RF/microwave in Cars

The Auto show is coming to Boston this week, so I am excited to make my annual visit to this event. We get a group together each year and spend several hours salivating over the new cars (especially the exotics) and then have a nice Italian dinner in the north end. Every year I look for more RF and microwave products in cars but hope the severe down turn in the industry does not effect what we will see too much (I am not counting on getting any giveaways this year).

RFID is available on the new Ford F150 as an optional package to tag your important tools (or other items) and it will tell you if you are missing anything before you leave the job site. I hope to see this in action at the show.

While long range radar sensors have been in the Mercedes for years functioning as auto cruise control (77 GHz), I think 2009 will be the year that short range sensors (24 GHz) are integrated into the bumpers for several safety and assist functions such as blind spot detection, parking assist, collision warning, etc. (For more information, see our Dec 2007 article on auto sensors). It will be interesting to see how radar sensors do against laser and ultrasonic sensors.

There is also a lot of buzz lately about mobile TV being developed for automobiles so it will be fun to see if there is any news on this front. The integration of voice, data and GPS mapping is progressing quickly and some companies offer real time traffic information and automatic routing via GPS. This will lead us toward what has been talked about for years in intelligent traffic control systems.

My favorite option on my car now is the Bluetooth hands-free phone system and it will be interesting to see what other applications can use Bluetooth technology. I love the Microsoft Sync system currently available in some Ford models but unfortunately, bought another brand. It should be an interesting future for wireless in automobiles but certainly tempered by the economic woes of the industry.

Microwave Journal in China

At this past year's IMS show in Atlanta and EumW in Amsterdam, the Microwave Journal booth displayed the beta-version of our pending Microwave Journal China Website. China has for a number of years been a big manufacturing center of microwave hardware and over the past few years has shifted into design work itself. With the large number of engineers graduating in China focused on Microwave technology, we feel the timing is right for Microwave Journal to report on the news, product information and events coming out of China and to provide this vast community of new microwave engineers with our technical content in a chinese-language format.

To understand our new targeted audience better, MWJ publisher Carl Sheffres and I traveled to Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou last week. We met with a number of company executives, conference organizers, manufacturer representatives (representing China, US and European-based products) and engineering managers. The feedback was unanimous. China is ready for a dedicated source of information about our industry - in Chinese - which targets the growing number of new and experienced RF/microwave engineers.

Our first stop was the IME 2008/EMC 2008 show in Shanghai, where we saw familiar faces (Agilent Technologies, Rohde & Schwarz, AR Worldwide, Valpey Fisher, Gore, LPKF, Emerson & Cummings and Yantel) as well as many new faces.



Booth traffic was very heavy at times as engineers lined up to fill out subscription cards and take a complimentary copy of our October issue (English version). Of course, we were very pleased to hear that a number of show attendees considered the Journal to be "very famous".



Our immediate goal will be to put the finishing touches on the new Microwave Journal China web site in time for its January launch date, work with the partners we had identified to expand our audience and line up authors for this new venture. All in all, it is a very exciting time for us at the Journal as we begin this new adventure. Have ideas for our Chinese web site, add them to this blog or send me an e-mail at dvye@mwjournal.com.

Changing of the Guard- Cell Phone Leaders

There have been several market research reports out over the last month that show what I think is a permanent shift in cell phone leaders. Samsung took over as leading mobile phone shipments in the US market (Apple moved up to #6). RIM seems to be holding strong and introducing some nice products. It seems like the global market leaders of Nokia and Motorola are loosing some of their grip on some of the market. The iPhone also took over as the best selling phone which had been held for a couple of years by the outdated Razor. The smart phones are really starting to take over as they become affordable and Apple, RIM, Samsung and even LG seem to be playing the game better than the traditional leaders (at least in the US).

What do you think? How will the G1 and Android do competing against these phones??

Antenna Measurement Techniques Association (AMTA) Conference

I attended the AMTA Conference this week in Boston at the Park Plaza hotel including the keynote speech by Dr. Eric D. Evans (Director of MIT Lincoln Labs) about radar measurement activities within their organization. I was surprised at the wide array of RF/microwave projects they are working on. He said they are concentrating on key technology enablers such as digital sensors, portable software, open system architectures, sensor/network sidecars and online processors. He said they are still innovating in hardware but spend more effort these days on software. They use rapid proto-typing (3 months from inception to hardware) and typically transfer the technology to industry for production.

