The annual International Microwave Symposium focuses on the hardware and technology of the spectrum beyond 1 GHz. This IEEE conference, which used to be called a meeting of the Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S), has been going on for decades. It has its roots in the development of radar and other microwave technology during World War II.

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I attended this year’s edition, held May 25-27 at the Anaheim Convention Center, and I wasn’t disappointed. While the show still focused on military and government microwave technologies, there was a lot related to mobile wireless as well. After all, wireless today is mostly microwave.

The Anaheim Convention Center is a great facility with lots of space, a good layout, and many nearby hotels. It offers one of the best conference setups I have ever seen. The show had a 7% increase in attendance over last year’s in Boston.

According to its organizers, IMS2010 saw more than 9500 attendees, 2793 full registrations, and 2687 exhibit registrations, plus all the company and exhibitor personnel. There were 556 companies in 892 booths representing 40 countries. Also, 858 papers were submitted to the conference this year.

Report From The Floor

I spent most of my time roaming the exhibit hall, conducting interviews, attending briefings, and filming a few videos. The most prominent displays were from the test and measurement companies. All of the big companies were there, along with many smaller ones. In fact, I met with Aeroflex, Agilent, Anritsu, National Instruments, Rohde & Schwarz, and Tektronix.

All of these companies were offering better test gear and software for cellular technology testing For example, Agilent’s PNA-X microwave network analyzer includes noise figure software (Fig. 1). The new 028 option allows highly accurate, source-corrected noise figure measurements for amplifiers, converters, and mixers up to 50 GHz.

Configured with the 028 option, the Agilent PNA-X is the only network analyzer in the industry to correct for the effects of imperfect system source match. The result is the industry’s highest noise-figure measurement accuracy, especially in on-wafer, in-fixture, and automated-test environments.

The semiconductor companies also were very visible. I visited Analog Devices, Avago, Freescale, M/A Com, NXP, Peregrine Semiconductor, RF Micro Devices, and Toshiba. Product coverage is available on the Mobile Dev & Design Web site. Look for video from IMS2010 from me, Electronic Design EDA/Test Editor David Maliniak, and Microwaves and RF Editor in Chief Nancy Friedrich at www.EngineeringTV.com as well. 

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