Article | June 8, 2010

IMS2010 Tech Recap: What You (May Have) Missed

IMSwelcome

By Christine Brearey and Jim Pomager, RF Globalnet

With attendance up 7% over last year, the 2010 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS2010) exhibition, which took place May 25 to 27 in Anaheim, CA, certainly felt busier. Over 9,500 designers, researchers, students, and executives from the microwave and RF industry packed the exhibit floor to see the latest components and systems, demo new software and instrumentation, meet with potential solution providers, and much more.

If you didn't attend IMS2010, attended but didn't get to all the booths you wanted to, or just want to relive your complete Microwave Week experience, we encourage you to read on. We'll explore the cutting-edge technologies, major news, and emerging trends seen and heard on the IMS2010 exhibition floor.

For even more information on IMS2010 — including video coverage, articles, news, products, and more — please visit our IMS2010 Resource Center.

Advanced Control Components
 Advanced Control Components distributed its new PIN diode switch products catalog to booth visitors. The switches in this catalog range in frequency from 10 MHz to 18 GHz, with over 2700 variations to choose from. They are available in single-pole, single-throw up to single-throw, six-throw versions. And, best of all, every switch in the catalog can be delivered in 30 days or less.

Agilent Technologies
As usual, Agilent Technologies had a lot going on at its IMS booth. Among the many test and measurement products on display were: the N9000A CXA signal analyzer, the PXA signal analyzer, the N5106A PXB baseband generator and channel emulator, the V3500A handheld RF power meter (see video demo), the N9923A FieldFox RF vector network analyzer, and the new PNA-X Series of microwave network analyzers (see video demo). On the software side, Agilent EEsof EDA focused on software platforms for SystemVue 2010.01 and Genesys 2010.05 (see video demo). However, the big news for EEsof was the release of EMPro 2010, the company's 3D electromagnetic (EM) modeling and simulation software for analyzing IC packages, connectors, antennas, and other RF components. To see a video demo of EMPro in action at Agilent's booth, click here.

Analog Devices
Over the past month, Analog Devices (ADI) released several new products, and these were the company's focus during the show. The new single-channel ADL5353 and dual-channel ADL5354 integrated passive mixers were created for a variety of wireless applications, such as cellular base station receivers, transmit observation receivers, and radio link downconverters (see related story). Likewise, the new ADF500x RF prescaler circuits — featuring a fixed divide ratio of 2, 4, or 8 — were designed for a number of applications, including point-to-point radios, VSATs, and microwave communication systems (see related story). ADI also released the ADF4150HV 4.4 GHz fractional-N or integer-N PLL synthesizer (see related story) and version 3.3 of ADIsimPLL, ADI's PLL circuit design and evaluation tool (see related story).

Anaren
Anaren spotlighted its Xinger-II components for base station applications, including WiMAX; its ultra-miniature baluns, filter baluns, and related products for wireless consumer electronics and broadcast applications, including balun transformers suitable for analog-to-digital converters; a wide range of resistive components (terminations, attenuators, and resistors) for wireless, military, instrumentation, and select medical devices; and complex solutions for space and defense primes.

Anatech Electronics
Anatech's founder and president, Sam Benzacar, introduced us to his new AB730B949 728 to 733 MHz cavity bandpass filter designed specifically for base stations, repeaters, and LTE applications where higher performance and higher power handling are required. This new filter features an extremely sharp cutoff/breakwall transition, which is required by the FCC for LTE operation, with 40 dB attenuation 700 KHz from the band edges.

Anritsu Company
To help engineers conduct more accurate tests on subsystems, especially those in local oscillator substitution and clock generation applications, Anritsu developed its new MG3690C series of RF/microwave signal generators. These instruments, introduced at IMS2010 (see related presentation), are suitable for testing microwave components, subsystems, and systems during design and manufacturing, as well as for signal simulation to test and verify radar and communications systems. According to the company, the MG3690C series is the only synthesizer family that generates signals from 0.1 Hz to 70 GHz. Anritsu conducted a demo of the new signal generator for RF Globalnet at the show — click here to see the video. 

Ansoft
Dr. Lawrence Williams, director of product management, explained how Ansoft's renewed focus on customer engineering challenges yielded several breakthroughs in the latest release of HFSS, which the company had on display at IMS2010. For example, the new HFSS-IE (Integral Equation) option introduces a method of moments (MoM) solver to HFSS, joining the existing finite element method (FEM) solver. The addition of MoM makes HFSS more effective at handling large-scale radiating and scattering simulation problems.