There were also a few talks about the European Antenna Network - how they are structured to provide support for antenna research and what projects are underway. A very interesting and comprehensive set of programs for Europe and many of them have global participation.

The exhibits included most of the key players like ETS-Lingren, Agilent, CST, Satimo/Orbit RF, MI, Rohde & Schwarz, etc. One of the most interesting products on display was the helicoidal scanning for elongated antennas from MI Technologies which will greatly speeds up the measurement process (see image).

More to come in my conference wrap up on the Microwave Journal web site.

New Microwave Technologies for Medical Applications

Microwave technology currently has relatively limited uses in medical applications such as MRI and Telemetry systems with RFID starting to find some uses, but I can think of many others. However, there seems to be a resurgence in some new medical research activities that could change that. Our Dec. issue feature story will describe research being done by Duke University to use microwaves to mildly heat tumors so they respond better to other treatments. New modeling software has enabled better results to eliminate hot spots so that this technique shows promise now.

And now UMass has just released news that they are working on a portable breast cancer screening system that uses low power microwaves for imaging. The idea is to bring modern breast cancer screening to Third World countries without the danger, high cost and access problems of X-ray based machines. This new technique would take advantage of the fact that normal breast tissue and cancer cells have different electrical properties. These differences can be identified and measured using an array of tiny transmitters and external sensors embedded in the walls of a cylinder that fits comfortably around the breast.

It should be interesting to follow these technologies as the develop. Let us know if you can come up with other contributions of microwave technology to the medical field.

New Tunable Capacitor Technology for Mobile-TV

Speaking of mobile-TV (see David's entry below), Peregrine Semiconductor has developed a new digitally tunable capacitor (DTC) technology using their UltraCMOS process. Mobile-TV antennas must be able to receive signals efficiently over the frequency range of 470 to 862 MHz, so using a traditional passive internal antenna can result in a VSWR of 6:1 across the band causing reduced sensitivity. But using a DTC to change the antenna match across the band can maintain a VSWR of better than 2:1. In addition, this DTC technology can withstand the GSM transmitted power levels without affecting the mobile-TV signal integrity.

The initial design is for 5 bits of resolution or 32 tuning states and a tuning ratio of close to 5:1 with a Q factor of 40. Because it is designed using the UltraCMOS process, there is flexibility to scale the power handling capability, integrate digital and analog functions as well as other RF active/passive circuitry. This gives very good flexibility and new circuits can be designed quickly to get to market ahead of the competition.

I see several new and exciting tunable technologies coming in the near future and will share them as they are released. Microwave Journal has an exclusive first look into the Peregrine technology in our Nov issue.

A Chief Technology Officer for the new Administration

This morning was my first time hearing about President-elect Obama's plan to create a position of chief technology officer within his administration, an idea that was actually floated one year ago by Obama - the candidate. The CTO's mandate would be to implement various technologies to support more transparent govenment including open meetings, live webcasts of those meetings, and use blogging software, wikis and open comments to communicate policies with Americans.

Second, Obama has several other policies in this area that should benefit the engineering community as a whole . The president-elect is calling for more aggressive government support of broadband access. Specifically, he will seek subsidies for phone carriers offering both regular phone service and Internet broadband to rural areas. To date, carriers offering merely phone service have been able to claim subsidies from the so-called Universal Service Fund, giving them little incentive to roll out out broadband. Currently the United States is 14th in the world with regard to broadband internet access. Such a roll-out would improve rural internet access and provide a welcome economic boost to microwave component manfacturers.

Obama’s is also calling for a review of the decision by the Federal Communications Commission to open the wireless spectrum for competition. Specifically, Obama is strongly considering advocating that spectrum on the 700 MHz band be opened so that third parties can lease it on a wholesale basis. This will ensure winners of a pending auction for the spectrum don’t just sit on the spectrum and not use it, a move designed to avoid other entrants from competing with them. During the campaign, Obama appeared ready to support the right of service providers to interconnect with a licensee’s wireless network. Google is expected to bid on the wireless spectrum.

