By Stephen Las Marias, EditorIn an email interview, Fred Schindler, Chairman, IMS 2009, and Director, RF Micro Devices Boston Design Center, discusses with
EDN Asia some of the key trends in the microwave industry worldwide, as well as some of the new technologies that will be presented at the upcoming International Microwave Symposium 2009, which will be held on June 7-12 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in Boston, Massachusetts. Excerpts:
What are some of the hot topics at this year’s International Microwave Symposium?The IMS continues to feature the full range of topics in Microwaves and RF with over 430 technical presentations on wireless communication, radar, RF technologies, high frequency semiconductors, electromagnetics, commercial and military RF, microwave and mm-wave electronics.
There are a number of hot topics this year. Metamaterials, which in the extreme are hyped for potential cloaking properties, are featured in a few places. There is a dedicated technical session on Metamaterial devices, and more results in other sessions and workshops. We are also having a special rump session on Metamaterials to cut through the hype. Gallium Nitride (GaN) is also a hot topic with a number of very impressive power amplifier results showing very high power levels. We also have papers featuring some impressively high frequency CMOS results.
What main trends in the microwave industry are you seeing right now? How do you see this changing in the next two to three years? The growing importance of Asia is one of the key trends, and is likely to continue over the next few years. We see Asia participating in all phases. Important research is being done in Asian universities and in Asian design facilities. We have 104 contributed papers from Asia in IMS2009, or 24 percent of the total. Asian companies have become important players in the marketplace, and this is reflected in the 53 Asian-based companies exhibiting at IMS2009, compared to 32 from Europe.
Another important trend is the impact commercial applications such as wireless communications and GPS have had on the industry. While this has been going on for many years, we are seeing a diversification of applications as more opportunities to use RF and microwave technologies come to market. This includes areas such as RFID, automotive radar, electronic toll collections, automated meter reading, etc. This means lots of opportunities for everyone in the industry. Despite the current economic downturn, I anticipate considerable growth over the next several years.
The military side of the business isn’t going away either. Military customers continue to drive technology and performance, and have been driving down cost too. The distinction between military and commercial often blurs now, so we see many technologies being simultaneously developed for military and commercial applications.
What are some of the key drivers in the industry right now? The industry is being driven to reduce costs, and to increase functionality and performance. Both commercial and military applications are driving this. The commercial side drives a bit harder on cost and the military side drives a bit harder on performance. Together they drive technology to ever higher levels of performance at ever lower costs, much as we saw in the PC market over the past decade. It is this push for cost, functionality and performance that has opened up so many new opportunities for RF and microwave technology.
What can you say are some of the key technological/business challenges facing the microwave industry? There are such a wide range of technologies available today that choosing the right technologies for a given application, and having access to the right technologies is quite a challenge. Just within the semiconductor portion of the business we have CMOS, BiCMOS, SiGe, GaAs HBT, GaAs pHEMT and GaN to pick from. The right choice isn’t always obvious. It becomes similarly complex when dealing with filters or packaging or many other parts of a typical system.
What do you think should industry players do to address these challenges? Good up front engineering is always key, and having skilled systems engineers to architect a device or product is very important. Needless to say, everything hinges on the tools the engineers have to work with: they have to be efficient and they have to be accurate. On the business side, having access to all the right technologies is key. Many of these technologies are expensive to develop and require significant scale to be economical. This means developing partnerships and supply chains are a must.
What is the ratio between the consumer/commercial application versus military and aerospace application in this year’s IMS? Years ago IMS was primarily a military/aerospace event, today it’s a mix. It is very close to 50/50. It’s actually difficult to give you a precise number because so much of the research that is presented at the IMS and so many of the technologies that are shown, can be used for military and commercial applications. For example, consider software defined radio. Both military and commercial applications can make use of it.
Judging from the number of submitted technical papers as well as the bookings for the event/exhibition, what can you say about the state of the microwave industry right now, amid the global economic recession, and how do you this to the previous events? The industry is definitely still strong, regardless of the global economic situation. The IMS2009 exhibition, with over 520 exhibiting companies, is actually challenging to be the biggest RF/Microwave tradeshow ever. At worst, we’ll be one of the top three. I think this speaks to the incredible opportunities our industry has the in the coming years. Paper submissions were also strong, up 14 percent over last year, and as I mentioned earlier with a very strong contribution from outside the U.S. In fact, we have papers from over 40 countries in the program.
Why should someone attend the IMS? IMS is the world’s largest technical conference and exhibition serving the RF/microwave community and brings together thousands of the RF/microwave industry’s leading experts, researchers and developers. If you want to hear about the latest breakthroughs, if you want to see the key companies, if you want to network with the right people, you need to be in Boston for IMS2009. One of the things the IMS program is very good at is giving the attendee a wide variety of forums to participate in. There are short courses, workshops, formal presentation sessions, interactive forums, panel sessions, lots of social gatherings and of course, the tradeshow.
What can you say about the microwave industry in Asia? The microwave industry in Asia has shown tremendous growth over the past decade. Asian firms are participating at every level in the marketplace, and virtually every large international microwave and wireless firm has a substantial presence in Asia. I’ve already mentioned the impact of microwave and RF activities in Asia. The growth of our industry in Asia and its strength at all levels is perhaps they key trend I see. Asia is at the center of the innovation and growth in microwave and RF technologies and applications.
How is this event relevant to Asian designers and manufacturers involved in the microwave industry? IMS2009 is as relevant to Asian designers and manufactures as it is to engineers and manufacturers from any other part of the world. The RF and microwave industry is global in reach and Asian companies are significant contributors. As the premier technical and commercial RF/microwave event, IMS2009 is a must-attend event for anyone participating in the global market. Asian researchers and engineers need to keep up to date with all the innovations and developments in the field, and the IMS is the best way to do that. Asian manufacturers want to nurture and build customer relations, and the IMS is the best place to do that. 2009 is a year of opportunity for our industry, and IMS2009 is a way to maximize that opportunity.
IMS 2009
