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 — very low compared to a normal year, but this was certainly not a normal year. Although attendance was mostly domestic, everyone was quite satisfied with the turnout and happy to see one another. The quality of the attendees was high. Everyone who traveled to the event was intent on doing business and learning about new products and technologies. 

The virtual IMS2021 took place online 20-25 June and was on demand for 30 days afterward so attendees had plenty of time to watch the sessions they wanted and interact online with the exhibitors in virtual booths. The virtual event featured the full line up of sessions, panels, keynotes, workshops and exhibition activities so was not limited like the in-person event. The virtual event attracted thousands of participants during the event. The exhibition had about 200 exhibitors with Industry Workshops, Industry Talks and the MicroApps sessions. Attendees were able to text chat with exhibitors or video chat via Zoom.

It was great to see companies cooperating to help each other out to make the best of the situation at the in-person event. TMYTEK from Taiwan was only able to have their US-based representatives attend to support their booth, so with extra space, they let Mixcomm use part of their booth to place a 28 GHz transmitter there to beam across the hall for their demonstration setup in their booth. In another cooperation, Keysight helped Virginia Diodes (VDI) setup a 144 GHz test bed for 6G research in their expanded booth as VDI took additional space. And Ampleon, being a European based company, had limited support available in the US so took part of the RFMW booth to display their products since they were not able to bring a full group over to the US.

Here are some of the highlights of the IMS2021:

• Keynote speeches from Prof. Bram Nauta, Distinguished Professor University of Twente, The Netherlands and Asha R. Keddy, Corporate Vice President and 5G Executive Sponsor, Intel Corporation General Manager, Next Generation and Standards
• Technical sessions on a variety of industry subjects including Si IC Power Amplifiers, Micro-motion Sensing Radar, and mm-Wave “Wireless Fiber”
• The Connected Future Summit featuring panelists from Intel, Nokia, Mediatek, Keysight, Global Foundries, Anokiwave, and NIST which reviewed core technologies and standard activities for future wireless networks
• Workshops on RF and mmWaves, ML/AI, 5G, IoT, and more
• The Mobility Panel featuring thoughts from leaders at Volkswagen, Cisco, and Accenture Strategy on where wireless communication is headed in mobility.

Microwave Journal visited many of the more than 200 companies exhibiting at the physical event. The editors produced 20 video interviews and demos and an image gallery with about 75 photos. It was great to visit our first in-person event in more than 18 months so enjoyed seeing everyone. Mark your calendars for IMS2022 that will take place 19-24 June in Denver, CO and hope to see you there!