Arrivederci Roma: European Microwave Week 2009 Wrap-up

European Microwave Week 2009 has said Arrivederci Roma after the event was staged in the Eternal City for the very first time. From 28 September to 2 October all roads led to Nuova Fiera di Roma, which was home to the Week’s four conferences — the 39th European Microwave Conference (EuMC), the 4th European Microwave Integrated Circuits Conference (EuMIC), the 2nd European Wireless Technology Conference (EuWiT) and the 6th European Radar Conference (EuRAD) — together with associated workshops and short courses. The conferences were complemented by the European Microwave Exhibition, which is the premier RF and microwave trade show in Europe.

The Week not only brought together those with established RF and microwave industries such as Western Europe, the US and Japan, but also those from emerging regions such as Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East, together with participants from Asian countries that are now in an advanced stage of development, including China, Korea and India.

Outside of the conferences and exhibition, the Women in Engineering event, titled Woman in Engineering, Experience Teaches… What?, took place on the Tuesday evening, when the debate centred on the way women perform within the engineering profession. Also, for the second time, PhD and Master students took up the Thales Nederland sponsored EuMW 2009 Student Challenge, where participating students aimed to achieve a novel application-oriented concept from oral presentations and posters. The Challenge complemented the Agilent Technologies sponsored Tutorial Seminars for Young Engineers, aimed at encouraging young engineers along their chosen career paths.

Additionally, the site of the historical city of Rome warranted that EuMW 2009 recognised the microwave industry’s own history, with a display on the main concourse that celebrate the Nobel Prize for Physics that was awarded 100 years ago to Guglielmo Marconi dand Karl Ferdinand Braun in ‘recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy’.

Italy’s capital city is vibrant and inviting, so social activities were also high on the agenda. In particular, the EuMW Welcome Reception, which was held in the Nuova Fiera di Roma on the Tuesday evening, has become established as an event where academia and industry can get together to interact, network, socialise and enjoy good food and drink. This year was no exception.

The following evening there was the opportunity of a lifetime to sample the history and opulence of Rome at the Finmeccanica sponsored EuMW Gala Dinner, which was held in the historical hall of the Vatican Museums, preceded by a visit to the Sistine Chapel and Raffaello Rooms.

Rome was not built in a day and neither were some of the stands that filled the European Microwave Week Exhibition in Hall 9, which, for the middle three days of the Week, became the home to 234 exhibiting companies spread over more than 7,500 m² (gross). Visitors could see, first hand, the latest innovations and new product introductions. There were companies large and small, established and developing from Europe, North America and Asia. The common link is that all of them are actively developing and producing products and services for the RF and microwave industry. Below is a selection of new and innovative products showcased at the exhibition.

Accel-RF announced a significant addition to its family of RF Reliability Test System Products. The new High Power RF (HiPR-AARTS) Automated Accelerated Reliability Test System aims to help manufacturers prove reliability for application specific devices. Manufacturers can use Accel-RF’s equipment to prove intrinsic reliability and performance degradation characteristics of GaN technology on discrete devices and lower power MMICs. The company announced that the next stage in the technology’s development is to build and test high power devices for use in radar and military and communication electronics. They also now have fixturing that operates up to 60 GHz.

Advanced Control Components was showing their new high power IFF switches designed to operate in the 1030-1090 MHz band at power levels of 50 and 100 Watts. They are surface mount devices with typical insertion loss of 0.3 dB and return loss of better than 20 dB.

Agilent Technologies always targets EuMW to launch a number of new products and this year was no exception. They are two numerous to mention them all in detail but the N9030A PXA signal analyzer and the N9000A CXA signal analyzers are particularly significant. The former is the highest-performance member of the company’s X-Series signal analyzers. The PXA provides frequency coverage up to 26.5 GHz and ensures present and future flexibility through optional measurement capabilities and hardware expandability. The analyzer also includes extensive code-compatibility features that make existing Agilent or HP high-performance signal analyzers easier to replace. The N9000A CXA signal analyzers are a pair of low-cost models that offer frequency coverage up to 7.5 GHz. These new analyzers provide flexibility through a variety of built-in and optional measurement capabilities that can be easily configured and reconfigured to meet present and future requirements.

