Panel and Rump Sessions Mohamed H. Bakr and Natalia K. Nikolova s part of the activities of the IEEE 2012 International Microwave Symposium (IMS2012) in Montréal, a number of interesting panel sessions will be held. These sessions will gather experts from different fields to discuss subjects of interest to the microwave community. The five panel sessions run for one hour and 20 min each. The subjects covered in this year’s panels include terahertz-integrated circuits, RF scaling, RF MEMs, LDMOS devices, and MIMO systems. A carefully selected group of expert panelists will discuss each one of these issues, its applications, the current limitations, and how to advance the state of the technology. In addition, one rump session is offered on Tuesday evening. This year’s rump session will address communication skills and how making strong first impressions is vital for success in academia and industry. The details of these sessions are as follows.
THz Integrated Circuits: Do Future Markets Support Highly Integrated Silicon-Based IC Development? (RFIC, Monday, 18 June, Noon–1:20 p.m., Location: Room 516 A-C) Organizers: Mona Hella, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Sanjay Raman, Virginia Tech/ DARPA; and Sayfe Kiaei, Arizona State University Panelists: Bobby Brar (president, Teledyne Scientific), Tom Crowe (president, Mohamed H. Bakr and Natalia K. Nikolova (
[email protected]) are with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2012.2186371 Date of publication: 9 April 2012
60
Virginia Diode Inc.), Baher Haroun (fellow, Texas Instruments), Gabriel Rebeiz (professor, University of California-San Diego), Albert Redo-Sanchez (director of business development, Zomega THz Corp.), and Peter Siegel (senior research scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory). The terahertz spectral range has many scientific uses for investigating the fundamental excitations in matter with emerging opportunities in the medical, security, and communications fields that could launch terahertz technology into the public domain. Semiconductor technology is the key to many of these developments, with recent reported InP HBTs of fT ~ 0.8 THz, InP HEMTs with fmax > 1 THz and SiGe HBTs with fmax of 500 GHz. At the circuit and subsystem levels, we have seen MMICS for applications up to 0.82 THz. While significant issues related with the output power level and tunability of integrated subterahertz sources, as well as detector/receiver noise, remain to be resolved; low-cost terahertz-integrated systems appear to be realizable. The © IMAGE CLUB remaining question is “What are the killer applications that will drive the IC market within the terahertz range (above 300 GHz)?” This panel will cover the various aspects of terahertz systems, including devices, system integration, applications, and standardization. They
represent the views of different market sectors (commercial, defense, and start-ups). They will deliberate this interesting topic with the audience participation.
RF Scaling: Can It Keep Up with Digital CMOS? Should It? (RFIC, Tuesday, 19 June, Noon–1:20 p.m., Location: Room 516 A-C) Organizers: Jeffrey Walling, Rutgers University, and Oren Eliezer, Xtendwave Panelists: David Allstot (professor, University of Washington), Dominique Brunel (fellow, ST-Ericsson, France), Jonathan Jensen (principal engineer RF/analog circuits, Intel), Li Lin (director RF IC design, Marvell Semiconductor Inc.), George Chien (director RF circuit design, MediaTek, Taiwan), Raf Roovers (department head, RF International Solutions, NXP Semiconductors), Robert Staszewski (associate professor, TU Delft, The Netherlands), and Masoud Zagari (senior director of engineering, Qualcomm). The benefits of continued scaling of CMOS transistors are well appreciated within the digital design community, allowing for ever-increasing integration. The resultant increase in speed and performance has enabled RFCMOS to evolve to the point where single-chip RF-SoC integration is
IMS Special Issue May 2012
possible. However, the drawbacks to the continued scaling for RF functions are plentiful. Device scaling comes at the cost of decreases in gain and SNR and increased power consumption due to leakage. In recent years, RF CMOS designers have been able to compensate for these drawbacks with adept changes in architectures and design topologies as CMOS has roared into the nanotechnology realm. Most recently, various cognitive radio (CR) applications have emerged, for which integration is likely the key to their widespread adoption. These applications typically require a wide bandwidth, high dynamic range, and high output power, which cannot be easily accomplished simultaneously. Integration in scaled CMOS also includes challenges associated with the linearity and efficiency of the power amplifier. This group of panelists will present their ideas and opinions about
the future of RF scaling. They will also engage the audience and respond to their questions or comments.
RF MEMS for Defense and Aerospace (IMS, Tuesday, 19 June, Noon–1:20 p.m., Location: Room 513 D-F) Organizers: Dr. Brandon Pillans, Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems, Dallas, Texas, and Dr. Volker Ziegler, EADS Innovation Work, Germany Panelists: Dr. Bill Chappell (DARPA MTO program manager), Dr. Bob Newgard (Rockwell Collins), Dr. Edgar Martinez (Raytheon Network Centric Systems), Dr. Afshin Ziaei (Thales Research and Technology, France), and Dr. Peter Feldle (Cassidian Electronics, Germany). Following up on the successful (and widely attended) lunch panel session at IMS2011, “Commercial Viability of
RF-MEMS: A Reality or a Dream?,” this session will focus on other markets for RF MEMS devices, the defense and aerospace market. This market has a lower overall volume compared to the commercial market but requires a higher performance in survivability as well as cutting-edge RF performance. Recent results in reliability and device performance from companies such as Raytheon, Radant MEMS, EADS, and MEMTronics (among others) have enabled system demonstrations of phased array radars and agile filtering in defense and aerospace applications. This panel session will focus on what specific needs the defense and aerospace industry has for RF MEMS devices and what their insertion allows from a system perspective. In addition, the panelists will call out defense and aerospace requirements that are unique compared to commercial RF MEMS and see where a crossover may exist.
