European Microwaves - IEEE Xplore

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Sep 13, 2012 - exhaustive insight here, but some of the technical top- ics that are of special .... conducted within the School of Physics and Astron- omy at the University of ..... automotive electronics, driver assist systems, traffic monitoring and ...
European Microwaves Roberto Sorrentino and Jan Grahn

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urope is a collection of individual countries speaking different languages but sharing a common cultural heritage. Each country has its own industries, research centers, and academic bodies. The integration of European countries has been pursued by the European Union (EU) with a number of initiatives in various areas, such as education, science, and technology. A major instrument in this direction has been the series of EU Framework Programmes (FPs), which identify strategic areas of research and development (R&D) and fund specific collaborative projects involving research centers, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and large enterprises in Europe. A detailed description of the entirety of the initiatives is far out-

side the possibilities of this article, but it is available on the Community Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS) Web site (http://cordis.europa. eu/home_en.html). A variety of parallel initiatives, both public and private, have also been launched. Among them, in the area of microwaves, it is worth mentioning the constitution in 1998 of the European Microwave Association (EuMA), as an international nonprofit association with the aim of developing education, training, and research activities in the area of microwave technology in Europe. The main activity of EuMA has been the launch of European Microwave Week (EuMW), established now as the most important microwave event in Europe and the second one in the world [1]. In 2008, an industrial-driven initiative for

Roberto Sorrentino ([email protected]) is with the University of Perugia, Italy, and Jan Grahn is with the Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience, Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden. Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2012.2185392 Date of publication: 13 September 2012

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1527-3342/12/$31.00©2012IEEE

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Microwave research in Sweden is mainly focused at Chalmers University of Technology. European microwaves was launched, the European Radio and Microwave Interest Group (EuRaMIG), with the purpose of making microwave and radio technology more visible and coordinated in the European research landscape. A very succinct outline of microwave activities in various European countries is provided in the following section. Israel has been included also because of its strong links with Europe and the importance of its microwave activities. The material presented here is based on a previous similar article from 2008 that appeared in Microwave Journal [2], while a more dated account appeared ten years ago for the 50th anniversary of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S) [3]. The authors offer their apologies for not being able to provide a deeper and more exhaustive insight here, but some of the technical topics that are of special interest in Europe today will appear in a series of articles to appear in future issues of this magazine.

Microwave Activities in European Countries Sweden The Swedish company SRA, later part of Ericsson, focused on mobile systems for telephony, paving the way for the key role that Sweden now plays in wireless communications. Ericsson is still the dominating Swedish company in the microwave field with its focus on communication systems such as radio base station units for third generation (3G) and fourth generation (4G). In the Göteborg region, microwave and millimeter-wave (mm-wave) links for microwave backhaul are developed and produced from 7 to 40 GHz, lately also at E-band. Defense electronics, in particular radar sensors and jammers, were, in the past, mainly developed by Ericsson but is now part of the Saab division Electronic Defence Systems with development of advanced microwave systems for military applications. Smaller companies like Ruag Space, Omnisys Instruments and Sivers IMA, focus on civilian products for different applications, e.g., space instrumentation and communication. Rosemount Tank Radar (part of Emerson Process Management) has a strong reputation for radars based on frequency-modulated continuouswave (FMCW) techniques such as level gauging applications in oil tankers. In the last few years, microwave spinoffs from Chalmers have been active in mm-wave components, cryogenic ultra-low-noise amplifiers and MMIC design.

