IMS 2023 in the Rearview Mirror

June 29, 2023

At a reinvigorated International Microwave Symposium, the industry flexes its muscle and points to a bright future.

This article is part of our IMS 2023 coverage. It's also in the TechXchange: It's About Time.

For a few years now, the International Microwave Symposium (IMS), like virtually all in-person industry events, had been in the doldrums. Despite its reputation as “the flagship event dedicated to all things microwave,” attendees and vendors alike were hedging their bets and hanging back, either scaling down their participation or just not showing up at all. The lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with our broad societal acceptance of working remotely and teleconferencing, served to throw a blanket over IMS.

Well, with IMS 2023 having recently concluded at the San Diego Convention Center, I can say without hesitation that those doldrums have passed. In fact, IMS 2023 was a blast! The exhibit floor, conference sessions, workshops, and social events were all extremely busy. As an editor whose days at IMS are full of non-stop meetings with industry experts, navigating the crowded aisles of the exhibit hall was challenging. Apologies to those who waited patiently for me to reach your booths.

Fortunately, all of the breathless running around was rewarded with a broad overview of the industry that you can get only at IMS. Here are some snapshots of highlights with links to our full coverage:

Analog Devices’s Apollo MxFE front-end platform

Among the most impressive IMS launches was ADI’s software-defined, direct RF-sampling, wideband, mixed-signal front-end platform. With Apollo MxFE, ADI has in its sights the future of phased-array radar, signals intelligence, industrial IoT, advanced test and measurement, mil/aero, and more. We’re talking about the industry’s first integrated radio that covers the 6G bands from 7 to 15 GHz with instantaneous bandwidths up to 10 GHz.

Tektronix’s SignalVu-PC vector-signal-analysis software

Oscilloscopes have long since cemented their places on RF/mmWave designers’ testbenches, but they continue to add functionality by way of new application-specific software. To that end, Tektronix now offers multichannel vector-signal-analysis capabilities in its 5 and 6 MSO Series platforms. The software endows the oscilloscopes with the functionality of a vector signal analyzer, pulse analyzer, WiGig or WLAN tester, and spectrum analyzer—all coupled with the advanced triggers of a digital scope.

Microchip Technology’s chip-scale atomic clock

Timing is everything in life, and even more so in digital circuits. Microchip came to IMS with an interesting demo of its SA65 chip-scale atomic clock, which the company says is the world’s lowest-power chip in its class (<120 mW). The device delivers short-term stability (Allan Deviation) of 3.0 × 10^–10 at τ = 1 s from −40 to +80°C. The SA65 has all you need to quantify oscillators.

Those are just a handful of interesting launches and demos we saw at IMS 2023. There’s lots more where that came from in our online issue with full IMS 2023 coverage, with more being added as I write. If you couldn’t get to San Diego, I hope our efforts provide you with at least a flavor of what the show was like.

Read more articles from our IMS 2023 coverage and in the TechXchange: It's About Time.

About the Author

David Maliniak | Executive Editor, Microwaves & RF

I am Executive Editor of Microwaves & RF, an all-digital publication that broadly covers all aspects of wireless communications. More particularly, we're keeping a close eye on technologies in the consumer-oriented 5G, 6G, IoT, M2M, and V2X markets, in which much of the wireless market's growth will occur in this decade and beyond. I work with a great team of editors to provide engineers, developers, and technical managers with interesting and useful articles and videos on a regular basis. Check out our free newsletters to see the latest content.

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About me:

In his long career in the B2B electronics-industry media, David Maliniak has held editorial roles as both generalist and specialist. As Components Editor and, later, as Editor in Chief of EE Product News, David gained breadth of experience in covering the industry at large. In serving as EDA/Test and Measurement Technology Editor at Electronic Design, he developed deep insight into those complex areas of technology. Most recently, David worked in technical marketing communications at Teledyne LeCroy, leaving to rejoin the EOEM B2B publishing world in January 2020. David earned a B.A. in journalism at New York University.