The May issue of the IEEE Microwave Magazine is out! This issue is the annual International Microwave Symposium issue and has a terrific collection of columns about all of the activities at the conference as well as four technical. This summary is just a glimpse at the issue; for details on the issue check out both the Editor’s Desk and Guest Editor’s Desk This month’s issue is focused on IMS2024 and provides you with a preview of the events of Microwave Week.

After starting with the Editor’s and Guest Editor’s Desk, we will next go to the IMS2024 General Chair’s Greeting article by the co-chairs of IMS2024, Scott Barker and Sanjay Raman. As General co-chairs, they have been working with a dedicated team both within the Washington, DC area, as well as around the globe, to put together an exciting technical and social program for all attendees. The tagline for the conference, “Capitalizing across the Spectrum”, is indicative of the broad reach of the technologies we all work with everyday. The technical portion of the program has been organized by the Technical Program Committee (TPC), chaired by Dalma Novak and Robert Weikle, and this should be the next article to read about the “wide spectrum” of technologies to be presented at the conference. Also included are articles on the many technical activities taking place during the week, such as the RFIC and ARFTG conferences, Focus, Panel, Rump and Special Sessions, and the workshops, for which IMS is well-known.
In addition to these technical activities, there are several competitions and, of course, the many Student, Young Professional, Women in Microwaves, and other networking and informal technical activities. And finally, the Exhibit Hall, which will again house the largest gathering of companies in our field, all under one roof. Toward the end of the issue, you will find a summary IMS preview, outlining everything happening during Microwave Week.

In addition to these articles about Microwave Week, we also have four technical features that have a broad technical reach and are representative of the topical areas presented during the week. The first article by John Coonrod, entitled “Theory vs Reality: Using PCB Technology for Grounded Coplanar Waveguide (GCPW) at Millimeter-wave Frequencies,” gives us a practical look at the laminates and substrates we use in our designs, and looks at the impacts of higher frequency operation on the performance of passive structures fabricated on the substrates. The next article, “Do-It-Yourself Custom-Built Outdoor Testbed for 71 GHz – 76 GHz Wireless Backhaul Experimentation,” by YaYa Brown and Alexander Wyglinski, is self-explanatory from its title. The article takes a nuts and bolts look at both the requirements, and also the design and implementation details for a prototype, low-cost, outdoor millimeter wave wireless communications testing system operating in the 71-76 GHz range. Our next two articles are associated with the March 2024 Women in Microwaves issue, but were delayed in publication. The first article, by Marie Horlbeck et al., “Overview of Passive Radar and its Receiver Architectures to Enhance Safety in Civil Aviation”, is an interesting look at radar techniques that are based on more ambient RF sources rather than the transceivers used in traditional radars. The article provides insight into passive radar systems and describes the history, dating back to the 1930s. Passive radar’s principle of operation and possible transmitters are also presented. The final technical feature of the issue, “Far-field Wireless Power Beaming to Mobile Receivers Using Distributed, Coherent Phased Arrays,” by Ifana Mahboub et al., is a review article that discusses the critical components of WPT network design. Here, the authors highlight the limitations of the current state-of-the-art technologies and provide food for thought on future research directions.

Finally, this issue is not only about IMS2024 and Microwave Week; we also have our regular columns for you to read. We begin with a column from MTT-S President, Maurizio Bozzi, and some thoughts on IMS2024. Next, Fred Schindler and Rajeev Bansal present their MicroBusiness and Microwave Surfing columns, and Amelie Hagelaur provides an update and look ahead in her Women in Microwaves column. Next, the MTT-S InterSociety Committee provides a report on the InterSociety Technology Panel (ISTP) at the 2023 Asia Pacific Microwave Conference. Be sure to look for a similar ISTP at IMS2024. Rounding out the issue, we have our Ombuds Officer’s Report, and a new Enigmas, etc. problem for you to solve (the solution will be provided next month). Finally, check out the Conference Calendar for upcoming international and regional conferences related to the MTT-S.

I hope you enjoy the issue, and I look forward to seeing you at IMS2024 and Microwave Week.