The theme for this year’s conference is “Advanced Technologies for Communications” and the ARFTG conference will highlight the following key topics:
- 5G communications and beyond
- Internet of Things (IoT)
- Nanomaterials for communications
as well as contributions in other areas of RF, microwave and millimeter wave measurement techniques and technologies, such as wide bandwidth measurements, nonlinear systems and power amplifier measurements and modeling, calibration techniques, de-embedding and more.
The environment at the conference is informal and friendly. There are technical sessions and invited speakers, an exhibition of instrument and equipment vendors, a poster session and an awards luncheon. The oral technical sessions at ARFTG conferences are conducted in a single-track style, with papers on topical subjects that are both theoretical and practical, address both end-user and manufacturer and cover both modeling and measurement. Authors may present their work as poster papers in the open forum that jointly runs with the vendor exhibition.
One of the most stimulating parts of the ARFTG experience is the opportunity to directly interact on a one-to-one basis with colleagues, experts and vendors in the RF/microwave test and measurement community. Networking is a key feature of ARFTG’s conference, with ample breaks to allow attendees to view the posters, meet the vendors and discuss their new products and measurement solutions, as well as meet up with old friends and new colleagues. Attendees will always come away with something—maybe some new ideas to help with current projects, some new technical contacts to use in the future or some answers to your tough questions.
What is ARFTG?
ARFTG is the “Automated RF Techniques Group.” It is a technical organization interested in all aspects of RF and microwave test and measurement. ARFTG was originally set up in 1972 to help end-users get the most from the latest generation of test and measurement equipment; at the time, this was predominantly the vector network analyzer or VNA: a completely new instrument class. As the high frequency measurement industry has continued to evolve, so has ARFTG, and it now covers the measurement space from kHz to THz, nonlinear or large signal network analyzers, signal analyzers, mixed-signal domains, signal integrity and much more. ARFTG now has more than 900 members worldwide.
ARFTG’s core mission is education, and it achieves this by hosting conferences, workshops and training courses covering a wide range of topics in RF, microwave and millimeter wave measurement, and by awarding research fellowships for graduate students and sponsorships to enable students to attend.