Karthikeya Kakaraparty

Dr. Karthik Kakaraparty is a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Cybersecurity Engineering at Florida Polytechnic University. While earning his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Dallas, Kakaraparty’s research focused on designing highly compact, high-gain, ultra-wideband millimeter-wave antennas for drone-to-drone wireless communication applications. He also explored reverse electrowetting energy harvesting technologies during his doctoral studies. He earned an M.S. in electrical engineering from The University of North Texas, maintaining a perfect 4.0 GPA, and a bachelor’s degree in electronics and communication engineering from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University in Bangalore, India.

Prior to joining Florida Poly, Kakaraparty worked as a postdoctoral research associate at Baylor University, focusing on wireless power transfer and SAR analysis for brain chip implants. He also served as an RF antenna developer at Ericsson, where he contributed to the design, prototyping, and testing of base station antennas for 5G wireless communication applications.

While at the University of North Texas, he served as a graduate teaching fellow and graduate teaching assistant, teaching ABET-accredited courses, mentoring and instructing both graduate and undergraduate students, and leading hands-on RF laboratory sessions.

Kakaraparty is a proactive leader, having petitioned for and founded the IEEE AP-S and MTT-S joint chapter at UT Dallas, where he served as founding chapter chair. He is also an active contributor to the field, reviewing prestigious journals such as IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, and IEEE Sensors Journal. Kakaraparty brings extensive expertise in electromagnetic simulation, RF measurements, and wireless sensing applications. His work emphasizes innovative and highly compact antenna technologies for communication and sensing systems. He remains actively engaged in teaching, research and advancing antenna and wireless communication technologies.

Awards and Honors

• 2023 Early Career Award, Ph.D. Candidate category, IEEE Antenna Propagation and USNC-URSI Commission-K
• 2023 Honorable Mention Award, IEEE Dallas Circuits and Systems (DCAS) Conference
• 2023 Outstanding PhD Candidate Award, University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas)
• 2022 IEEE Antenna and Propagation Society Membership and Benefits Committee Travel Grant for Ph.D. Students
• 2022 Honorable Mention Award – Student Research Competition, Texas Symposium on Wireless and Microwave Circuits and Systems (TWMCS)

Education

• Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, University of Texas at Dallas, 2024
• M.S. in Electrical Engineering, University of North Texas, 2021
• B.S. in Electronics and Communication Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, 2019

Expertise

• RF Microwave Engineering
• Antennas
• Energy Harvesting
• RADAR
• CMOS Circuits

Professional Activities

• Member, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
• Member, IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S)
• Member, IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology Society (MTT-S)
• Associate Member, United States National Committee for the International Union of Radio Science (USNC-URSI) Commission-K

Select Publications

• Karthik Kakaraparty, Edgard Munoz Coreas, and Ifana Mahbub, “The Future of mm-Wave Wireless Communication Systems for Unmanned Aircraft Vehicles in the Era of Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing,” MetroCon 2021 Conference Proceedings, Hurst, TX, USA, 2021, pp. 1–8, doi: 10.1109/MetroCon54219.2021.9666048.
• Karthik Kakaraparty and Ifana Mahbub, “The Design and SAR Analysis of Wearable UWB Antenna for Radiative Near-Field Wireless Power Transfer,” 2022 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Biomedical Conference (IMBioC), 2022, pp. 141–143, doi: 10.1109/IMBioC52515.2022.9790243.
• Karthik Kakaraparty and Ifana Mahbub, “A 23.7 to 29.9 GHz Tunable Fully Differential Voltage Controlled Oscillator Designed in 180nm CMOS Process,” 2023 IEEE 16th Dallas Circuits and Systems Conference (DCAS), 2023, pp. 1–3, doi: 10.1109/DCAS57389.2023.10130248.
• Karthik Kakaraparty, Sunanda Roy, and Ifana Mahbub, “High-Gain, Broadband Radial Elliptical-Slot Array Antenna with Side-Lobe Mitigation for Low-Cost Satellite Communication Systems,” 2023 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting (USNC-URSI), 2023, pp. 527–528, doi: 10.1109/USNC-URSI52151.2023.10237445.
• Karthik Kakaraparty and Ifana Mahbub, “Gain-Enhanced Ultra Broadband Millimeter-Wave Reflectarray Design with Varied Square Minkowski Units for CubeSat Space Applications,” 2024 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting (USNC-URSI), Florence, Italy, 2024.
• Karthik Kakaraparty and Ifana Mahbub, “Smart-Watch Integrated Flexible Strap Antenna for Enhanced WiFi and Bluetooth Connectivity Applications,” 2024 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting (USNC-URSI), Florence, Italy, 2024.
• Karthik Kakaraparty and Ifana Mahbub, “High-Gain Broadband Dual-Polarized Base Station Antenna with Integrated Balun Structures for Ground-to-Aerial (G2A) Applications,” 2024 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting (USNC-URSI), Florence, Italy, 2024.
• Karthik Kakaraparty and Ifana Mahbub, “Highly Compact and Cost-Efficient Metal-Coated UWB 3D Vivaldi Radial Array for RADAR Applications,” 2024 IEEE International Symposium on Phased Array Systems and Technology (PAST), USA, 2024.
• Karthik Kakaraparty and Ifana Mahbub, “A High-Gain, Compact Wearable UWB Antenna for Wireless Power Transfer Applications,” 2024 IEEE Open Journal of Antennas and Propagation, doi: 10.1109/OJAP.2024.3520069.
• Karthik Kakaraparty, Erik A. Pineda, Baylee Schumacher, Russell C. Reid, and Ifana Mahbub, “Advanced Bias-Free Energy Harvesting Based on High-Dielectric Flexible Electrodes With Reverse Electrowetting-on-Dielectric,” IEEE Sensors Journal, vol. 24, no. 7, pp. 9480–9488, April 1, 2024, doi: 10.1109/JSEN.2023.3345841.