Pat Hindle, MWJ Editor
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Pat Hindle is responsible for editorial content, article review and special industry reporting for Microwave Journal magazine and its web site in addition to social media and special digital projects. Prior to joining the Journal, Mr. Hindle held various technical and marketing positions throughout New England, including Marketing Communications Manager at M/A-COM (Tyco Electronics), Product/QA Manager at Alpha Industries (Skyworks), Program Manager at Raytheon and Project Manager/Quality Engineer at MIT. Mr. Hindle graduated from Northeastern University - Graduate School of Business Administration and holds a BS degree from Cornell University in Materials Science Engineering.

Beating the Odds in Beijing

March 15, 2013

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We just finished our first RF, microwave and high-speed digital conference and exhibition in China, EDI CON 2013. The inaugural event took place at the Beijing International Convention Center (BICC) which is just blocks from the Olympic area with the iconic Bird’s Nest in sight. EDI CON 2013 was a huge success by all accounts with double the predicted audience including an impressive delegate attendance. The exhibition sold out prior to the event, so the show floor was filled with leading RF and microwave companies for the attendees to visit.

The first day kicked off with renowned plenary speakers including honorary chair Professor Song Junde of the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications discussing the “Present and Future of RF/Microwave and High-Speed Digital Devices and Systems.” The next speaker was our Platinum sponsor’s President of Electronic Measurement Group from Agilent Technologies discussing the main theme of the event, design innovation in China. Next up were Bertram Arbesser-Rastburg, Head of the Electromagnetics and Space Environment Division of ESA talking about Microwaves in Space, a European Perspective, including announcement of a new joint project just approved with China, and Guang Yang of Strategy Analytics discussing the mobile broadband network market in China. After a break, the plenary session concluded with Dr. Guangyi Liu, Chief Engineer for the Wireless Department at China Mobile Research Institute, Deng Jie, General Manager of ZTE’s Microwave Products Group and Feng Keming, General Director of the Beijing Institute of Radio Metrology and Measurements who had the audience well entertained with his funny comments. The feedback from this prestigious lineup of speakers was fantastic from all the reports.

The most popular conference subjects were in the Design track and Measurement/modeling track. The Systems and Commercial tracks did well also as TD-LTE, MIMO and similar subjects are hot in China now. PA design sessions including subjects such as Doherty design, envelop tracking, linearization (DPD and analog), etc. were particularly hot with many sessions having a standing room only audience. This was impressive as the large session rooms seated 170 attendees, so these sessions had more than 200 delegates listening in. The morning was filled with technical sessions while most of the afternoons included workshops and panel sessions covering such topics as testing, modeling, design, GaN products and connectivity solutions.

The exhibition featured Platinum sponsor Agilent Technologies plus Gold sponsors Rohde & Schwarz, Anritsu, CST, NI/AWR and ANSYS. The silver sponsors included CETC 41, Mini-Circuits, OMMIC, Peregrine, Santronic, Spirent and Tektronix. The show floor was packed at times and good traffic remained throughout the last day of the show which is not typical. Tea breaks and Lucky Draw’s were good times to network and visit the show floor as a break from the conference sessions.