Federico Lombardi graduated from the Politecnico di Milano, Italy, with a B.Sc. in Telecommunication Engineering in 2009, presenting a thesis on ambiguity elimination in velocity estimation for FMCW radar, and continued his studies achieving the M.Sc. in 2012 with a specialisation in remote sensing and signal processing. He has worked very hard to achieve a high academic standing over the years; he was recognized for this with a fees exemption for “students with high merit” over the last two years of the Master Degree. The final work was focused on multiazimuth strategies for improving the imaging performance of Ground Penetrating Radar.
After the completion of his studies, he won a research fellowship for two years for a European Project related to the mapping and positioning of underground structures in urban environment with GPR (http://bandi.miur.it/bandi.php/public/fellowship/id_fellow/21554">http://bandi.miur.it/bandi.php/public/fellowship/id_fellow/21554). The activities led to a number of publications in highly rated international journals. During this period, he supervised several undergraduate students in their thesis and ongoing activities. This guidance consisted of signal processing tutoring and related technical matters, writing and reporting, but also in liaison with the supervisor. This allowed Federico to become a well-rounded individual; helping him build such qualities as leadership, social skills, and organizational skills.
He left the Applied Geophysics group in 2014 and joined the aerospace industry as a System Engineer working on airborne infrared search-and-track sensors. His duties were firstly related to the physical formation of the image, particularly optical distortion compensation for scanning mechanisms, and then he was transferred to the Eurofighter Typhoon division working on the detection and tracking capabilities of the sensor, through advanced imaging algorithm development and performance evaluation, as well as modelling and simulations.
After a year of results and personal achievements, in 2015 he moved back to academia and joined the Radar Group at University College London, as a graduate student in the radar area, where he is currently completing his second year. The central topic of the PhD research is radar imaging of antipersonnel landmines, with emphasis on the development of a novel bistatic system configuration for improving performance and coverage. The intended outcome is a highly mobile platform with a high level of autonomy and capable of scanning over several ground conditions. The project is funded by a UK registered Charity Find A Better Way (http://www.findabetterway.org.uk/">http://www.findabetterway.org.uk/) and is run in close cooperation with Cranfield University, UK.
During the last two years, he has actively participated in several engagement events promoted by the funding body, addressing both technical and non-technical subjects. These activities, together with everyday research issues, have given Federico key skills, including public speaking confidence, strong emotional engagement and the capability of effectively communicating to a very broad audience, from professionals to ordinary people.