Lab About
Our Lab
The central philosophy of the Drexel Wireless Systems Laboratory (DWSL) is to take a systems-centric view of new and emerging wireless technologies using a combination of interdisciplinary research and hardware prototyping. Two recurring themes involve the extension of: i.) software defined / cognitive radio to modalities beyond only radio, and ii.) the principle of “diversity” outside of exclusive use in radio frequency communications. The realization of this research philosophy has taken the following forms:
Interdisciplinary research across traditionally separate areas towards practical applications. For example, DWSL smart textile research involves collaboration between engineering, medicine, and fashion design for the realization of unobtrusive biomedical smart textile systems. Similarly, DWSL reconfigurable antenna research is not only informed by computational electromagnetics and radio frequency design. The research also considers how reconfigurable antenna design influences, and is influenced by, metrics in algorithms pertaining to link adaptive modulation, ad-hoc network interference mitigation, interference alignment, dynamics spectrum access, network routing tables, as well as physical layer encryption key generation and user authentication.
Hardware Prototyping of systems usually considered only theoretically or by simulation. Specifically, this goal involves extending emerging technologies in software defined and cognitive radio to include: i.) transceiver hardware reconfigurability, as opposed to flexibility only in modulation and signal processing software, and ii.) optical and ultrasonic communication modalities, as opposed to exclusive use of radio frequency (RF).
Extension of the principle of “diversity” outside of exclusive use in RF communications to hybrid modality communications systems that make simultaneous, coordinated use of two or more signal propagation media. Examples of this extension include: i.) hybrid radio frequency and free space optical communications for indoor office local area networking and ii.) hybrid radio frequency and ultrasonic communications for local area networking in specialized military and industrial applications.
Ongoing projects at DWSL encompass a wide ranging number of research areas that reflects its systems level approach to studying and solving problems in wireless communications. The lab is also working with faculty members across the university to extend its research impact into diverse areas such as medicine and fashion for biomedical applications.
Kapil Dandekar, Ph.D. - Director
Kapil R. Dandekar is a Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Drexel University and serves as the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Engineering. He is also an affiliated faculty member in the School of Biomedical Engineering at Drexel University. Kapil holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin and received his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from The University of Virginia. He founded DWSL in 2001 after joining Drexel University.
Our Work in the Media
Diplomacy In The Battle For Bandwidth
Drexel News Blog, May 2017New Research Labs Foster Collaboration at Drexel’s 3101 Market St.
Drexel Now, April 2017Amid Privacy Concerns, Wearable Tech Grows in Health
Athletic Business, January 2017Wearable tech gaining in health care, but privacy is a concern
Philly.com, January 2017These Smart Threads Could Save Lives
NSF Science Nation, September 2016CoE Students at the Democratic National Convention
Drexel News, August 2016Demand for jobs high in cyber security
Philly.com, August 2015Retooling Locator Systems for Mobile 911 Calls
Govtech.com, August 2014Adant, a technology company cofounded by DWSL alumnus Daniele Piazza, is showcasing its amazing beamshaping antenna technology at CES 2013.
December 2012Smart fabric could be cheap, non-invasive way to monitor complications in pregnancy
MedCity News, November 2012Drexel engineers may soon replace E-Z Pass box with transparent antennas
DrexelNOW, October 2010Spirent Teams Up with Drexel University to Expand Research into Advanced Wireless Antenna Technologies
BusinessWire, October 2010Community Service Program Expands
IEEE the institute article features our Senior Design activities, September 2010
Lab News
11/07/17: DWSL Director Dr. Kapil Dandekar featured on a panel discussion titled Emerging Directions in Communications at the 2017 Texas Wireless Summit at UT Austin.
07/25/17: DWSL has been granted a patent titled Reconfigurable antennas and configuration selection methods for AD-HOC networks
05/31/17: Marko Jacovic won Graduate College Continuing Excellence Award and Xaime Rivas Rey won College level teaching award at the 2017 Graduate Student day.
04/10/17: DWSL’s new collaborative workspace featured in Drexel Now
03/08/17: DWSL Students Logan Henderson, Danh Nguyen, James Chacko, Cem Sahin and Xaime Rivas Rey have been awarded IEEE Philadelphia Section’s Student Project Award for their work on BeamViewer.
01/20/17: Dr. Kapil Dandekar featured in Philly.com article discussing privacy concerns regarding wearable health technology. Article also posted in Athletic Business.
12/27/16: DWSL has been granted a patent titled Real-time and protocol-aware reactive jamming in wireless networks
11/11/16: Alex Lackpour featured in Lockheed Martin article.
09/13/2016: DWSL has been granted a patent titled Transparent conformal polymer antennas for RFID and other wireless communications applications
08/29/16: Simon Begashaw & Marko Jacovic acknowledged for teaching awards by Drexel’s Graduate College.
08/05/16: Danh Nguyen, Marko Jacovic & Ilhaan Rasheed mentioned in CoE Students at the Democratic National Convention for their wireless enforcement volunteer work at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
05/16/16: Marko Jacovic awarded for Teaching Excellence at 2016 Graduate Student day.
03/12/16: Dr. Kapil Dandekar featured in Drexel Magazine for his work in reconfigurable antennas.
05/27/14: Damiano Patron received the Allen Rothwarf Award for outstanding graduate students in the ECE Department
05/27/14: Damiano Patron received a Highly Commended citation in the college-wide research award competition
05/27/14: Cem Sahin won Drexel’s Continued Teaching Excellence Award for AY 2013-2014.
09/17/13: Damiano Patron won the Young Scientist Best Paper Award at the ICEAA-IEEE APWC-EMS 2013 conference held in Torino, Italy with his paper entitled “Improved Design of a CRLH Leaky-wave Antenna and its Application for DoA Estimation.”
09/08/12: DWSL receives collaborative grant for designing Hybrid Wireless Network-on-Chips