Research activities overview in mmWave systems: Antenna design, Channel Characterization, and Drone Detection

Vasilii Semkin, Associate Research Scientist, NYUAD

Biography: Vasilii Semkin is a Research Scientist at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD). He received his Lic.Sc.(Tech.) and D.Sc. (Tech.) degrees from the School of Electrical and Nanoengineering, Aalto University, Finland, in 2014 and 2016, respectively. From 2016 to 2017, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher at Aalto University working on 5G antenna development, and from 2017 to 2018 at Tampere University of Technology, where he studied radio channel properties at millimetre-wave (mmWave) frequencies. In 2018–2019, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher at ICTEAM, Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain), Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, focusing on wireless channel characterization, air-to-ground channel measurements, and drone detection. From 2019 to 2025, he was a Senior Scientist at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, where he worked on antenna design, channel measurements, drone detection, and the management of measurement equipment and laboratories.

Abstract:The talk by Vasilii Semkin provides an overview of his research activities in millimeter-wave (mmWave) antenna design, channel measurements and modeling, air-to-ground (A2G) propagation, and RF-based drone detection. The presentation highlights the development of various antenna architectures and custom SDR-based channel sounding platforms for experimental characterization of high-frequency wireless channels.

Measurement campaigns in aerial and urban environments are discussed, enabling modeling of

mmWave propagation for terrestrial and aerial networks. In addition, the talk presents RF sensing and radar-based methodologies for drone detection and classification, supported by

measurement-driven analysis.