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Academically, modern microwave technology teaching and research began during the early 1940s at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, and at Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg. The Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI), has been active in the fields of mm-wave security imaging, phased-array antenna technology high-power microwave protection and electromagnetic compatibility, radar cross-sectional analysis, and the design of radar and electronic warfare (EW) systems. Also, radio astronomy has historically been strong in Sweden, with the Onsala Space Observatory south of Göteborg for radio astronomy established in 1949. Today, the observatory is, with Chalmers, involved in international projects such as the Atacama large millimeter array (ALMA) telescope in Chile and the lowfrequency array (LOFAR). In 2001, the Odin satellite radio astronomy observatory was launched with an advanced quasi-optical 500 GHz receiver and amplifiers (IF and 119 GHz) designed and built at Chalmers. Chalmers has also delivered world-record low-noise temperature THz heterodyne receivers for the Herschel telescope launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) in May 2009. Microwave research in Sweden is mainly focused at Chalmers’ in gallium nitride (GaN) MMIC technologies, tunable components based on ferroelectrics, THz varactors and Schottky diodes, ultra-low-noise amplifiers, and array-type superconductor-insulatorsuperconductor (SIS) receivers. There is also significant activity regarding III-V MMIC design for multifunctional solutions in mm-wave communication and sensor systems. Today, a substantial part of Swedish microwave research is performed in partnerships between Chalmers and industry. In the Gigahertz Centre, an essential focus is on digital enhanced amplifiers combining microwave power amplifier design with signal processing for enhanced performance in transmitters for telecommunications.

Finland In 1924, the Helsinki University of Technology (TKK) established the Radio Laboratory and hired the first professor of radio engineering. Microwaves with regards to their applications to radar and radio links were first researched and taught in the 1940s, with the first thesis on a mobile radio published in 1949. In the 1960s, microwave techniques were often studied in connection with radio astronomy, mm-waves being first employed in the 1970s. That decade also saw increased interest in the study of microwave sensors for industrial processes and microwave remote sensing. The last 30 years have seen the evolution of radio communications. A Finnish enterprise, Nokia, has been the market leader of global mobile phone markets for many years. Strong domestic industry has certainly been reflected in the education of microwave

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techniques, antennas, and propagation in Finland. At the Aalto University (formerly TKK), microwave techniques and related topics such as electromagnetics, antennas and propagation, RF circuit design, circuit theory, microwave remote sensing, and radio communications are studied and taught, mainly at the Department of Radio Science and Engineering. The University of Oulu and the Tampere University of Technology also have research and teaching activities in these fields. In 1995, Aalto and VTT Technical Research Center of Finland (the governmental research center) established a joint research institute for mm-wave techniques, the Millimetre-Wave Laboratory of Finland (MilliLab), which has the status of an ESA external laboratory. Current microwave research activities in Finland are directed toward artificial electromagnetic materials, improved models of RF components and circuits, smart/adaptive radios and antennas, radio channel modelling for future mobile radio systems, RFID, radar sensors, E-band point-to-point communication links, mm-wave identification (MMID), THz imaging, submm-wave antenna measurements, and synthetic aperture radiometry.

United Kingdom and Ireland Microwave activities within the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland can be traced back to radar interests of the 1930s and 1940s, as demonstrated by the Marconi Company work on design/installation of the Chain Home network of radar equipment and the General Electric Company (GEC)/Birmingham University (Randall & Boot) work on the first magnetrons. Over the last 50 years or so, one of the most exciting fields of advancing technology has been in microwave solid-state devices with associated integrated circuits (ICs). Originating from the work in World War II (WWII) by GEC Research Laboratories and British Thomson Houston Research Laboratories [later Amalgamated Electrical Industries (AEI), then merged with GEC in the late 1960s] on semiconductor two terminal device technology, there have been many participating establishments, which have contributed to the UK’s and Ireland’s world competitive position in the field and provided the focus for internationally recognized technical achievements. What follows represents a very brief history of just some of the many significant enterprises, recognizing that there have been many company mergers and restructuring, with rationalization of their autonomous product companies. The GEC Research Laboratories founded in 1924, later known as the Hirst Research Centre, ceased operation in the early 2000s. The center was recognized as a principal contributor to microwave technology over the frequency range of 1–100 GHz, including waveguide, hybrid MICs, and MMICs. Much of the early waveguide technologies were transferred to

