diodes, the inverted L-shaped stub becomes connected to the ground plane and behaves as a cavity, which causes the dispersion of the radiation pattern. Therefore, a wide-angle (±18∘) beam-switching property can be achieved using a simple and low-cost technique, without the necessity to implement additional conventional circuits. The proposed antenna is characterized by a good performance in terms of return loss, bandwidth, measured gain up to 7.95 dB, and radiation efficiency up to 84%, making it a proper candidate for IoT technology and millimeter-wave 5G devices.

2019 International Conference on Electrical, Communication, and Computer Engineering (ICECCE), 2019

A single layer, low profile, wideband and high gain antenna array for the Millimeter Wave (MMW) a... more A single layer, low profile, wideband and high gain antenna array for the Millimeter Wave (MMW) applications is presented in this paper. Two configurations of arrays (array-1 and array-2) are designed and compared. 1 × 4 and 2 × 4 elements-based array-1 and array-2 respectively, are fed by a simple microstrip feedline which ensures low fabrication cost and simple fabrication process. Array-1 achieves a bandwidth of 10 GHz with a peak gain of 9.9 dBi while Array-2 attains a bandwidth of 17.2 GHz with a peak gain of 11.7 dBi. Further to enhance peak gain, a parasitic metallic strip is employed above the elements of array-2. An improved peak gain of 12.89 dBi is achieved at 42 GHz with a bandwidth of 17.5 GHz ranging from 37.3-54.8 GHz. Various parameters such as bandwidth, gain, radiation efficiency, radiation patterns (both E-field and H-field) and VSWR are analyzed and compared for all the proposed configurations. A VSWR of less than 2 is achieved over the entire operational bandwidth which ensures good impedance matching. The antenna array is designed and simulated using Computer Simulation Technology Microwave Studio (CST MWS).

2019 2nd International Conference on Computing, Mathematics and Engineering Technologies (iCoMET), 2019

This work proposes a compact, penta-band, slotted antenna with Defected Ground Structure (DGS). T... more This work proposes a compact, penta-band, slotted antenna with Defected Ground Structure (DGS). The proposed multiband resonator is intended for integration into microwave circuits and portable RF portable devices. The prototype with spurlines and DGS is designed on thin Rogers RT Duroid 5880 substrate having thickness 0.508 mm. The presented radiator is capable to cover the frequency bands 2.46–2.59 GHz, 2.99-3.78 GHz, 5.17–5.89 GHz, 6.86-7.36 GHz, 9.38-11 GHz. The impedance bandwidths of 5.24%, 23.68%, 12.8%, 7.24% and 16.08% is obtained for the covered frequency bands respectively. The antenna proposed in this work thus supports WLAN, WiMAX, ISM, LTE, Bluetooth, C-band and X-band applications. The radiator attains 4.2 dB peak gain. It is apparent from the radiation performance of the prototype, that it is an effective candidate for current and forthcoming multiband wireless applications.

2019 IEEE 4th International Conference on Computer and Communication Systems (ICCCS), 2019

This work presents a tri-band planar antenna array envisioned for assimilation into future 5G mm-... more This work presents a tri-band planar antenna array envisioned for assimilation into future 5G mm-wave wireless communication applications. The proposed assembly comprises of four antenna elements excited by a 1times41 \times 41times4 T-junction power divider/Combiner and Defected Ground Structure (DGS). The antenna array presented in this work is modeled on Rogers RT/Duroid 5880 substrate with an overall size of 14times60times0.78714 \times 60 \times 0.78714times60times0.787 mm3. The frequency bands covered by the antenna system are centered at 29, 37.37 and 41 GHz with 10 dB bandwidths of 1.25, 1.3 and 2.14 GHz respectively. The peak gain attained by the antenna array is 11.8 dB. The proposed design with compact, simple and low profile assembly along with good radiation characteristics ascertains to be appropriate for mobile terminals and handheld wireless devices.

