With a proven record of success in China, EDI CON will launch its first EDI CON USA conference in the U.S., September 20-22 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, Mass. This conference is a unique one in the U.S., as it brings together RF/microwave, EMC/EMI and high-speed digital designers in one location for educational training, product information and networking opportunities.

What does it mean for conference attendees? Peer reviewed presentations across nine tracks, workshops and trainings directly from the experts, short courses designed to delve deep into topics critical to today’s RF/microwave and high-speed system designers, panels on topics such as 5G and connected automobiles, a plenary session and featured keynotes designed to bring you the latest technical information. In addition, attendees can visit with 130+ vendors on the exhibition floor, participate in speed trainings, see demonstrations and ask questions of their peers during the poster session.

Conference Program

EDI CON USA features a robust technical program, packed with 60 30-minute technical sessions featuring peer reviewed presentations, 27 workshops, 10 sponsored talks, 4 short courses, featured keynotes, panels, a plenary session and an all-day “RF Back to Basics” seminar. The technical program is designed to give conference attendees an opportunity to hear from and interact with experts in their fields, addressing immediate design concerns with technologies that are available now.

The technical program sessions cover the following tracks: Radar/Defense, 5G Advanced Communications, Signal Integrity/Power Integrity, RF/MW Design, Systems, Measurement, Modeling, IoT, and RF/MW: Amplifiers. Highlights from the technical program include “Simulation of Beamforming by Massive MIMO Antennas in Dense Urban Environments,” presented by Greg Skidmore, director of Propagation Software & Government Services at Remcom, which promises to present a new predicative capability for simulating massive MIMO antennas and beam forming in dense urban propagation environments. Dan Orban of Orban Microwave Systems will give an “Introduction to Patch Antennas,” where he aims to provide attendees with the knowledge and tools to confidently discuss antenna design requirements as well as attempt basic designs themselves.

The program also includes two featured keynote speakers. Dr. James Komiak, BAE Systems Global Engineering/Scientific Fellow at Electronic Systems in Nashua, N.H., will lead off the RF/MW Amplifiers Track with a talk on “Microwave and Millimeter Wave Power Amplifiers: Technology, Applications, Benchmarks and Future Trends,” where he plans to cover principles of operation, structures, characteristics, classes of operation and device state-of-the-art benchmarks. In another featured keynote, “Invisibility Cloaks and Deflector Shields: Disappearing at Microwave’s Frontiers,” Dr. Nathan Cohen will provide an introduction to a fractal-based approach, showcasing a microwave demonstration which he hopes will provide motivation for attendees to learn more about this exciting technology.

On Thursday afternoon, conference attendees can select among four short courses presented by acknowledged leaders in their respective fields. Dan Swanson of SW Filter Design, will present “Intuitive Microwave Filter Design with EM Simulation”; Eli Brookner, formerly of Raytheon, will present “Basics, Advances, & Breakthroughs in Phased-Arrays, Radar and MIMO”; Ken Wyatt of Wyatt Technical Services LLC, will present “Radiated Emissions - Product Evaluation and Pre-Compliance Testing“; while Steve Sandler of Picotest and Heidi Barnes of Keysight will present “Fundamentals of Power Integrity.” These courses are designed to delve deep into the current technical understanding behind these four topics, providing attendees with techniques and insights that they can immediately apply after leaving the course.

Exhibit Hall

The exhibit hall opens on Tuesday at noon, and will be home to more than 130 exhibitors from the RF, microwave and high-speed digital markets. Conference pass holders as well as free expo pass holders can see the latest products, demonstrations and booth presentations on the show floor, as well as take in the presentations in the Frequency Matters Theater (mentioned below), visit with authors and network with peers during the poster session held on Tuesday from 2-4 p.m. The show floor is also home to a demonstration area, which will showcase unique, live demonstrations of some of the latest electronic technologies. And, it will also host the new Signal Integrity Zone, a place for high-speed digital designers to meet, network, and see some of the latest demonstrations from vendors working in signal integrity and power integrity. The exhibit hall will also be home to numerous networking coffee breaks, lunch concessions plus a happy hour on Wednesday.

Show Floor Training

Attendees who choose to only take a free Expo pass will also benefit from some technical program content, as EDI CON will include programs and presentations during the exhibition in the Frequency Matters  Theater.  Confirmed programming on Tuesday, September 20 includes: “Forensic Analysis of Closed Eyes,” presented by Dr. Eric Bogatin, renowned signal integrity expert, and “Best Practices for Signal Integrity during PAM4 Functional Test,” by Gordon Vinther, CTO and founder of Ardent Concepts.

On Wednesday, attendees can spend a few hours learning the basic theory behind modern digital radio and RF circuits by participating in Dr. David Ricketts’ “From Bits to Waves: Building a Modern Digital Radio in 1 Day” hands-on training which begins in the Frequency Matters Theater and then expands onto the show floor.  Later that day, Joe Mazzochette of Eastern OptX will present on the development of the NASA Airborne and Satellite-based Snowpack Measurement (ASSM) capability, which makes use of radar test systems.

On Thursday, Frequency Matters Theater goers can see a presentation on “Ham Radio – the Original Social Network,” by longtime HAM and former ADI employee Doug Grant as well as a look at landmine detection applications using “Vivaldi Antennas for Ground Penetrating Radar,” by Skander Chaouch-Bouraoui. Fans of Pat Hindle and Gary Lerude’s “Frequency Matters” program can get a chance to see the stars live as they present episodes from the Frequency Matters Theater on both Wednesday and Thursday.

Plenary Session

On Tuesday, September 20 at 4:30 p.m., EDI CON USA will hold its plenary session, which will include introductory remarks by the EDI CON USA 2016 Honorary Chair, Dr. Eli Brookner, and include a talk by Tom Sikina, Raytheon IDS Electrical Design Directorate, staff principal engineering fellow, that traces “Innovation in Phased Arrays: Past, Present and Future.”

Sikina will be joined on the plenary stage by Todd Cutler, vice president and general manager of Keysight Design & Test Software, who will address both the high-frequency and high-speed digital designers at EDI CON USA, offering insight into how emerging trends in high-frequency and high-speed design are driving a revolution in the design and measurement industry.  Rohde & Schwarz’s Faride Akretch will discuss how to “Continue the Innovation Towards Next-Generation Technologies”,  and National Instruments Jin Bains, VP of RF R&D, will reflect on “Tomorrow’s Wireless: How 5G, 802.11ad, and the IoT is Shaping the Future of Wireless Technology.” Be sure to join us at 4:30 p.m. for this plenary session, and then conference pass holders can head over to the welcome reception at Fenway Park (badge and ticket required; tickets will be given to conference pass holders that check in on Monday or  Tuesday).

The EDI CON USA technical program team and Technical Advisory Committee aimed to create a program that speaks to the practical needs of engineers working on high-speed and/or high-frequency designs. We hope you will join us in Boston September 20-22, 2016. Come, share your insights with your peers, and plan to leave enriched with new ideas, skills and tools for success. See you in September!

For complete conference details, visitwww.ediconusa.com.