Later this month, Microwave Journal Publisher, Carl Sheffres and I will be travelling to Shanghai and Beijing where we will be meeting with many RF/microwave engineers and marketing professionals. The purpose of our trip will be to learn about the state of the industry in China from the perspective of local microwave component vendors and their customers. This exchange is an important step in identifying the authors and topics that will appear in future issues of Microwave Journal China. We will also be recruiting speakers, topics and sponsors/exhibitors for next year’s EDI CON event which will be held April 8-10, 2014 at the Beijing International Convention Center (BICC).
As we continue into the second year of our China publication, the editorial has evolved to reflect the needs of designers in this emerging market. Articles slated to run in the English version of Microwave Journal are often selected for translation and publication in MWJ China if they are applicable to the China market. Doing so provides Chinese engineers with access to the same information being consumed in North America and Europe. In addition, our Managing Editor of Microwave Journal China, Katie Huang, has been cultivating content from local sources as well. Katie is now responsible for the many new product features and interviews appearing regularly in this version of our magazine. I encourage technologists and business leaders from the Chinese microwave industry to contact Katie directly and help her keep our readers informed about all the new microwave technologies being introduced in China.
Of course, one of the best ways to share technical information is with direct face-to-face interaction. For this reason, we introduced our Electronic Design Innovation Conference (EDI CON) last year and we look forward to developing a new technical program for 2014. This year we will be doubling the size of the EDI CON exhibition space and expanding the technical program to a full 3 days of conferences while adding a second day of keynote talks. With the success of last year’s technical program, we are expecting to receive many excellent papers from industry to support working engineers with practical design information and support for developing next generation components and systems. Last year’s most popular topics included GaN, digital/analog pre-distortion and envelope-tracking techniques, MIMO OTA testing, EDA/CAD design flows, low noise design and VCOs to mention but a few. What will be next year’s most popular subjects? I expect to find out more in this upcoming visit. We’ll keep you all posted.