Electronics, 2022

The work in this article presents the design and realization of a low-profile, four-port MIMO ant... more The work in this article presents the design and realization of a low-profile, four-port MIMO antenna supporting fifth-generation (5G) wireless applications operating at a millimeter-Wave (mm-Wave) band. Each MIMO antenna is a 2-element array fed with a corporate feeding network, whereas the single antenna is a patch with a bow-tie slot at the center and slits at the edges. The vertical and horizontal slots are incorporated as a Defected Ground Structure (DGS) to optimize the antenna performance. In addition, a slotted zig-zag decoupling structure is etched from edge to edge on the top side to enhance the isolation. Significant isolation (>−40 dB) is achieved between antenna elements by employing spatial and polarization diversity techniques. The proposed antenna covers the 5G mm-Wave band with a −10 dB bandwidth ranging from 27.6–28.6 GHz, whereas the maximum gain attained for the proposed structure is 12.02 dBi. Moreover, the lower correlation values, higher diversity gain, and...

2020 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and North American Radio Science Meeting, 2020

In this work, a flexible and compact UWB antenna envisioned for assimilation in to wireless commu... more In this work, a flexible and compact UWB antenna envisioned for assimilation in to wireless communication applications is proposed. The CPW-fed, asterisk shaped antenna with semicircular ring affixed on the top side is designed. The numerical analysis depicts that an impedance bandwidth covered by the proposed antenna is 3.8 - 9.51 GHz with respect to −10 dB reference. Moreover, flexibility analysis exhibits good radiation performance for the bent configuration radii of 10 and 20 mm. However, minor inconsistencies are noticed in comparison with unbent situation. Moreover, the peak realized gain in the standard operating UWB is 2 - 4.47 dBi, whereas radiation efficiency of more than 85% is obtained for the presented antenna. Hence, the compactness of the antenna structure, flexibility and UWB performance ascertains the suitability of the design for integration in to flexible devices.

This qualitative research explores the factors behind the downfall of the jute industry in Pakist... more This qualitative research explores the factors behind the downfall of the jute industry in Pakistan, specifically in region of Sindh. Through preliminary informal interviews, a major cause of downfall is identified which is the lack of formal knowledge management mechanism within the firms and industry. Accordingly, a knowledge transfer mechanism is proposed for the efficacy of knowledge transfer in the firms and hence improves the overall knowledge management of the industry which is later validated through formal interviews with industry experts. The literature states that in Pakistani context there is a dearth of awareness of the proper knowledge transfer in SMEs. For this research, to fulfill the aim of exploration of the factors behind, a collapsed jute firm is taken into consideration in the Sindh region of Pakistan as a case study. Therefore, to ascertain reasons of the downfall of the industry, semi-structured interviews were conducted from 11 personnel from industry and academia and were analyzed by using the manifest qualitative content analysis technique to identify the underlying rationales and gap between the connected entities. The findings suggests that, there are many veiled factors behind the downfall of the prosperous firm, amongst those is the lack of government support, since Pakistan is the jute dependent country ,so in such environment the unit setups look forward for the helping hand from the government. Additionally, it was also found that in Pakistani context there is no any practice of succession planning in the firms of any type, leading to many unspoken problems. One of such problem is absence of codification, which in turn makes difficult for the firms to transfer the knowledge to the coming generations. It was also observed that, the industrial units are always looking forward to have a collaborative link to the knowledge generating units known as universities. Likewise the academia is also intended to approach to have such linkages to the industries to create a more developed milieu. On the whole this study is an attempt to comprehend the significance of knowledge transfer as one of the factor in understanding the downfall of the firm and to look for the ways with which the knowledge management of the industry can be developed.

