The pioneer of the world’s most accurate battery-free real-time location tracking technology, Corpus alumnus Dr Sabesan Sithamparanathan BEng (Hons) MPhil PhD FREng FIET has been awarded OBE for Services to Innovation Technology and the Promotion of STEM Subjects in Education in the King’s 2024 New Year Honours List.

Sabesan is Founder and President of PervasID, which manufactures near 100% accurate battery-free real-time Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) location tracking systems, which are used by several NHS trusts, aircraft manufacturers, airlines and retailers. RFID systems use electromagnetic fields to automatically locate tags and the objects they are attached to. The tags each carry a unique identity and are passive, obtaining their energy from electromagnetic fields alone. 

Sabesan was born and educated in Sri Lanka where studies of physics, maths and chemistry fostered in him a love of technology and their applications in engineering. He came to the UK to study Electronic Engineering at the University of Sheffield on a scholarship, winning a Sir William Siemens Medal whilst there. Following a stint as a student electronic engineer at ARM, Sabesan began a PhD at Corpus in 2007 under the supervision of Professor Ian White in the Department of Engineering. His research led to the development of the world’s most accurate passive ultra-high-frequency (UHF) RFID location tracking system. 

An entrepreneur at heart, Sabesan pursued funding and mentoring from the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Enterprise Fellowship Scheme to spin his innovations out of the university lab and into a commercial endeavour, founding PervasID in 2011, which has raised more than $10 million in investment. His RFID systems are used to track assets and manage inventory for industry, retail, healthcare, supply chain and other sectors.

Sabesan was elected to a Research Fellowship at Girton College Cambridge in 2011 and became an Enterprise Fellow there in 2022. He is passionate about mentoring students to develop the key skills needed to commercialise their research discoveries and is an ambassador for STEM education in schools, both in the UK and his home country of Sri Lanka. 

“I am absolutely delighted to have been recognised in the New Year’s Honour list; this is a great honour and testament to the hard work and innovation of the entire team at PervasID,” said Sabesan. “Our products offer a national and international benefit and we will continue to pioneer technology that has a wider value to society as a whole.” 

Dr Sabesan Sithamparanathan has been awarded numerous accolades including the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Entrepreneurs Award, Young Engineer of the Year and Silver Medal, The UK ICT Pioneer of Connected World Award, Sir George Macfarlane Medal as well as a Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Innovation. He was also elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) as well as named in Business Elite’s '40 Under 40' in 2023. 

We were delighted to welcome Sabesan to Leckhampton for the 60th anniversary celebrations last year, and congratulate him warmly on this recognition.