The same feeling from 4-years ago

I just had a feeling I had 4 years ago (Jan. 2014) when I my first IEEE journal paper got accepted. The feeling is basically making a loud involuntary scream for a couple of seconds which may or may not involve running around like a crazy person and eventually calling somebody on phone. That was how important my first paper meant to me. With all humility, I'd say that was a game-changer and a trend-setter.

Fast-forward to 4 years (7th April 2018) and I just had a similar feeling, not as intense but equally significant. This time I screamed just a little, not as high-pitched and not as long. This time I'm not on the 23rd floor of an apartment complex somewhere in a cold country but I'm at my office in the institution I work in on a Saturday evening. So I guess this feeling is somwhat irrespective of time and location.

So what happened? I've been doing this particular research-design on converting omnidirectional antennas to unidirectional antennas for about a year. I finally got to achieve good results which I was super-excited about. I sent a manuscript of the work for publication in the IEEE Transactions of Antennas and Propagation. You can call this the "Supreme Court of Antenna Design". Here, your work will be reviewed and you'll be informed if it's 'trash' or if its 'good'. So I hear back from them after a month after submission and the reviews are quite okay, but they ask some serious questions and want me to make some changes and resend for further review. This is crucial because how you answer their questions can make or break your entire work. My attempt to answer these questions has haunted me for the past few weeks. Even my sleep pattern has been affected, damn! What's worst is, there's no good material on this topic since it's not an area a lot of antenna researchers target. So today, I finally get to answer a lot of the questions except one major one. I do have an answer, but something tells me it's not convincing enough. Just before I start putting my answer on paper, I come across a recent publication (August 2017) with an interesting title and I decide to just glance through out of curiosity. After the first couple of sentences, I abruptly get up from my seat, look to the sky, and shout "Aahhhhhhhhhhhhh" for like 5 seconds straight. Then I leave my office and go walk around the corridor for about a minute hoping I didn't just see what I just saw. I think I totally figured out how to explain my design and make it convincing from what I read. The light bulb has been lit in my head y'all! My sleep pattern is about to get better again 😀.

You know what's really fascinating though, the originator of that idea this particular paper used was born in 1990 by my previous professor Prof. Per-Simon Kildal. I worked under him during a project 3 years prior to screaming that first time. I used to overhear him say "Soft and hard surfaces" every time and I used to think "whats with this old man and soft and hard things". Little did I know, 7 years down the line, it'll make me scream like a fat kid who has been promised cake.

My paper may still be rejected by the way. But hey, I have to celebrate progress, right?

Prof. Per-Simon Kildal passed away 21 April, 2016.

Rest in Peace Per-Simon! You are that dude! If I make one-tenth of the impact you made, I have made it.

Thanks for reading y'all................Love! 

 

Prof. Per-Simon Kildal: Chalmers University of Technology: 1951 - 2016. RIP!

  

This is the paper I just saw that made me scream. These Koreans are doing the most. The used Per-Simon's idea really well

 

 

They listed Per-Simon Kildal as a reference. Originator of "Soft and Hard surfaces in Electromagnetics". Now you get why referencing is crucial and super-important.

 

Light Bulb just lit up in my head. Today was a good day