2019 22nd International Multitopic Conference (INMIC), 2019

This paper demonstrates a compact Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) antenna supporting millim... more This paper demonstrates a compact Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) antenna supporting millimeter-wave (mm-wave) 5G communication applications. The antenna structure proposed in this work is a two-port MIMO antenna system, where each MIMO element consists of 1×2 linear array fed with parallel feed network. The prototype is designed on Rogers R043S0B substrate with the board dimensions of 25×35×0.762 mm3. Defected Ground Structure (DGS) is incorporated to optimize the performance of the demonstrated structure. The resonant frequency band covered by the MIMO antenna array ranges from 38.8- 42.9 GHz, thus covering 4.1 GHz wide bandwidth. Whereas, the peak gain attained for the resonant band is 9.86 dB. Moreover, significant isolation is obtained between the MIMO elements. In addition, diversity performance of the demonstrated antenna structure is analyzed through Envelope Correlation Coefficient (ECC), Total Active Reflection Coefficient (TARC), Mean Effective Gain (MEG), and Channel Capacity Loss (CCL). The simple structure, planar configuration, and radiation characteristics validates the presented MIMO antenna array as a suitable candidate for the forthcoming mm-wave 5G applications.

Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, 2021

2021 International Conference on Electrical, Computer, Communications and Mechatronics Engineering (ICECCME), 2021

This work presents a simple structured and circularly polarized (CP) antenna for fifth-generation... more This work presents a simple structured and circularly polarized (CP) antenna for fifth-generation (5G) communication applications. The presented antenna is a rectangular patch antenna resonating at 28 GHz. The circular polarization is obtained by truncating the corners of the antenna and etching a diagonal slot in the center of the patch antenna. The proposed antenna attains impedance bandwidth ranging from 26.778 - 28.6 GHz and 3-dB axial ratio bandwidth from 26.6 - 29.2 GHz. Furthermore, an antenna gain of 9.25 dBi is attained for the proposed geometry. In addition, MIMO capability is obtained for the proposed antenna with significant isolation, good correlation coefficient, and polarization diversity. These radiation characteristics of the proposed structure validates its suitability for 5G millimeter-wave (mm-wave) devices.

AEU - International Journal of Electronics and Communications, 2021

Abstract This article presents a printed antenna owing the advantages of compact size and simple ... more Abstract This article presents a printed antenna owing the advantages of compact size and simple geometrical configuration for fifth-generation (5G) 28 GHz communication systems. For better performance and miniaturization purposes, both the ground plane and the radiator of the patch antenna are defected with a rectangular slot. The antenna presents a wide operating bandwidth and high radiation efficiency while keeping reasonable gain. Furthermore, two elements Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) configuration of the proposed antenna was designed for MIMO applications. The MIMO antenna is also characterized by a good envelope correlation coefficient (ECC), low Channel Capacity Loss (CCL), and high diversity gain, which proves that the presented antenna can be seamlessly housed in miniaturized 5G smart devices. The proposed work is verified by experiments which are well-matched with predicted results. In comparison with other related works, the presented work is dominant in terms of wide operating bandwidth, high isolation, low ECC, and compact design.

Journal of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science, 2021

In this paper, a compact, wideband, printed antenna is proposed for millimeter-wave fifth-generat... more In this paper, a compact, wideband, printed antenna is proposed for millimeter-wave fifth-generation communication systems. The proposed design is a patch antenna with a defected ground structure, in which ground plane defects are utilized to reduce resonance and achieve wideband operation. The optimized antenna dimensions are 2.5 mm × 4.5 mm with a substrate thickness of 0.203 mm. A prototype antenna was fabricated and measured to verify the performance, and it was established that the simulated and measured results were in good agreement. The measured bandwidth was approximately 6.4 GHz (26.5–32.9 GHz) with a peak gain of 5.62 dBi and an efficiency in operational bandwidth of 84%. The compactness, wide bandwidth, and decent gain suggest that the proposed antenna is a potential contender for forthcoming communication systems.