The company also announced Advanced Design System (ADS) 2009 Update 1, the industry’s first complete, front-to-back solution for monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) and RF module design. The release integrates 3-D electromagnetic (EM) analysis, wireless standards-based design verification libraries, X-parameter simulation, and statistical design and yield optimization. The Agilent PSG E8257D is claimed to be the industry’s first microwave signal generator with ultra-high output power capability that breaks the 1 W output barrier. The Agilent PSG E8257D signal generator option 521 delivers from +24 to +28 dBm specified output power over a frequency range of 250 MHz to 20 GHz (useable down to 10 MHz) and eliminates the need for additional hardware such as amplifiers, couplers and detectors.

Agilent featured 20 demos in their booth along with a celebration to unveil the PXA. The demonstrations covered signal analysis, MMIC design flow with ADS, wideband receivers, PCB design, SystemVue, NVNA/X-parameters, Load pull (with Maury) and probing solutions with Cascade in addition to other demos plus workshops on test and measurement. It was a show within the show.

Amp’ed RF Inc. introduced the BT-11 Bluetooth OEM Module. The added class 1 power, +18 dBm, of the BT-11, is said to give this module one of the best ranges in the industry. It is completely pin compatible with the lower power BT-21, and offers a second power choice on the same design.

Analog Devices introduced a dual-channel, 1.2-GSPS (giga-sample-per-second), 16-bit DAC (digital-to-analog converter) that supports the high data rates and complex modulation schemes required for advanced multi-carrier wireless and broadband communications equipment throughout the world. They also introduced a series of highly integrated RFICs (radio frequency integrated circuits) designed for LTE (long term evolution) and 4th generation (4G) cellular base stations just prior to the show.

Ansoft was showing off their new HFSS 12.0 software, part of the Ansoft suite, that helps engineers design, simulate and validate the behavior of complex high-performance RF, microwave and mmWave devices in next-generation wireless comunication and defense systems. A key high-performance computing (HPC) enhancement, domain decomposition, allows engineers to simulate and design at a scale and speed never before possible. Users of this latest version of HFSS can achieve a dramatic reduction in development time and costs while at the same time realizing increased reliability and design optimization. They also had seminars to educate users on the new version.

Anritsu Co. has extended the low-end frequency of its MN469xB VectorStar 4-port test sets, making the instruments the first microwave multiport Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) solutions to measure down to 70 kHz. The MN469xB series now combines DC coverage and the wide dynamic range time domain capability of a VNA, making the test sets suitable for digital engineers who need to conduct signal integrity measurements on passive high-speed balanced transmission lines and connections in order to optimize their Gbit designs.

AR was showing off its new wideband hybrid power amps that range from 0.25 to 5 W and cover 6 to 18 GHz. All models operate from a single DC voltage with excellent gain flatness, noise figure and low intermodulation distortion. These power amplifiers are designed to have low spurious signals, linearity and extremely load tolerant.

Arlon’s TC600 (Tc=1.0 W/m-K) and TC350 (Tc=1.1 W/m-K) offer low loss, good thermal conductivity, physical and electrical stability over temperature (i.e. providing ‘phase stable’ electrical performance) and excellent processability, together with plated through hole reliability, whether designing with a higher Dk material for circuit miniaturization, or on a conventional 3.5 Dk material for cellular base station architecture. The company also introduced EP2 (Advanced Polyimide), a 4th generation polyimide technology, providing a filled, dimensionally stabilized product with improved copper peel and thermal conductivity – at a reduced cost versus standard polyimides. A patent-pending chemistry that enhances the bond of polyimide to substrate, filler and copper is the enabling technology. These improvements coincide with improvements in signal integrity to deliver a material that redefines the boundaries for reliability, cost and performance.

A.T. Wall Co. featured a range of precision-drawn, high-quality waveguide tubing at EuMW. Highlighted products included Invar waveguide, thin wall aluminium waveguide and seamless flexible waveguide. The company’s broad selection of waveguide tubing is available in-stock, allowing for fast and efficient turnaround time to meet the special product requirements of customers.