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Microwave activities within the United Kingdom and Ireland can be traced back to radar interests of the 1930s and 1940s Associated Semiconductor Manufacturers (ASM) Ltd in the 1960s, with the later technologies being transferred to GEC Product Groups in the 1990s, the business interest being transferred to Marconi Electronic Devices Ltd at Lincoln, later becoming GEC Plessey Semiconductors. In 1996, these interests were transferred to English Electric Valves (EEV), thus combining the microwave solid state and valve technologies in a single company located in Lincoln UK. In 1999, EEV was renamed Marconi Applied Technologies, and then in 2002, became e2v technologies. Since May 2011, the e2v microwave semiconductor activities have been conducted within the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Nottingham, with whom it has a collaboration agreement. It is believed that this is now the only remaining industry-run operation engaging in the manufacture and R&D of compound semiconductor two-terminal devices. Plessey Research (Caswell) Ltd, established in 1940, became GEC-Marconi Materials Technology Ltd (a merger of GEC and Plessey) in 1990, and was, until recently, part of Bookham Technology plc. Here, pioneering work on GaAs led to the world’s first demonstrated GaAs field-effect transistor (FET) in 1966, the first commercial GaAs FET in 1970, and the world’s first FET-based GaAs MMIC in 1976. In the 1980s, Caswell established a GaAs MMIC technology capability up to 100 GHz and a fully commercial MMIC foundry. The facility was later upgraded to handle 150 mm wafers for microwave and optical applications. In late April 2009, the Bookham and Avanex Corporations announced a merger, creating one of the largest suppliers of optical components, modules, and subsystems to the long-haul and metro telecommunications markets. The newly combined company was named Oclaro. The Oclaro Caswell site boasts the industry’s most advanced 3-in InP wafer fabrication facility, where chip development and R&D for many Oclaro transmission solutions is carried out, including the digital supermode distributed-Bragg-reflector (DS-DBR) tunable laser chip and photonic ICs (PICs) for 40 Gb/s networks. Marconi Research Centre at Great Baddow, established in 1939, later BAE Systems Advanced Technology Centre, can trace its origins as a Marconi Research Department created in 1913. Currently, the center delivers the front line in technology innovation, acquisition, development, and insertion for BAE Systems (as the second largest global defense company) and its joint venture organizations.

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Polish microwave engineering activities date back to the late 1940s with the advent of the first Polish microwave tube. Filtronics Ltd, originated in 1977 as a spinoff from the University of Leeds to design and manufacture RF and microwave filters for telecommunications, later became a leading supplier of wireless infrastructure subsystem products and was involved in III-V compound semiconductors—representing the only GaAs foundry within the UK since 2000. However, since March 2008, the compound semiconductor part of the business was acquired by RFMD. Finally, M/A-COM, formerly Microwave Associates Ltd, has had an independent operation in the UK since the early 1960s. With early involvement in producing silicon point contact diodes, it has made many contributions in the R&D fields of microwave solid-state device, components, and subsystems. It is now located in a new facility at Milton Keynes, M/A-COM (Tyco Electronics Ltd), where it supports three business units with continuing microwave interests. The role of the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been very instrumental in supporting R&D both from the technical and financial points of view. The British Government’s Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) at Malvern was an important establishment (with history back to the 1940s as TRE) was split in 2001 into two organizations: QinetiQ (an independent science and technology company) and the Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL), an agency of the UK MoD. The Malvern site has been involved in wide-ranging microwave activities, pioneering work on GaAs and InP transferred electron effects, the development of key radar systems that include solid state, and, more recently, the R&D of optomicrowave ICs. Currently, there is some doubt regarding the future of the Malvern site. Microwave engineering as an academic discipline possibly started in the UK and Ireland in 1945 at University College London. Many other universities then established microwave activities, including, for example • the University of Manchester (formed in 2004 by the merger of UMIST with Victoria University of Manchester), which has been internationally recognized for its work on ferrite nonreciprocal devices since the 1970s • the University of Leeds, which, with microwaves interests in 1963, formed the Microwave Solid State Group in the mid-1970s and the current Institute of Microwaves and Photonics in 1997 • University College Dublin with interests in PA design, predistortion, nonlinear device modeling