Electronics, 2021

This paper presents a compact and simple reconfigurable antenna with wide-band, dual-band, and si... more This paper presents a compact and simple reconfigurable antenna with wide-band, dual-band, and single-band operating modes. Initially, a co-planar waveguide-fed triangular monopole antenna is obtained with a wide operational frequency band ranging from 4.0 GHz to 7.8 GHz. Then, two additional stubs are connected to the triangular monopole through two p-i-n diodes. By electrically switching these p-i-n diodes ON and OFF, different operating frequency bands can be attained. When turning ON only one diode, the antenna offers dual-band operations of 3.3–4.2 GHz and 5.8–7.2 GHz. Meanwhile, the antenna with single-band operation from 3.3 GHz to 4.2 GHz can be realized when both of the p-i-n diodes are switched to ON states. The proposed compact size antenna with dimensions of 0.27λ0 × 0.16λ0 × 0.017λ0 at the lower operating frequency (3.3 GHz) can be used for several wireless applications such as worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), wireless access in the vehicular env...

Applied Sciences, 2021

This paper presents the design and realization of a compact size multimode frequency reconfigurab... more This paper presents the design and realization of a compact size multimode frequency reconfigurable antenna. The antenna consists of a triangular-shaped monopole radiator, originally inspired from a rectangular monopole antenna. Slots were utilized to notch the desired frequency while the PIN diodes were utilized to achieve frequency reconfigurability. The antenna can operate in wideband, dual-band, or tri-band mode depending upon the state of the diodes. To validate the simulation results, a prototype was fabricated, and various performance parameters were measured and compared with simulated results. The strong agreement between simulated and measured results along with superior performance as compared to existing works in the literature makes the proposed antenna a strong candidate for ISM, 5G-sub-6 GHz, and S-band applications.

IEEE Access, 2020

This paper presents a compact frequency reconfigurable antenna for flexible devices and conformal... more This paper presents a compact frequency reconfigurable antenna for flexible devices and conformal surfaces. The antenna consists of a simple easy to fabricate structure consisting of a stub loaded circular radiator, designed on commercially available RT5880 flexible substrate (ε r = 2.2) with a thickness of 0.254 mm. The combination of stub loading and slot etching techniques are utilized to achieve the advantages of compactness, frequency reconfigurability, wide impedance bandwidth, and stable radiation pattern with structural conformability. The frequency reconfigurability is achieved by employing two pin diodes. Simulated and experimental results showed that the antenna operates in various important commercial bands, such as S-band (2 GHz-4 GHz), Wi-Max (3.5 GHz and 5.8 GHz), Wi-Fi (3.6 GHz, 5 GHz, and 5.9 GHz), 5G sub-6-GHz (3.5 GHz and 4.4 GHz-5 GHz), and ITU-band (7.725 GHz-8.5 GHz) with the additional advantages of structural conformability. Furthermore, the performance comparison of the proposed flexible antenna with the state-of-the-art flexible antennas in terms of compactness, frequency reconfigurability, and number of operating bands demonstrates the novelty of the proposed antenna and its potential application in heterogeneous applications. INDEX TERMS CPW-fed, conformability, frequency reconfigurable, heterogeneous applications, miniaturized, multiband, portable, wideband. ADNAN IFTIKHAR (Member, IEEE) received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI), Pakistan, in 2008, the M.S. degree in personal mobile and satellite communication from the University of Bradford, U.K., in 2010, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from North Dakota State University (NDSU), USA, in 2016. He is currently an Assistant Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, CUI. He has authored or coauthored 30 journals and conference publications. His current research interests include applied electromagnetic, reconfigurable antennas, leaky wave antennas, phased array antennas, and energy harvesting for low power devices.

