Save the date! Don't miss the premiere microwave conference live on IEEE.tv

Take a quick glimpse at the scene of Seattle's biggest event this June.  Microwave Week!  Or what we like to call IMS 2013.

Invention Capital: Why The World Needs More of it, plenary keynote at IMS 2013.

Dr. Patrick Ennis explores how researchers from a variety of scientific and technical fields can optimize the value-creation chain. Ennis shares new models such as Open Innovation and  Invention Capital that are necessary to successfully commercialize technology. In today's  challenging  environment, the speed of technology development and adoption has so accelerated that even leading technology companies find it hard to just keep up. This is an opportunity for leading researchers  to understand the latest trends in managing valuable IP and bringing it closer to commercialization.

Patrick Ennis has more than 25 years of experience as a scientist, engineer, businessman and venture capitalist.  He is Global Head of Technology for Intellectual Ventures. Prior to joining Intellectual Ventures in 2008, Ennis was at ARCH Venture Partners where he built startups in a wide range of interdisciplinary areas. Prior to joining the venture capital industry in 1998 as a Kauffman Fellow, Ennis held senior positions with AT&T and Lucent Bell Labs in R&D and Marketing. Before joining Bell Labs in 1992, Ennis conducted research in Nuclear Physics from 1984 to 1992 at universities and national labs in North America and Europe.

Ennis holds an M.B.A. from Wharton, a Ph.D., M.S. and M.Phil. in Physics from Yale University, and a B.S. in Mathematics and Physics from the College of William and Mary.

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in partnership with the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) is presently completing the construction the largest and most capable earth-based astronomical project in the world.   The Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) is located at five kilometers above sea level in the Andes Mountains in northern Chile’s Atacama Desert.   The combination of a dry and thin atmosphere make this site uniquely well suited for the mission of the observatory.

ALMA operates from 30 to 950 GHz and its ability to make precise measurements of millimeter-wave radiation over a number of bands across this range enables astronomers to accurately target those observations needed to understand the physically cooler objects in the universe.  The results are already leading to many discoveries and thereby an improved understanding of the composition, formation and evolution of stars.  It is the unique combination of very high precision millimeter-wave technologies and very high-speed computing technologies enable ALMA to make these truly remarkable and significant contributions.

In this presentation, an overview of project and of some of the technologies that enable this interesting work will be presented.

What are reviewers and Editors looking for in a technical paper?  Why are your submissions being rejected?.

The careers of many people depend on their success in writing and getting their papers published. More important, the scientific process requires that scientific findings be published so that other researchers may build on your ideas or refute your findings. If authors are not able to publish their papers, then their careers are hurt and scientific progress slows and stops. Therefore, it is critical that researchers and engineers understand the process of writing and getting published their papers in reputable and cited journals and scientific conferences. However, often, authorsa papers are rejected because they did not understand what reviewers, Associate Editors, and Editors are looking for in a paper, even if the technical results are good.This presentation will cover the steps that an author should take to increase the acceptance rate of their papers in journals and conference. It will cover the reasons most papers are rejected and how an author should organize their paper to avoid those reasons. Lastly, it will present what steps you should take if your paper is rejected to get it published in the same journal or in a different journal.

This talk presents a study of trends and key issues related to THz transistors and circuits using them.

The high peak-average modulation formats supporting high speed 4G wireless data pose a significant challenge to power amplifier design. This presentation highlights the subtle system differences between Polar modulation, EER, envelope following and state-of-the-art Envelope tracking. The discussion then moves to examine the challenges of power amplifier design related to high bandwidth supply modulation. Topics include amplifier supply decoupling, multi-stage modulation, noise and stability.

This presentation discusses RF power amplifier design for pseudo envelope tracking. A description of pseudo envelope tracking is included. Power amplifier load line targets are developed based on supply modulator dynamic range targets. Summary of PA results are presented, including measured PA performance and simulated ET performance based on PA measurements. Work herein achieves 58% modulated PA efficiency for 26 dBm and LTE 5MHz 25RB QPSK in Band 13.

Similar to analog envelope tracking amplifiers, the supply modulator efficiency is crucial to the overall power efficiency of the amplifier. Results for a GaN switch-mode power amplifier with a supply modulator are shown. A second method of enhancing power efficiency using out-of-band energy recovery is also discussed.

