Chavannes, Nicolas
Director Software Development
Nik Chavannes was born in Bern, Switzerland in April 1972. He received his MS and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich in 1998 and 2002, respectively.
In 1996, he joined the Bioelectromagnetics/EMC Group (BIOEM/EMC) at ETH Zurich where he widened his experience in numerical simulation techniques based on the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method applied to electromagnetics. From 1998 to 2002, Nik Chavannes was a graduate research assistant within the Laboratory for Electromagnetic Fields and Microwave Electronics (IFH) as well as in the Laboratory for Integrated Systems (IIS), both located at ETH Zurich. His PhD thesis was focused on the development of enhanced FDTD local refinement techniques and their application to numerical near-field analysis, antennas, and improved modeling capabilities in general.
In early 2002, he joined SPEAG as head of the software R&D team, where he is responsible for the software R&D activities, focusing mainly on innovations and implementations for SPEAG's major products, namely the experimental near-field scanner DASY as well as SEMCAD. In addition, he is involved in various computational electromagnetics projects related to EM near- and far-field assessment as well as dosimetry within the Foundation for Research on Information Technologies in Society (IT'IS), Switzerland. At IT'IS, he is leading the project TRINITY, which involves the extension and improvement of the advanced electromagnetic simulation platform SEMCAD.
Nik's primary research interests include the development, implementation, and application of computational modeling and simulation techniques to electromagnetics in general, and antennas as well as bioelectromagnetic interaction mechanisms in particular. Special emphasis is given to the usage of numerical simulation to support R&D processes with respect to forthcoming trends in the fields of personal networking applications, e.g., pervasive and wearable computing, life support systems, and biometrics. His research activities have resulted in various scientific publications, book chapters, and numerous conference/invited presentations within the areas of theoretical FDTD-related electromagnetics, numerical and experimental near-field analysis, antenna design, and dosimetry. In addition, Nik gives lectures at ETH Zurich, serves as a reviewer for several IEEE journals, and, furthermore, acts as a session organizer and chair for international conferences within the related fields.
