IEEE MTT-S IMS2022 will take place June 19-24 in Denver, Colo. IMS is the premier RF and microwave event and the largest gathering of the industry. As usual, the event is packed with technical content, social activities and the largest 
industry exhibition; it could be a path back to normal as all COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted in Colorado, making way for the full in-person event for the first time in two years.
Conferences
The IEEE IMS week has three conferences including the International Microwave Symposium (IMS), Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFIC) and Automatic Radio Frequency Techniques Group (ARFTG), plus featured activities for many of the IEEE affinity groups. IMS2022 has taken the established IMS program and added some new elements. The RFIC and IMS workshops start things off on Sunday. The two days of the RFIC technical program start on Monday. ARFTG has joint events with IMS throughout the week with the ARFTG Symposium on Friday. IMS Panel Sessions are on Tuesday through Thursday.
The technical program for IMS starts on Monday, with one of the big events being the IMS Plenary Session. There will be talks from two well-known speakers on microwaves in space and quantum systems for more than just computers. Following the IMS Plenary Session will be the Welcome Reception that will celebrate all things Denver and Colorado. The Women in Microwaves talks and reception are on Wednesday. The IMS Closing session is Thursday afternoon covering how Nikola Tesla formulated a scheme for wireless power in Colorado Springs.
The Connected Future Summit (formerly the 5G Summit) has been held during IMS since its inception at IMS2017 in collaboration with IEEE Communications Society (Comsoc). The event will be held on Tuesday and provides a platform for academic, government and industrial communities to interact and exchange technology ideas related to technologies of 5G and beyond. In addition to the technology advancements with 5G/6G, the wireless connectivity landscape is changing rapidly with the evolution of Wi-Fi and broadband wireless satellite networks based on low-Earth orbit satellite constellations. The 5G standardization, deployment and R&D of next generations are impacting the future directions of connectivity in coordination with beyond Wi-Fi 7 technologies and broadband satellite networks.
New for IMS2022 is the Systems Forum. This Forum combines elements from ARFTG, RFIC and IMS. The Systems Forum has events on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday during week of IMS. Each of those days has a theme that loosely ties with certain material for the day. Tuesday is the Connected Future Summit and Quantum Systems Day. Wednesday is Radar and Aerospace Day. Thursday is Phased Arrays and OTA Applications Day. During these days, look for additional panel sessions, focus sessions, technical lectures, socials and more.
Boot Camps
The RF Boot Camp has been a part of IMS for some time. It takes place on Monday as a full course that will cover real-world, practical, modern design and engineering fundamentals needed by technicians, new engineers, engineers wanting a refresh, college students, as well marketing and sales professionals. Experts within industry and academia will share their knowledge of RF/microwave systems basics, simulation and network design, network and spectrum analysis, microwave antenna and radar basics.
Th
e new Quantum Boot Camp will introduce the basics of quantum engineering, targeting microwave engineers who want to understand how they can make an impact in this emerging field. The intended audience includes new engineers, engineers who may be changing their career path, marketing and sales professionals seeking a better understanding of quantum technology, as well as current university students looking to learn more about the practical aspects of quantum technology. The format of the Quantum Boot Camp is like that of a short course, with speakers covering quantum engineering basics with a focus on the control and measurement of quantum systems and will conclude with a hands-on introduction to the design of superconducting qubits using modern microwave CAD tools.
Students
All eligible students or student teams are invited to participate in the Student Design Competitions. The competition encourages students to employ creative problem solving and gain practical design experience by developing a circuit or system to address a problem stated in the competition rules while following specified constraints. The students will bring their designs to the competition where they perform measurements and compete against other student teams. The winning teams are awarded cash prizes and recognized at the IMS student luncheon awards. The competitions span a wide range of topics from power amplifier design to spectral sensing radios. Winning teams are awarded cash prizes and a chance to publish their designs in the IEEE Microwave Magazine.
The Student Paper Competition recognizes outstanding technical contributions from individual students. First, second and third prizes will be awarded based on content and presentation judging on creativity or novelty of the ideas presented, quality and technical soundness of the presented work, and oral presentation of the paper at the conference including response to audience questions.
Now in its sixth year, the Three Minute Thesis Competition (3MT®) is designed for eligible students and young professionals who indicated upon submission of a paper their desire to enter the competition and whose paper is accepted for either oral or interactive forum presentation. The 3MT® contestants will make a presentation of three minutes or less, supported only by one static slide, in a language appropriate to a non-specialist audience.
Project Connect seeks to engage an exceptional group of undergraduate and first-year graduate students to participate in the IEEE conference on a travel grant provided by NSF and IEEE. Students from underrepresented groups will be selected based on their academic credentials and career goals, through a competitive application process. The long-term goal of this program is to attract a diverse pool of highly motivated students to the field of microwave engineering.
Young Professionals
Whether you are still navigating your graduate studies, just kick-started your career or are already in your first job or two, there are a variety of events designed to help enhance your microwave career. Young professionals can broaden their knowledge of microwave applications with the Industry Panel Sessions, a unique chance to discuss with the experts from a variety of fields. Also, don’t miss the chance to network with your peers in a relaxed setting at the Networking Reception for Young Professionals. There is also a chance to develop yourself with the Career and Technical Presentations. For fun, join the RF Interference Fox Hunt, where you will work as a team to find RF signals hidden throughout the area or compete in the Cornhole Tournament at the event.
Microwave Journal invites attendees to Booth 2000 for a complimentary headshot photo. Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday: 11:50-13:00. Also, during the industry hosted reception on Wednesday: 17:00-18:00.
Exhibition
The exhibition takes place on Tuesday from 09:30 to 17:00, Wednesday from 09:30 to 18:00 and Thursday from 09:30 to 15:00. It will feature more than 430 companies displaying their products and services in the exhibition hall where you can engage with company experts to solve your design or test challenges. While there has been a lot of industry consolidation, there are many new startups that will be featuring their new products too. In addition, about 10 percent of the exhibitors are first-time attendees so there are opportunities to discover new products and services.
The exhibition will feature a Continental Breakfast each morning along with coffee breaks during the day. Sweet Treat Tuesday will feature desserts during the afternoon to give you an extra sugar boost. The Industry Hosted Reception is Wednesday 17:00 to 18:00 with drinks and finger foods, so plenty of opportunities to socialize. The exhibition floor will also offer nine holes of mini golf spread throughout the show floor as a fun activity to complete the course to win prizes, sponsored by XMA Corp.
To go along with the Systems Forum, the exhibition floor will also host the Systems Pavilion with Systems Demo Zone. The Systems Pavilion will feature kiosk-type stations and networking areas.
The MicroApps Theater on the exhibition floor will host various companies presenting their latest technologies and products in the form of 15-minute short sessions from Tuesday through Thursday. This is a good way to dig deeper into the design and performance of new products featured in the booths of companies in the exhibition.
The Industry Workshops will also take place Tuesday through Thursday in conferences rooms. They offer longer format educational sessions that are one hour and 40 minutes, given by companies attending the exhibition about their products and services.
IMS2022 should be our journey back to some sort of normal trade show schedule, so hope that it is a turning point for social interaction, networking and in-person learning. We hope that everyone will join us in Denver for the event in June and look forward to seeing you in-person.
For additional information, see our social events page.