AWR and WIN Semiconductors Corp. (WIN) announced the release of the WIN/AWR H2W PH50-00 process design kit (PDK). The PDK for the WIN PH50-00 GaAs enhancement/depletion-mode pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor (PHEMT) and heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) foundry process is the latest in AWR’s series of PDKs available to monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) designers. WIN PH50-00 is a high-frequency, high-power MMIC process that has been in production since 2007. Until now, PDKs and design tools have lacked the technology needed to take full advantage of the advanced features in the process. However, the new WIN/AWR PDK fully exploits the process along with the unique, innovative technologies in the latest version of Microwave Office software (v2009), as well as AWR’s ACETM automatic circuit extraction technology, AXIEMTM 3D planar electromagnetic simulator, and APLAC® multi-rate harmonic balance (MRHB™) simulator. The WIN/AWR PP50-00 PDK can be resident in Microwave Office software simultaneously with packaging and other foundry PDKs to provide a complete module co-design environment.

AWR and Modelithics announced that a one-click option now enabled on the AWR web site for trial evaluation requests of AWR's Microwave Office software also includes Modelithics' highly accurate active and passive model libraries. NMDG also announced that its S-functions are available in AWR® Microwave Office. AWR is doing a great job of teaming up with industry leading companies to bring customers easy to use solutions.

Calex Mfg. Co. Inc. announced the addition of 28 and 48 V DC output models to the TH 200 W series. The TH Series features an ultra wide 9 to 36 V input range that accommodates 12 V battery, 24 V industrial and 28 V COTS military applications. The TH models provide a true 9 to 36 V input range with start-up down to 9 VDC. All models can be modified for start-up below 9 VDC for particularly demanding applications.

Chengdu AINFO Inc. focuses on antenna, microwave/RF components and related services. At EuMW the company showcased its range of Broadband Horn Antennas. The high performance, highly reliable range covers 0.2 to 40 GHz and covers double ridged and quad ridged structures, together with linear, circular and dual polarization models. Customization is also offered by the company. AINFO also produces spiral antennas, standard gain horn antennas and waveguide components as well as a wide range of RF/microwave components.

CML Microcircuits targeted its new wideband RF I/Q modulator at the designers of cellular picocell/nanocell systems, satellite communications, broadband wireless access systems (WiMAX), microwave link transmitters (including ODFM/COFDM) and any other wideband wireless infrastructure systems requiring high performance I/Q modulation. The company also introduced a high performance integrated RF quadrature/low IF transceiver IC, which features an advanced image-reject up-conversion modulation system and flexible superheterodyne receiver.

Cobham Defense was well represented with many of their antenna, cable and multi-function assemblies on display. They also released information that their Roanoke GaAs fab will remain in production after moving to another location in that same city. This is the old ITT MSAG fab that has been producing high power and multi-function MESFETs for many years primarily for radar applications.

Computer Simulation Technology (CST) previewed CST STUDIO SUITE™ 2010, which offers a multitude of powerful new solver options, features and functionality, including a new solver module for electrically large structures Thanks to the company’s complete technology concept, which offers different solution options within one design environment, a wide range of MW and RF applications can be analyzed without leaving the familiar, easy-to-use interface. CST has further extended its range of high frequency solvers in CST MICROWAVE STUDIO®, by adding an asymptotic solver. This solver is based on the Shooting Bouncing Ray method, an extension to physical optics, and is capable of tackling simulations with an electric size of many thousands of wavelengths such as radar cross section analysis.

The company also announced the introduction of CST MPHYSICS STUDIO™, a new product in CST STUDIO SUITE 2010 that facilitates an integrated workflow in which the electromagnetic simulation calculated by CST MICROWAVE STUDIO, part of CST STUDIO SUITE, is just the starting point. The dielectric or conductive losses can be used for thermal analysis, which in turn is one of the possible sources of mechanical stress. The resulting deformation can then be subjected to sensitivity analysis.