Proceedings of the IEEE: Pioneering technology from the inside out. At Proceedings of the IEEE, we want you to understand emerging breakthroughs—from beginning to end, from the inside out. With multi-disciplinary technology coverage that explains how key innovations evolve and impact the world, you’ll find the comprehensive research that only IEEE can provide.
Understand technology from every angle—subscribe today.
www.ieee.org/proceedings
IMS Special Issue May 2012
61
How Will LDMOS and III-V Device Technologies Play in Cellular Infrastructure Future Markets? (IMS, Wednesday, 20 June, Noon–1:20 p.m., Location: Room 516 A-C) Organizer: Basim Noori, Freescale Semiconductor Inc. Panelists: Dr. James Wong (manager, RF Power at Alcatel-Lucent), Dr. Steve Cripps (professor, Cardiff University), Ray Pengelly (strategic business development manager, Cree Semiconductors Inc.), Paul Hart (systems engineering manager, Freescale Semiconductor Inc.), John Gajadharsing (application manager, NXP Semiconductors), Khan Salam [principal electrical engineer (RFPA), Rockwell Collins Radio], and Dr. Oleh Krutko (device design engineering manager, TriQuint). The cellular infrastructure market space is the largest consumer of highpower RF amplifier devices in the world. In the early days of cellular, from 1985 to 1993, radio amplifiers developed for this market utilized standard bipolar junction transistors (BJTs). Starting in 1993, when the first laterally diffused metal oxide semiconductor (LDMOS) field effect transistors (FETs) devices started to emerge, there was a rapid and almost complete shift in amplifier technology from BJTs to LDMOS active devices, due to their lower cost and higher linearity at backoff under class AB operations. This first technology conversion occurred between 1993 and 2000, and it forced RF BJT devices into the smaller niche markets of pulsed radar and others. Ever since 2000, almost all cellular infrastructure amplifiers have been designed with LDMOS devices as the main core amplifier component. Within the last three to five years, several competing alternative amplifier technologies emerged that challenged LDMOS for market dominance, namely GaN, FETs, and GaAs hetrojunction bipolar transistors. Even though these alternative technologies are initially higher in cost than the LDMOS standard, they have made some slight inroads into the infrastructure market, mostly in tower-top applications.
62
Will these newly developed technologies become dominant in the cellular infrastructure in the near future? Do they have enough of an increased RF performance edge to offset their currently higher cost basis? Or will they be dominant in five or more years? If so, in what PA architectures, Doherty, switched-mode, class-J, or envelope tracking? This group of experts covers a wide area of expertise in LDMOS, GaN, and GaAs device technologies as well as industry power amplifiers. They will present their vision of how the technology will develop in the near future.
The Mathematics and the Physics of MIMO (Multi-Input, Multi-Output) Systems (IMS, Thursday, 21 June, Noon–1:20 p.m., Location: Room 516 A-C) Organizer: Dr. Tapan Sarkar, Syracuse University Panelists: Miguel Lagunas (The Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya, Spain), Micheal Wicks (sensors directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory), Magdalena Salazar Palma (professor of microwave and electromagnetic theory), Magdy Iskander (professor and director of Hawaii Center for Advanced Communications), and Christos Christoudoulou (professor of electromagnetics, University of New Mexico). The basic principle of MIMO is similar to a simultaneous multimode propagation in an over-moded waveguiding system. The philosophy is that simultaneous transmission in parallel using multiple modes is better than using a single mode. This is basically the principle in MIMO radar, MIMO communication, and so on. The objective of the panel session is to look at the scientific basis of such a system. Specifically, even though such a system may be a unique form of a philosophical standpoint, does that still carry over to practical system implementations? The goal will be to delineate under what conditions this methodology will yield meaningful results and when it will not.
Human Aspects of Communication and Persuasion: First Impressions and Subtext (IMS, Tuesday, 19 June, 5:00 p.m.–6:30 p.m., Location: Westin, St. Antoine AB) Presenter: Dr. John W. Bandler, McMaster University When confronted with delivering a public speech, making a technical presentation, going on a job interview, or appearing in front of a panel of judges, apprehension is normal. This is not only because of valid concern over a first impression. Once into any communication/persuasion event, subtext—an underlying and often distinct theme— comes into play. The very nature of empathetic communication dictates that sensitive human issues have to be addressed, either consciously or unconsciously. For example, an unexpected negative (positive) word/gesture about a person or situation may take years to put into perspective; a first impression seems to have a life of its own; the notion of an open (impression-free) mind may be a myth. Mastering impressions and subtext may be keys to landing a job, getting promoted, being inducted into a prestigious society, making an effective technical presentation, and more. Traps and hidden agendas include perceived respect, believability, conflicts of interest, and even simple attributions of the contributions of others. Any presenter must be aware of the subtext carried by his/ her slides, speech, and mannerisms. This talk will acknowledge ideas by such figures as Malcolm Gladwell, R.J. Sternberg, and Robert McKee. It will draw on personal contributions and experiences (with humor) in bottechnical and nontechnical domains and should enjoy wide interest. It will not only identify certain subjective perceptions during, for example, a technical presentation, but will also suggest ways of controlling and/or correcting perceptions. It seems essential for all of us (particularly aspiring professionals) to be aware that others will make lifealtering decisions about us, of which we may forever be unaware.
IMS Special Issue May 2012