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and characterization, behavioral modeling, and nonlinear simulation algorithms • the University of Cork on mm-wave devices with a spinoff by Farran Technologies • Queens University Belfast on silicon microwave device technology, nonlinear microwave circuit design, and active and passive antenna techniques for wireless communications • Imperial College London on RF MEMS, electromagnetic energy harvesting, metamaterials, and THz technology.

Poland Polish microwave engineering activities date back to the late 1940s with the advent of the first Polish microwave tube: a pulse magnetron model M2 (600 MHz, 300 kW/imp), developed by the Telecommunications Research Institute (PIT) in collaboration with the Warsaw University of Technology. The manufacture of microwave tubes spread into the Unitra establishments, OBREP and Lamina, from where new types of magnetrons, klystrons, and travelling-wave tubes (TWTs) emerged. At the same time, a radar technology unit was established at PIT, which developed its first Nysa radar. The 1960s and 1970s were very productive. Several enterprises undertook microwave materials research and, subsequently, their production. Among them, the Institute of Electronic Materials (ITME) concentrated on semiconductors, while Polfer on magnetic materials. Also, the Institute of Electronic Technology was among the largest developers of semiconductor diodes in eastern Europe. Microwave developments in Poland have been based on national research, with institutes supported by academia, mainly by the microwave departments within four technical universities in Warsaw, Gdansk, and Wroclaw. Unfortunately, the status of microwave research and industry in Poland has been heavily influenced by changes in the economy of the region, which led to many industrial establishments being closed down during the 1980s and 1990s. Similarly, governmental financing of research and education has been reduced significantly. Access to the EU in 2004 has brought new challenges and new opportunities. On the one hand, Polish companies have been exposed to totally unrestricted competition against much stronger players on the European market. On the other hand, new opportunities of research financing appeared in the form of access to European research projects. In the new environment, there are already signs of exceptional progress in some domains. One of them is GaN technology. The Warsaw-based Ammono company has emerged as the World’s leader in bulk GaN manufacturing. It made the cover story of IEEE Spectrum in July 2010, which said of AMMONO, “[a] little

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Polish company you’ve never heard of is beating the tech titans in a key technology of the 21st century.” It is not the only example of GaN technology in Poland. TopGaN Ltd is a successful manufacturer of high-class GaN wafers fabricated by High Nitrogen Pressure Solution (HNPS) growth. With a wide range of GaN research conducted in Warsaw in the Institute of Electron Technology and Institute of High Pressure Physics, we can expect more progress in manufacturing GaN-based components. The traditional radar industry had to undertake deep restructuring to maintain its competitiveness on the military and civil markets. PIT merged with Radwar under the new ownership of the military complex Bumar. It remains the largest group of microwave and radar engineers in the country. With high international esteem for their radiolocation systems, they have a good chance of further successes. With regards to microwave materials, ITME remains active and visible on the international arena, exporting silicon, GaAs and InP wafers, and epitaxial structures. It is also involved with optoelectronic and microwave devices and sensors. New private companies are being established, and some have already introduced their products onto the international market, e.g., manufactures Telemobile, WiRan, Transbit—filters, antennas and digital communication systems; ErtecPoland—microwave plasma reactors; and QWED— electromagnetic simulations software and microwave measurement resonators.

