In Celebration! ■ John Wood
W
elcome to this special issue sue of IEEE Microwave Magagazine, celebrating the 60th th anniversary of the inception of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S)—our Society. The honor and responsibility of overseeing this special issue has fallen upon me, and I do indeed feel very fortunate to be associated with this event, a case of me being in the right placee at the right time. In my role as editor tor of this anniversary issue, I have relied ied heavily on the experience, expertise, ise knowledge, wisdom, and enthusiasm of the team of guest editors who have done the hard work of putting together the features: Vijay Nair, Roger Pollard, Jim Rautio, Fred Schindler, and Peter Staecker—quite a team. Without encroaching upon their editorial commentary, I can promise you a very special issue. We have a series of articles with a historical perspective that highlights the contributions of the members of MTT-S in advancing microwave John Wood (
[email protected]) is with Maxim Integrated Products, Inc., Sunnyvale, California. Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2012.2189500 Date of publication: 7 May 2012
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technology, notably the development of III-V semiconductors, taking this technology from perennially promising to the mainstream microwave device technology in commercial and military applications that we see today. We also have a historical reflection on the growth and adoption of microwave computer-aided design methods, which today are essential tools in the design of RF and microwave circuits and systems. While these technologies and design techniques are very microwave oriented, they enable mainstream products that we use or that impact us every day—cell phones, radar, microwave ovens, and so on. In addition to this historical celebration of some of the achievements of
microwave industry and MTT-S over microw the past 60 years, we have taken the pa opportunity to highlight some of the oppor technical achievements and MTT-S tech initiatives that have happened in in the ten years since our last celth eebratory milestone. The subject of metamaterials has certainly hit the m headlines, and not just in technih cal ca circles, during the last decade. Ideas Ide that were pure science fiction, such as “cloaking,” have been analyzed and demonstrated in laboratory conditions. Less attention getting, in condit the mainstream media at any rate, but m equally important, have been the rapid developments in transmission line and sensor technologies fueled by metamaterial properties. The March/April 2012 issue of this magazine included a focus section on such metamaterials developments, and we have included a further article on this topic in this issue. Another very recent technological development has been the emergence of carbon as a real, usable, semiconductor material. This has been in the form of graphene, either in sheets or in the form of carbon nanotubes to form transistor devices. We are privileged to have in this issue an article on the technology and applications of graphene transistors by Dr. Tomas Palacios and his colleagues. Dr. Palacios is one of the
June 2012
MTT-S’s Distinguished Microwave Lecturers (DMLs). There are currently 13 DMLs who can give presentations on a range of topical subjects of interest to microwave engineers. I encourage the local MTT-S Chapters to invite DMLs to make presentations at their regular meetings to give the Chapter members the opportunity to meet leaders in various fields of new technologies. Please see http://www.mtt.org/dmls.html for more details. A recent innovation by the MTT-S has been the introduction of Student Design Competitions that are judged at the International Microwave Symposium (IMS) in June. From a single contest in 2005, this idea has mushroomed into 11 distinct contests for IMS2012, sponsored by 17 of the MTT-S technical coordinating committees. We anticipate that several hundred students will enter these competitions to challenge the design brief and show their skills, knowledge, and ingenuity. These young people are the future of the RF and
wave oven, invented microwave industry, The subject by Percy Spencer of and of our Society, and of anniversaries Raytheon, was already it is heartening to see the enthusiasm they and celebrations six years old by the show for our subject. got me thinking: time the Society was formed. This year is We have a reflective there must be also the 60th anniverpiece describing the sary of the accession growth of the Student a few other of Queen Elizabeth II Design Competitions, notable events to the throne of Engfrom the original High or institutions la nd, t he Dia mond Efficiency Power AmJubilee celebration. As plifier Design comcelebrating petition, to today’s major milestones Jim Rautio points out in his article, Queen grand enterprise. in 2012. Elizabeth is also the Our final article of queen of Canada, and these celebratory features describes how the logo for the so it is perhaps a fitting coincidence 60th IMS was chosen. I think you’ll that the 60th anniversary of the IMS find this account by Jim Rautio to be an will be held in Canada this year. It has also been 60 years since the world’s first interesting and amusing essay. The subject of anniversaries and cel- commercial passenger jet service, from ebrations got me thinking: there must London to Johannesburg, operated by be a few other notable events or insti- BOAC. While this was a big event in tutions celebrating major milestones 1952, in June we shall expect thousands in 2012. While our Society celebrates of microwave engineers to jet in from its 60th birthday this year, the micro- all points of the compass to attend IMS.
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In 60 years jet travel has become commonplace—time flies. Another important anniversary for microwave engineers is that this year is the 40th year of the existence of the Automated RF Techniques Group (ARFTG). This group started as a meeting of microwave engineers who were trying to get to grips with the techniques of measuring S-parameters using the new
vector network analyzer (VNA) from Hewlett Packard—the 8409. This biannual meeting has grown in size and scope to become the focal conference for RF and microwave measurement technology and techniques, which are the fundamentals of our endeavours as microwave engineers. The ARFTG conference has expanded in recent years, promoting the technical development
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of the nonlinear VNA and addressing difficult problems associated with the measurements of digitally modulated signals that underpin the wireless communications industry. The 40th anniversary celebration meeting of ARFTG will take place in San Diego 27–30 November and has the theme “Advances in Wireless Communications Test and Measurement.” Go to the ARFTG Web page for more details: http://www.arftg.org/upcoming_events.html. I hope to see you in San Diego. Interestingly, 2012 is the centenary of the birth of David Packard, cofounder of Hewlett Packard, which became an icon of innovative design and management in Silicon Valley and has been in the vanguard of the development of microwave instrumentation for many decades. And without whose 8409 VNA we may not have had ARFTG. In this issue, we also have an article in memory of Roger Pollard, who passed away on 3 December 2011. I think it is hard for anyone in our Society not to have been touched by Roger’s influence. His enthusiasm and commitment to MTT-S has been immense, and his contributions are lasting and important. I first met Roger in 1976 in the Electrical Engineering Department at Leeds University. Roger was just finishing his Ph.D. and about to start his academic career, and I was just beginning my graduate studies. Roger was full of ideas, had boundless enthusiasm, and was a great mentor. He helped me solve several problems by getting me to think about them in the right way so that I could work out the answers for myself. We kept in contact through the years, and I had the opportunity of working with him at Hewlett Packard (later Agilent) in Santa Rosa. By that time, Roger had become a world authority on microwave measurement techniques and instrumentation, and deservedly so. I was also lucky enough to work with Roger on the IMS2006 committee. The great things that I remember about Roger were his enthusiasm and sense of humor, his ability to make you feel that your contribution was worthwhile, and the friendly advice that he gave freely. I looked forward to meeting up with him each year at IMS. This year’s symposium will just not be the same.
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