Is the European RF and microwave industry feeling the heat? Will the current economic drought starve the industry of essential funding and investment or can focused and targeted innovation harvest demand and stimulate growth in established and developing sectors of the market?


In hindsight, this was the calm before the storm when the recessionary cloud rained without discrimination on the parade of industry, agencies, research institutes and academic institutions in most regions of the world. Through quick and decisive actions, reorganisation and a realistic assessment of capabilities and targets, the fortunate were able to shelter themselves from the worst, while others were washed away by the sheer force and suddenness of the economic downturn.

Few regions of the world have survived unscathed and the economic difficulties of some European countries are well documented. Greece, Ireland and Portugal have received economic bailouts from other Eurozone members and the International Monetary Fund, while Italy and Spain also have to manage significant debt. Interestingly, China has pledged to buy billions of Euros of European debt to support the single currency – a move that may not be entirely unselfish as China sees a strong European market as being essential for exports.

Even with outside help, maintaining a strong European Market is going to be challenging as individual governments get to grips with economic reality. For many nations, austerity is the watchword with a squeeze on funding, both from government and the banks, cutbacks in services and a rationalization of resources. The results have been limited investment, job insecurity and reduced disposable income to pump back into the economy.

It is against this background that the European RF and microwave industry has to operate, evolve and plan for the future. Since the downturn, R&D, both commercial and academic, has had to become streamlined and focused, as have the mechanisms for funding and collaboration. Being fitter and leaner can have its advantages and the RF and microwave industry has the benefit of being at the forefront of technologies that are desired, play a significant role in everyday life and can thus create new opportunities for economic development.

The public's voracious appetite for information anytime, anywhere, allied to the boom in social networking has created the smartphone revolution, which is putting greater demands on mobile and wireless communications. As a result, networks and spectrum are being stretched and it is engineers and researchers in our industry whose expertise and endeavour can make a real difference – be it materials and semiconductor/IC development, at component, subsystem and system level, from infrastructure to mobile backhaul or test and measurement.

Europe's skills base in the RF and microwave sector has traditionally been strong and it is perhaps now when that depth of knowledge and expertise really needs to be tapped into and exploited. Everyone yearns to find that Killer App, but maybe all we need is a small number of less aggressive apps that together can take a significant chunk out of the market.

As EuMW in Manchester demonstrates, European research and development is making a significant contribution. For instance, European research groups pioneered graphene science and technology and are at the cutting edge of other emerging technologies, such as RF MEMS and THz.

The work on metamaterials is significant too with research projects based on novel materials and nanoscience concepts looking to develop a new generation of nanoelectronic devices and systems with improved electro-thermal-mechanical properties that yield higher integration densities. Driven by commercial applications, the desire for higher system functionality and performance is impacting on areas such as high frequency communication, sensors and radar.

Europe has historically been strong in defence and security and that continues, although there is a change in emphasis. With a general decrease in military spending, the search is on for lower cost and higher performance with a greater focus on civilian and non-conventional military applications. These include border control and security, encompassing the likes of imaging to detect weapons and explosives, air traffic control systems, anti-piracy measures and marine radar.

However, having detected what is on the radar with regards to viable options for research and development, does Europe have the organisation and systems in place to fully exploit such potential and bring it to market? Following is an overview of the initiatives and funding that the EU has put in place over recent years, highlighting new initiatives and long-term programmes.

European Initiatives

The European Union is an amalgamation of diverse Member States, each with its own endemic industry, educational system, infrastructure, economic framework and political agenda. Meeting the objectives of all and drafting effective common policy can be a challenge, but when there is consensus and mutual goals, the EU can be a significant driver for development.

In particular, the Union has been, and continues to be, effective in instigating, driving, funding and supporting research and technological development in association with industry to bridge the gap between research and the market. At times when individual government funding agency budgets are being cut, European Union initiatives continue to have the resources to distribute funding to a collaborative blend of industry, national research centres and academic institutions across the continent.

Having been forged over time and become established and robust, these initiatives are a key weapon in Europe's armoury in the battle to recover from the downturn, stimulate research and development and provide future growth. At a time when individual companies, research institutes, agencies and governments tend to be understandably cautious in their approach, these EU programmes provide cross-border, interdisciplinary structure and motivation toward tangible, common objectives.