Innovations like Maplight.org and Sunlightfoundation.com are building new tools to monitor government — to track influence, identify corruption, etc. These tools have been hampered by hard to access government data. Obama wants to make the raw data available: “So think about all the value that gets added to the free weather data given away by the government. This is the same idea in the context of data to make government more transparent, and less corrupt.”

TV-enabled handsets. Are you ready for some football?

Last night (November 6) for the first time ever, a National Football League game between the Cleveland Browns vs. the Denver Broncos was broadcasted on Sprint mobile phones as part of the wireless company's exclusive partnership with the league. That partnership deal is valued at about $500 million over five years.

Sprint will phone-cast eight games that are televised solely on the NFL Network, the league's cable channel. In addition, Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile unit has an exclusive sponsorship deal with the National Basketball Association.

The increasing availability of mobile handsets capable of receiving free-to-air analog and digital terrestrial TV signals will adversely impact the prospects for dedicated mobile broadcast TV networks. According to a new report from Juniper Research, more than 330 million mobile users worldwide will own broadcast TV-enabled handsets by 2013, yet less than 14% will opt for mobile pay TV services. Although mobile broadcast TV is expected to generate global annual end-user revenues of $2.7 billion by 2013, this level is markedly lower than previously forecast.

Meanwhile, Telegent Systems, the company that makes television mobile with its high-performance single-chip mobile TV solutions, together with Beijing Tianyu Communication Equipment Co., the leading original equipment manufacturer of mobile handsets in China, announced this week that Tianyu is increasing the number of handset designs leveraging mobile TV technology from Telegent to drive growth into the Southeast Asia market and capitalize on the popularity of analog TV phones in this region. Tianyu has also integrated Telegent's technology into the world's first hybrid CMMB and analog TV handset targeted at the domestic China market.

Do Engineers Make Good Presidents?

According to WikiAnswers.com, two US Presidents had university degrees as engineers. They were Hebert Hoover and Jimmy Carter. Herbert Hoover, the United States 31st President, studied mining engineering at Stanford University, graduating in 1895. Jimmy Carter, the 39th U.S. President , attended Georgia Tech and the United States Naval Academy, from which he graduated in 1946. Carter served in the Navy for 10 years as an engineer working with nuclear-powered submarines.

Hoover – a republican, deeply believed in the Efficiency Movement (a major component of the Progressive Era), arguing that a technical solution existed for every social and economic problem. In the first year of his presidency (1929). Hoover tried to combat the Depression with volunteer efforts and government action, none of which produced economic recovery during his term. The consensus among historians is that Hoover's defeat in the 1932 election was caused primarily by failure to end the downward spiral into deep Depression.

Carter – a democrat, was elected after the Nixon Watergate scandal, perhaps signaling Americans desire for an “honest” politician. Reflecting his engineering background, Carter created two new cabinet-level departments: the Department of Energy and the Department of Education and established a national energy policy. In general, Carter’s energy conservation efforts were not well-received by the American public. The final year of his presidential tenure was marked by several major crises, including the 1979 takeover of the American embassy in Iran and holding of hostages by Iranian students, a failed rescue attempt of the hostages, serious fuel shortages, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. By 1980, Carter's disapproval ratings were significantly higher than his approval

Both engineers-turned president left office with poor approval ratings and neither served more than one term. While this is true for other presidents, we have yet to prove that an engineer can make a great president. This year it is not even a choice. So whoever does win let’s all hope he is good for engineers and the scientific community as a whole. Hopefully the next administration will hear our concerns to preserve a vibrant commercial and military microwave industry, the need for training our next generation of engineers and all else that impacts our business. But today, make sure you get out and vote. Too many people have sacrificed for us to have this right, it is not to be wasted.

The Highs and Lows of EuMW 2008

Managing Editor, Keith Moore rides the train back to Schiphol Airport

I imagine most US attendees to EuMW 08 left on Friday unless they were going sightseeing after the show. The MWJ crew left early Friday morning, while several Horizon House staff members stayed behind to address lingering show duties. Thursday night was a last chance to take in this wonderful host city and sample some of its world cuisine. After eating Indonesian, traditional Dutch, and Thai earlier in the week, we settled on one of the many Argentenia restaurants downtown for our final supper in Amsterdam. I must admit it was quite a good steak.


Hey - look its a horsey. Hmmm - Ever wonder what kind of steaks they were serving at the El Rancho?

