Your browser is unsupported

We recommend using the latest version of IE11, Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari.

University of Illinois Chicago
Search
University of Illinois Chicago

Electrical and Computer Engineering

College of Engineering

Photo of Vital, Dieff

Dieff Vital, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Associate

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Pronouns: Papo/He

Contact

Building & Room:

1010 SEO

Address:

851 S. Morgan St, MC 154, Chicago, IL 60607

Office Phone:

(312) 413-9657

CV Download:

DieffVital_CV.pdf

CV Link:

Dieff Vital, Ph.D.

Related Sites:

Paper on wireless charging antenna wins Vital second place prize Heading link

Dieff Vital, a faculty postdoctoral associate through the university’s Bridge to the Faculty program, ranked second in the IEEE RFID-TA 2022 best paper competition for his design of an antenna for a more efficient wireless charger that can be integrated into clothing for use in medical applications. These wearables free up a patient to move about while still being monitored by a medical device.

However, a misalignment can occur between the antenna sending power and the receiving antenna when the person wearing the item moves about, making it difficult to send good power. Different techniques have been used to mitigate the effects of misalignment on the transfer of power, but Vital proposed a novel solution based on an insect: a centipede.

Vital was inspired after watching centipedes crawl around and applied their movements and the tricks they use to attack their prey and applied them to the design of a biomimetic antenna for a textile wireless charger.

Centipedes lasso their prey, which includes roaches, moths, flies, silverfish, and termites, by jumping on them, then wrapping their legs around their catch. While coiled around their meal, they use their two right legs to inject venom. They also use this technique to protect themselves from predators, curling into a ball and releasing a chemical to repel attackers.

He structured magnetic and electric fields in his charger into a similar centipedal configuration, which allows for a cluster of strong magnetic/electric fields in the vicinity of the antenna. These fringe fields, or peripheral magnetic fields outside of the magnet core that are created by the semi-circles strengthen the electric and magnetic field and mitigate the effects of misalignment, increasing the wireless power transfer efficiency.

“If we change the alignment between the antennas during wireless power transfer, we will still be able to receive strong power levels,” Vital said. “This works as if the signals move around until they find the right path.”

The internet of things-connected antenna allows for wireless power transfer,  energy harvesting, and sensor charging.

His proposed antenna was compared against state-of-the-art textile antennas and performed as well or better than them. His design consists of conductive threads embroidered onto fabrics, making the antenna fully flexible, low cost, bio-compatible, and low-profile, which makes it appealing for smart bandages and charging solutions for sweat sensors and temperature sensors, for example. This novel wireless charger is currently protected under a provisional patent.

The second-place prize for Vital’s paper, “A Biomimetic Resonator for Fabric-Based Wireless Power Transfer, Harvesting, and Charging of Sensors and Internet of Medical Things,” was awarded at the IEEE RFID-TA 2022 conference held this September in Cagliari, Italy.

About

Dieff Vital was born in Torbeck, Haiti. He left his homeland to USA in 2012 after the earthquake (of January 12, 2010) hit. He started his journey at Miami Dade College where he completed his associate in arts with highest honors and distinction. He then moved to Florida Polytechnic University where he completed his Bachelor of Science (summa cum laude) in mechanical and industrial engineering in 2017. He moved back to Miami and completed his Ph.D.  in electrical and computer engineering at Florida International University (FIU) in 2021.

Dr. Vital started his research journey at Florida Polytechnic University as an undergraduate Research Assistant, where he developed supercapacitors out of phosphatic clay mixed with diatoms. He was involved in other projects that led his to win the Florida Academy of Sciences Al Hall Memorial Award for Best Poster and Excellent Academic Achievement. His research was supervised by Dr. Melba Horton, Dr. Sesha Srinivasan, and Dr. Chris Coughlin.