Attendees could also test-drive Ansoft Designer 6, which ships a few weeks after the show. Among other features, this new release will allow users to now run HSCPICE directly from within Designer. 

Antenna Research Associates
Antenna Research Associates (ARA) featured its recently developed 18" Manpack antenna at the show. The small, lightweight antenna is made of a seven-piece segmented composite panel and is designed to allow transmit and receive applications in the X, Ku, and Ka bands. The antenna can be set up quickly, is transportable in a single case, and is available in either a fixed or tripod mount. 

AR
RF Globalnet's Bill Winner presented AR's Don Shepherd and Joseph Diesso with a plaque commemorating the inclusion of the AR "Orange Book of Knowledge" in RF Globalnet's Top 10 of 2009. Shepherd is one of AR's three founders and serves as the company's chairman. Diesso was recently appointed AR's marketing manager and brings with him over 30 years of experience in the marketing and sales of RF/Microwave devices, components, and assemblies.

Avago Technologies
Steve Saw, product marketing manager for Avago's Wireless Semiconductor Division, told us that the company's film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) technology generated the most interest among booth visitors, particularly for non-handset applications. The company conducted live demos of its new Wi-Fi/WiMAX coexistence RF front-end solution for mobile applications (datacards and modems, in addition to handsets), which contains multiple FBAR filters. In addition, Avago introduced two new ultra-low noise (0.37 to 0.59 dB) amplifiers for cellular and LTE base station applications, along with a new five-chip SMT front end for the expanding 38 GHz and 42 GHz cellular radio infrastructure and backhaul point-to-point radio markets.

 

AWR
AWR unveiled the latest versions of its Microwave Office high-frequency design software, AXIEM 3D planar EM analysis software, and Visual System Simulator (VSS) communication system design and optimization software. One of the most significant updates to AXIEM expands its antenna capabilities, making it particularly useful for large, planar antenna designs. In addition, AWR allowed RF Globalnet to video demonstrations of Microwave Office, highlighting its new features, and iFilter technology, which was developed for synthesis of lumped-element and distributed filters. Also, with the graduation season upon us — and many students in attendance — AWR promoted its Graduate Gift Initiative program, which provides qualified 2010 graduates with a free, fully functional license of Microwave Office and Visual System Simulator (VSS).

Ciao Wireless
The latest development for Ciao Wireless was its new line of high-linearity, low-noise amplifiers. This series of amplifiers combines ultra-high linearity performance with noise figures as low as 1.8 dB and very flat gain. Each part is integrated in a compact, sealed housing. These amplifiers are intended for use in radar, phased array, WLAN/Wi-Fi, and ECM/EW applications.

Corry Micronics
Corry Micronics focused on the release of its dual-controlled remote broadband switch, the DCR-8. The DCR-8 is an eight port switch remotely controllable via USB or Ethernet. The switch automatically recognizes either type of control connection and is bi-directional, offering the user flexibility to install the switch as a single input and eight outputs or as eight inputs with a single output. Corry discussed the DCR-8 with RF Globalnet during the show (view the video), along with the company's other RF switches.

CST
Computer Simulation Technology (CST) showed off its newly enhanced CST Microwave Studio (MWS) asymptotic solver in demonstrations at its booth. The upgraded solver, currently available in CST MWS 2010, can now use farfields as excitation sources, enabling the calculation of an installed antenna's farfield, even for electrically very large structures (e.g. ships). And for scattering simulations, many excitation sources can now be run in parallel, which is useful in many radar applications.

CST also previewed new capabilities for CST MWS 2011 — including sensitivity analysis for the transient solver and curved elements and domain decomposition for the frequency domain solver — which is scheduled for release in January.  

Custom MMIC Design Services
Custom MMIC Design Services (CMDS) highlighted its new family of high-efficiency mHEMT low-noise amplifiers. At 30 mW power dissipation, the CMD142 and CMD145 deliver noise performance of 0.9 dB at 10 GHz and 1.4 dB at 20 GHz. According to the company, these LNAs offer a significant RF performance improvement and major reduction in power dissipation over any other devices currently offered on the market. CMDS also presented the CMD146 DC to 60 GHz distributed amplifier with 10 dB of flat gain and 20 dB input return loss.