Efield provides high-performance electromagnetic simulation software for demanding applications like antenna design, microwave design, EMI/EMC interaction, antenna integration and radar cross-section simulations. The company demonstrated its new software release Efield 5.1 as a partner of the Swedish high-tech cluster Microwave Road.

EM Software and System GmbH's new FEKO Suite 5.5 includes significant new features and extensions like efficient modelling of windscreen antennas, Periodic Boundary Conditions for both metals and dielectrics e.g. patch antenna arrays, Modal Port Boundary Conditions using the FEM and the use of GO for both dielectrics and metals. Its automatic snapping features as well as its alignment tools to place objects (e.g. placing antennas imported to FEKO from Antenna Magus) on structures makes geometry construction easy. The MLFMM approach has also been enhanced and accelerated. New fully automatic update mechanisms now keep downloads to a minimum.

Endwave Corp. has announced the release of an extensive product line of microwave and millimetre-wave integrated circuits for use in microwave radios and other high frequency systems. The product line consists of a wide variety of circuit types including amplifiers, voltage-controlled oscillators, up and down converters, variable gain amplifiers, voltage variable attenuators, fixed attenuators and filters. Both bare die and QFN packaged devices are available.

Focus Microwaves had two test setups on display at the exhibition; one featuring X-parameters and harmonic load pull using the PNA-X and four harmonic frequency tuners MPT-Quattro, and a second one using the time domain SWAP 30 GHz receiver of VTD in pulse version, using Focus' wave probes and MPT three harmonic frequency tuner. Focus' MPT's and IV probes were also in operation at Rohde & Schwarz stand in a ZVX-plus time domain load pull setup, courtesy of NMDG.

Heuermann introduced an easy and rapid one or multi-port (n-port, n = 1, 2, 3, …) calibration of Vector Network Analyzers up to 18 GHz. The calibration is quite simple and the number of ports is unlimited. Only for the calibration: RapACal will be controlled over VNA-internal PC interface (LAN and USB) with a graphical user interface from a windows operating system (NT, XP, Vista). Heuermann also was showing off NonLin-S which allows users to perform calibrated non-linear measurements in magnitude and phase. These non-linear S-parameters are useful for a better modelling of the device, detection of the IM-source, and analyzing RF-circuits. The system supports: IM measurements,Mixer measurements,Harmonic measurements,Sampling oscilloscope measurements,Spectrum analyzer measurements.

Hirai SK Corp. provides its featured foundry service of multi-layered LTCC substrates, which is achieved via its cost-competitive processes. The company targets higher Q, dimensional precision and the high yield for RF and mm-wave applications. Showcased at EuMW were a miniaturized BPF with low loss, a mm-wave antenna integrated LTCC transceiver module, a tapered LTCC substrate and hermetically-sealed LTCC package for microwave and mm-wave applications. Hirai ships samples in a week after the design process and provides RF test and design services. A design kit CD is also available.

Hope Microelectronics Ltd.'s RFM22 is a low cost ISM transceiver module that offers advanced radio features including continuous frequency coverage from 240 to 930 MHz and adjustable output power of up to +17 dBm. The extremely low receive sensitivity (-118 dBm) coupled with industry leading +17 dBm output power ensures extended range and improved link performance. Support for frequency hopping can be used to further extend range and enhance performance.

Integra Technologies featured its IBP2729MH300, a 50 ohm matched high power pulsed pallet amplifier for S-band radar systems operating over the instantaneous bandwidth of 2.7 to 2.9 GHz. This pallet combines devices with hermetically sealed lids for optimum reliability in the harshest environmental conditions. The pallet supplies a minimum of 300 W of peak pulse power under the conditions of 100 µs pulse width and 10 percent duty cycle.

The company also showcased its ILP1214EL200, this pallet is the first in a series of new high power L-band LDMOS-based pallets for pulsed operation in the 1215 to 1400 MHz frequency range. It is a 50 O matched two-stage high power pulsed pallet amplifier for L-band radar systems operating over the instantaneous bandwidth of 1215 to 1400 MHz. The pallet supplies a minimum of 200 W of peak pulse power under the conditions of 16 ms pulse width, 50 percent duty cycle and gain of 22.3 dB.

