Dirk Heberling

Prof. Dirk Heberling is a Universitätsprofessor at RWTH Aachen University, leading the Institute for High Frequency Technology. His research focuses on advanced antenna systems, radar technology, and electromagnetic field exposure assessment in 5G/6G networks. He specializes in high-frequency components, including leaky-wave antennas, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, and robot-based antenna measurement systems. His work addresses challenges in antenna design, signal processing, and environmental compliance for next-generation communication infrastructure.

Key research areas include:

• Development of wideband antennas for IoT and smart building applications
• Numerical analysis of near-field antenna measurements and phase recovery techniques
• Assessment of radio frequency exposure from massive MIMO base stations using digital twins
• Integration of radar systems with automotive technologies for self-localization and object detection
• Optimization of antenna arrays to mitigate grating lobes and phase synchronization issues

His lab operates a state-of-the-art robot-based mm-wave test system capable of spherical near-field measurements and real-time auralization of aircraft noise. This infrastructure supports both fundamental research and industry collaborations in telecommunications, automotive radar, and environmental monitoring.

Current projects emphasize:

• Exposure modeling for 6G networks considering increased base station utilization
• Generative adversarial networks for radar data synthesis
• Calibration techniques for polarimetric radar systems