Microwave Journal
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IMS2009 Highlights Student Paper and Design Competitions

June 8, 2009

The International Microwave Symposium (IMS), the annual conference and exhibition of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S), will feature several student events, including the student paper competition and three student design competitions. This year IMS received 232 student papers, and the 24 best papers will be presented at the Symposium. In the three design competitions, students will demonstrate their practical engineering knowledge in the design of low noise amplifiers, packaged ultra-wideband filters and high efficiency power amplifiers. IMS2009 will be held June 7-12 in Boston at the new Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.


“Each year graduate and undergraduate students from universities around the world come to IMS for the opportunity to participate in the world’s leading microwave and RF event, either as competitors, or as part of our student volunteer program,” said Jim Komiak, Student Paper/Competitions Chair, IMS2009 and Engineering/Scientific Fellow with BAE Systems Electronic Solutions. “The student competitions have become an honored tradition and mark the beginning of many successful careers. We look forward to the contribution of this year’s student participants at IMS.”

The student paper competition recognizes the outstanding technical contributions of individual students. Students must follow the Symposium submission process and be reviewed by the regular Technical Program Committee. Based on the scores, the best student papers submitted are accepted as finalists. The student finalists receive complimentary IMS2009 registration, tickets to the MTT-S Awards Banquet and travel subsidies. They will present their papers during regular IMS technical sessions and make special presentations at the Interactive Forum on Tuesday, June 9, where they will be evaluated by a group of judges. Six top papers and four honorable mentions will be announced at the Student Awards Luncheon on Thursday, June 11.

Three student design competitions sponsored by the Technical Coordinating Committees of MTT-S will be held during IMS2009. All participants will receive recognition and are invited to the Student Awards Luncheon on Thursday. The winners will receive cash prizes be invited to submit a paper describing their design to the IEEE MTT-S Microwaves Magazine.

The fifth High Efficiency Power Amplifier Student Design Competition will be held at the Interactive Forum on Tuesday, June 9, from 1-3 p.m. Competitors will design, construct, and measure a high efficiency power amplifier, at a frequency of their choice above 1 GHz but less than 20 GHz, and having an output power level of at least 5 W, but less than 100 W into a 50 ohm load. The winner will be judged on the design that demonstrates the highest Power Added Efficiency (PAE) weighted for frequency.

In the Low Noise Amplifier Student Design Competition, Tuesday, June 9, from 9-11 a.m., students will design, construct, measure and demonstrate a low noise amplifier at 2.45 GHz. The winner will be judged on the lowest noise figure with a gain of at least 15 dB.

The Packaged Ultra-Wideband (UWB) Filter Student Design Competition, on Tuesday, June 9, from 9-11 a.m. will require students to demonstrate new and effective packaging and interconnect techniques for a stringent microwave UWB filter application. The designs will be judged using pre-defined criteria, including filter performance, robustness and weight.

The schedule of student events is included in the IMS2009 program book at www.ims2009org/pdfs/2009_r43b.pdf and more details on the competition requirements are available on the IMS2009 website at www.ims2009.org/studentcomp.html.