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After years of talking about 5G at Mobile World Congress, it's here and happening faster than expected. Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri shared his perspective on the eve of the 2018 conference, including five predictions for the rest of the year.

Now that there’s an initial draft of the 5G spec (aka 3GPP Release 15), the world’s wireless leaders have achieved a big milestone. However, widespread 5G deployment still faces many challenges. One such challenge is that of global spectrum coverage or more specifically harmonized global spectrum coverage.

5G may represent the latest and greatest in wireless technology, but it will be challenging to design and fabricate, starting with the circuit-board materials, because it will operate across many different frequencies, such as 6 GHz and below as well as at millimeter-wave frequencies (typically 30 GHz and above); it will also combine network access from terrestrial base stations and orbiting satellites. But by careful consideration of mechanical and electrical requirements, high-frequency circuit materials can be specified that enable the design and development of 5G PAs no matter the frequency.

With all of the semiconductor industry consolidation, there are many RF and microwave parts being discontinued or obsoleted after a rationalization of the merged companies is complete. This posting covers how some other MMIC companies are filling in the gap in supply.

Which Dk value is the one to use with a CAE circuit modeling program? Is the Design Dk the “right” Dk value when performing a circuit simulation, or might there be a case when one of the other Dk values for the same material might work better with a particular computer model? Find out in this blog post.

Fujitsu Limited and Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. announced last week the development of the first method for bonding single-crystal diamond to a SiC substrate at room temperature. Using this technology for heat dissipation in high-power GaN HEMT devices enables stable operation at higher power levels than currently used. Application of this technology is expected to significantly enhance the performance of radars and wireless communications since they can operate at higher powers.

When the 3GPP announced the beginning of 5G development back in 2015, the group proposed many performance objectives pertaining to all aspects of the network. Eventually the 3GPP distilled the various metrics down to three distinct use cases: enhanced mobile broad band (eMBB), Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), and Massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC). There has been much written and published on the eMBB use case and even the mMTC to a lesser extent with the anticipation of smarter devices and pervasive IoT. Although the URLLC use case has garnered less attention, it may in fact prove more impactful than either of the former use cases.

Reflecting the diversity of topics covered at the November 2017 ARMMS Conference the papers that won prizes addressed 3D printed circuits, a microwave applicator for medical use and better filter design.

The Cambridge Consultants Innovation Day 2017 addressed how insightful design, smarter products and digital services are transforming business with keynote sessions and seminars given by their experts and customers. The day started off with CEO Eric Wilkinson discussing how Cambridge Consultants (CC) is investing in digital services, virtual reality, artificial intelligence and synthetic biology.

Yole Developpment just reported that between 2017 and 2022, an 8% CAGR is expected for acoustic wave filters. The market is dominated by historical players with a strong international position that has a big barrier to entry. They also reported that acoustic wave filter patenting activity was very high between 2000 and 2006 but since then, it has progressively decreasing reaching a plateau in 2010.