JFW Industries introduced the 50S-1820 and 50S-1821, the company's latest innovations in its line of high-powered, solid-state RF switches. The 50S-1820 is capable of switching 100 W of RF power from 800 to 2700 MHz (cold switch), while the 50S-1821 will switch 75 W from 800 to 3000 MHz. Both switches boast 10 microsecond switching speeds and a minimum isolation of 55 dB. They are available with SMA, N, BNC or TNC connectors.

In addition to the new product developments Model 2820A RF Vector Signal Analyzer and Model 2920A Vector Signal Generator, Keithley Instruments Inc. demonstrated the latest SignalMeister™ RF test software. This is one of the RF industry’s most innovative and easy to use signal creation, simulation and analysis software, which now also includes new LTE capabilities for SISO and MIMO applications (up to 8x8). Together, these products provide a high performance complete test solution for RF chipset devices. The company has also expanded its powerful SignalMeister™ software platform to now include RF signal analysis along with RF signal generation, making it the only software package that integrates signal generation and analysis into one package for unmatched speed and simplicity.

Keithley has also upgraded its RF Vector Signal Generator line for RF engineers with new capabilities that reduce signal generation times and enhance signal quality. The Model 2920A does not force users to choose between best signal quality and maximum test throughput, as its no-compromise design combines both capabilities in the same instrument. Also, the new Model 2820A RF Vector Signal Analyzer, which provides a 40 MHz signal acquisition bandwidth with a frequency range of either 400 MHz to 4 GHz or 400 MHz to 6 GHz, builds on the capabilities of the company’s Series 2800 signal analyzer line.

M/A-COM Technology Solutions Inc. (M/A-COM Tech) introduced a family of circulators and isolators for L-band and S-band radar and avionics applications. The product family is packaged in small drop-in packages suitable for high volume manufacturing. These new products were realized using the in-depth design and manufacturing knowledge developed with more than 30 years of supplying the military and commercial industries. They announced a new family of surface mount broadband 2020 GHz PIN diode switches for test instrumentation, satellite and other wide band applications. They showed off their integrated GPS unit which is part of Ford/Sync system providing positioning information even when out of range of the GPS signal. M/A-COM also presented 8 papers which was the most we saw by one company including their new nano second GaAs MMIC switching process.

Maury Microwave is the first to add high power measurements to their load pull systems so they can now measure with up to 25 or 50 W. Maury has added impedence as a variable parameter, drag and drop file capability into ADS and ability to use models to reduce the need for multiple load pull measurements. They also have improved the speed of their noise measurement system by a huge 200 times. Finally, they are expanding their calibration kit capability to include low versions for wide industry use.

Microwave Innovation Group (MiG) has made significant progress in enhancing EM CAD technology. The new version of the company’s hybrid WASP-NET® MM/FE/MoM/FD CAD tool now includes efficient elements for aperture-cross-coupled and wire-cross-coupled combline and dielectric resonator filters. By utilising advanced hybrid MoM techniques, which only require a surface mesh complex 3D components, including tuner-down structures, top capacitance loading, etc., can be calculated within a couple of seconds. WASP-NET’s novel adaptive sweep technology, which is particularly appropriate for fast optimization, speeds up EM CAD even further.

A new flexible, user defined input system for body of revolution (BOR) antenna structures, where all desired parameters can be individually parameterized by the user enables convenient design and optimization of complex antenna systems including shaped reflectors, optimized lenses and radomes. Even for large structures the hybrid MoM technology facilitates short calculation times, in the order of seconds. Also, there are new user-friendly extended synthesis wizards for all kinds of filters, slot arrays and corrugated horn antennas.

Mimix Broadband introduced a buffer amplifier offered in a standard RoHS compliant 3x3 mm QFN plastic package, making the device easy to implement and handle in volume applications. This buffer amplifier, identified as XB1014-QT, covers 37 to 40 GHz and delivers +20 dBm P1dB compression point and +30.5 dBm OIP3. The XB1014-QT has 21 dB small signal gain and is ideal for wireless communications applications such as point-to-point microwave radio.