Particularly significant is the European Research Area (ERA), which addresses all research and development activities, programmes and policies in Europe which involve a transnational perspective. ERA's activities operate at regional, national and European level and are designed to enable researchers, research institutions and industry to circulate, compete and cooperate across borders. Its stated aim is to provide access to a Europe-wide open space for knowledge and technologies in which transnational synergies and complementary activities are fully exploited. A number of ERA organisations have long been established, such as the European Space Agency (ESA), but more recent additions that impact on R&D and industry are the European Research Council, the Joint Technology Initiatives and the European Institute for Innovation and Technology.

However, the most significant driver has been the European Framework Programmes that were launched in 1984 and have played a lead role in funding multi-disciplinary research and cooperative activities in Europe and beyond ever since. The current initiative, the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7), is a mechanism for all research-related EU initiatives to stimulate growth, competitiveness and employment, alongside the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) and Education and Training programmes.

In recent years, FP7 has been a catalyst for research and development in the RF and microwave sector, enabling research industries, academia and companies to pool expertise, experience and resources to develop new technology that is entering the marketplace and contributing to everyday lives. Successful programmes have demonstrated their ability to harness engineering/research expertise in order to target and meet real needs (specific examples and programs are mentioned in later sections).

Also significant is Europe 2020, which is the EU's growth strategy for becoming a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy. Of its seven flagship initiatives, two are of particular interest to our industry. A Digital Agenda for Europe is a strategy for a flourishing digital economy by 2020 that aims to speed up the roll-out of high speed internet and capitalise on the benefits of a digital single market. The Innovation Union aims to improve framework conditions and access to finance for research and innovation so as to ensure that innovative ideas can be turned into products and services that create growth and jobs. It uses public sector intervention to stimulate the private sector and eliminate the barriers that prevent ideas from reaching the market, such as lack of finance, fragmented research systems and markets, under-use of public procurement for innovation and slow standard setting.

In the latest phase of the Innovation Union rollout, the European Research, Innovation and Science Commissioner announced, in July 2011, the release of nearly €7 B for stimulating European innovation through research funding. As the biggest ever European Commission funding package, it is hoped that this money will help create around 174,000 jobs in the short term, as well as 450,000 jobs and nearly €80 B in gross domestic product (GDP) growth within the next 15 years.

The funding boost, part of the FP7, will take the form of grants awarded to 16,000 recipients comprising companies and agencies, European universities, research organisations and industry specialists, with a particular focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (SME).

The EU also supports the international Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) programme, which was set up to expand and coordinate nationally funded research on a European level. COST implements networking activities for researchers, contributing to ERA, goals and participates in the delivery of the Europe 2020 agenda. COST is presently used by the scientific communities of 36 European countries to cooperate in more than 250 research networks (called COST Actions) that leverage national research funds. That funding has been greatly enhanced by the European Commission's announcement in May 2011 to allocate an additional €30 M to COST and this additional funding raises the total budget for COST to €240 M for FP7.

Although its focus is primarily within Europe, the EU also recognises that international cooperation enhances European competitiveness. So, it established the Strategic Forum for International Cooperation (SFIC) whose mandate is to share and pool information and knowledge, identify common priorities, coordinate similar activities undertaken by the member states and the EU, propose joint initiatives and promote networking among the science counsellors of the EU and the member states in major partner countries. The SFIC has already put in place a pilot initiative with India, while others are being launched with China and the USA.

Recognising that web-based and mobile technologies are enabling interactive dialogue and that access to social media is now the norm for many, the Community Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS) has embraced the medium with the launch of a new Partners Service. Designed to be an interactive platform, this free online service can help individuals to promote their expertise and organisations, find business or research partners, create groups, join networks and find the right components for funding bids and proposals. Acting as a speed-dating service for industry and academia, the resource offers the possibility for users to form partnerships.

Such compatibility and interaction are critical if there is to be a strong and successful collaboration between R&D and industry. The next section of this report illustrates how this relationship is developing both technologically and in the marketplace by identifying specific areas of activity and growth.

Sector Overviews & Initiatives

The chairmen of the three 2011 European Microwave Week conferences – the European Microwave Conference (EuMC), the European Microwave Integrated Circuits (EuMIC) Conference and the European Radar Conference (EuRAD) – offer an insight into key areas of development and identify future trends. To illustrate specific European activity in these sectors, examples of recent FP7 and other relevant EU initiatives are outlined.

RF & Microwaves

Sector overview by Stepan Lucyszyn, EuMC 2011 Conference Chair

The US and Asia are recognised for directing large budgets to independent world-leading groups within both the industrial and academic sectors, for R&D activities in areas of strategic importance, such as health care and defence. In contrast, European Union initiatives put a stronger emphasis on distributing funding to a collaborative blend of industry, national research laboratories and university partners located across Europe; at a time when individual government funding agency budgets are being reduced.

