John Volakis
Professor & Chope Chair, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering | College of Engineering The Ohio State University
Media
Social
Biography
Industry Expertise
Areas of Expertise
Accomplishments
Chair USNC/URSI Comission B
2015-01-01
Awarded by the United States National Committee for the International Union of Radio Science Membership
IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society Distinguished Award
2014-01-01
Awarded by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Education
Ohio State University
Ph.D.
Electrical Engineering
1982
Ohio State University
M. Sci
1979
Youngstown State
B.E.
Engineering
1978
Affiliations
- ElectroScience Laboratory
Media Appearances
Goodbye, Gimmicks, Hello, Smart Solutions: Wearable Tech Shows Signs of Growing Up
Apparel
2016-11-01
At Ohio State University — a consortium member school — Dr. John Volakis, director of the ElectroScience Laboratory, and his team achieved a significant first. Using a standard sewing machine, they’ve embroidered polymerized silver threads into fabric that creates a circuit “as good as a standard circuit board,” says Dr. Volakis. At 0.1 mm in precision, the embroidered circuits have different frequencies depending on their geometric shape, and linked together can create a broadband network in a shirt or jacket to ensure that the smartphone you’re carrying, for example, always has good reception...
Precise Embroidered Circuits Bring Next-Gen Wearables Closer To Reality
PSFK
2016-05-02
“A revolution is happening in the textile industry” says director of the Ohio State University laboratory John Volakis. “We believe that functional textiles are an enabling technology for communications and sensing—and one day even medical applications like imaging and monitoring.”...
Get Your Technology Out of My Pants, or Why Smart Tech Can Get So, So Dumb
Mic
2016-04-15
Here's one example: Researchers at Ohio State University have successfully woven circuits into clothes with the exactness needed to integrate them into printed metal circuit boards, TechCrunch reported. The next step is to "incorporate receivers and electronic components" into them, said Ohio State ElectroScience Laboratory director John Volakis. For "medical applications like imaging and health monitoring," this success is a stride in the right direction...
Wired Textiles for a Phone as Useful as the Shirt on Your Back
The New York Times
2011-10-24
John Volakis wants to make the world hands-free.
The director of the ElectroScience Laboratory at Ohio State University, he is trying to end the need for cellphone hardware like the Bluetooth earpiece by fabricating communication devices out of something that most states require we carry with us all the time anyway: clothing.
“You won’t have to hold your cellphone to your ear,” said Dr. Volakis, an electrical engineer. “We’ll eliminate all that. It will be part of your attire.”...
Recent Research
Computers in Your Clothes? A Milestone for Wearable Electronics
The Ohio State University2016-04-13
That last item is one that John Volakis, director of the ElectroScience Laboratory at Ohio State, and research scientist Asimina Kiourti are investigating. The idea is to make brain implants, which are under development to treat conditions from epilepsy to addiction, more comfortable by eliminating the need for external wiring on the patient’s body.
“A revolution is happening in the textile industry,” said Volakis, who is also the Roy & Lois Chope Chair Professor of Electrical Engineering at Ohio State. “We believe that functional textiles are an enabling technology for communications and sensing—and one day even medical applications like imaging and health monitoring.”...
Antennas In Your Clothes? New Design Could Pave The Way
The Ohio State University2011-08-22
John Volakis, the Roy & Lois Chope Chair Professor and Director of the ElectroScience Laboratory at Ohio State, found a common analogy for the new design.
“In a way, we’re doing what’s already been done on a cell phone. You don’t see cell phones with external antennas anymore, because the antenna is part of the body of the phone,” Volakis said.
When antennas make contact with the human skin, however, the body tends to absorb radio signals and form a short circuit – a fact driven home by the recent difficulties with the antenna placement on the iPhone 4. Also, if an antenna is improperly placed, a person’s body can block it when he or she moves against a wall or other obstacles...
