The papers presented at the SJ Technologies sponsored ARMMS conference in Corby, UK, on 5 and 6 November, covered a wide range of topics in the RF and microwaves sector. The Society is a non-profit, independent professional society comprised of electronics engineers with an interest in high frequency design and measurement. It is run by a committee of 10 volunteers assembled from industry and academia.

The committee’s chairman, Roger Hopper of Roke Manor Research, opened the conference and introduced a varied range of papers from component level design of GaN HEMT power amplifiers through to calibration issues associated with precise measurement of modulation. Stuart Potter of Astrium (UK) explained the use of a Butler matrix in satellite communications and the effect of ‘multipaction’, which can occur at the surprisingly low levels of 10 W. Francois Bore of e2v (France) provided details of an ADC operating at 2.2 GS/s, which is believed to be world-leading currently, while Dr. Stelios Tsitsos of TEI, Serres, Greece, considered an equivalent circuit approach to ceramic filter design for UMTS.

At the end of proceedings delegates voted to decide who should be awarded the Steve Evans-Pugh Memorial prize for best paper. The winner was Dominic Fitzpatrick of Cardiff University for his paper on sampling techniques for microwave characterization. This method allows very accurate characterization of large signal devices by deriving the waveforms present at the device itself.

As well as the conference, the tabletop exhibition, organized by John Kitchen of SJ Technologies, provided a useful contribution by enhancing the discussion periods between talks. Demonstrations of spectrum analyzers and receiver systems were made along with EDA tools and the display of microwave and RF components.

All the papers presented at this and previous events, together with details of the next ARMMS conference to be held on 7 and 8 April 2008, near Oxford, UK, can be found on www.armms.org.