Mitsubishi Electric Corp. introduced the MGF4963BL GaAs HEMT, which is suitable for low noise amplifiers in the Ka frequency band. The new chip is integrated into a cost-effective plastic package and operates at frequencies up to 20 GHz. It is not only suitable for low-noise amplifiers in 18 to 20 GHz DBS receivers and VSATs but can also be used in the second/third stages of amplifiers.

The company also introduced the MGF4912AM low noise GaAs HEMT, which is suitable for low noise amplifiers in satellite digital radio receivers, operating in C band. The device operates from S to C bands with a typical noise figure of 0.35 dB at 2.4 or 4 GHz. At 2.4 GHz it provides a gain of 18 dB.

NMDG announced that accurate nonlinear behavioural simulation of active components based upon its S-functions (NMDG-S functions) was being demonstrated in AWR® Microwave Office® at European Microwave Week. As a natural extension of S-parameters for nonlinear components, S-functions simplify and accelerate the design process of nonlinear components by providing more complete system-level models, enabling the prediction of harmonic and modulation behaviour under different mismatch conditions. As with S-parameters, S-functions can be cascaded to predict nonlinear behaviour of circuits and systems.

Narda L-3 was on hand showing off its MIC design and manufacturing capability for an array of devices and components. They also were displaying their contest entries for the oldest working Narda product and there were several entries from the '50s and '60s, which was impressive.

OMMIC announced that it has started development of Short Gate Length GaN on Si HEMT technology. First wafers have been successfully processed and have shown the compatibility between the GaN on Si substrates and the standard processing modules of the company’s 130 nm PHEMT power technology.

The new technology, called the D01GH, will have a similar ft (90 GHz) and fmax (180 GHz) as OMMIC’s conventional PHEMT technology but with twice the guaranteed breakdown voltage (25 V). This new technology complements the company’s existing millimetre-wave processes and product line and will allow it to provide power amplifiers at up to 10 W at 30 GHz and 0.5 W at 94 GHz. The technology is also fully compatible with OMMIC’s future 6-inch facility, which is currently being completed.

Remcom announced that its XStream® GPU acceleration now provides the capacity to solve electromagnetic simulation problems up to 300 times faster than a modern 64-bit CPU. In addition, the company announced that this updated version of XStream will now be bundled at no additional cost with XFdtd Release 7.0 (XF7), the latest release of its 3D electromagnetic simulation tool.

The high quality services to be provided in new generation mobile satellite services at Ku-band require a bi-directional high data rate satellite link to be maintained at all time. In addition to low fabrication cost and high EIRP and G/T performance, a flat profile is mandatory to preserve the vehicle aerodynamics. In response RF Microtech has developed an innovative solution that allows a dramatic cost reduction based on a switched beam architecture for electronic beam steering in elevation, still preserving very high RF performance with an outstanding flatness as low as 5 cm.

Rogers Corp. featured its RT/duroid® 5880LZ materials that are claimed to have the lowest Dk for a copper clad laminate available on the market. Because of its low dielectric constant of 1.96 at 10 GHz, RT/duroid 5880LZ supports broadband applications at the microwave through millimetre-wave frequencies where dispersion and circuit losses must be minimized. It is a lightweight, PTFE-based composite optimized with a unique filler that provides low density (1.37 gm/cm³) and a low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) in the Z-axis.

By showcasing its new R&S ZVA67, Rohde & Schwarz presented its first vector network analyzer for the frequency range from 10 MHz to 67 GHz. Based on the established R&S ZVA family, it is claimed to be the fastest vector network analyzer in its class with the highest dynamic range. Users from research and development can apply the instrument to measure components for civil or military radar applications or microwave links. In addition, the network analyzer offers a user-friendly solution for measuring noise figures on amplifiers. The R&S ZVA67 has a large dynamic range of 110 dB at 67 GHz and a high throughput – the measurement time is only 3.5 µs for each test point.