His Ph.D. work includes on-textile RF wireless power transfer and harvesting for Internet of Things applications and smart dressing solutions for electrochemical sensing and monitoring. He was supervised by Dr. Shubhendu Bhardwaj and Dr. John L. Volakis. For this work, he received the McKnight Dissertation Year Fellowship. During his Ph.D. he received several other awards including the Fall 2018 Student Conference Award, the International Microwave Symposium (IMS2019)/RFIC2019 Ph.D. Student Sponsorship (travel award), the 2019 U.S. National Committee for the International Union of Radio Science (USNC-URSI) Travel Fellowship, the National Science Foundation (NSF) student travel to attend the smart health workshop, the NSF IEEE/RFIC’20 Student Conference Registration Award, and the McKnight Fellowship Travel Grant. He has also received the Third Place from the IMS2019 Student Design Competition and honorable mentions in IMS2019 and IMS2020 3MT Competitions. Dr. Vital joined the electrical and computer department at UIC in August 2021 and his research will cross the frontiers of RF textile electronics, internet of things/internet of health things, 5G, and quantum RF engineering.

Selected Grants

Department of Defense (DoD), Three Bids with One Stone: High-Frequency Instrumentation for Device Characterization and Future Radar and Communication System Measurement, Co-Principal Investigator

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE), Real-Time and Continuous Monitoring of Chronic Wounds Using a Smart Bandage and a Mobile App, Principal Investigator

The University of Illinois Chicago Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy, Towards the Engagement of Underrepresented Minority Students in STEM Topics at UIC, Principal Investigator

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE), Happy Cloth: A Sensor-Equipped Charging Platform Made of Fabric-Based, Biomimetic, Low-Cost, Low-Profile Resonators and Harvesting Circuits for Body-Worn Charging, Principal Investigator

