Highlights From The IEEE MTT-S 2006 International Microwave Symposium

By Jim Pomager
Editor in Chief

Last week's IEEE MTT-S 2006 International Microwave Symposium (IMS 2006) was a resounding success, and San Francisco fit the event like a glove. High-tech mecca Silicon Valley is located just to the south of the city, so it's probably no coincidence that total attendance (12,216) and technical attendance (2,998) were both up about 10% over last year. The Moscone Center South was a perfectly sized venue to accommodate the combination of technical program and exhibition, and the facility was a short walk from dozens of hotels, making IMS 2006 one of the easiest shows in recent memory to navigate. Not to mention, San Francisco's temperate climate, beautiful views, and great dining scene made time spent outside the Moscone center all the more enjoyable.

(Please note that the views expressed in this article should not be construed as demeaning to previous "Microwave Weeks," which have all been fine events in their own right!)

What follows are brief synopses of some of the memorable moments from IMS 2006 (in one editor's humble opinion). I would like to personally thank the steering committee and everyone else whose time, dedication, and hard work went into making this event such a success. Read on for the highlights from IMS 2006.

Plenary Session Features Keynotes on WiMAX, Nanotechnology
This year's plenary session featured a couple of strong keynote speakers. First up was Ron Resnick, president and chairman of the WiMAX Forum, who shared his vision for the future of this much-hyped technology. He argued that WiMAX is a "disruptive technology" that will ultimately be the driving force behind personal mobile Internet services, enabling the delivery of "true broadband, real-time applications" to consumers. He asserted that WiMAX is way ahead than any existing 3G technology, with a capacity that is three to four times higher than that of either HSPA or 1xEV-DO. And, Resnick claimed, WiMAX's standards-based interoperability will make it profitable much more quickly than competing technologies. He foresees the rollout of portable WiMAX devices in the coming months, and Wi-Fi/WiMAX integration in a single chip by 2008.

The second keynote speaker, Richard White of the UC Berkeley Sensor & Actuator Center, followed with a presentation on an equally hot topic in electronic engineering – nanotechnology. White discussed a range of existing nanotechnologies ranging from nanowires to transistors to sensors. But he focused the majority of his talk on carbon nanotubes, which he dubbed the "poster child for nanotechnology." These tiny tubes are only 1 to 2 nanometers wide, yet they are the basis for the strongest fibers ever created, and they can behave as electrical conductors, semiconductors, or insulators, depending on their composition. White concluded that while nanotechnology definitely has an exciting future, much research is yet to be done, particularly when it comes to repeatable production of uniform nanostructures.

Panel Debates Whether 4G Is Really Necessary
There were five strong panel sessions this year, covering topics from RF power amplifiers (PAs) for wireless infrastructure to delivering technical presentations. Notable was a session titled "4G: Do We Really Need 1 Gbits/s?" that featured participants William McFarland (Atheros Communications), Bernd Adler (Infineon), Yann Deval (IXL Laboratory at the University of Bordeaux), Rob Roy (Redpine Signals), and Steve Lloyd (Beceem Communications). The general consensus of the panelists was that we might not need 4G per se, but that's no reason not to achieve it. (Roy smartly pointed out that need has nothing to do with things like building a 6,000 square foot house or developing an iPod with video, but we do it anyway.) The lone voice of dissent came from Deval, the panel's token academic, who questioned whether 4G is worth the cost and rightly pointed out that we are yet to identify a "killer app" for 4G. However, he was drowned out by the rest of the group, all of whom supported the notion that "if you build it, they will come" (i.e. applications and revenue streams will surface once the technology is developed).

Celebrating J. C. Maxwell's 175th Birthday
One of the highlights of the week for me was a rump session on Tuesday night to celebrate the 175th birthday of James Clerk Maxwell, founder of the field of electromagnetics. The event, hosted by Sonnet Software, CST, and the 2006 IMS Committee, drew some 450 attendees who enjoyed hors d'oeuvres, birthday cake, and a delightful presentation on the life of Maxwell by MTT-S Distinguished Microwave Lecturer and Sonnet Software founder Jim Rautio. It was evident from his engaging and witty lecture/slide show that Rautio has invested a great deal of time, effort, and personal resources into investigating Maxwell's past. (For example, Rautio made an impassioned request for others to join him financially in an effort to restore Maxwell's boyhood home, which is in a state of near collapse.) This special night gave the audience a rare glimpse into the lineage, childhood, early achievements, and personal life of an important figure that has, for the most part, been overlooked by the history books. For more information on Rautio's research, visit the J. C. Maxwell Biography section of Sonnet's website.