Czech Republic and Slovakia The Czech Republic and Slovakia have experienced political and social-economic repercussions similar to Poland except that fewer workers emigrated. Until the upheaval of the 1980s, microwave technology in the former Czechoslovakia was relatively high. A key manufacturer of microwave equipment was TESLA, a brand name for radars operating from 10 cm to less than 3 cm, which also produced point-to-point radio links and nearly all associated components. The country has been quite successful in developing passive radar technology (Ramona, Tamara). Microwave systems were produced in southern Moravia. The Research Institute for Telecommunications developed and produced semiconductor diodes and transistors and the three Technical Universities of Prague, Brno, and Bratislava, the Military Academy, and the Institute of Radioelectronics of the Academy of Science provided background scientific support. Since 1989, activity in the field of microwave technology has dropped, and the market has been reduced by about a half. However, Prague, Pardubice, and Kunovice, where the former large companies originally prospered, have become host to several new SMEs. For example, ERA produces passive surveillance systems; VERA and RAMET C.H.M., police radars; Ramer and

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In the USSR, some of the major RF and microwave enterprises were concentrated in Lithuania. ALCOMA, communication systems; and Retia, special radar subsystems and command, control, communications, and intelligence (C3I) systems. Czech scientists also have achieved very good results in biomedical activities in Prague (microwave hyperthermia). In Slovakia, most research institutes have practically disappeared. Microwave courses are offered at three technical universities (the leading one is in Bratislava). Few new companies have been formed, e.g., S-Team Lab (founded in 1990 by group of scientists) became a prominent Slovak microwave consulting laboratory and successfully develops measurement equipment.

Baltic Republics Since gaining independence, the former Baltic Republics of the USSR have witnessed vast economical changes. In the USSR, some of the major RF and microwave enterprises were concentrated in Lithuania. Vilnius Research Institute of Radio-Measuring Devices was a leading research institute in the microwave field in the USSR, with a large plant producing measurement equipment. A similar research institute existed in Kaunas, where network analyzers were developed. After the collapse of the USSR, both research institutes were liquidated, and a number of private companies were established on their basis. They are engaged in applied research: Elmika on mm-wave passive devices and measuring instruments, Geozondas on microwave measuring equipment for antennas and radars, and Keturpolis on network analyzers. Recently, new companies have emerged through international investments. For example, Giga (Denmark), founded its subdivision GigaBaltic specializing in fast communication devices, Elcoteq Tallinn established two plants manufacturing telecommunication equipment, Vigintos Electronica (Vilnius) manufactures TV and radio transmitters, Terra (Kaunas) makes microwave passive and active components for satellite television, SAF Tehnika (Riga) focuses on telecommunications and data transmission equipment, and Radar Systems (Riga) makes ground-penetrating radars (GPRs). New semiconductor microwave devices are developed in Semiconductor Physics Institute (Vilnius). Basic research is carried out at the National Academy institutes of the Baltic States as well as at the universities in Vilnius, Riga, and Tallinn.

Russia The prestigious Nobel Prize in Physics is the precise indicator of the actual science and technology status

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The Russian Foundation for Basic Research is a self-governing noncommercial government organization that provides support and assistance to research work in all areas of fundamental science. of the country. In 2010 Dutch-Russian-British physicist Andre Geim and Russian-British physicist Konstantin Novoselov received the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics, “for groundbreaking experiments regarding the twodimensional material graphene.” Both of them received the Diploma from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and then worked at the University of Manchester and other institutions at the EU. The situation is typical for the modern Russia with the rich traditions in education and poor possibilities in fundamental research activity. The government of Russia recently issued several Programs for R&D and innovations in the priority fields of science, education, and technologies. The most important are devoted to the Development of the Nanotechnology Infrastructure, National Technological Foundation, Electronic Russia, and National Research Universities. Specifically, microwave information and communication technology is one of the fundamental topics of the industrial, research, and educational activity. The joint-stock company with industrial enterprise concern, Almaz-Antey, is one of the largest Russian military-industrial organizations specializing in the development, manufacture, and export of high-technology products for military and nonmilitary applications. It incorporates 17 manufacturing enterprises, design bureaus, and scientific research institutes located in different regions of Russia that are engaged in the development and manufacture of long-, medium-, and short-range air defense systems.Also, the Scientific-Research Institute of Instrument Design (SRIID) is one of Russia’s leading scientific-research institutions dedicated to the development of mobile medium-range air defense missile systems and aircraft weapon control systems. Bauman Moscow State Technical University (BMSTU) provides close cooperation activities with the Russian Academy of Sciences and Industry. Presently, there are approximately 18,000 students concentrating their studies in science and engineering and 1,000 post graduates working on their Ph.D. thesis at the BMSTU. Moscow Aviation Institute [(MAI) National Research University] is one of the world-leading engineering universities dedicated to aerospace technologies. MAI consists of more than 1,700 professors and lecturers, including both 300 full-professors (D.Sc) and 800 asso-