Selected Publications

  1. Vital, Dieff, Shubhendu Bhardwaj, and John L. Volakis. “Textile-based large area RF-power harvesting system for wearable applications.” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation 68, no. 3 (2019): 2323-2331. (Shortlisted for an IEEE R.W. King Award)
  2. Vital, Dieff, Pawan Gaire, Shubhendu Bhardwaj, and John L. Volakis. “An ergonomic wireless charging system for integration with daily life activities.” IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques 69, no. 1 (2020): 947-954.
  3. Vital, Dieff, and Shubhendu Bhardwaj. “Misalignment resilient anchor-shaped antennas in near-field wireless power transfer using electric and magnetic coupling modes.” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation 69, no. 5 (2020): 2513-2521.
  4. Mao, Chun-Xu, Dieff Vital, Douglas H. Werner, Yuhao Wu, and Shubhendu Bhardwaj. “Dual-polarized embroidered textile armband antenna array with omnidirectional radiation for on-/off-body wearable applications.” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation 68, no. 4 (2019): 2575-2584.
  5. Gaire, Pawan, Dieff Vital, Md Rayhan Khan, Cherif Chibane, and Shubhendu Bhardwaj. “Adhoc mobile power connectivity using a wireless power transmission grid.” Scientific Reports 11, no. 1 (2021): 1-10.
  6. Martinez, Idellyse, Chun-Xu Mao, Dieff Vital, Hasan Shahariar, Douglas H. Werner, Jesse S. Jur, and Shubhendu Bhardwaj. “Compact, low-profile and robust textile antennas with improved bandwidth for easy garment integration.” IEEE Access 8 (2020): 77490-77500.
  7. Vital, Dieff, Shubhendu Bhardwaj, and John L. Volakis. “A 2.45 GHz RF power harvesting system using textile-based single-diode rectennas.” In 2019 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS), pp. 1313-1315. IEEE, 2019. (less than 50% acceptance rate)
  8. Vital, Dieff, Jingni Zhong, Shubhendu Bhardwaj, and John L. Volakis. “Loss-characterization and guidelines for embroidery of conductive textiles.” In 2018 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation & USNC/URSI National Radio Science Meeting, pp. 1301-1302. IEEE, 2018.
  9. Vital, Dieff, Shekhar Bhansali, John L. Volakis, and Shubhendu Bhardwaj. “Electronic wound monitoring using fabric-integrated data modulation.” In 2020 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and North American Radio Science Meeting, pp. 1351-1352. IEEE, 2020.
  10. Sayeed, Sk Yeahia Been, Daniel Wilding, Jose Solis Camara, Dieff Vital, Shubhendu Bhardwaj, and P. M. Raj. “Deformable interconnects with embedded devices in flexible fan-out packages.” In International Symposium on Microelectronics, vol. 2019, no. 1, pp. 000163-000168. International Microelectronics Assembly and Packaging Society, 2019.
  11. Zhong, Jingni, Dieff Vital, Shubhendu Bhardwaj, and John L. Volakis. “2.45 GHz wearable RF-harvester for large area textile harvester (LATH) integration.” In 2018 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation & USNC/URSI National Radio Science Meeting, pp. 2549-2550. IEEE, 2018.
  12. Vital, Dieff, Shubhendu Bhardwaj, and John L. Volakis. “Bending and twisting tests for rf performances of textile transmission lines.” In 2019 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting, pp. 2173-2174. IEEE, 2019.
  13. Mao, Chunxu, Pingjuan L. Werner, Douglas H. Werner, Dieff Vital, and Shubhendu Bhardwaj. “Dual-polarized armband embroidered textile antenna for on-/off-body wearable applications.” In 2019 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting, pp. 1555-1556. IEEE, 2019.
  14. Vital, Dieff, John L. Volakis, and Shubhendu Bhardwaj. “A wireless power transfer system (wpts) using misalignment resilient, on-fabric resonators for wearable applications.” In 2020 IEEE/MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS), pp. 1184-1187. IEEE, 2020. (less than 50% acceptance rate)
  15. Vital, Dieff, John L. Volakis, and Shubhendu Bhardwaj. “Textile-based novel anchor-shaped antenna for near-field wireless power transfer.” In 2019 International Workshop on Antenna Technology (iWAT), pp. 197-198. IEEE, 2019.
  16. Vital, Dieff, Shubhendu Bhardwaj, and John L. Volakis. “Misalignment resilient, near field wireless power transfer (WPT) antennas using anchor shape.” In 2019 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting, pp. 1795-1796. IEEE, 2019.
  17. Vital, Dieff, John L. Volakis, and Shubhendu Bhardwaj. “An Ultra-High-Frequency Wirelessly-Powered Smart Bandage for Wound Monitoring and Sensing Using Frequency Modulation.” In 2021 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS), pp. 331-334. IEEE, 2021. (less than 50% acceptance rate)
  18. Bhardwaj, Shubhendu, SK Yeahia Been Sayeed, Jose Solis Camara, Dieff Vital, and P. M. Raj. “Reconfigurable mm Wave Flexible Packages with Ultra-thin Fan-Out Embedded Tunable Ceramic IPDs.” In International Symposium on Microelectronics, vol. 2019, no. 1, pp. 000434-000437. International Microelectronics Assembly and Packaging Society, 2019.
  19. Vital, Dieff, John L. Volakis, and Shubhendu Bhardwaj. “Textile-Based Corrugated-X Resonators for Wireless RF Power Transfer for Wearable Applications.” In 2020 Antenna Measurement Techniques Association Symposium (AMTA), pp. 1-2. IEEE, 2020.
  20. Vital, Dieff, Md Monirojjaman Monshi, Shubhendu Bhardwaj, P. Markondeya Raj, and John L. Volakis. “Flexible Ink-Based Interconnects for Textile-Integrated RF Components.” In 2020 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and North American Radio Science Meeting, pp. 151-152. IEEE, 2020.
  21. Vital, Dieff, Alfredo Gonzalez, Elias A. Alwan, John L. Volakis, and Shubhendu Bhardwaj. “A 2.45-GHz Frugal Dumbbell-Shaped Rectenna Built on Recyclable Substrates.” In 2020 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and North American Radio Science Meeting, pp. 1387-1388. IEEE, 2020.
  22. Gaire, Pawan, Dieff Vital, Md Rayhan Khan, Cherif Chibane, and Shubhendu Bhardwaj. “Wireless Power Charging of Smartphone up to 6 Feet From Transmitter Antenna at 2.4 GHz.” In 2021 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting (APS/URSI), pp. 19-20. IEEE, 2021.
  23. Vital, Dieff, John L. Volakis, and Shubhendu Bhardwaj. “A Novel Corrugated-Shank Anchor-Shaped Antenna for Wireless Power Transfer.” In 2021 XXXIVth General Assembly and Scientific Symposium of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI GASS), pp. 1-2. IEEE.
  24. Vital, Dieff,“A Novel Clothing-Based Nest-Inspired Resonator for Wireless Power Transfer and Harvesting,” In 2022 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting (APS/URSI), pp. 1-2. IEEE, 2022 (Accepted)
  25. Vital, Dieff,“A Novel Fluid-Based Pattern-Reconfigurable, Textile Antenna Array for Wearable Applications,” In 2022 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting (APS/URSI), pp. 1-2. IEEE, 2022 (Accepted)
  26. Islam, Md Khadimul, Khan, Md Rayhan, Vital, Dieff, Chibane, Cherif, Hoque, Mahbub, Bhardwaj, Shubhendu “Switched Beam Steering Using Shared Aperture Antenna Array,” In 2022 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting (APS/URSI), pp. 1-2. IEEE, 2022 (Accepted)
  27. Wagih, Mahmoud, Khan, Md Rayhan, Bhardwaj, Shubhendu, Vital, Dieff “Towards Wearable Wireless Power Harvesting Using Clothing-Integrated Beamforming Structures,” In 2022 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting (APS/URSI), pp. 1-2. IEEE, 2022 (Accepted)
  28. Vital, Dieff, “A Biomimetic Resonator for Fabric-Based Wireless Power Transfer, Harvesting, and Charging of Sensors and Internet of Medical Things,” In 2022 IEEE International Conference on RFID Technology and Applications, pp. 1-4. IEEE, 2022 (Invited and Accepted) (2nd Place Best Paper Award)
  29. Vital, Dieff, “A Novel Misalignment-Resilient Wireless Power Transfer, Harvesting, and Sensing System Made of Slot Yagi-Uda Resonators for Smart Wearable and Medical Things,” In EAI PervasiveHealth 2022, 16th EAI International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare, pp. 1-11. (Invited and Accepted)

