(Source: Mouser Electronics)
Mouser Electronics is excited to be an exhibitor at the 2024 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS 2024) in Washington, DC, June 16-21. As the name implies, the International Microwave Symposium is a global gathering of innovators interested in microwave and RF technology. The symposium affords participants the opportunity to listen to the industry’s top speakers as they share their engineering thoughts, experiences, and application insights.
At the Mouser booth, engineers will find inspiration for their next project with the newest products and technologies and have the chance to dig deeper into our Empowering Innovation Together™ series that covers the hottest trending engineering topics shaping the future. Mouser representatives will be on hand at Booth #2045, showcasing the leading microwave and RF products and technologies.
In preparation for IMS 2024, this blog presents a snapshot of some of the latest trends in microwave and RF technology that innovators should be alert to as they design for the future.
RF, including microwave, millimeter wave (mmWave), and terahertz technologies, is an ever-evolving landscape of technologies and verticals. RF technology is used for various sensing and communication applications spanning the spectrum from kilohertz to gigahertz, and in some advanced applications, it can approach the lower end of the terahertz range. Hence, there are always new and emerging innovations and trends within this broad field. Explore some of the emerging innovations and trends in the multifaceted RF realm.
Wireless power transfer (WPT) uses RF technology to transfer energy without cables. Near-field WPT (NF-WPT) employs magnetic fields (inductive coupling) or electric fields (capacitive coupling) for short-distance power transfer, like the Qi2 protocol used in smartphones, smartwatches, and earbuds. Although NF-WPT is a leading technology within WPT, it is not at the forefront of this trend. What is emerging is the use of wireless power transfer techniques to support far-field WPT. Currently, the main potential applications for WPT are beaming solar energy from satellites to the ground or other naval, air, or space platforms and for terrestrial systems to be powered and charged wirelessly for extending the lifetime and diversity of use cases for Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial IoT (IIoT) technologies. Example applications include powering/charging unmanned vehicles on land, air, or sea and IoT/IIoT devices scattered through industrial, urban, agricultural, in-building, entertainment venue, or mass-transit locations.
Though 5G is still being developed and deployed worldwide, efforts are ongoing to further advance RF communication technology in the mmWave spectrum and terahertz spectrum for even higher bandwidth and data transfer speeds. The trend that began in the early wireless generations of increasing frequency and expanding the communication spectrum for cellular technologies is only accelerating with aims to allocate massive amounts of the mmWave and terahertz spectrums for 6G. Accomplishing this requires a whole new approach to RF integration, as the deep mmWave and terahertz spectrum technology requires extremely small circuit elements and routing to function. Hence, the push for RF front-end technology to perform at higher frequencies at even more miniature scales is ongoing.
Consequently, there is also a trend toward producing even higher-power solid-state RF technology using exotic semiconductors, such as gallium arsenide, gallium nitride, indium phosphide, silicon carbide, and diamond. Balancing trade-offs of power density, thermal management, development costs, semiconductor fabrication nuances, and design hurdles for these technologies is a monumental task. This is why such a substantial body of research and a number of organizations are working toward realizing these various technologies.
Higher frequencies with more available bandwidth are being allocated for 5G and 6G, and ultra-wideband (UWB) technologies are being applied to IoT to enhance communication and sensing. As a result, designers and device manufacturers are busy developing techniques to enable RF circuits that can use these new, massive bandwidths. However, this requires overcoming hurdles such as matching over such large bandwidths and ensuring efficient power amplifier (PA) transmission over this spectrum, which is no small feat when dealing with bandwidths ranging from hundreds of megahertz to several gigahertz.
Various microwave technologies control and extract information from quantum computing technologies. This is why investments in quantum technologies are also pushing the boundaries of RF/microwave capabilities and stimulating innovation in advanced microwave waveforms and low-power microwave sensor technology. Moreover, quantum computing technology requires cryogenic cooling to maintain quantum coherence. Hence, the demand for quantum computing technologies also advances cryogenic microwave technology development.
Increasing the pace of RF technology design and development is a significant area of focus for many governments and organizations striving to push the boundaries of RF technology. As machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies become more ubiquitous, it is only natural that there are efforts to use these techniques to augment the work of RF designers and developers by streamlining the design process. ML and AI technologies are well suited to provide optimization and automation tools that reduce or eliminate repetitive and other time-consuming tasks that otherwise burden RF designers and developers.
Moreover, ML and AI technologies are also being used in the RF sensing arena to enhance and automate sensing technologies such as radar. ML and AI are also being used to create smart or cognitive radio technologies that automatically respond to the RF environment and spectrum activity to operate communications optimally and in a coordinated manner.
IMS 2024 will set the stage for the next developments in these trending areas and others. This year’s event will sport various technical presentations, industry gatherings, an immense exhibitor area, training boot camps, and networking events. Mouser invites designers to visit Booth #2045 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC from Sunday, June 16 to Friday, June 21.
To learn more about IMS 2024, view the schedule, or register, visit Mouser's IMS 2024 page.
Principal of Information Exchange Services: Jean-Jacques DeLisle Jean-Jacques (JJ) DeLisle attended the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he graduated with a BS and MS degree in Electrical Engineering. While studying, JJ pursued RF/microwave research, wrote for the university magazine, and was a member of the first improvisational comedy troupe @ RIT. Before completing his degree, JJ contracted as an IC layout and automated test design engineer for Synaptics Inc. After 6 years of original research—developing and characterizing intra-coaxial antennas and wireless sensor technology—JJ left RIT with several submitted technical papers and a US patent.
Further pursuing his career, JJ moved with his wife, Aalyia, to New York City. Here, he took on work as the Technical Engineering Editor for Microwaves & RF magazine. At the magazine, JJ learned how to merge his skills and passion for RF engineering and technical writing.
In the next phase of JJ’s career, he moved on to start his company, RFEMX, seeing a significant need in the industry for technically competent writers and objective industry experts. Progressing with that aim, JJ expanded his companies scope and vision and started Information Exchange Services (IXS).