Qi’s paper, entitled “Low-power and Compact Microwave RFID Reader for Sensing Applications in Space," was co-authored with Durgin, who leads the Georgia Tech Propagation Group in ECE, and Josh Griffin, an associate professor in the Department of Engineering and Physics at Northwest Nazarene University. IEEE RFID-TA is the premiere international research venue for research into RFID and applications. 

The paper documents a custom-built microwave sensing system that was designed for a NASA CubeSat science mission. For this mission, an RF energy-harvesting sensor is deployed at a distance from a small satellite. The sensor is then energized by microwave power from an onboard RF reader and used to make gyrometry, magnetometry, and radiation measurements with greater accuracy and precision than previous on-board systems. The radio is currently undergoing vacuum and shake tests, with expected launch and deployment in April 2019.

Cutline: Cheng Qi (left) is presented with the Best Student Paper Award by Samuel Chan, a representative of FDTC at the IEEE RFID-TA 2018 conference. FDTC stands for the O Fundo para o Desenvolvimento das Ciências e da Tecnologia -- Fund for the Development of Science and Technology; the purpose of FDTC is similar to that of the National Science Foundation in the United States.