Robert H. Caverly
IMAGE LICENSED BY INGRAM PUBLISHING
It seems that everyone wants to stream movies and other high-bandwidth applications on their mobile devices these days (present company included). I recall that back in the dial-up modem days (yes, I’m dating myself), when you could hear the handshaking protocol through the telephone headset, a 300-baud symbol rate was the best the typical consumer could use. Jump forward to today, and, roughly following Edholm’s law, everyone routinely consumes, and the infrastructure must handle, data at rates of tens and hundreds of megabits per second. Translate that into hundreds of users’ data being placed on a single carrier and it is no surprise that we are fast approaching hundreds of gigabit- and terabit-per-second data rates. In turn, these increased bandwidth requirements keep pushing our community to develop microwave, millimeter-wave, and terahertz hardware to meet these demanding needs.
This month’s issue of IEEE Microwave Magazine features two technical articles representing some of the work that enables technologies for efficient 100-Gb/s wireless communications by one of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology Society’s (MTT-S’) technical committees (TCs) (TC-15): the RF/Mixed-Signal Integrated Circuits and Signal Processing Committee. The guest editors, Christian Carlowitz and Noriaki Kaneda, provide a nice summary of the two articles as well as some background on TC-15’s history and activities [A1]. I should mention that Christian first approached me shortly after the 2021 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS) about sponsoring an IEEE Microwave Magazine issue based on some of the material presented at a workshop. This is an excellent concept for any IMS [or European Microwave Week (EuMW), IEEE Radio and Wireless Week, or other conferences] to follow, that is, turning the material presented at a workshop into a single and even multiple IEEE Microwave Magazine articles so that the material is seen by a much wider audience. Please contact me if you and other workshop participants wish to further explore publishing workshop material in the magazine. Rounding out the peer-reviewed technical features and keeping with the theme of ultrabroadband communications, is this month’s “Application Notes” article [A2], by Ariyarathna et al., “Toward Real-Time Software-Defined Radios for Ultrabroadband Communication Above 100 GHz,” which presents some of the issues related to real-time digital signal processor back ends that process ultrabroadband signals, and the authors show an experimental system solution that may provide “food for thought” for future enhancements.
In our “President’s Column” column [A3] this month, MTT-S President Nuno Borges Carvalho discusses the importance of academic and industry collaboration and engagement, at several of the more recent MTT-S conferences. Speaking of conferences, we have several columns devoted to our conferences and conference activities. We have two conference reports from previously held conferences in our “Around the Globe” [A4] and “Conference Report” [A5] columns along with a preview of the upcoming 2023 EuMW in the “MTT-S Society News” column [A6]. Whether we are talking RF, microwave, millimeter-wave, or terahertz systems as a main focus of the MTT-S, other parts of the larger IEEE all play a part in “advancing technology for humanity.” To foster this technology advancement, two inter-Society technology panels that were held at EuMW 2022 are discussed in our “MTT-S Society News” column [A7]. Our “Conference Calendar” [A8], near the end of the issue, gives a look ahead at conferences scheduled over the next six months.
In addition to the conference-focused columns, we have Fred Schindler’s “MicroBusiness” column [A9], where he discusses how rewards are distributed in the workplace, while James Chu presents a review of a book on RF/microwave passive lumped element components, Lumped Electronics for RF and Microwave Circuits [A10]. On the same theme as components, our “New Products” column [A11] introduces six products that might be of interest to you. Sherry Hess, in our “Women in Microwaves” (“WIM”) column [A12], interviews two of the newest members of the MTT-S AdCom WIM subcommittee. Takashi Ohira also presents the solution to last month’s rectifier in the “Enigmas, etc.” column [A13].
To conclude the issue, it is with sadness that we publish an “In Memoriam” column [A14] honoring James Komiak. Jim was a member of the Distinguished Microwave Lecturer (DML) class of 2014–2016, and I had several pleasant conversations with him about his travels and DML experiences. I will miss Jim, as will the MTT-S.
[A1] C. Carlowitz and N. Kaneda, “Enabling technologies for efficient 100-Gb/s wireless communication systems [From the Guest Editor’s Desk],” IEEE Microw. Mag., vol. 24, no. 8, pp. 12–13, Aug. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MMM.2023.3277352.
[A2] V. Ariyarathna, A. Madanayake, and J. M. Jornet, “Toward real-time software-defined radios for ultrabroadband communication above 100 GHz [Application Notes],” IEEE Microw. Mag., vol. 24, no. 8, pp. 50–59, Aug. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MMM.2023.3277362.
[A3] N. B. Carvalho, “Conferences and industry engagement [President’s Column],” IEEE Microw. Mag., vol. 24, no. 8, pp. 10–11, Aug. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MMM.2023.3277674.
[A4] C. Saha and G. Chattopadhyay, “Advancing microwave technology for humanitarian causes: A peek into recent IEEE MTT-S and AP-S SIGHT workshops [Around the Globe],” IEEE Microw. Mag., vol. 24, no. 8, pp. 62–64, Aug. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MMM.2023.3277401.
[A5] G. Ponchak and S. El-Ghazaly, “The 2023 international microwave and antenna symposium [Conference Report],” IEEE Microw. Mag., vol. 24, no. 8, pp. 70–73, Aug. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MMM.2023.3277403.
[A6] T. Zwick, V. Issakov, and A. Bhutani, “The 26th European microwave week in Berlin, Germany [MTT-S Society News],” IEEE Microw. Mag., vol. 24, no. 8, pp. 67–69, Aug. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MMM.2023.3277402.
[A7] J.-C. Chiao and K. Wu, “The exciting MTT-S inter-society technology panels at the 2022 EuMW [MTT-S Society News],” IEEE Microw. Mag., vol. 24, no. 8, pp. 65–66, Aug. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MMM.2023.3277400.
[A8] “Conference calendar,” IEEE Microw. Mag., vol. 24, no. 8, p. 91, Aug. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MMM.2023.3287340.
[A9] Schindler, “Rewards [MicroBusiness],” IEEE Microw. Mag., vol. 24, no. 8, pp. 14–15, Aug. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MMM.2023.3277359.
[A10] J. Chu, “A wealth of lumped element information at your fingertips [Book/Software Reviews],” IEEE Microw. Mag., vol. 24, no. 8, pp. 60–61, Aug. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MMM.2023.3277338.
[A11] K. Mays, “New products,” IEEE Microw. Mag., vol. 24, no. 8, pp. 78–81, Aug. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MMM.2023.3277405.
[A12] S. Hess, “WIM: Community building! [Women in Microwaves],” IEEE Microw. Mag., vol. 24, no. 8, pp. 74–76, Aug. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MMM.2023.3277404.
[A13] T. Ohira, “Solution to last month’s quiz [Enigmas, etc.],” IEEE Microw. Mag., vol. 24, no. 8, p. 88, Aug. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MMM.2023.3277407.
[A14] S. K. Koul, “Remembering James J. Komiak [In Memoriam],” IEEE Microw. Mag., vol. 24, no. 8, p. 82, Aug. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MMM.2023.3277406.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2023.3277329