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It isn’t news to any professional in the electronics industry, or virtually any other, that almost any technology, process, or service that can be internet or intranet connected is being connected. If it is a wired connection or a wireless connection, the fundamental way most people are interacting with their world or data is being done with, or enhanced by, connected devices. The heart of innovation is effective and accessible communication. The Internet of Things (IoT) has made it possible for devices to relay information one to another, but intrinsically relies on an analog backbone to operate.

The IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS) took place in-person in Atlanta, Georgia from 6-9 June followed by a virtual version two weeks later. The in-person technical program and exhibition were shortened due to the limited number of attendees, with the total attendance near 1500 with about 200 exhibiting companies.

As the demand grows for circuits serving available frequency spectrum in the mmWave range, circuit designers are meeting those demands using newer low loss circuit materials or hybrid circuits composed of multiple layers of dissimilar circuit materials, such as very low loss circuit materials for higher-speed, higher-frequency circuits and more cost effective circuit materials such as FR-4 for functions such as ground planes, power planes, and control lines not requiring such low loss circuit material.

While last year was the year of virtual events, this year is the year of hybrid events as we work our way out of COVID-19 quarantines and back into in-person events. See what is in store for the rest of the year.

NI is making major investments in 6G research - see how they are going it.

Qorvo® announced last week that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted emergency use authorization for the Qorvo Omnia™ SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Test and that it was awarded a $24.4 million contract with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics initiative. Learn about this new technology.

In Part 1 of the 2-part blog series “5G in 2021 & The Rise of the Machines”, a high-level discussion of the wireless connectivity trends is provided, along with a glimpse into how wireless standard convergence is a likely outcome to the drive toward unbridled wireless connectivity. This blog will close the loop and finish the discussion of these trends, with highlights on the progress and potential impact of the Industrial Internet-of-Things (IIoT), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications, connecting everything else, and how we can seize the opportunity of a new paradigm of connectivity.

5G has been heralded not only as a new frontier of cellular telecommunications, but an enabling technology for a new paradigm of interconnectivity and intelligence in devices deployed throughout the world. Advances in smart manufacturing, cities, transportation, and our homes, is part of an overhaul that will further enhance, automate, and generally “augment” people’s lives and our interactions with the machine realm.

As mmWave bandwidths become more commonly used, multilayer PCBs containing mmWave circuitry will also become more common, designed with greater numbers of layers for smaller places. With the right choices of circuit materials and prepregs, everything will hold together.

MWC Shanghai 2021 took place this week using a Hybrid event format so was the first in-person trade show for the industry this year. They expected about 200 exhibitors and about 20,000 visitors, about a third or the normal amount, so it will be interesting to see the actual counts when they are reported.