Dow-Key Microwave
RF Globalnet had the pleasure of speaking with Doug Staudmeister, Dow-Key's new GM, about the company's current and future plans. Dow-Key has launched an initiative to reinvest in its engineering group and to refresh its product line of switching solutions to meet customer demands, particularly for repeatability and reliability. This trend is reflected in Dow-Key's new product catalog, which was distributed at its booth. (You can download it here.) In addition, Staudmeister added that while Dow-Key will continue to remain focused on the military market, it has also begun to explore opportunities in the commercial sector, especially those that demand high reliability.

e2v
Tony Challis, e2v's product manager for traveling wave tubes (TWTs) and subsystems, introduced us to two new mini helix TWTs at the show. The first, the N20181 (launched in March), provides a minimum of 100 W of output power over the 4.5 to 18 GHz frequency band. The second spans 2.5 to 18 GHz — which previously required multiple tubes to cover — with 100 W typical performance (reduced performance down to 2.5 GHz); it's expected to be commercially available by October. Also, e2v's microwave division displayed numerous products at the show that demonstrate its continuing transition from a components supplier to a system provider.

Empower RF Systems
Building on a theme of "think inside the box" at its booth, Empower RF Systems provided briefings and demonstrations of value-added, multifunction modules and systems integrating key RF and control functions into single power amplifier solutions. Empower showcased an array of solid-state PAs covering frequencies up to 6 GHz, including the BBM3Q5KHM, suitable for broadband mobile jamming and band-specific high power linear applications in the P/L/S frequency bands. Additional news from Empower RF Systems included an announcement of the opening of a second regional design center to compliment the company's technical team and support its growing business. Click here to see a video Empower RF presented at the show.

EM Software & Systems
The big story for EMSS at IMS2010 was the upcoming release of FEKO 6.0, the company's EM analysis software suite. This newest version of FEKO, due in September, will boast GPU (graphical processing unit) acceleration capability to speed run-time intensive solution phases by more than one order of magnitude, among other new features. EMSS also discussed its recent announcement that FEKO is now available on the SGI Cyclone cloud computing system, for large-scale parallel processing on a pay-per-use basis. In addition the company distributed evaluation copies of FEKO (you can request your copy here) and information on Antenna Magus 2.0, its database of antenna topologies.

Greenray Industries
Greenray Industries featured the new YH1300 series of OCXOs at its IMS booth. The YH1300 was designed to deliver consistent, reliable frequency control performance in high-shock and -vibration environments and features a compact 20.32 x 12.70 x 9.40 mm hermetic, DIP package. Greenray also showcased the T1215 series of TCXOs, which are available in a wide range of frequencies, from 750 kHz to 800 MHz, and a choice of CMOS, LVPECL, or LVDS outputs.

Integra Technologies
Integra provided visitors with a first look at two new transistors based on the company's recently developed high-voltage GaN-on-silicon technology. Both new components — the IGN2731M25 and IGN2731M50 — cover 2.7 to 3.1 GHz in the S-band frequency range. Under 300 µs pulse width and 10% duty cycle pulsing conditions, the IGN2735M25 typically supplies a minimum of 25 watts of peak output power, while the IGN2731M50 typically supplies a minimum of 50 watts. The kit shown here includes a circuit with the transistor in place, a space device in ESD-sensitive packing, and a memory stick with tested data, datasheet, and product brochure. 

JFW Industries A designer and manufacturer of RF solutions including attenuators, terminations, switches, power dividers, matrix switches, and specialized test systems, JFW Industries premiered its latest product catalog at the show. The company also featured the recently introduced the 75S-243, a 75-ohm electromechanical coaxial switch that operates in the DC to 1,000 MHz range.

J micro Technology
J micro, a supplier of electrical and mechanical test products for advanced semiconductor, medical, and packaged devices, featured the LMS-3009 laboratory microprobing station at its IMS booth. This RF and DC probe station is based on the company's popular LMS-2709 station, but features a larger, nickel-plated steel work surface. It is intended for research of advanced active and passive components and for university training in microwave microprobing. According to J micro's president, Jerry Schappacher, this new station provides sub-miniature measurement capabilities at a fraction of the cost of competing units, putting it into the individual contributor's budget range. 

KVG Quartz Crystal Technology
KVG showcased two new oscillator product lines at the show. Suitable for measurement equipment and test systems requiring low phase noise and tight frequency stability, the series 6000 OCXOs provide high performance in a small package, with dimensions of only 25 mm x 22 mm x 15 mm (see related story). Also featured were KVG's new 100 MHz OCXOs (see related story). Using self-manufactured, noise-optimized 3rd and 5th overtone SC-cut crystals and noise-minimized electronic circuits, these RF OCXOs provide very low phase noise, extending the range of applications for these kind of small packages.

