04/08/2026
By Danielle Fretwell

The Francis College of Engineering, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, invites you to attend a Doctoral Dissertation Proposal defense by Nathaniel M. D'Agati titled: "Non-Traditional Structures Additively Manufactured for RF Component Design."

Candidate Name: Nathaniel M. D'Agati
Degree: Doctoral
Defense Date: Thursday, April 16, 2026
Time: 1 - 3 p.m.
Location: Mark and Elisia Saab Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center

Committee:

  • Advisor: Alkim Akyurtlu, Professor and Associate Chair, Electrical and Computer Engineering, UMass Lowell, Director, RURI
  • Oshadha Ranasingha, Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, UMass Lowell
  • Jay Weitzen, Professor and Chair Emeritus, Electrical and Computer Engineering, UMass Lowell
  • Hualiang Zhang, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, UMass Lowell
  • Dan Hines, Additive Manufacturing Technical Lead, Director, RURI
  • Steven Lardizabal, RF Design Lead, RTX


Abstract:
Radio frequency (RF) designs, specifically for lower power RF and Microwave (MW) transmission line (TL) systems, desire the smallest footprint possible and the ability to tune designs post fabrication. These desires are due to the cost when it comes to board sizes and re-spins. Additionally, traditional printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing has limitations that force RF systems and RF design engineers to use traditional PCB structures, preventing design solutions that provide low RF power, passive, TL, RF/MW component compaction and tunability. For these reasons, the aim of this research is to develop RF component designs using non-traditional structures provided using additive fabrication for compaction and RF performance tuning. This concept will be applied to the design of a narrow band RF/MW bandpass filter (BPF) to answer the question of whether non-traditional, low RF power, passive, transmission line structures using additive fabrication methods can provide greater than 50% compaction in area, 40% compaction in volume, and center frequency tuning up to 20% of the center frequency.