Some highlights from the Show:

I saw some very impressive demos from the T&M sector: Agilent with their PNA-X and multiple demos (I like the new IMD measurement system), Anritsu's medium priced fast-switching frequency synthesizer, R&S's mm-wave converter bringing their VNA up to 325 GHz, Keithley's SignalMeister and Tektronix's SignalVu. Lots of new RFIC/MMIC devices from Integrated Device Manufacturer's such as Skyworks, Analog Devices, Mimix, TriQuint, Hittite, and others. Time spent talking to HVVi Semiconductor about their new high voltage power devices, David Hall at National Instrument's always has an interesting demo (multi-protocol test system), meeting Joe Thomas, VP at M/A-Com Technology Solutions. All the major and minor EDA vendors were on hand as were all the major foundries (TriQuint, Win, Ommic, UMS).

The lows - rainy, cold weather, dinner at the "Vermont" restaurant and the rather loud public announcement system. Other than that, I can't really complain.

Where can we get a hot bowl of Cream of Mushroom soup in this town?

The Online Show will wrap-up with our final word on the exhibition and conference as well as product wrap-up and pick of the papers.

Thursday at EuMW08

Suds with the boys on Wednesday Night

Its time to cram - the last day of the exhibition was the usual frantic start as exhibitors, delegates and the press were all busy trying to squeeze in as many last minute appointments as possible. By the end of the day, the cumulative impact of talking and listening, demoing, brainstorming, and answering questions had left most attendees with depleted energy reserves. Certainly by 4:30, as the work crews arrived to tear down the exhibition stands and pull up the carpet, I was ready to take my notes from three days of meetings and pack it up.

Richard Mumford and I have identified many excellent editorial opportunities for the new year and I will need the plane ride home just to organize all the proposed articles, webinars, white papers and special projects onto the 2009 editorial calendar. I am very excited with the way next year is shaping up for editorial and this show has been a big contributor, thanks to both the conference and the exhibitors. I will be writing a show wrap-up to conclude our live coverage of EuMW 2008.

I hope many of you have had the chance to visit our Online Show Daily (OSD) coverage (http://www.mwjournal.com/2008/EUMW/) - the exhibitor perspectives, chairmen messages, the blogs, podcasts, videos (as part of the Virtual Trade Stands) and special articles. The show site will be updated with several remaining new posts through the early part of next week after which we will keep the site available for our readers to use as a reference. The Journal staff at the show and back in our Norwood offices worked very hard to bring you this show coverage and we would like to hear back from you. Let us know what you liked and what you might like different.

Finally, I'd like to thank our OSD sponsors - RFMD, Rohde & Schwarz and TriQuint Semiconductor. Signing off from Amsterdam , this is David Vye. Safe travels home.

Wednesday at EuMW08

The EuMW Welcome Reception, sponsored by Agilent Technologies was held Tuesday night immediately following the first day of the exhibition. This event provided an opportunity for both conference attendees and exhibitors to mingle over drinks and hors d’oeuvre, before several speeches from the conference chair and a message from the event sponsor discussing new show related initiatives. MWJ European Editor, Richard Mumford was on hand for the entire event and files his report in the daily news update (http://www.mwjournal.com/News/article.asp?HH_ID=AR_6733 ).




Richard Mumford writing up his coverage of the Evening Reception.

The MWJ Online Show Daily War Room. Managing Editor Keith Moore files the days press releases and Web Editor, Sam Bookman uploads the day's multi-media content while Account Manager, Mike Hallman provides his usual helpful input.

Yesterday was a busy one for the MWJ staff on both sides of the Atlantic as we rushed to upload the videos shot on Tuesday for the Virtual Trade Stands(http://www.mwjournal.com/2008/EuMW/VTB/) and press releases. We have many photos from the conference and exhibition to post in the next couple of days, so stay tuned.

Quick run-down of my day – met with CST, ParkerVision, Focus Microwave, Times Microwave, Thunderline-Z, TriQuint Semiconductor (at their free “GaAs Class” workshop), and Ansoft. While Tuesday seemed to be a moderate day for floor traffic, the vendors I met were gleaming over the heavier traffic on Wednesday. It is unusual to see the greater traffic on day two, but the back-to-back plenary sessions midday Tuesday may explain for the lower numbers on the first day. Checking in with registration Wednesday morning, I am told that over 3,500 people have registered for the event so far (approximately 2,300 in advance and over 1,200 onsite). Of those registered, over 1,500 were in attendance for the conference and exhibition, while 2,000 attendees were here just for the exhibition.
.