A good example of this can be seen in the area of RF microelectromechanical systems (RF MEMS). In the early days, DARPA injected many tens of millions of dollars into RF MEMS technologies, enabling the US to take the early lead. As the Editor of the new Eurocentric book titled, Advanced RF MEMS, a deliverable from AMICOM (a European Union 'Network of Excellence', funded under its FP7 programme), I believe that RF MEMS has now matured enough to be taken seriously; there are now many solutions to the issues of packaging and reliability that thwarted this technology in the past. Also, with attention now turning to bringing down manufacturing costs there will soon be an accelerating migration of applications that embrace this new technology.

The reason for this is that the higher performance advantages, from new RF MEMS-based architectures, will compete more favourably in terms of overall cost with the more traditional solid-state solutions. To this end, Europe is currently taking a leading role within world-class research institutes that include IMEC (Belgium), FhG-ISiT and EPCOS AG (Germany), VTT (Finland), CEA-LETI and CNRS-LAAS (France).

In security and defence, Europe has historically been and currently still is in a strong position. For example, across Europe and within Israel, there is growing activity in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technologies for policing, border control and military applications. Within the UK, ThruVision Systems has marketed what is claimed to be the world's first commercial stand-off passive imaging system.

Operating at 250 GHz, it is capable of detecting metals, plastic, liquids, gels, ceramics and narcotics concealed beneath a person's clothing. The UK also has a strong reputation for submillimetre-wave satellite remote sensing, with Astrium Ltd. In addition, TeraView Ltd. is one of the world's leading suppliers of commercial equipment for close-in active imaging and spectroscopy at THz frequencies.

It has been suggested that the global THz market will be $400 M by 2017. BCC Research predicts that this market will be $521 M by 2018. According to the Thintri Inc. market study for 2010, the current annual sales for THz equipment amounts to only $25 M worldwide, with a growth of 10 to 15 percent in 2010, but a predicted growth of 50 to 80 percent by 2015.

Within the security sector, the THz market is likely to exceed $300 M worldwide by 2020. Within the manufacturing/process control sector, material inspection remains the most promising market opportunity for THz technology, with a predicted forecast of $500 M worldwide by 2020.

For the domestic mobile phone market, carriers are now advertising 4G networks with faster download speeds. The UK is one of the global leaders for base station filters, with companies such as Radio Design and Filtronic at the forefront in this area. Also, in the commercial sector, 2010 saw more than 1 million microwave point-to-point radios being sold for backhaul applications or extending networks wirelessly; with 75 percent of these having 1 Gbit/s true data throughput. For multi-gigabit transmission, the 60 and 70/80 GHz bands remain the growth market segment.

Indeed, for both the domestic and commercial markets, a number of working groups have published standardizing specifications for the unlicensed 60 GHz band, including the following: ECMA-387 for high data rate wireless personal area networks (WPAN); IEEE 802.15.3c representing a millimetre-wave extension to the IEEE 802.15.3 WPAN standard; and WirelessHD for existing, commercially available, wireless video area networks (WVAN) based on IEEE 802.15.3c. More recently, the Wireless Gigabit (WiGig) Alliance has been working with the IEEE 802.11ad group to extend the IEEE 802.11 WLAN specification to the 60 GHz band, for publication next year.

Emerging enabling technologies, such as graphene, RF MEMS and THz are redirecting engineers and scientists from areas including material science, mechanical engineering and applied sciences, respectively, into the RF and microwave sectors. In addition, metamaterials appear to have stolen the limelight (metaphorically, or should that be metaphysically speaking?). From Star Trek's Romulan War Bird Cloaking Device to Harry Potter's Invisibility Cloak, even school children are being drawn into technologies that may one day turn fiction into fact. In conjunction with exciting new applications ranging from GPS tracking to intelligent transportation systems to pervasive wireless sensor networks, such examples are helping to inspire and create the next generation of RF and microwave engineers.

FP7 Projects

The aim of the €4.7 M Beyond Next Generation (BuNGee) project is to achieve a tenfold increase in mobile broadband infrastructure capacity. Planned to continue through June 2012, it will draw upon collaboration among consortium members comprising European service providers, technology equipment vendors, universities and research organisations. The consortium's objective will be to increase the overall mobile network infrastructure capacity density to beyond what is promised by current technologies, targeting the challenging goal of 1 Gbit/s per square kilometre. The project will identify network deployment strategies especially suited for dense urban environments where the demand for wireless broadband access is highest.