The company has developed its first family of broadband amplifiers. The company leveraged its extensive expertise as a broadcast transmitter manufacturer to design the new product line. As a result, the R&S BBA100 is the most flexible and advanced broadband amplifier system on the market. Its modular design allows users to select frequency range and output power to suit their requirements. The built-in expansion capability protects capital investment. Individual amplifier modules can be replaced quickly and easily, making downtime a thing of the past.

Sage Laboratories introduced its newest addition to the IFM/DFD family of products. The FDFD7409-4 is a broadband (2 to 18 GHz) digital frequency discriminator incorporating a pulse detector/processor. Processing pulse widths as narrow as 80 ns up to CW, the DFD provides fast and accurate identification of threats. With ultra-low power consumption and small, lightweight packaging, this cost-effective model continues to build the Sage legacy of high-capability instantaneous frequency measurement receivers. This model is available with an optional VME interface as well as 50 ns pulse capability.

Taconic featured proven industry solutions: TacLamPLUS, a non-reinforced, laser ablatable solution for mm-wave applications of the best cost/performance factor; base materials with heavy metal cladding, ideal for thermal management of power amplifier printed circuit boards; fastrise27, low loss RF prepregs for multilayer printed circuit boards; TRF-45, low loss base material with a DK equivalent to FR4; and antenna grade base materials with high PIM performance.

Tektronix announced it has expanded the RSA6000 Series to include the RSA6120 specturm analyzer, which extends all of the capabilities of the RSA6000 Series out to 20 GHz, allowing designers to apply the spectrum analyzer's market leading capabilities throughout the entire Ku-band. Measuro was also in their booth showing their active load pull system which integrates with Tektronix equipment.

Teledyne Electronics and Communications Europe launched the Teledyne Storm Phase Master 190E coaxial cable. This cable, designed for 26.5 GHz, incorporates high levels of shielding to give exceptional phase stability over temperature and flexure. Phase stability over temperature is less than 500 ppm in the range of -55° to +85°C. Stability with flexure is 1 degree at 18 GHz. The new cable design incorporates torsion resistance and connector retention in excess of 20 kgs straight pull with an SMA connector. Applications include active scan radars, electronic warfare systems, wireless and communications & test and measurement probe cables.

One of the most interesting products we saw was the TNO Life-sign radar for remote detection of human breathing and hear-rate. The radar is placed above the bed and monitors the patient as they sleep. It is designed for home automation and can decide to transmit an alarm to the person responsible for monitoring the patient.

Tower Semiconductor Ltd. and its US subsidiary, Jazz Semiconductor, announced the availability of its proprietary Deep-Silicon-Via™ (DSV) technology available in its 0.18-micron SiGe BiCMOS (SBC18). The new offering provides a simple, innovative way to create a low-inductance ground required to reduce power consumption of power amplifiers. Unlike older Through Wafer Vias used primarily with smaller wafer sizes in GaAs-based technology, the DSV is optimized for silicon 8-inch wafer manufacturing to significantly reduce the cost of the PA.

TriQuint Semiconductor, an RF products manufacturer and foundry services provider, displayed products at European Microwave Week that enable network operators to more efficiently and economically meet the growing demand for broadband services with new solutions for cable systems, microwave radio and optical networks. They also had on hand experts from their acquisition of TriAccess Technologies, a provider of Cable TV (CATV) and Fiber-to-the-Premise (FTTP) integrated circuits for the amplification of high quality multimedia content.

Vectron International announced the launch of a new planar ceramic microwave filter product line to complete its portfolio of radio frequency filter solutions. Ideal applications for Vectron’s new product line include defense and space applications, radar systems and point-to-point radio links. With the addition of this new product line, Vectron is able to offer a “one-stop filter shop” for LC filters, discrete and monolithic crystal filters ranging from 4 to 280 MHz, SAW filters ranging from 10 MHz to 2.7 GHz and now, planar microwave filters between 1 and 35 GHz center frequency also.

Finally, Anritsu, AWR, HFE, Mesuro, NMDG, Rohde & Schwarz and Tektronix have formed an alliance of RF and microwave firms to collaborate, create and promote a unified and transparent data exchange format for large-signal simulations, measurements and models with OpenWave Forum (OWF). More information is available at www.openwaveforum.org.