ALPHA – Route des Lasers & des Hyperfréquences®, a technology cluster specializing in photonics, microwave and digital technologies, brought six cluster members to the International Microwave Symposium (IMS) 2018, which took place on June 10 – 15, in Philadelphia (PA). Several cluster members presented technical papers. Members also displayed a selection of advanced technologies that underpin the development of components, sub-systems and systems, which will become the basis of mainstay products for radar, telecommunications, defense, space and instrumentation.

This was the first time that ALPHA-RLH attended IMS, which this year highlighted the contributions of radio-frequency (RF), microwave (MW) and millimeter-wave research, development and products to the fields of medicine (diagnosis and treatment), telecommunications (5G, Internet-of-Space) and the Internet-of-Things. The cluster supports collaborative innovation projects to increase member activity in these areas.

ALPHA-RLH and cluster members Ikalogic, Inoveos, Cisteme, AirMems and XLIM were present at booth #2051. AMCAD Engineering was exhibiting at booth #1231. French Tech Hub also came to the exhibition with ALPHA-RLH to meet with the companies.

New product, live demo and technical presentations

AMCAD Engineering, a leading provider of measurement and modeling solutions for RF and MW circuits and system design, released its VISION software platform, a comprehensive methodology to extract a complete and accurate model that takes into account all observed phenomena. VISION helps overcome the challenges of RF systems that are designed to operate with wideband-modulated signals, such as 5G and RADAR, or with a large number of circuits, such as active antennas. A live demo of VISION is planned in addition to IVCAD and IQSTAR demos.

AMCAD also presented three technical papers:

• ‘We2D-2: Investigation of Fast and Slow Charge Trapping Mechanisms of GaN/AlGaN HEMTs Through Pulsed I-V Measurements and the Associated New Trap Model’
• ‘A Robust and Reliable Behavioral Model of High Power GaN HEMTS for RF Doherty Amplifier Application’
• ‘Wideband Test Bench Dedicated to Behavioral Modeling of Non Linear RF Blocks with Frequency Transposition and Memory’

Innovations on display

Ikalogic, a specialist in test and measurement devices for embedded system diagnostics and debugging, exhibited IkaScope, the world’s first Wi-Fi connected oscilloscope probe. IkaScope is designed for quick and easy analog measurements. It offers a new dimension in ergonomics and overall end-user experience. Ikalogic, which enables electronics engineers to work more effectively on the peripheral circuits of microwave systems (microcontrollers, FPGAs and serial communication between integrated circuits), also displayed its latest logic analyzers offering in-depth digital signal analysis.

Inoveos, a developer and manufacturer of passive microwave components and systems for military and commercial radar and telecommunications applications, exhibited isolators and circulators with unique dual-band and bi-directional capabilities. Inoveos also presented a technical paper in conjunction with XLIM that demonstrates an ultra-high-bandwidth Y-junction circulator using the ‘continuous tracking’ operation: ‘We2E-4: Complete Methodology of Low-Loss Ultra-Wideband Junction Circulator ’

AirMems, a designer and manufacturer of switches based on a breakthrough RF MEMS technology for defense, space and telecommunications applications, attended IMS to engage with potential customers about the complexity of the future RF electronic systems and how to meet zero power consumption requirements. A space innovation award winner, AirMems’ switches have successfully been in orbit for the last four years.

Cisteme, a high-technology transfer center, works in collaboration with the XLIM laboratory at the University of Limoges. At IMS, Cisteme was proposing R&D services for microwave/RF component and system design as well as wireless applications (IoT, 5G). The center is active in antenna systems, wireless networks, autonomous and communicating sensor networks (IoT-related), ultra-wide band communicating systems, filtering, amplifier design and optimization, wireless propagation, RF front-end design, electromagnetic characterization of materials and electromagnetic compatibility.

XLIM, the largest microwave and RF research laboratory in France, is a multidisciplinary research institute of CNRS (French National Research Center). It has expertise in high power RF non-linear device modeling and characterization, active and passive microwave circuits, additive manufacturing technologies for microwave and millimeter wave, MEMs and tunable passive devices, CEM, antennas and phase array antenna systems. XLIM maintains strong links with industry via six joint laboratories working on innovation programs. It is active in international conferences.