Also concerned with wireless mobile networks is the Energy Aware Radio and Network Technologies (EARTH) project that will adopt an approach that considers the energy efficiency of mobile networks at a comprehensive system level rather than focusing on discrete network elements. The consortium members will research approaches to allow for unprecedented energy savings in the area of wireless networks, their components and its radio interfaces. Based on this, EARTH will develop a new generation of energy-efficient network equipment and components, craft energy-oriented deployment strategies, and conceive energy-aware network management solutions.

In the automotive arena, the DRIVE C2X Project, with a total budget of €19 M, aims to create the transport system of the future, in which cars communicate with each other, receive real-time information about traffic, and also gather and forward information. The three-year project, which commenced in January 2011, follows on the work of the PRE-DRIVE C2X Project that was completed in June 2010.

ICs & Semiconductors

Sector overview by Ali A Rezazadeh, EuMIC 2011 Chairman (In collaboration with John Atherton, Co-Chair EuMIC 2011)

Semiconductor materials, devices and ICs are essential components of today's microwave and millimetre wave subsystems for many applications, such as telecommunication, defence, automotive, space and imaging systems. These devices and ICs require not only different technological processes, but also advanced modelling, simulation and characterization in order to predict the performance of individual technology and its successful route to exploitation. European microwave companies and research centres produce, develop and are involved in research that covers a broad range of technologies, which play an increasingly significant role in everyday life and open up new opportunities for economic development.

Silicon technologies are steadily improving their operating frequency and their level of integration. In particular, the scaling of Si MOS technology has led to phenomenal growth in transistor density and performance during the past few decades. This growth was primarily driven by traditional device scaling from lithography improvements to power supply scaling.

However, the industry began to experience fundamental barriers at 90 nm in achieving historical performance gains through traditional scaling such as High K material plus metal gate technology. The convergence of new semiconductor transistor structures and materials along with a better fundamental understanding of carrier transport in new materials will be the key to successfully scaling transistors to beyond 10 nm nodes.

GaAs devices for defence applications continue to be the driving force in many of the microwave applications. GaAs remains a key enabling technology in military and defence systems, covering radar, communications, electronic warfare and smart munitions. However, the demand for wider bandwidth, higher frequency and higher power favours emerging technologies, such as GaN and SiC. These devices require higher DC bias voltages and more critically, new designed bias circuitry, as well as modelling and packaging to deal with very high power density in these devices. There is currently dynamic academic research and industrial development in the wideband semiconductor devices sector.

The future of RF/microwave technology will be fundamentally influenced by nanoelectronics, which will provide substantial improvements in the integration of RF electronics, sensing, energy harvesting, computing and communication systems. Driven by technology and market requirements, semiconductor electronics has already found its way into nanoscale dimensions.

Currently, a multitude of research projects based on novel materials and nanoscience concepts are being developed to pave the way for a new generation of nanoelectronic devices and systems, yielding not only higher integration densities but also substantially improved electro-thermal-mechanical properties. Many of the nanoscale materials and devices exhibit their most interesting properties over a broad range of applications and operating frequencies up to the THz region.

Many applications, such as high frequency communication, radar and sensors, require higher system functionality and performance. Driven by commercial applications, however, cost issues become most important. Monolithic integrated circuits based on GaAs and InP materials with high performance are currently available and the requirement for elaborate chip mounting and interconnection technologies has emerged. Due to the relatively high cost per area for GaAs and especially InP based ICs, hybrid integration techniques are currently being considered. In addition, monolithic integrated circuits have to deliver increasing functionality with smaller chip size. These requirements can be fulfilled by multifunctional chips, which integrate different circuit functions or multi-chip modules where different ICs, often with different semiconductors, can be integrated.

These are some of the current and future directions of ICs and semiconductor devices. However, it should be emphasized that advanced simulation and modelling are key factors in achieving the optimum performances of circuits and systems.

EU Flagship Initiative

A coordination action on graphene will be funded by the European Commission to develop plans for a 10-year, €1,000 M Future and Emerging Technology Flagship (FET). This is a large-scale visionary research initiative, aimed at a breakthrough for technological innovation and economic exploitation based on graphene and related two-dimensional materials.

The research effort of individual European research groups pioneered graphene science and technology, but a coordinated European level approach is needed to secure a major role for the EU in this ongoing technological revolution. The Graphene Flagship aims to bring together a large, focused, interdisciplinary European research community, acting as a sustainable incubator of new branches of ICT applications, ensuring that European industries will have a major role in this radical technology shift over the next 10 years. An effective transfer of knowledge and technology to industries will enable product development and production. The pilot phase coordination action started in May 2011 and the Graphene Flagship already includes over 130 research groups, representing 80 academic and industrial partners in 21 European countries.

