John Wood and Gayle Collins
Figure 1. San Diego Bay, showing the Convention Center in the center of the photograph and the Hilton Bayfront Conference Hotel on the right, by the water.
Welcome to San Diego—city of sun, sand, surf, microbreweries, and a lot of RF and microwave activity.
It is our pleasure to invite you to the 2023 IEEE International Microwave Symposium (IMS2023), the centerpiece of a microwave week that includes the RF Integrated Circuits (RFIC) Symposium and the Automatic RF Techniques Group (ARFTG) microwave measurements conference. In addition, we will also have a one-day “Connected Futures” summit on 5G/6G technologies for future wireless networks, cosponsored by the IEEE Communications Society. The IMS week is the world’s largest technical conference and industry exhibition for RF, microwave, millimeter-wave, and terahertz researchers and practicing engineers from academia, industry, and government. This year’s event takes place from Sunday 11 June through Friday 16 June and will be held in the San Diego Convention Center, which is on the Bayfront in San Diego (Figure 1). We have received almost 750 paper submissions for IMS2023—back to prepandemic levels—and our technical program will feature the “Coolest Ideas Under the Sun”: don’t miss it.
The last time that IMS was held in San Diego was 1994: wow, that was a long time ago! Just to remind you of a few things, that may (or may not) have changed the world, in 1994
A lot has changed since then. However, the Chargers have not made it to the Super Bowl again, and the Padres have finished at the bottom another seven times. As an example of how some things have changed dramatically, just think of how the mobile phone has changed since 1994: nowadays, a smartphone is an essential accessory for the connected lifestyle, but, back in 1994, the mobile phone was much chunkier and less, well, er, mobile. Take a look at Figure 2, which shows a typical mobile phone circa 1990, with a Mini car shown life size for comparison. No, only joking—the Mini is about six times larger than is shown in the figure.
Figure 2. The MicrotacTAC Elite, a very modern mobile phone for its time, compared with the Mark 1 Mini for size.
Overall, the microwave week will be comfortably familiar, starting with the RFIC Symposium on Sunday with workshops and the reception, followed by technical sessions on Monday and Tuesday. The IMS program begins with workshops on Sunday and Monday, with the industry showcase and opening plenary session on Monday afternoon, followed by the welcome reception; IMS technical sessions run from Tuesday through Thursday, with each day including a specific technical topic or theme. On Friday, there are more IMS workshops and the ARFTG Symposium, which will be held in the Hilton Bayfront Hotel, adjacent to the Convention Center.
The general message for the microwave week is a continued emphasis on RF and microwave systems and applications, with all of the conferences supporting this idea. We are following the example from IMS2022 of having topical technical themes highlighting each day of IMS. Each theme is supported by focused technical sessions, a keynote speaker, a panel session, and a technical lecture. There will also be several workshops related to the theme topics.
On Tuesday, the highlight theme is “Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) Technologies for Microwaves,” sponsored by the Future Directions Committee of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology Society (MTT-S). This theme will include keynote speaker Prof. Linda Katehi. There is also the Connected Futures Summit on Tuesday. This is a conference within a conference, cosponsored by the IEEE Communications Society, and focuses on strategic and tactical developments in 5G/6G technologies for future wireless communication systems, with several invited speakers.
Wednesday’s big theme is “Space Systems.” Systems and components for deployment in space are often not cutting-edge research but are exemplars of excellent engineering practice and implementation. Additionally, Wednesday’s track will shine a spotlight on model-based systems engineering (MBSE). MBSE brings several modeling approaches and simulation tools together to describe the complete system and its operating environment. This is a relatively new area for microwave engineering, and we are pleased to highlight this at IMS2023.
The theme on Thursday is “RF and Microwave Technology in Biomedical Applications,” reflecting the strong academic and industrial interest in biomedical systems in the San Diego area.
Additionally, we will have a “Systems Pavilion” in the industry exhibition. This pavilion will have demonstrations of satellite hardware by finalists of the MTT-S Satellite Design Competition “MTT-Sat,” demonstrations of applications of MBSE, and exhibitors focused on all of the conference systems themes.
Figure 5. The Hotel del Coronado, just across the bay from the Convention Center, has starred in several movies and has one the finest beaches in the Unites States.
At IMS2023, we are encouraging greater participation by industry. We will host an Industry Showcase, where authors of the best technical papers from industry are encouraged to present their work in a poster and demo session, which will be held immediately prior to the opening plenary session on Monday. This will give all attendees the opportunity to see the latest results and projects in industry, with the opportunity to meet the authors and discuss their work.
New for 2023 will be Industrial Keynote Speakers, who will provide the kickoff presentations on the major technical themes of IMS, including filters; devices and technology; power amplifiers; monolithic microwave integrated circuits; wireless systems; and the highlighted themes of AI/ML, biomedical applications, and MBSE. The speakers are invited technical leaders from industry, and they will be providing an overview of the latest developments in their topics. Also new in IMS2023 is the “Early Career” Best Paper award, encouraging younger engineers in industry to publish their work.
IMS2023 is pleased to have the new position of “humanitarian chair” on our Steering Committee to motivate interest in applying RF and microwave technology to humanitarian efforts. A good example of this is the IEEE “MOVE” trucks, which are deployed to natural disaster sites as a communications center, providing emergency radio and Internet links when local infrastructure is broken. We will have a local San Diego-based MOVE truck onsite at IMS2023. Our humanitarian chair is Timothy Lee, IEEE Region 6 director, who has been a leader in the IEEE humanitarian initiative for some time.
Our Steering Committee, which organizes the IMS technical program as well as social and networking events, is probably the most diverse ever. The committee comprises about 25% women participants, with women cochairs of the Technical Program, Communications, Local Arrangements and Operations, and Finance Committees of the Steering Committee, and, of course, the general cochair. We definitely have the “international” in IMS, with about 25% of the members being located outside the United States, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom. It has been fun chairing the Steering Committee meetings!
San Diego is a stone’s throw from Latin America. One of the IMS2023 focus technical themes is to highlight advances in RF and microwave research in Latin America, with paper submissions curated by Prof. Jose Rayas Sanchez and Prof. Apolinar Reynoso Hernandez, and we will have a Latin American flavor to social events throughout the week. For example, the IMS opening reception will feature a Latin American street party for music, food, and refreshments, and the “Sweet Treat Tuesday” in the exhibition will be churros. Get there early!
In postconference surveys, the most frequently cited reason for attending IMS is “networking.” IMS2023 will be an in-person conference, and we are looking forward to the return of networking at IMS2023.
There will be several networking receptions held on Tuesday evening, including the Women in Microwaves Reception, the Young Professionals Mixer, the Ham Radio Social, and the MTT-S Reviewers’ Reception. All of these events will be held in the Hilton Bayfront Conference Hotel, which has some great open spaces and bay-view terraces for hosting, so you can easily move from one event to another to meet old friends and make new ones.
The Convention Center is adjacent to the famous Gaslamp Quarter (Figure 3), which is the lively social center of San Diego, with plenty of restaurants and bars for all tastes. Many of the social and networking events will be held in the Gaslamp Quarter. San Diego is also home to famous landmarks, such as the USS Midway, Balboa Park containing many museums, the San Diego Zoo, and SeaWorld. There are plenty of beaches, for surfing or just relaxing: the white sands at Coronado Island are among the best in the United States (Figures 4 and 5).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2023.3242840