Video Interviews Are Up on our EuMW Virtual Trade Stands!

The MWJ editors conducted 7 video interviews yesterday at EuMW and they are now posted on each company's Virtual Trade Stand which are part of our Online Show Daily web site dedicated to EuMW coverage. The companies participating with videos are Anritsu, AWR, CST, Keithley, M/A-COM, Rohde & Schwarz and Triquint. Tune in to see the unique offerings of these companies on display at EuMW.

EuMW08 Day 1

Daniel Ong and Brian Battaglia of HVVi Semiconductor
stop by as we are setting up the MWJ Stand at EuMW 2008
on Monday afternoon.


The rain is back and so are the attendees as the first day of the EuMW gets underway. Traffic on the floor was heavy throughout most of the day, especially by mid-afternoon. Richard Mumford and I started our day with a local camera crew, conducting "in-stand" interviews with representatives from companies participating with our Virtual Trade Stands on the MWJ Online Show Daily Site.


Richard took the bulk of European-based companies (Rohde & Schwarz, CST) as well as Keithley, while I met with M/A-Com Technology Solutions (the new commercial business sector of M/A-Com Cobham); AWR Corp.; Triquint Semiconductor and Anritsu.

The video team will be working through the night editing the video so that we can post these interviews by the start of business on Wednesday. Please check in to see what these companies are saying about their latest technologies and impressions of EuMW.

Lots of presence from test and measurement vendors, simulation software providers, foundries, and component manufacturers. I'm hearing lots of buzz over infrastructure (backhaul), defense, millimeter-wave opportunities, the need for speed in test & measurement, cost-conscious solutions, .... did I mention millimeter-waves (Agilent was showing off its 500GHz VNA among a number of exciting test solutions).

National Instruments had a very interesting demo of its RF Multi-protocol Test System, Auriga is here with its active device characterization system - sharing a stand with a harmonic load-pull measurement system from Focus Microwave and at the Microave Journal stand we are previewing the upcoming Microwave Journal China site (sorry - you have to be here to see it) and giving away "wicked cool" MWJ Tee-Shirts.

We have lots of companies to visit tomorrow, so stay tuned for our next update.

EuMW Update

As David blogged earlier, EuMW is well underway and we hope you have a chance to attend this year. To keep up with all of the action at the conference and exhibition, we have our Online Show Daily so even if you are not there, you can see what is going on. In addition to the conference messages, exhibitor perspectives, news, product releases and virtual trade booths, we also have 3 audio casts covering the conference events, history of EuMW and what to see and do in Amsterdam.

Today we video taped some exhibitor interviews to see what is new and hot on the show floor. These will be posted tomorrow in the virtual trade booths so check back then to see them. We like to post things quickly or even in real time so you get up to date information.

My Dinner with Carl

MWJ Publisher Carl Sheffres goes international
at the NYC Pizza Parlor in Amsterdam

All in all, its nice to see the sun today (between sessions) after a dismal, rainy Sunday in Amsterdam. Sightseeing was a rather damp experience for us Microwave Journal staffers who braved the wet weather and severe jet-lag in order to sample the local culture and cuisine. Yes, we went to the Van Gogh and Rijk Museums as well as the Melkweg, but it was the Irish bars that provided the comforting stew and suds.

It is now a busy Monday morning as European Microwave Week 2008 delegates register for the conferences and workers assemble the exhibition space. By 8:30 when the first sessions of the day began most attendees were already in one of the many sessions in progress. The day started with a healthy mix of microwave and millimeter-wave MMIC (GaAs) and Silicon IC talks from EuMIC and wireless transceiver presentations from EuWiT.

The EuMIC Plenary Opening got underway just before 11:00 during which four seperate EuWiT sessions took place. Meanwhile, three all day measurement-based sessions (EuMC and EuMC/EuMIC) were held on power amplifier modeling and linearization; advances in modeling low and high power devices; and determining/dealing with errors in Mw measurements. The EuWiT plenary is scheduled for the afternoon while a number of EuMIC sessions will take place.

