You will find that the atmosphere at ARFTG is informal and friendly. We have technical sessions and invited speakers, an exhibition of instrument and equipment vendors, a poster session, a breakfast and awards luncheon. The oral technical sessions at ARFTG conferences are conducted in a single-track style, with papers on topical subjects that are both theoretical and practical, address both end user and manufacturer, and cover both modeling and measurement. As well as oral presentations, authors may present their work as poster papers in the open forum that jointly runs with the vendor exhibition. The following link will give you an idea of the types of presentations given at ARFTG conferences: http://conferences.videos.arftg.org.
One of the most stimulating parts of the ARFTG experience is the opportunity to directly interact on a one-to-one basis with colleagues, experts and vendors in the RF/microwave test and measurement community. Networking is a key feature of ARFTG’s conference, with ample coffee breaks to allow you to view the posters, meet the vendors and discuss their new products and measurement solutions, as well as meet up with old friends and new colleagues. Chances are you will come away with much more than you came with — maybe some new ideas to help with your current projects, some new technical contacts to use in the future and some answers to your tough questions.
The theme for this year’s conference is “Measurements for Emerging Communications Technologies.” ARFTG will highlight papers on the following key topics:
- 5G, millimeter wave and THz technologies, including MIMO
- High data rate optical communications
- Nanomaterials, including graphene and related materials
- Medical and biological technologies, including wearables and PANs
as well as contributions in other areas of RF, microwave, and/or millimeter wave measurement techniques and technologies such as wide bandwidth measurements, nonlinear systems and power amplifier measurements and modeling, calibration techniques, deembedding and correction methods, and more.
What is ARFTG?
ARFTG is the “Automated RF Techniques Group.” It is a technical organization interested in all aspects of RF and microwave test and measurement. ARFTG was originally set up in 1972 to help end-users get the most from the latest generation of test and measurement equipment; at the time, this was predominantly the vector network analyzer or VNA: a completely new instrument class. As the high frequency measurement field has continued to evolve, so has ARFTG, and it now covers the measurement space from kHz to THz, nonlinear or large signal network analyzers, signal analyzers, mixed-signal domains, signal integrity and much more. ARFTG now has more than 700 members worldwide.
ARFTG’s core mission is education, and it achieves this by hosting conferences, workshops and training courses covering a wide range of topics in RF, microwave and millimeter wave measurement, and by awarding research fellowships for graduate students and sponsorships to enable students to attend.