Lansdale Semiconductor
Lansdale manufactures over 3,000 classic design ICs in the original package, exactly as they were created and produced by Freescale Semiconductor, Motorola, National, Philips (formerly Signetics), and Raytheon. Recently, Lansdale announced the availability of the encoder/decoder pairs and digital-to-analog converters originally designed and built by Freescale (see related story). These general-purpose building block integrated circuits include the MC145026, MC145027, and MC145028 encoder/decoder pairs along with MC144110 and MC14111 digital to analog converters.

M/A-COM Technology Solutions / Mimix Broadband
The CEOs of both companies were on hand to discuss the recently announced merger of the companies. During a press briefing at the M/A-COM Tech, Rick Montgomery of Mimix (who will remain with the combined organization in a "strategic role") explained that the two companies were a natural fit, due to their highly complementary product and customer portfolios. M/A-COM Tech's Joe Thomas (who will serve as CEO after the merger) expressed his excitement over the power amplifier and millimeter wave capabilities that Mimix brings to the equation. As for future plans, Thomas said that M/A-COM Tech is currently exploring opportunities in, among other things, GaN technology.

Maury Microwave
The Maury booth was quite busy as the company presented live demonstrations of numerous products. Among them was a mixed signal active load pull system that uses advanced A/D and D/A converters to create, analyze, and vary the impedance seen by a transistor or amplifier (see video demo). Another demonstration combined Maury's mechanical impedance tuners with Agilent's PNA-X with Nonlinear VNA (NVNA) to extract high-power X-parameter models over a wide impedance range (see video demo). Maury also introduced a new load pull software and methodology with its IVCAD platform, powered by AMCAD Engineering (see video demo).

Microsemi
Mike Mallinger of Microsemi's Wide Band Gap Products Group introduced us to the 0405SC-2200M, a brand new silicon carbide (SiC) static induction transistor (SIT) that can deliver 2200 W of RF peak power from 406 to 450 MHz. This 120 V, common-gate, Class AB transistor is intended for high-power amplifiers in applications such as UHF weather radar and long-range tracking radar. The company's RF Integrated Solutions Group also showcased an 18 To 40 GHz SDLVA (successive detection log video amplifier) in a ruggedized housing, for early warning radar receivers, threat detection equipment, electronic counter-measures, and missile guidance systems.

Microwave Technology
Microwave Technology (MwT) featured a number of recently announced new products, including linear gallium nitride (GaN) amplifiers, packaged monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) amplifiers, low-noise gallium arsenide (GaAs) field-effect transistors (FETs), and low-noise wideband amplifiers. In addition, MwT also premiered its 2010-2011 Product Selection Guide, comprising the company's complete RF and microwave product offerings.

Narda Microwave-East Over 30 years ago, Narda Microwave-East began manufacturing its first IMAs — classic microwave integrated circuits (MICs) designed for electronic warfare (EW) receivers. Over the past several years, Narda has improved these products by replacing classical MICs with new approaches using Integrated Microwave Assembly (IMA) technology, its focus at IMS2010 (see video demo). These new IMAs combine microwave hybrid manufacturing with multilayered printed circuit boards incorporating digital devices to produce levels of performance in footprints the company says are unrivaled by conventional techniques.

OEWaves
OEWaves featured a live demo of its new 10 GHz ultra-low phase noise compact opto-eclectronic oscillator (C-OEO). Available with a variety of scalable features and options, the C-OEO can be applied to enhance the performance of radar systems, instrumentation, phase noise measurement, test equipment, satellite communications, imaging, and microwave communications. OEWaves also provided demos of its miniature optical micro-resonator-based 34 GHz OEO prototype and microwave-photonic homodyne low phase noise measurement system.

Remcom
Remcom successfully launched a new release of XFdtd at the show (see related story). The new version features XACT Accurate Cell Technology, the XTend Script Library, and a multiphysics toolset. Remcom's booth also featured custom-configured GPU hardware that uses NVIDIA's new Fermi Tesla cards, optimizing the company's XStream GPU acceleration beyond previous results. 

RFHIC
With a focus on "green" technology, RFHIC showcased its high-efficiency GaN pallet amplifier at the show. This amplifier, when combined with digital pre-distortion (DPD), produces over 40% efficiency at a frequency band of 2100 to 2180 MHz, 45 dB gain, and 10 W at LTE/WCDMA four-channel at 28 V. It has been developed based on internally matched GaN on SiC device and Doherty technology.

