School of Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering

Received a B.Eng. (Hons.) in Electronic Engineering(Communications) from the University of Sheffield, and then studied for a PhD with the Department's internationally respected Communications and Radar Group. Sheffield University belongs to the Russell Group. The Russell Group is an association of 20 major research-intensive universities of the United Kingdom.  

Former Director of Sheffield's Centre for Mobile Communications Research (C4MCR), Dr Edwards moved to Loughborough University with his research group in September 2004.

Director of the Centre for Mobile Communications Research

Dr Edwards has reviewed for several of the technology programmes organised by the UK Government and also reviews numerous publications relating to Mobile Communications, Signal Porcessing and the possible effects of Radio Frequency Radiation on humans.

Professional Affiliations
Senior Member of Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers

MIET

External Activities
Arab Open University - External Examiner (2004-2011)
University of Bedfordshire - External Examiner
British University of Egypt - Subject advisor (Communications Electronics) 2006-2011
Wireless World Research Forum Communications Division Nominee

Broad Interests and Expertise

Personal Biometric Radio. The concept of using a biometric mobile communications device that can recognise a user is right out of the popular space series ‘star trek’. In the series "The Next Generation" which was first shown in 1994 the crew used a chest worn device that could be used to talk to others who were miles away or in the next room. It needed no code word to input, was the size of an acorn and knew who was using it. Therefore the concept of the biometric phone is not new. However, how to actually make one is quite challenging. Because of the nature of electromagnetic waves a great deal of information about the body of a user is available to the phone. Recently’ engineers have been trying hard (and for the most part failing), to remove the effect of the user from the radio channel. This work is about finding a user by the effect they have on the phone and the channel. We are looking at ways to enable your phone to slowly get to recognise you in the same way your cat or dog does.

Mobile Communications. The fresh and inspiring adoption of mobile communications devices has opened up an exciting new branch of wireless to which I feel hugely grateful to be able to contribute. Mobile technology is now closer to people than ever before with more antennas close to the head than on rooftops. Almost all aspects of mobile communications currently offer extremely rewarding research opportunities and I intend to make the most of as many as possible. Mobile Communications is the biggest opportunity for research and industry to impact on society for many decades."

Radio Frequency Radiation in Humans. Uncertainties that surround the possible harmful effects of radiation from mobile phones have recently led to an upsurge in public interest. For a technology that has become as pervasive as the common shoe the resource being devoted to research in this area is grossly inadequate. New generations of devices are still being introduced (example mobile communications enabled PDAs), prior to any rigorous testing. I feel that a great deal of work can be done to design systems that have less effect on biological tissue and are by inference safer to use. 

Short Range Wireless communications systems, Ultra-wideband Radio (UWB), On-body antennas, MIMO, Dosimety, Signal Processing, Radio Frequency Radiation in Humans, CDMA, GSM, Mobile Networks 

Expertise
Antennas
Communication and Computer Networks: Architecture
Management
and Applications
Communications
MIMO systems
Signal Processing
Wearable computing
Wireless Communications
Biomedical engineering
Sensor networks
Specific absorption rate (sar)

Keywords
Dosimetry
Radio Frequency Radiation
on-body antennas
Microwave Measurements
Mobile Communications
Internetworking
Mobile Phones
Flexible Antennas
Ultra Wideband Radio
On-Body MIMO
Ad-hoc Networks

Advanced Mobile Communications. "The fresh and inspiring adoption of mobile communications devices has opened up an exciting new branch of wireless to which I feel hugely grateful to be able to contribute. Mobile technology is now closer to people than ever before with antennas close to the head as well as on rooftops. Almost all aspects of mobile communications currently offer extremely rewarding research opportunities and I intend to make the most of as many as possible. Mobile Communications is the biggest opportunity for research and industry to impacts on electronics for many decades."

Radio Frequency Radiation in Humans. Uncertainties that surround the possible harmful effects of radiation from mobile phones have recently led to an upsurge in public interest. For a technology that has become as pervasive as the common shoe the resource being devoted to research in this area is grossly inadequate. New generations of devices are still being introduced (example mobile communications enabled PDAs), prior to any rigorous testing. I feel that a great deal of work can be done to design systems that have less effect on biological tissue an.

Advanced Radio Frequency/Microwave Design and Measurement relating to Mobile Communications. In order to validate models, experimental results are always necessary. Therefore my research has also had a strong practical component in that I have modelled, designed and then fabricated many printed structures using a variety of techniques. Radio frequency design and measurement has therefore formed a large and interesting component of my work at the University of Sheffield. A current related area is that of small flexible antennas for mobile communications devices.