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ciate professors (Ph.D) who teach more than 20,000 undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate students at ten schools, three institutes, and four branches of the University. The Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) is a self-governing noncommercial government organization whose main goal is to provide support and assistance to research work in all areas of fundamental science on a competitive basis. It is targeting fundamental research and geared toward selecting and funding those projects aimed at the development of break-through technologies and new materials in priority areas. The Kotel’nikov Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics of the Russian Academy of Sciences carries out fundamental research. Some of its microwave R&D activities include electrodynamics, electromagnetic tomography, electromagnetism and antennas, microwave plasma chemistry for photonics, low-dimensional nanostructures, physics of magnetic phenomena, radar astronomy and space radio science, remote sensing of the earth and atmosphere, signal processing and telecommunications, and superconducting devices for signal detection and processing.

Ukraine Microwave-related R&D in Ukraine is concentrated at the universities and the R&D institutes of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU). The history of microwave research dates from the 1920s. In 1924, Abram Slutskin (1881–1950) at Kharkiv National (then, Imperial) University succeeded in generating split-anode magnetron oscillations with 7.3-cm wavelength. After 1929, this work was greatly expanded and intensified when the Ukrainian Institute of Physics and Technology (UIPT, now Kharkiv IPT) was established. Based on the successful source development, in 1935 Slutskin started an ambitious project, developing pioneering three-coordinate L-band (60 cm) pulse radar. After WWII, magnetron researches concentrated in the Institute of Radio-Physics and Electronics (IRE) NASU. As a result, mm-wave cavity magnetrons were designed having record power like 100 kW at 4 mmwavelength in the pulsed mode. In the 1990s, mmwave magnetrons were reborn in the Institute of Radio Astronomy (IRA) NASU, where marketable sources with cold cathode are now produced for the frequencies of 36, 94, and 140 GHz. A remarkable direction of R&D was in the areas of thermonuclear and plasma science. Here, one of the major technologies was the Tokamak principle. To learn how to stabilize this fusion machine, some sort of hot plasma diagnostics was needed. This could be done by using mm and sub-mm waves for probing the plasma and measuring the characteristics of the reflected signal. Therefore, in the late 1950s, a special