This presentation reviews recent progress of high-frequency GaN HEMT and Schottky diode technologies that enable GaN MMICs operating in sub-millimeter-waver frequency ranges while maintaining their superior breakdown performance.

One of the toughest issues facing portable medical devices, especially as they make their way from the hospital to the home, is power consumption. Power needs for the wireless connections constrain architecture and limit applications to those capable of the battery needs of the technology. That is all about to change with the introduction of Bluetooth low energy technology specified in Bluetooth v4.0 that is making its way to designers and consumers today. Recent announcements by Microsoft and Apple supporting this new technology show its wide ranging deployment in standard computing and communications platforms. The stage is set to deploy truly low power wireless medical applications that have relied on custom components and platforms until now. This presentation discusses the available standardized wireless technologies available today and the potential applications. Further discussion introduces Bluetooth low energy and compares and contrasts its strengths and weaknesses in the typical medical application scenarios.

Starting and achieving profitable high growth over many years is challenging. One way to increase the likelyhood of achieving this goal is to include an acquisition program into the growth strategy

Harvey Kaylie provides examples and events that lead to the development of Mini-Circuits' value system and how it provides a compass for future growth. In addition, some basic principles for success in starting a business will be described

Efficiency optimized envelope tracking systems require tight signal coordination of the envelope path and RF path signals. This talk will provide an overview and detailed insights into signal processing algorithms needed to design a dynamic supply power amplifier. The focus are based on a envelope tracking bench at UCSD for basestation amplifiers. Insights into the application of signal conditioning, time alignment algorithm, modeling and digital predisortion (DPD) techniques are presented.

In this workshop presentation, an overview of the state of the terahertz technology will be presented. The talk will detail the science and other applications that specifically require technology at terahertz frequencies. The challenges of the future generation instruments and detectors at these frequencies in addressing the needs for critical astrophysical, planetary, and earth observing missions will also be discussed

Debabani Choudhury discusses opportunities and challenges for some of the key technological advances and approaches at GHz to THz frequencies that are now emerging as possible components for wireless solutions of the future.

Proliferation of diverse wireless communication services as well as anytime, anywhere connectivity are becoming a norm in our day to day life. Communications using Machine-To-Machine (M2M), Peer-To-Peer (P2P) approaches are set to be the major growth areas and require high co-ordination between different wireless nodes. There is a major consensus that new wireless services based on new ways of using wireless technologies will grow exponentially in next few years. The need for high bandwidth wireless applications has also fueled research into mobile communication systems capable of high data rate throughputs at short ranges. Researchers worldwide are working on various architectures including different variations of MIMO, MU-MIMO approaches to enhance the data rate. MM-wave and THz research communities are also projecting technologies for addressing the needs for ultra-high-data rate applications. Although some of the approaches look very interesting, implementation challenges remain for real usage cases.

Debabani Choudhury discusses opportunities and challenges for some of the key technological advances and approaches at GHz to THz frequencies that are now emerging as possible components for wireless solutions of the future.

Proliferation of diverse wireless communication services as well as anytime, anywhere connectivity are becoming a norm in our day to day life. Communications using Machine-To-Machine (M2M), Peer-To-Peer (P2P) approaches are set to be the major growth areas and require high co-ordination between different wireless nodes. There is a major consensus that new wireless services based on new ways of using wireless technologies will grow exponentially in next few years. The need for high bandwidth wireless applications has also fueled research into mobile communication systems capable of high data rate throughputs at short ranges. Researchers worldwide are working on various architectures including different variations of MIMO, MU-MIMO approaches to enhance the data rate. MM-wave and THz research communities are also projecting technologies for addressing the needs for ultra-high-data rate applications. Although some of the approaches look very interesting, implementation challenges remain for real usage cases.

This video examines valuation trends from a trading (market) and acquisition perspective. It also discusses specific economic and industry factors that may impact future valuations and the capital markets

This talk will overview the co-design design of circuits at the carrier frequency, signal frequency and in digital baseband for linear high-efficiency microwave transmitters. In specific, we will focus on the characterization of the power amplifier needed to determine the parameters of the supply modulator and linearization circuitry. Experimental examples of S-band and X-band transmitters will be presented.

This talk presents design insights on achieving a fully monolithic silicon-based RF PA using the envelope-tracking (ET) techniques for low-power broadband wireless applications. I will show that single-chip BiCMOS envelope-tracking power amplifier (ET-PA) system provides considerable efficiency-linearity enhancement, and works well with impressive power-saving for broadband 3G/4G cellular signals of high peak-to-average ratio (PAR). The talk will also demonstrate further ET-PA performance improvement.