RF Micro Devices
RFMD offered two in-booth demonstrations during the show. Its GaN demo featured the RFG1M09180, a high-power, high-efficiency GaN Doherty amplifier for 3G/4G cellular base stations (see video). This device achieves 180 W peak power at 50 V operation while maintaining over 70% peak efficiency, covering a frequency range of 700 to 1000 MHz. RFMD's smart energy/AMI demonstration featured the RF6525/EM357 reference design, developed in collaboration with Ember Corporation (see video demo). RFMD's RF6525 front end module supports multiple applications, including smart energy/advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), home area network (HAN), wireless ZigBee home automation, portable battery-powered equipment, and general 2.4 GHz ISM band systems (see related story).

Rohde & Schwarz
The big news for Rohde & Schwarz was the introduction of the new R&S ZVA67, the first 67 GHz VNA with four integrated ports, four internal and independent sources, and eight receivers (see related story). This instrument incorporates all of the features of the company's ZVA Series VNA family and applies them to millimeter-wave measurements. R&S also provided a number of in-booth demonstrations, including an RF capture, playback, and analysis solution for complex RF signal environments that utilizes the R&S FSV spectrum analyzer and R&S SMBV signal generator families coupled with IQ capture, storage, and software from X-COM Systems.

Scintera Networks Scintera demonstrated its single-chip power amplifier linearization solution, the SC1887. This RFin/RFout system-on-chip (SoC) for power amplifier linearization enables users to both increase the efficiency of their power amplifiers by up to four times, while at the same time reducing the cost of implementation. The SC1887 is now in full mass production and is being delivered in volume. Scintera also showcased its first application of its gigahertz signal processor. Scintera's Gigahertz Signal Processing (GSP) enables complex analog signal processing at high frequencies and broad bandwidths and eliminates the need for power consuming A/D conversion and digital signal processing. 

Skyworks
New for Skyworks at IMS2010 were two mid- and high-power Wi-Fi PAs and two ultra low noise amplifiers (LNAs) for cellular infrastructure. Irene Song, director of product marketing, explained that the SKY65152-11 and SKY65165-11 PAs were designed to address a specific trend in the WLAN space: the proliferation of new access point, router, and gateway configurations spawned by 802.11n. And skyrocketing demand for cellular bandwidth and higher data rates — or the "mobile internet tsunami," as VP of Analog Components David Stasey put it — led Skyworks to develop the SKY67100-396LF and SKY67101-396LF, a pair of new LNAs for boosting receive sensitivity in GSM CDMA, W-CDMA, and LTE base stations and repeaters.  

Sonnet Software
Sonnet provided free, hands-on, 20-minute training classes that were open to anyone on the exhibition floor (see video). Class topics focused on application areas for Sonnet users of all levels, and class attendees received a complimentary Sonnet Lite Plus license. Sonnet's EM software provides high-frequency design engineers with accurate electrical model extraction based directly upon Maxwell's equations for 3D planar distributed transmission lines, passive circuits, packages, and antennas. Along with the full line of professional software products, Sonnet also offers Sonnet Lite, a free version of the 3D planar EM simulator as a learning tool for students, educators and professionals.

T-Tech
T-Tech introduced its latest and most advanced PCB prototyping system, the Quick Circuit QCJ5 (see video demo). The QCJ5 system produces accurate, economical, and same-day circuit board prototypes directly from CAD package data including Gerber, DXF, HPGL, and Excellon files. Several features found on the QCJ5, such as Z-axis motion control, represent new capabilities for desktop PCB prototyping systems.

TriQuint Semiconductor
TriQuint provided RF Globalnet with an overview of its gallium nitride (GaN) modules — click here to see the video — and announced that it has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratories to develop new GaN modules for unmanned aerial vehicles (see related story). These new modules will include 20 and 50 W devices and will extend the range and capabilities of UAVs over Afghanistan, Iraq, and other regions. TriQuint also announced a new family of RF bulk acoustic wave (BAW) filters that enable mobile devices to act as portable Wi-Fi hotspots and simultaneously connect directly to 4G WiMAX networks (see related story).

Valpey Fisher
Valpey Fisher premiered a couple of new products at this year's show.  The VFVA series of voltage-controlled variable attenuators operate from 0 to 5 V with 1.5 mA typical current drain for maximum attenuation and offer very low distortion, flat attenuation versus frequency, and exceptional VSWR. The design consists of a silicon monolithic quadrature hybrid, two highly matched silicon PIN diodes, and all bias and decoupling structures. The VFHY series of miniature, high-performance, 90 degree hybrids were also introduced. These devices are offered in 1.5 x 2.0 mm surface-mount leadless packages and are available in tape and reel format.