Week of October 20th: MWJ EuMW08 Coverage

Our first week of EuMW 2008 pre-show coverage is wrapping up and a number of the MWJ staff are on their way to Amsterdam to get ready for the big conference and exhibition. I will head out Saturday night in order to catch one day of sight-seeing before heading over to the RAI (venue site) to help set up our media center and MWJ booth. This year our booth will be spotlighting the latest updates to our Microwave Journal China Web site. This is a pre-view to the site which will be officially launched in the new year. If you get a chance, stop by for a look and to register onto the web site and to receive our MWJChina newsletter.

Our EuMW08 online show daily has begun streaming news from exhibiting vendors. We have had announcements from RemCom (new software release); Emerson Network Power (four new product lines launched); Acceleware, Z-Communications, Quartzlock and more. Many other announcements are waiting in the pipeline (under embargo until next week), so be sure to check in daily for the latest updates. (http://www.mwjournal.com/News/article.asp?HH_ID=AR_6675)

We have also begun populating the sight with short essays from exhibitors on what they hope to get out of the show. Most exhibitors are looking forward to showing off their latest products and the opportunity for face-to-face meetings with potential customers. Take a preview of what these companies have to offer in our Exhibitor Perspectives (http://www.mwjournal.com/News/article.asp?HH_ID=AR_6676)

or

visit our Virtual Trade Stands (http://www.mwjournal.com/2008/EuMW/VTB/).
for advanced product information and news from these participating vendors.
On Tuesday, Richard Mumford (MWJ European Editor) and I will be interviewing representatives from Anritsu, M/A-Com, Keithley, AWR, Triquint, and Rohde & Schwarz. Be sure to check out the video of these interviews next Wednesday. Till then - safe travels and see you in Amsterdam.

EuMW Exhibitor Workshops

EuMW 2008 offers attendees the opportunity to attend workshops and seminars sponsored (and presented) by participating exhibitors. Apart from the product demos available on the exhibition show floor or the technical conference, these workshops give engineers a chance to hear directly from commercial vendors about the latest solutions to today's engineering challenges.

The companies offering workshops this year all belong to the test and measurement equipment manufacturer or simulation software provider sectors. These are two areas that greatly influence design and where product complexity makes ongoing training/education somewhat of a necessity. Among the workshop sponsors, companies include: Agilent Technologies, Ansoft, AWR, IMST, Keithley, and Rohde & Schwarz.

Details on the various workshops being offered are available on the European Microwave Week 2008 web site at http://www.eumweek.com/ExhibitorWorkshops.asp?id=e

AOC International Symposium & Conference

I am here at the 45th AOC International Conference in Reno, NV and the attendance is very strong. There are courses and sessions Sun - Fri along with special classified sessions on Thurs. The exhibition runs Mon - Wed and has about 90 companies including the big players like Raytheon, BAe, Lockheed, NGC, Boeing, ITT, etc. The opening session featured keynote speaker Maj. Gen. Craig Koziol, USAF, Commander JIOWC.

I attended the exhibition yesterday and got to see lots of old friends. Then I made my way over to the ITT Roost party which was a big hit. It seemed like everyone here attended and enjoyed a nice evening of networking with great food, drink and entertainment. See the photo of a group of component suppliers enjoying the evening next to us.

Comsol Conference Brings Multiphysics into Focus

Last Friday (October 10th ) I had the pleasure of attending the COMSOL Conference 2008 Boston at the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel. This venue is very close to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center (BCEC) where MTT-S IMS 2009 will be held, so it gave me an opportunity to preview this up and coming section of Boston down by the waterfront while catching up with the engineers and scientists using this advanced software.