Radar

Overview of European radar activities by Tony Brown, EuRAD 2011, Conference Chairman

EuRAD 2011 is the eighth in the conference series. The event continues to be at the forefront of radar application, design and implementation and reflects current activity across the broad area of radar and related disciplines. In general, the European radar industry is evolving and encompassing new applications in the civilian, military and security sectors. The continued development of lower cost components and processing is impacting a broad range of solutions. As one of the conference's keynote speakers points out, this trend to lower costs and higher performance marks the beginning of an exciting era with new technologies, such as graphene-based devices offering the hope of dramatic changes in the future price/performance of microwave radar.

We have yet to see the end of Moore's Law and that increasing capability of digital processing impacts both radar and communications. This is leading to interesting developments between the disciplines. The use of MIMO and OFDM in radar are examples of this, with UWB communications and location finding techniques drawing on radar experience.

As military spending is under increasing pressure, there is greater emphasis on civilian and non-conventional military applications for radar. Anti-piracy and related border control issues are one market driver; safety and the environment are others. We are seeing a renewed interest in air traffic control systems, in marine radar, in imaging for security applications and, of course, in automotive applications, which are now moving confidently into the next generation.

At a technology level, interest in wide bandwidth radar continues to grow, recognising the inherent resolution and interference resilience these systems can bring. There is also continued strong interest in micro-Doppler and related target identification techniques and phased and digital beam-forming arrays continue to produce innovative approaches to serve military and civilian needs.

One problem that is of growing importance worldwide, and which is attracting interesting system solutions, is the potential impact of wind farms on a wide variety of radar. Across Europe and the USA, different solutions are being proposed from improved tracking and signal processing through to high resolution "fill in" radars and the design of low RCS wind turbines. This problem continues to challenge radar designers for robust and cost-effective solutions.

Overall, the radar community is maintaining vibrancy, despite the economic climate and by innovative use of technologies, looks set to continue to address both existing and new application challenges.

FP7 Project

The Protection of European BoRders and Seas through the IntElligent Use of Surveillance (PERSEUS) project has been instigated to provide protection of the European seas and borders with the smart use of technologies. The project, with a budget of €43.7 M and an execution period of four years, addresses the call for an integrated European system for maritime border control. Its purpose is to build and demonstrate an EU maritime surveillance system integrating existing national and community installations and enhancing them with innovative technologies.
PERSEUS will incorporate technological innovations regarding detection and analysis applied to maritime security, particularly for the detection of low flying targets and small vessels. Multiple sensors and sources of information will be incorporated into the system, which will also employ technologies and capabilities under development by other EU projects, including other segments such as Space.

Conclusion

As the title signals, this report focuses on the current climate of the RF and microwave industry in Europe. As recent years have demonstrated, just like the weather, the prevailing market conditions can change suddenly and unexpectedly, severely testing the strength of the industry's foundations and the framework that supports it.

The cloud still hanging over all enterprises, academic and commercial, cannot be ignored but, as has been outlined in this report, there are rays of optimism to brighten the gloom. As the sector overviews demonstrate Europe does have the skills and knowledge to develop those technologies that consumers and society not only crave, but demand. Add to that some blue sky thinking, which is producing research that has the potential to take developments to a brave new world.

Such creativity has to be backed up with systems and support that can bring these ideas to fruition and to market. This often cannot be done by individual companies, research agencies, large corporations or even governments. This is where the coordinated action of EU initiatives that can connect, support and fund the right skills, at the right time and at the right level – regional, national or pan-European – are making a difference.

Through long-term, forward-thinking structured cooperation and coordination, the significant initiatives that have been put in place during the last decade are now reaping rewards. In particular, the EU's Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programmes are identifying, promoting and stimulating competitiveness, while the 7th Framework Programme and the associated Networks of Excellence Programmes are encouraging the involvement of industry alongside academia to address Europe's traditional weakness in commercialising the results of research, and identifying the market potential of new technology.

Significantly too, at a time when companies, governments and agencies have to watch the Euros, the European Commission is able to pool resources, take a long-term view and provide substantial funding and backing.

While identifying the positives, optimism has to be tempered with the reality that the marketplace is far from stable, economic recovery is slow, if not comatose, and although significant efforts are being made, the European RF and microwave industry cannot guarantee its day in the sun just yet.