The supply modulated RF PA becomes a powerful technique for mobile handset application. The modulator can provide the supply voltages suitable to the power levels with high efficiency. We will show the efficiency enhancements for a standard PA and a low-high mode PA. For the purpose, the modulator should be designed for a large dynamic range. This modulator is designed as a power management IC form to adapt the battery voltage fluctuation with high efficiency over a large dynamic range.

The practically unlimited silicon transistors combined with the unprecedented levels of local control and modulation at extremely high frequencies have created an opportunity to completely revise the power generation and transceiver architectures at levels not seen for a long time. The ability to create dynamically programmable electromagnetic field on the silicon surface will be exploited in circuitry for power generation and detection at THz frequencies.

100GHz-1THz communications links will need high-power transmitters, low-noise receivers, and high-directivity apertures. Most applications will need phased-array beamsteering. I will compare the prospects of various III-V and Si/SiGe process technologies in addressing such systems.

High electron sheet density due to polarization doping makes AlGaN/GaN HEMTs uniquely suitable for plasmonic terahertz detectors operating in a wide temperature range.

Modern wireless devices utilize multiple antenna technologies including MIMO to improve the overall performance and available communication bandwidth in the same wireless spectrum. Traditional techniques for evaluating over-the-air radiated performance of wireless devices are not suitable for testing these technologies or evaluating the performance gain offered by the additional antennas. Instead, emerging techniques for testing these technologies rely on generating simulated multi-path environments that can replicate the interaction that the device under test would typically see in a real world environment. However, there are a range of different techniques vying for a standardized approach for industry certification of MIMO devices, each with its own pros and cons. This presentation will demonstrate the differences in a number of these concepts and provide a range of measured results showing the variation between good and bad wireless devices.

Wireless telecommunications have come a long way from the days of voice-only handsets. Today's universe of wireless devices spans a diverse range of products; from handsets, smartphones, notebooks and tablet computers to medical monitoring devices and remote telemetry equipment. Looking forward, the applications for wireless technology seem almost unlimited. Since the wireless airlink is essential to the operation of these devices, it's extremely important that their radiated performance meet certain minimum requirements in order to ensure a satisfactory customer experience while maintaining network capacity. However, because of the diversity of these devices, the assessment of radiated performance is not always straightforward and may require special considerations and techniques. This presentation addresses the radiated performance aspects of today's wireless devices from a mobile network operator's perspective. It focuses on the unique challenges associated with establishing radiated performance test requirements that allow for product design flexibility while ensuring that devices will meet customer expectations and maintain high network capacity.

The aerospace industry and many companies in the Northwest continue to adapt to the continuous technological advances, trends and challenges shaping the markets. One key area which has nearly limitless potential is in wireless technology. Due to a wide diversity in devices, device content, varying standards and various methods of delivery choosing the correct approach for the application is a significant challenge. The wrong path not only delays one's progress and expends valuable resources but also places us at a disadvantage with our competitors. This talk will discuss some on-going challenges which drive the bottom line of the aerospace industry and its suppliers.

The collective works of many scientists and engineers were captured in Maxwell, Hertz, Marconi and Shannon's pioneering contributions to modern communications technologies. This has resulted in a widespread awareness of the critical role wireless services play in today's communications-centered marketplace. Among many components critical in optimizing the efficient performance of modern communication devices, antennas play paramount role. In this presentation the following topics will be touched upon: (a) The age of personal and space communications, (b) modern electromagnetic numerical and evolutionary optimization techniques in antenna system designs, (c) personal communications antennas including human interactions and reconfigurable designs, (d) medical applications including wearable, RFID, implantable and ingestible systems, and (e) recent developments in meta-materials in electromagnetics system applications. Representative examples will be shown and future trends will be highlighted.

Imagine a future where all wireless applications deploy confidently on every wireless operating system and device. Envision developers creating just one version of an app; and devices playing all video formats, thanks to a more harmonious network architecture. As consumers devour more gigs on mobile devices over LTE networks, conversations about the potential of an emerging IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) Core to fundamentally alter the wireless landscape are growing. Is it too much hype? Learn more about Verizon's take on IMS at wireless industry day.