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laboratory was engaged for development of sub-mmwave technologies using the quasi-optical principles. Based on them, Yevgeny Kuleshov (born in 1922) designed, in the mid-1960s, so-called ribbed hollowdielectric beamguide (HDB) technology. The latter happened to be very promising and enabled him to develop complete sub-mm systems such as multichannel interferometers for Tokamaks at frequencies 0.3– 2.5 THz. It was no surprise that Kuleshov was awarded a very prestigious IEEE MTT-S Microwave Pioneer Award in 2000. From the 1970s through the 1990s, HDB technology was also used in the design of quasi-optical antenna-feeding circuits for 2-mm band radar sensors and miniature radar cross section (RCS) test ranges. In such a system, a downscaled model of a studied target is placed inside HDB, and the polarization scattering matrix of the mode HE11 is measured to simulate the free-space scattering. Research of weather objects with microwave sensing was initiated in the Ukrainian R&D Institute of Hydro-Meteorology in Kiev (1960s) by Volf Muchnik (1912–1986), who designed an X-band radar-based system Meteorolog for rainfall measurement. Since the 1980s, at the Kiev Institute of Civil Aviation Engineers, now National Aviation University (NAU), another radar laboratory became a leader in this field. During 1996–2003, these works were continued via joint projects of NAU and Delft University of Technology (TU-Delft) and resulted in development of Dopplerpolarimetric methods for the S- and X-bands. In the 1990s, high-sensitivity 36 and 95-GHz Doppler polarimetric cloud radars were developed at IRA. By the 1980s, remote sensing from Earth observation satellites became the cutting edge of microwave science and technology. One of the most important applications was the detection of cracks and channels in Arctic Sea ice for safe cargo navigation. In the IRE, the department of remote sensing, headed by Anatoly Kalmykov (1936–1996), developed the space-borne X-band sidelooking radar (SLR). Equipped with an original deployable 12-m slotted-waveguide antenna, it was placed in orbit onboard the Kosmos-1500 satellite in 1985. Immediately after launch, it proved to be invaluable when a caravan of freighters was blocked in the Arctic. Later, this technology was released to the industry and used in a series of Earth observation satellites, Okean. Today, Ukrainian satellite Sich is equipped with a variety of sensors, including SLR and mm-wave radiometers. In the 1990s, research in this area was greatly extended due to activities in the IRA, where airborne dual-frequency (36 and 95 GHz) SLR was developed and put into operation. This work continued in the 2000s with emphasis on the development of SAR systems. There are four Chapters of the IEEE MTT-S in Ukraine: in Lviv, Kharkiv (the biggest one), Kiev, and Vinnitsa. The main meetings are the Kharkiv International Symposium on Microwaves, Millimeter, and

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The main microwave activity in Germany relates to public communication, broadcasting, sensing, traffic control, and medical treatment. Submillimeter Waves (http://www.ire.kharkov.ua/ MSMW10); the Microwaves, Radar, and Remote Sensing Symposium (http://ieee.nau.edu.ua/index-22. html); and the International Conference on Mathematical Methods in Electromagnetic Theory (http://www. mmet.org).

Germany, Austria, and Switzerland The main microwave activity in Germany relates to public communication, broadcasting, sensing, traffic control, and medical treatment, with applications in the commercial, consumer, and military sectors. Microwave components, antennas, and a variety of microwave systems and measurement equipment are manufactured. Leading players are Bosch, Continental, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), Huber & Suhner, Infineon Technologies, Intel Mobile Communications, Nokia Siemens Networks, NXP, Rohde & Schwarz, Siemens, Spinner, TDK-EPC, Triquint, and Ubidyne. In the 1990s, while the military sector decreased, there was increased activity in the mobile communications and broadband optical communications sectors. However, the last decade saw a decline in many RF and microwave oriented business segments with the communications segment of Siemens disappearing completely and the mobile communications production lines of some companies relocating to countries with low employment costs. Intel Mobile Communications (formerly the wireless products business unit of Infineon Technologies) is successful, producing semiconductor devices and complete system solutions for a range of wireless applications, including cellular and cordless telephone systems and devices used in connection with global position system (GPS). Products include standardized baseband ICs (logic and analogue), power RF and microwave transistors, and standardized and customized RFICs, including transceiver chip sets for mobile communications applications. TDK-EPC (formerly Epcos) ranks as one of the world’s largest manufacturers of passive electronic components. The company pioneered the field of miniaturized and innovative passive components and is playing a key role as a manufacturer of surface and bulk acoustic wave devices. EADS is a global company. The EADS Defence & Security Systems Division comprises the former

