Highlights of the ARFTG-102 Symposium
Four days, fully packed with sessions, workshops, discussions and inspiring exchange at the stands of the joint RWW/ARFTG exhibition – this was the 102nd ARFTG Microwave Measurement Symposium in San Antonio (TX).
Mon, January 22nd – Tue, January 23rd
ARFTG Microwave Measurement Conference
Around 60 engineers, scientists, and technologists gathered at San Antonio’s Grand Hyatt Riverwalk Hotel to exchange on latest developments in “Software Architectures and Automation of Microwave Measurement Methods and Systems”.
The main conference consisted of five technical sessions, each of which was opened by outstanding experts in their fields:
- ARFTG-102 Keynote by: Mark Pierpoint (Keysight) | Session: Advances in Measurements I
- Jerome Cheron (NIST) | Session: On-Wafer measurements and Calibration
- Dan van der Weide (AntenneX) | Session: Advances in Measurements II
- Leonard Hayden (Qorvo) | Session: On-Wafer and EVM Measurements
- Jon Martens (Anritsu) | Session: Generalized Network Analysis and Load-Pull
For ARFTG-102, ten of the submitted papers were selected for presentation during the technical sessions. All topics can be accessed via the Technical Program. The papers will also be published in the IEEE Xplore Digital Library:
ARFTG President David Blackham (left) and Conference Chair Andrej Rumiantsev (right) welcomed guests of ARFTG-102 at the Conference Opening on January 22.
ARFTG President David Blackham (left) and Conference Chair Andrej Rumiantsev (right) welcomed guests of ARFTG-102 at the Conference Opening on January 22.
Sun, January 21st – Mon, January 22nd
ARFTG/ NIST Short Course
About 30 people attended the 1 ½-day Short Course on microwave measurements. The course was organized by Jim Booth (NIST) and chaired by J. Apolinar Reynoso-Hernández (CICESE).
Presentations and instructors
- Microwave Power and Traceability – Aaron Hagerstrom (NIST)
- Updating NIST’s Traceability: S-Parameters and Beyond – Angela Stelson (NIST)
- Modern Network Analyzers Calibration Techniques – Rusty Myers (Keysight Technologies)
- High-Speed Oscilloscopes, What the Manual Doesn’t Tell You – Ari D. Feldman (NIST)
- Traceable On-Wafer Measurements at mm-Wave Frequencies – Uwe Arz (PTB)
- Fundamentals of Successful Wafer Level Calibration at mm-Wave Frequencies – Andrej Rumiantsev (MPI Corporation)
- Microwave Thermal Noise – Measurements and Applications – Gu Dazhen (NIST)
- Low-Frequency Noise Measurements and Applications – Jean-Guy Tartarain, LAAS du CNRS
- Measuring Modulation Distortion of Active Devices Using a Vector Network Analyzer – Jan Verspecht (Keysight)
- Load-Pull Metrology and Applications – Mauro Marchetti (Anteverta-mw)
- Time-Domain Low Frequency Active Harmonic Load-pull As a Tool for Verifying the Theory of PA Modes of Operation – J. Apolinar Reynoso-Hernández (CICESE)
- Everything You Can Do with Vector Nonlinear Microwave Measurements – Patrick Roblin (The Ohio State University)
Tue, January 22nd
User Forums and Standards Meetings
The ARFTG Symposium hosted two user forums on the morning of January 22, each of which was attended by about 20 people.
NVNA User Forum
The NVNA Users’ Forum was organized by Patrick Roblin (OSU). The Forum offered two presentations with subsequent discussions:
- New Advances on Wideband Modulated Load Pull using Active Source – Joel Dunsmore (Keysight Technologies)
- Enabling mm-wave PA Waveform Engineering – Roberto Quaglia, Alex Baddeley, Paul Tasker (Cardiff University)
On-Wafer User Forum
The On-Wafer Users’ Forum was organized by Gia Ngoc Phung (PTB) and was dedicated to the following topics:
- Optimized NVNA Setup for On-Wafer mm-Wave Load-Pull – Leonard Hayden (Qorvo)
- Propagation of Uncertainties in Multiline TRL Calibration – Ziad Hatab (Graz University of Technology)
Standards Meetings
The ARFTG Symposium hosted two IEEE Standards meetings on the morning of January 24: the IEEE P3136 Standard WG Meeting and IEEE P2822 Standards WG Meeting.
Tue, January 23rd
Conference Awards Luncheon
Prior to the conference awards, Andrej Rumiantsev presented the revised ARFTG website and logo
ARFTG President, Dave Blackham, presided over the conference awards ceremony, which took place during the awards luncheon. Certificates of appreciation were presented to the organizers of the 102nd conference, namely Andrej Rumiantsev and Joe Gering as Conference Co-Chairs and Dennis Lewis and Jeffrey Jargon as Technical Program Co-Chairs.
Awards were also given for best papers and exhibitor from the previous ARFTG-101 conference held in Las Vegas, NV:
Tue, January 23rd
ExCom Election at Annual Business Meeting
A significant part of the annual ARFTG Business Meeting consisted of electing five members to the ARFTG Executive Committee. Biographies for the candidates were distributed prior to voting, and the candidates were given an opportunity to speak to introduce themselves to the membership.
The outcome of the voting was the election (or re-election) of five members to ExCom:
- Chong Li (University of Glasgow, UK)
- Angela C. Stelson (NIST, USA)
- Rusty Myers (Keysight Technologies, USA), Apolinar Reynoso-Hernández (CICESE, Mexico)
- Jon Martens (Anritsu, USA).
Wed, January 24th
Workshop
As part of the ARFTG symposium, a workshop was held on the morning of Wednesday, January 24, under the motto “Traditional vs. Data and Artificial Intelligence Driven Modeling: Battle of the Ages”. It was organized by Mauro Marchetti (Anteverta-mw B.V.). Approximately 25 people attended the lectures.
workshop lectures
- Evolution Toward Automatic Power Amplifier Design – Patrick Roblin (Ohio State University)
- Unconventional Measurement Techniques for Nonlinear Modelling of Microwave GaN FETs – Valeria Vadalà1, Antonio Raffo (University of Milano-Bicocca, University of Ferrara, Italy)
- Cardiff Behavioral Model: Data Driven Modelling Solution – Paul J. Tasker, James Bell, and Roberto Quaglia (University of Cardiff, UK)
- Advanced Transistor Modeling – Neural Models versus Traditional Models – Zlatica Marinković (University of Nis, Serbia)
- Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for RF and Microwave Design: Practical Technologies for Present and Future Applications – Jianjun Xu (Keysight Technologies, Santa Rosa)
Awardees: ARFTG-102 vote winners
Traditionally, our conference attendees vote for the Best Paper and Best Student Paper, presented during the Conference. We are delighted to congratulate this year’s winners of the vote:
ARFTG-102 impressions
© Andrej Rumiantsev