 

Service to Community

  • Reviewer-IEEE Transaction on Antennas and Propagation (2020-present)
  • Reviewer-IEEE Transaction on Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology (2021-present)
  • Reviewer-Applied Energy Elsevier (2021-present)
  • Reviewer-Scientific Reports (Nature)
  • Reviewer-IEEE International Microwave Symposium (2022-present)
  • Reviewer-Sensors-MDPI (2021-present)
  • Reviewer-Electronics-MDPI (2021-present)
  • Reviewer-IEEE Journal of Microwaves (2022-present)
  • Reviewer-IEEE Microwave Magazine (2022-present)
  • Reviewer-Textile and Leather Review (2022-present)
  • Leader-Team competing for the Civic Tech Challenge at the ThinkChicago Homecoming
  • Panel Moderator, “IoT Research Roadmap,” Real-Time Communications Conference & Expo at Illinois Tech, October 12, 2021
  • Member-IEEE International Microwave Symposium 2022 (IEEE IMS2022) Technical Paper Review Committee-Subcommittee: Wireless Power Transmission
  • Session Chair: Low-Frequency Wireless Power Transfer and Harvesting at IEEE IMS 2022
  • Session Chair: Rectenna and Signal Design for RF power Transmission and Energy Harvesting at IEEE IMS 2022
  • Session Chair: Wearable, Flexible, and Conformable Antennas at IEEE AP-S/URSI 2022
  • Technical program Committee Co-Chair: IEEE Real-Time Communications Conference 2022
  • Student Paper Competition Judge: selected reviewer for the student finalists to take part in the competition
  • Instructor-Short course for the 2022 IEEE APS/USNC-URSI joint conference to be taught in collaboration with Dr. Mahmoud Wagih (University of Southampton, UK)
    • Course title: Body-Worn Antennas and RF Circuits for Wireless Power Transmission, Conversion, and Communication for Next Generation Wearable Technology
  • Member-IEEE APS Best-Paper Awards Committee
  • Member-Award committee for IEEE Piergiorgio L. E. Uslenghi Prize Paper (AWPL)
  • Mentor: UIC ERSP Scholar
    • This initiative involves the mentoring of gifted undergraduate students to conduct research for two consecutive semesters
  • Mentor: ACT-SO Student Mentoring program
    • This program is developed at Argonne National lab pairing professors, researchers, and postdoctoral scholars with high school students to perform research for 6 months.
  • Judge GEMS Research Symposium organized by the University of Illinois Chicago-College of Medicine

Professional Leadership

Chair, IEEE Fox Valley Subsection

Notable Honors

2021, 2021 Young Scientist Award (URSI-GASS), IEEE URSI_NRSM

2019, Paul Harris Fellow, Rotary International

2017, Al Hall Memorial Award, Florida Academy of Sciences

2022, 2nd Place Best Paper Award, 2022 IEEE International Conference on RFID Technology and Applications