Sensors, 2020

This work demonstrates an integrated multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna solution for L... more This work demonstrates an integrated multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna solution for Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Millimeter-Wave (mm-wave) 5G wireless communication services. The proposed structure is comprised of a two-element LTE MIMO antenna, and a four-element 5G MIMO configuration with rectangular and circular defects in the ground plane. For experimental validation, the proposed structure is fabricated on a Rogers RO4350B substrate with 0.76 mm thickness. The overall substrate dimensions are 75 mm × 110 mm. The proposed structure is capable of operating at 5.29–6.12 GHz (LTE 46 and 47 bands) and 26–29.5 GHz (5G mm-wave) frequency bands. Additionally, the measured peak gain of 5.13 and 9.53 dB is attained respectively for the microwave and mm-wave antennas. Furthermore, the analysis of the MIMO performance metrics demonstrates good characteristics, and excellent field correlation performance across the operating bands. Furthermore, the analysis of the Specific Abso...

Electronics, 2020

We present a 4-port Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) antenna array operating in the mm-wave ... more We present a 4-port Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) antenna array operating in the mm-wave band for 5G applications. An identical two-element array excited by the feed network based on a T-junction power combiner/divider is introduced in the reported paper. The array elements are rectangular-shaped slotted patch antennas, while the ground plane is made defected with rectangular, circular, and a zigzag-shaped slotted structure to enhance the radiation characteristics of the antenna. To validate the performance, the MIMO structure is fabricated and measured. The simulated and measured results are in good coherence. The proposed structure can operate in a 25.5–29.6 GHz frequency band supporting the impending mm-wave 5G applications. Moreover, the peak gain attained for the operating frequency band is 8.3 dBi. Additionally, to obtain high isolation between antenna elements, the polarization diversity is employed between the adjacent radiators, resulting in a low Envelope Correlati...

African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, 2021

The bottom-level weaker position of developing countries industrial clusters in GVCs make them pr... more The bottom-level weaker position of developing countries industrial clusters in GVCs make them prone to the threats of non-compliance of international standards and power dominance by lead firm in GVCs as empirically evident from the traditional industrial clusters of Pakistan. In the context of sceptical literature on the upgrading of supplier firms in GVCs, this research argues that the GVC analysis is limited because the GVC approach takes a quite identifiable linear perspective because the main actors taken into account are firms along the value chain and the lack of attention to the institutional context within which local firms interacting in GVC are embedded. The main research question is how do the innovation systems at the regional and national level support industrial clustered firms in their ability to upgrade from a position of SUPPLIERS to NODES in GVC through the links with knowledge institutes embedded in ISs and GVCs. This research tests the hypotheses using an empirical study of the ICT clusters of Pakistan significantly agglomerated in the cities of Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. The econometric analysis of cluster firms’ data shows that knowledge links with the knowledge institutes do not support the upgrading of firms in GVC. The policy implications for the upgradation of industrial clusters through the assessment of knowledge links is drawn for the other developing countries.

IEEE Access, 2020

Content-adaptive steganography intends to hide data in the complex texture content of the image. ... more Content-adaptive steganography intends to hide data in the complex texture content of the image. Recently, some secure steganography methods have been proposed to identify the textural complexity of an image. However, most of the techniques do not take into account the information of pixel variation around the central pixel in all possible directions and therefore they are unable to accurately analyse the texture complexity. This work offers a quality-enhanced and secure method of content-adaptive image steganography. The proposed method is divided into three sequential steps: image segmentation, pixel complexity identification, and data embedding. An input cover image is initially divided into small local regions and the pixel-complexity is identified based on the proposed Complex Block Prior (CBP) criterion. In a local block, a high pass filter (HPF) bank is applied and eight residual responses are obtained. Following the CBP criterion, a complexity level out of nine levels is assigned to an individualized pixel block. The pixels are then arranged in the priority of complexity from highest to lowest. Data embedding for the corresponding complexity level then takes place using the proposed adaptive embedding algorithm. Experimental results verify the preservation of visual quality of stego images produced by the proposed method. Three image datasets: Standard test images, BOWS2 and BOSS-base are used for the experimentation and comparison with prior state-of-art methods. Highest values of the IQ (image quality) parameters e.g., SSIM and WPSNR show the effectiveness of the proposed method.