Online Panel Series

Title: Online Panel: New Innovations in Power Amplifiers

Date: April 20, 2022

Time: 8am PT / 11am ET

Sponsored by: Rohde & Schwarz, Elite RF, Altum RF, Renesas, NXP Semiconductors

This panel will discuss new power amplifier innovations such as AI/ML in amplifier optimization, high efficiency designs, new thermal solutions, linearization and DPD methods, new materials/substrates, GaN on Si versus GaN on SiC versus GaAs, and power combing technology.

Moderator: Eric Higham, Director of the Advanced Semiconductor Applications and the Advanced Defense Systems Services, Strategy Analytics
Panelist: Markus Loerner, Marketing Expert, Rohde & Schwarz
Panelist: Tim Avicola, President, Elite RF
Panelist: Tony Fattorini, Vice President Engineering, Altum RF
Panelist: Dr. Naveen Yanduru, Vice President and General Manager of the RF Business Unit, Renesas
Panelist: Eric Westberg, Director of Product Management for NXP Semiconductors’ Integrated Power Solutions Product Line, NXP Semiconductors


Panel Participant Bios:

Moderator – Strategy Analytics

Eric Higham, Director of the Advanced Semiconductor Applications and the Advanced Defense Systems Services

Eric Higham is Director of the Advanced Semiconductor Applications and the Advanced Defense Systems Services at Strategy Analytics. He develops forecasts, insights and analysis to provide an understanding of the dynamics and trends for processes, materials and components in a variety of commercial and defense markets. He is an industry veteran with more than 42 years of semiconductor experience. Previously, he performed a variety of engineering, business development, marketing and management functions for M/A-COM, MicroDynamics and Raytheon. Eric holds an MSEE degree from Northeastern University and a BSEE degree from Cornell University.

Rohde & Schwarz

Markus Loerner, Marketing Expert

Markus Loerner is a marketing expert at Rohde & Schwarz focusing on the RF & microwave component market. He joined Rohde & Schwarz in 2000 and worked as a signal generator product manager in various RF applications from mobile wireless to satellite communications, for both R&D and production use. He holds a degree in electrical engineering from the University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany.

Elite RF

Tim Avicola, President

Tim is a corporate and entrepreneurial technical professional experienced in opening new market territories and developing cutting-edge power amplifier products. Over 35 years experience maintaining a competitive edge by anticipating client needs and aligning technology deployment with business strategy. Built a startup power amplifier venture to a 50 million dollar business in the cellular communications field. Managed Motorola cellular Feedforward engineering group.

Altum RF

Tony Fattorini, Vice President Engineering

Tony Fattorini has served as Vice President Engineering at Altum RF since 2019. Prior to joining Altum RF, he held positions as Engineering Manager and Senior Principal Engineer at MACOM. Mr. Fattorini was previously Advanced Technology Leader and Senior MMIC Designer at Mimix Broadband, which was acquired by MACOM. He was also with Siemens, where he was a Design Engineer in the Microwave Circuits Group at Roke Manor Research. His interests include microwave and millimeter-wave circuit design, packaging techniques, thermal analysis and the management of high-performing teams. Mr. Fattorini received a BSc degree in Physics with Electronics and an MSc degree in Communication Engineering from the University of Manchester, UK. Mr. Fattorini is a senior member of the IEEE, a member of the IET and a Chartered Engineer.

Renesas

Dr. Naveen Yanduru, Vice President and General Manager of the RF Business Unit

Dr. Naveen Yanduru is currently the Vice President and General Manager of the RF Business Unit at Renesas. Before Renesas, he has held various technical and management roles at Texas Instruments, Samsung, Psemi and Qualcomm. He has designed, led and managed teams in the design of various connectivity and cellular RF Front-Ends, Transceivers and SoCs. Naveen has 23 US patents, has over 25 IEEE publications and served as Distinguished Lecturer for IEEE-CAS. He has a PhD from the University of Texas at Dallas.

NXP Semiconductors

Eric Westberg, Director of Product Management for NXP Semiconductors’ Integrated Power Solutions Product Line

Eric Westberg is the Director of Product Management for NXP Semiconductors’ Integrated Power Solutions product line. In this role he leads the product direction and strategic vision for NXP’s innovative power amplifier solutions for 5G cellular infrastructure. In addition to product management, he has held engineering and management positions in application engineering, systems engineering and business development in the wireless and semiconductor industries. Eric earned his master’s degree in electrical engineering from Arizona State University and undergraduate degrees from Wheaton College and the Illinois Institute of Technology.