MTT-S Honors Exceptional Members
During the awards banquet on Wednesday night, MTT-S presented its annual awards. Honorees were as follows:

• Honorary Life Member Recognition: Peter W. Staecker (acknowledging continued outstanding contributions and services)
  
• 2006 Microwave Career Award: Eikichi Yamashita (for a career of leadership, meritorious achievement, creativity, and outstanding contributions in the fields of microwave theory and techniques)
  
• 2006 Distinguished Service Award: Roger D. Pollard (for his outstanding and dedicated service to the society)
  
• 2006 Distinguished Educator Award: Wolfgang Hoefer and Peter Russer (for outstanding achievements as an educator, mentor, and role model of microwave engineers and engineering students)
  
• 2006 Microwave Pioneer Award: Peter R. Herczfeld (for pioneering work in microwave photonics)
  
• 2006 Microwave Application Award: Marian W. Pospieszalski (for the development of a novel MESFET/HEMT low-noise model and its use in the design of advanced cryogenics low-noise amplifiers)
  
• 2006 Outstanding Young Engineer Award: Ian Gresham (for the development of mm-wave Si- and GaAs-based circuits and systems-on-chip for commercial and defense applications) and Emmanouil Tentzeris (for the development of adaptive numerical tools for the full-wave modeling and design of RF components and 3-dimensional modules)
  
• 2006 N. Walter Cox Award: Timothy T. Lee (for exemplary service, given in a spirit of selfless dedication and cooperation)
  
• 2006 Microwave Prize: Joseph A. Hagerty, Florian Helmbrecht, William McCalpin, Regan A. Zane, and Zoya Popovic (for their paper, "Recycling Ambient Microwave Energy With Broad-Band Rectenna Arrays")

In addition, the IEEE also recognized members that were elevated to the grade of fellow by the MTT-S. The 2006 recipients were:

• Christos Christopoulos (for contributions to electromagnetic modeling and simulations of high-frequency electronic systems)
  
• Hector De Los Santos (for contributions to RF and microwave micro electromechanical systems [MEMS] devices and applications)
  
• Youji Kotsuka (for contributions to ferrite application to RF/microwave devices)
  
• Amir Mortazawi (for contributions to quasi-optical and circuit-based power generation techniques)
  
• Fredrick Raab (for contributions to modeling and design of high-efficiency PAs and radio transmitters)
  
• Richard G. Ranson (for contributions to advanced microwave systems)
  
• Tsuneo Tokumitsu (for contributions to uniplanar and 3-dimensional monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs))
  
• Huei Wang (for contributions to broadband and millimeter-wave integrated circuits and radio frequency integrated circuits [RFICs])
  
• Andreas Weisshaar (for contributions to modeling of on-chip interconnects and integrated passive microwave components)
  
• Jan Zehentner (for the discovery of new leaky modes in open planar transmission lines for microwave integrated circuits)
  
• Qi-jun Zhang (for contributions to linear and nonlinear microwave modeling and circuit optimization)

For an explanation of each award, please visit mtt.org/awards/mttawards01.html.

WiMAX Attacks IMS Exhibition
IMS 2006 will likely be remembered as the conference that WiMAX invaded. There were a whopping 546 exhibiting companies, and I think 543 of them were promoting some type of WiMAX-related product (an exaggeration, of course). In his plenary address, the WiMAX Forum's Resnick said that when he walked the show floor at Fort Worth (IMS 2004), WiMAX was nowhere to be found. Just two years later, he rightly pointed out, WiMAX could be seen "all over" the exhibition hall. Most exhibitors seemed to be of the mindset that they couldn't afford not to become involved with WiMAX, even if they lack 100% confidence that the technology will ultimately live up to all the hype.

For more on the WiMAX products and other news from the IMS 2006 exhibition, check back for RF Globalnet's "Notes From The Exhibition Floor" article series.

Who's Going To Honolulu?
If WiMAX was the #1 most-discussed topic during IMS 2006, then the location of IMS 2007 (Honolulu, Hawaii) was definitely #2. Half the people I talked to swooned at the thought of spending a few extra days on the beach after the event, while the others were sweating the cost of shipping booth materials and employees across the Pacific. They all had different opinions on how successful next year's event will ultimately be, but everyone is extremely curious to see how this experiment works out.

John Barr, general chair of IMS 2006, reminded me, though, that there is great upside to holding IMS 2007 in Hawaii – namely, the prospect of Asian attendance. "I saw startup companies exhibiting in almost every aisle of this year's exhibition, and many of them were from Asia," Barr told me on Thursday. And he expects that a Hawaii-based show will draw even more Asian exhibitors... and attendees. "We are making every effort to bring in Asian attendance," he said. "[IMS 2007] will be a serious show, with serious technical content. Plus, it will be a golden opportunity to make significant contacts in Asia." Aloha!