IEEE Microwave Magazine, September 2023From the Editor's Desk

Welcome to the September IssueRobert H. Caverly24mmm09-editorial-opener2-3285469IMAGE LICENSED BY INGRAM PUBLISHINGIn this month’s “President’s Column” column [A1], Nuno Borges Carvalho talks about the IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology Society’s (MTT-S) version of the classic Smith chart. While all practicing microwave engineers know how to use one, for educators it is also an excellent tool to help students gain intuition in transmission line and microwave circuit behavior, and the updated charts by the MTT-S will help in this regard. Reading Carvalho’s column reminded me of a short telephone conversation I had with Phillip H. Smith back in the mid-1980s regarding using the Smith chart on a project I was working on early in my academic career. I recall him being very engaging. This remembrance motivated me to explore a little bit more about his career and I found there is interesting historical content readily available about Phillip Smith and his career on the web, including an interview conducted by Frank Polkinghorn of the IEEE History Center and available online through the Engineering and Technology History Wiki [1]. I encourage everyone, especially our young professional readers, to read about his storied career and to see how far a versatile microwave engineering education, and experience, can take you.Many times each year, IEEE sections and chapters around the world hold meetings where local and regional microwave engineers meet to network and learn about new technologies. One of the ways MTT-S supports these chapters is through the Distinguished Microwave Lecturer (DML) program, where each year four to six internationally recognized experts are selected to present their lectures in either in-person or virtual modalities. This month’s technical feature selection starts off with an article based on the DML lecture of Payam Heydari and entitled “Evolution of Broadband Amplifier Design” [A2]. In this lecture-turned-article, Heydari, along with Mahyar Safiallah, discusses the distributed amplifier (DA) but focuses on concepts that can be used in the successful design of these amplifiers, and finishes up the article with some tips on improving DA gain and linearity.The use of the coupling matrix has been shown to help in the design of complex coupled resonator filters, and our second article by Ping Zhao and Ke Wu [A3], titled “Filters With Linear Frequency-Dependent Couplings,” provides not only the theoretical background to understand this powerful technique, but also provides several design examples to see how to apply the concept. Photographs of some quite complex filters show the power of this technique.Current wireless power transfer (WPT) and related technologies use both near-field and far-field effects to either transfer or harvest power. The transfer path in either (or maybe both) direction(s) can be quite complex and nearly impossible to describe with closed-form solutions, but modern simulation tools can easily provide a solution to a particular scenario. However, the question always arises: Is this the best solution? In our third feature, by Khan et al. [A4], titled “Computational Intelligence for Modeling and Optimization of RFEH and WPT Systems: A Comprehensive Survey,” the authors provide an in-depth look at various approaches to help find the best solution in the WPT environment. Our final feature, by Luong et al. [A5], titled “Quantum Radar: Challenges and Outlook,” reviews this technique and provides what the authors view as the future for this technology.Elsewhere in the issue, Fred Schindler, in his “MicroBusiness” column [A6], talks about how important ideas are to the success of any business, and provides an interesting perspective on how ideas drive an organization toward decision making. In the “Microwave Surfing” column, Rajeev Bansal [A7] provides us with a brief history of something that is found on everyone today: the personal communication device. Sherry Hess [A8] summarizes a panel held recently at the Design Automation Conference titled “Real Advice for Today’s Women in Engineering.” Hess describes the sharing of personal experiences of the panelists as well as the results of studies showing the creativity that diverse engineering teams can bring to generate solutions to problems. One of the classic electromagnetics concepts involves the calculation of magnetic fields generated by a sheet of current. In the “Educator’s Corner” column this month, Raghavendra Kulkarni [A9] describes an alternate method for the solution that university instructors might find interesting as an alternative approach for their students to the magnetic field calculation. Rounding out this month’s issue is our “MTT-S Ombuds Officer” report [A10], a new “Enigmas, Etc.” problem for you to consider [A11], and of course our “Conference Calendar” [A12].We hope you enjoy the issue.

Appendix: Related Articles

[A1] N. B. Carvalho, “Microwave education [President’s Column],” IEEE Microw. Mag., vol. 24, no. 9, pp. 10–13, Sep. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MMM.2023.3284709.

[A2] P. Heydari and M. Safiallah, “Evolution of broadband amplifier design,” IEEE Microw. Mag., vol. 24, no. 9, pp. 18–29, Sep. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MMM.2023.3284729.

[A3] P. Zhao and K. Wu, “Filters with linear frequency-dependent couplings,” IEEE Microw. Mag., vol. 24, no. 9, pp. 30–45, Sep. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MMM.2023.3284750.

[A4] D. Sarkar, T. Khan, F. A. Talukdar, and S. R. Rengarajan, “Computational intelligence for modeling and optimization of RFEH and WPT systems: A comprehensive survey,” IEEE Microw. Mag., vol. 24, no. 9, pp. 46–60, Sep. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MMM.2023.3284764.

[A5] D. Luong, B. Balaji, and S. Rajan, “Quantum radar: Challenges and outlook,” IEEE Microw. Mag., vol. 24, no. 9, pp. 61–67, Sep. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MMM.2023.3284765.

[A6] F. Schindler, “Here’s an idea [MicroBusiness],” IEEE Microw. Mag., vol. 24, no. 9, pp. 14–15, Sep. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MMM.2023.3284710.

[A7] R. Bansal, “Don’t leave home without it [Microwave Surfing],” IEEE Microw. Mag., vol. 24, no. 9, pp. 16–17, Sep. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MMM.2023.3284728.

[A8] S. Hess, “Real advice for today’s women in engineering [Women in Microwaves],” IEEE Microw. Mag., vol. 24, no. 9, pp. 72–74, Sep. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MMM.2023.3284767.

[A9] R. G. Kulkarni, “Magnetic field due to an infinite current sheet [Educator’s Corner],” IEEE Microw. Mag., vol. 24, no. 9, pp. 78–79, Sep. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MMM.2023.3284773.

[A10] E. C. Niehenke, “MTT-S ombuds officer,” IEEE Microw. Mag., vol. 24, no. 9, pp. 75–77, Sep. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MMM.2023.3284772.

[A11] T. Ohira, “RF input current [Enigmas, etc.],” IEEE Microw. Mag., vol. 24, no. 9, p. 80, Sep. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MMM.2023.3284796.

[A12] “Conference calendar,” IEEE Microw. Mag., vol. 24, no. 9, p. 81, Sep. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MMM.2023.3284797.

Reference[1] “P. H. Smith: An interview conducted by Frank A. Polkinghorn,” IEEE History Center, Piscataway, NJ, USA, Interview # 003, Jan. 1973. Accessed: Jun. 7, 2023. [Online] . Available: https://ethw.org/Oral-History:Philip_H._SmithDigital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2023.3285469CoverMTT-SEravantCadenceMastheadRemcomFrom the Editor's DeskWiPL-DMiCIANPresident's ColumnRosenbergerBesser AssociatesMicroBusinessMicrowave SurfingEvolution of Broadband Amplifier DesignFilters With Linear Frequency–Dependent CouplingsComputational Intelligence for Modeling and Optimization of RFEH and WPT SystemsQuantum Radar: Challenges and OutlookIMS2024IMS2024 Conference ThemesTechnical Paper SubmissionTechnical AreasWomen in MicrowavesMTT-S Ombuds OfficerEducator's CornerEnigmas, etc.Conference CalendarComsol