2020, Honorable Mention: IMS 3MT(R)-Competition, IEEE MTT-S

2019, Honorable Mention: IEEE IMS 3MT(R)-Competition, IEEE MTT-S

2019, Third Place Winner: IEEE IMS 2019 Student Design Competition, IEEE MTT-S

2021, McKnight Dissertation Year Fellowship, The Florida Educational Fund

2019, The IEEE IMS 2019/RFIC2019 PhD Student Sponsorship (Travel Award), The IEEE MTT-S

2022, Microwave and Technique Initiative Travel Grant (for Young Professionals), The IEEE MTT-S

Education

Ph.D., Florida International University (April 2021)
Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Dissertation :"Textile-Integrated Wearable RF Wireless Power Transfer and Harvesting for Battery-Free Medical Sensing."
MS, Florida International University (Dec. 2020)
Electrical and Computer Engineering
• SGA Graduate Scholarship (2018-2019, 2019-2020)
BS, Florida Polytechnic University (May 2017)
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (Summa Cum Laude)
• Presidential List (Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Spring 2017)
• Provost’s List (Spring 2016)
Associate in Arts, Miami Dade College (Dec. 2014)
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (Highest Honors with Distinction)
• Dean’s List (Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015)
• Mathematics Award (April 2014)
• Basketball Properties Scholarship

Professional Memberships

  • Associate Member: IEEE Union Radio-Science Internationale (URSI)-Commission B (academic)
  • Paul Harris Fellow: Rotary International (leadership)
  • IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques (Member)
  • IEEE Electronics Packaging Society (Member)
  • IEEE Young Professionals (Member)
  • IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (Member)
  • IEEE MTT-TC-26 “RFID, Wireless Sensors and IoT” (Affiliated Member)
  • Sigma Xi-The Scientific Research Society (2019 Secretary)
  • Toastmasters International (2020-2021 Treasurer)
  • Florida Polytechnic University-Presidential Ambassadors
  • Rotaract Club-Florida Polytechnic University (Founding President)

Selected Presentations

  1. Vital, Dieff, Volakis, John L., Bhardwaj, Shubhendu “On-Textile Coupled Magnetic Resonators for Wireless Power Harvesting Applications,” USNC-URSI 2019, Boulder Colorado
  2. Vital, Dieff, Bhardwaj, Shubhendu, Volakis, John L. “A 2.45 GHz Textile-based RF Rectenna Array for Sensor Applications,” USNC-URSI 2019, Boulder Colorado
  3. Vital, Dieff, Bhardwaj, Shubhendu, Volakis, John L. “Anchor-Shaped Antenna-Based Wireless Charging Platform for Internet of Things,” USNC-URSI 2021, Virtual
  4. Vital, Dieff, “Developing Multifunctional Wearables for 5G/6G Applications,” The University of Illinois Chicago ECE Seminar Series, December 3, 2021
  5. Vital, Dieff, “Towards the Development of Novel, Fluidically Pattern-Reconfigurable, Textile-Based Antenna Arrays for 5G/6G-Wearable Applications,” Post-Doctoral Research & Career Symposium 2021, November 4-5, 2021, Argonne National Lab

Research Currently in Progress

  • Real-Time and Continuous Monitoring of Chronic Wounds Using a Smart Bandage and a Mobile App
    • Funding period: 07/2022-06/2023
    • Funding agency: The IEEE AP-S Summer Research Scholarship program
  • Towards the Engagement of Underrepresented Minority Students in STEM Topics at UIC
    • Funding period: 07/2022-06/2023
    • Funding agency: The UIC Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy

Intellectual Property

  1. Vital, Dieff, John L. Volakis, and Shubhendu Bhardwaj. "Power transfer and harvesting system having anchor-shaped antennas." U.S. Patent 11,063,475 issued July 13, 2021.
  2. Vital, Dieff, John L. Volakis, and Shubhendu Bhardwaj. "Power transfer and harvesting system having anchor-shaped antennas." U.S. Patent Application 17/307,321 filed December 30, 2021.
  3. Vital, Dieff, Shubhendu Bhardwaj, John L. Volakis, Pulak Bhushan, and Shekhar Bhansali. "Smart bandage for electrochemical monitoring and sensing using fabric-integrated data modulation." U.S. Patent 11,065,164 issued July 20, 2021.