RESEARCH OVERVIEW

Professor Itoh's research activities cover a wide range of microwave and millimeter-wave electronics. The research topics include novel waveguiding, radiating and packaging structures, active and nonlinear circuits including active integrated antennas, millimeter-wave power combining techniqe, microwave-optical interactions, millimeter-wave imaging technique, and advanced numerical analysis and CAD techniques.

Each graduate student in his group is provided with a research topic tailored individually from one or more areas of interest. The major emphasis over the past several years has been to develop a research program that would be a leader in the world by forming a comprehensive "applied" electromagnetics. In many parts of the acdemic community, electromagnetics is considered a mature subject which does not attract students who will become future research leaders.

This is meant to be a "system" science combining the traditional electromagnetics with microelectronics, optoelectronics, linear and nonlinear circuit theory, and computational engineering. His philosophy was recently well rewarded by the award of the prestigious JSEP (Joint Services Electronics Program) from the Department of Scientific Research. This program is one of the oldest and most successful DoD programs. Unlike other collaborative research programs and center programs, the award of this program is not just a financial asset to UCLA. With JSEP, UCLA is now recognized as one of the 13 leading research universities in the area of electronics.

Prof. Itoh believes that senior professors should not only excel in research but should provide leadership among the international research community by creating new research areas and new research directions. Such efforts include educational activities aimed toward all research students beyond the boundary of UCLA. In this regard, Prof. Itoh has for the past several years initiated and promoted a new area of research in microwave electronics.

The area is called Active Integrated Antennas, which provides a new opportunity by combining active microwave circuits and devices with integrated antennas. In the past, these two areas have been treated separately by researchers in the separate desciplines. Traditionally, engineers and researchers in the field of electromagnetics have treated antennas while the microwave circuit engineers and solid state electronics researchers have studied the active devices and circuits separately. In the proposed research area, all of these elements are studied together to form the "applied electromagnetics" field.

Prof. Itoh acknowledges that the mission of universities is education. His graduate students are and educated mainly through apprenticeship and supervision to become independent researchers needed by the industrial and academic centers of the world. The importance of persistence and diverse methods of thinking with new approaches are taught. However, the ineraction between the passive and active parts is handled based on the circuit-based techniques, such as the Harmonic Balance method.The new approach of Propfessor Itoh's group is to treat the cicuit, including the active devices, with a full wave electromagnetic analysis. The method is at the moment based on the so-called extended Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method. The characteristics of the active devices are included in the FDTD analysis. In this way, all electromagnetic phenomena over a wide frequency range are included in the analysis. The method is particularly appealing for the circuits at high millimeter-wave frequencies and for densely packed circuits since the strong wave interactions among all components need to be correctly represented. In addition, the enviornmental effects and the effects of the package can be integrated. Wave interactions in the circuits by way of harmonics gnerated can also be accurately accounted for.

Research Support

The research activities listed above have been strongly supported by governmental and industrial organizations. They include the Army Research Office, Office of Naval Research, Air Force Office of Scientific Research (JSEP), DARPA, Matsushita, Hughes, TRW, Rockwell, and the ThermoTrex Corporation. Several other industrial and government organizations provide funds for his travel to present lectures and give technical advice in the U.S. and abroad.

Professional Activities

In the area of service and professional activities, Professor Itoh is heavily involved with IEEE activities mainly through the Societal level (through MTT). He was been the founding Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Microwave and Guided Wave Letters, a quick turn around letter journal, from 1991-1994. He has been on a number of standing and ad hoc committees for the MTT, including the Long Range Planning Commmittee. He is also vert active in URSI (International Scientific Radio Union) with more than 35 member countries. He served as the Chairman of URSI Commission D (in charge of Electronics and Photonics) and organized an International Symposium in San Francisco in 1995. Presently, he is on the Long Range Planning Committee of URSI. He interacts strongly with many US Governmental organizations including the Army Research Office, the Office of Naval Research, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research . Though these activities, the visibility of UCLA has been continually enhanced. Inside the university, he serves on a number of committees either as chair or member. This activity includes Chairmanship of Faculty Recruiting and the Academic Planning Committee.

International Activities

Professor Itoh has always been involved in the international scene with many official and unofficial collaborations. During his presidency of the IEEE MTT Society in 1990, he created the Transnational Committee to better address the transnational issues of the Society and its membership. He holds a number of visiting professorship appointments in the United Kingdom and in China. He serves on several advisory boards in private and governmental organizations in Germany and Japan. He is continually involved in a number of international symposia and workshops throughout the world either as an advisory function or as a member of technical program committees. His laboratory has a number of researchg collaboration with insitutions in other countries. His laboratory also constantly attracts many international visitors, visiting scholars, and post doctoral researchers. The number of visiting scholars hosted by Professor Itoh now well exceeds 50.