Comsol puts on a very impressive workshop each year with a crowd of engineers, physicists, chemists, students and scientists numbering in the hundreds. With Multiphysics software, cross-over disciplines are a guarantee. Before joining the press luncheon/briefing, I sat down with several attendees enjoying their company provided lunch and we talked about their impressions of this two day event. I spoke with scientists in earth sciences, biophysics, aeronautics, and microwave design. The presentations are of the highest technical caliber and represent substantial research. Some of these talks included:

· Capacitance Computation of Multilayered and Multiconductor Interconnects Using Finite Element Method
· Modeling Carbon Nanotube FET Physics
· Gate Control of Single-Electron Spins in GaAs/AlGaAs Semiconductor Quantum DotCoupled Electromagnetics- Multiphase Porous Media Model for Microwave Combination Heating

It was enlightening to share perspectives on a wide-range of engineering challenges outside of our field. Exposure to different disciplines is among the best ways to broaden your arsenal for creatively solving an engineering problem. I encourage our readers to do so anytime the opportunity arises. The nature of Comsol’s Multiphysics software also provides a lot of common ground between the RF component designer and the engineer working on problems like -structural mechanics of cooling catheters. Our common ground is a need for a user-friendly CAD model interface; adaptive, fast and accurate meshing; and state-of-the-art visualization and report generation. At the press luncheon, I learned how Comsol has been addressing these needs.

Multiphysics® 3.5 has expanded the software’s interoperability with third-party CAD/CAM/CAE applications, providing new Parasolid® file format support and a new bidirectional Autodesk Inventor® interface. Parasolid improves file import efficiency by eliminating the conversion of objects to COMSOL geometry. It enhances productivity by giving users the ability to repair or defeature individual parts in an assembly easily and quickly. Parasolid support saves substantial time when meshing by enabling you to mesh on the Parasolid geometry directly. Additionally, the CAD Import Module is now also available on the Macintosh.

Like its SolidWorks® counterpart, Autodesk Inventor maintains two-way associativity between Inventor and COMSOL so that any changes made in a COMSOL or Autodesk Inventor session propagate across both solutions automatically. The Inventor and SolidWorks bidirectional interfaces, when used with the CAD Import Module, now support geometric parametric sweeps to automatically compute solutions for different geometric shapes. This new functionality lets the engineer wrap any parametric sweeps around any solver, including time-dependent, stationary, or eigenvalue solvers. Parametric sweeps can be run on distributed-memory systems such as Linux and Windows Compute clusters.

Version 3.5 also offers new solvers, coding, and usability enhancements, as well as a many new functionalities, application modes, and material models and properties in COMSOL’s suite of discipline-specific modules boost efficiency and productivity. Solving is substantially faster for time-dependent structural mechanics, electromagnetic, acoustics, and fluid-flow simulations using a new solver, cutting memory usage by as much as 50 percent for common dynamic multiphysics simulations, such as Joule heating, with the new time-dependent segregated solver. This solver also offers new flexible settings that make setting up problems with various multiphysics couplings easier and faster. As electronics shrink in size and grow more complex, designers will need to consider thermal and mechanical considerations ion addition to electrical performance. This is the realm of Multiphysics simulation.

Specific to the Microwave field, Multiphysics® 3.5 offers two specialized modules, which also offers new capability in this latest release. The RF Module 3.5 introduces new circuit ports for simulating the connection of a transmission line or an antenna and an external circuit. Adaptive meshing gives a higher accuracy of extracted S-parameters, which can be used for accurate system modeling. ECAD import shortens the path from circuit board layout to 3D geometry. Time domain simulations are up to 4 times faster using the new time-dependent solver.
For performing thermal analysis, the Heat Transfer Module 3.5 greatly speeds up non-isothermal flow and convective heat transfer simulations as well as provides better stabilization for modeling free convection and heat transfer in turbulent flows. Simulations of heat and flow in electronic cooling, free convection, and general thermal management applications are now up to 8 times faster, while memory requirements for thermal stresses are down 25 percent. In heat conduction applications, new functionality runs simulations of unbounded domains through the infinite elements technique.

MEMS have shown great promise as a technology that can be used for microwave applications. So the MEMS module is of potential interest to our field. The MEMS Module 3.5 features new two-phase flow application modes tuned for multiphysics couplings, which are enhanced with new surface tension data from the Liquids and Gases material properties library. Electro-thermomechanical simulations are now easy to set up with the new predefined multiphysics coupling. Piezo-electric devices and MEMS in general can be integrated in SPICE circuit simulations. You can also include structural damping, dielectric, and coupling losses in the enhanced piezoelectric simulation environment. Viscoelastic material models and large deformations are also incorporated into this release. The new ECAD import greatly facilitates the generation of 3D geometries from mask layouts.

So it was another successful event for Comsol and I recommend readers to check out the material on their website (http://www.comsol.com/conference2008/usa/presentation/#9).