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While Belgium is one of the smallest countries in Europe it has a rich history in the field of microwaves and radio communications. companies Telefunken, Dornier, and MBB and is responsible for the majority of the company’s microwave activities in the fields of radar, electronic warfare (EW), navigation, and communications for military and civil applications. These systems and related equipment are supported by United Monolithic Semiconductor (UMS), a global semiconductor supplier and foundry. Robert Bosch is a global supplier of technologies and services in the areas of automotive and industrial technology. Microwave technology is key for their automotive electronics, driver assist systems, traffic monitoring and control systems, and car multimedia. Rohde & Schwarz is a major supplier of radio communications, radio location, and broadcast equipment, and a manufacturer of test and measurement equipment. Spinner is a leading manufacturer of passive microwave components, including waveguide components, coaxial connectors, cable assemblies, coaxial waveguide switches, and optical waveguide components. The company also manufactures broadband optical transmission systems. At German universities, microwaves are mainly covered under high-frequency engineering (Hochfrequenztechnik) within the electrical engineering departments. The Fakultätentag für Elektrotechnik und Informationstechnik (FTEI), the electrical engineering and information technology faculties assembly is a confederation of the electrical engineering departments of German universities. The FTEI has the objective to achieve and maintain fundamental topics of education, research, and academic self-administration. In education, the universities have introduced bachelor and master programs. Many universities also offer master’s programs in English language to promote international cooperations. There are 29 universities with electrical engineering departments with high-frequency engineering or microwave engineering departments represented in the FTEI. Representatives of the electrical engineering departments of the Austrian universities Graz, Leoben, Linz, Vienna (Technische Universität Wien), and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich are invited to the annual general meetings of the FTEI. German universities are strongly involved in research activities supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft [(DFG) translated as the German Research Foundation], the Federal Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Technology, by the German state ministries or by European research funding. Joint research projects between university institutes and

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industry and cooperation with other research institutes play an important role. In Germany, the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), the Federal Ministry for Education and Research funds research projects at industry, research institutes, and universities. The current priority programs dealing with microwave topics are Mobile Communication Systems, Innovative Optical Communication Networks, and New Areas of Technology, with the DFG being the central organization for supporting such projects. A number of research institutes carry out microwave research. Major contributors are the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid-State Physics (IAF) in Freiburg, the Ferdinand Braun Institute (FBH) and the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute, both in Berlin, the Institute for High Performance Microelectronics (IHP) in Frankfurt/Oder, and the Institute for Mobile Communications and Satellite Technology (IMST) in Kamp-Lintfort. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) as the national space flight agency manages German space programs. The DLR Institute of Communications and Navigation pursues satellite communications, aeronautic communications, terrestrial radio systems, satellite navigation, and traffic guidance systems, and the DLR Microwave and Radar Institute deals with microwave theory and techniques. The Fraunhofer Research Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques [(FHR) formerly FGAN] develops concepts, methods, and systems for electromagnetic sensors, particularly in the field of radar and radiometry, together with innovative signal processing methods and innovative technology from the microwave to the lower Terahertz region.

The Netherlands Key players active in microwave theory and techniques are the TU-Delft, Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), the ESA European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA-ESTEC), Thales Nederland B.V., the National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR), the Dutch Space, CHL Netherlands B.V., the Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON), HITT N.V., the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology at the University of Twente, and the Twente Institute for Wireless and Mobile Communications B.V. At TU-Delft, the International Research Centre for Telecommunications and Radar (IRCTR)/Microwave Technology and Systems for Radar focuses on fundamental antenna research; advanced RF front ends (complete digital-RF-antenna systems) for microwave and mm-wave radio systems and networks; ultra wideband radio applications in radar and telecommunication. The Delft Institute of Micro-Electronics and Submicron Technologies (DIMES) of TU-Delft deals

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with silicon-based bipolar, CMOS and BiCMOS microwave and mm-wave chips up to 100 GHz; openings towards hundreds of GHz; complete radar and telecommunication systems on a chip. An important role is played by the European Space Research and Technology Center (ESTEC) of the ESA. ESTEC is active in all areas of microwave circuits, devices, and systems related to RF front ends (complete digital-RF-antenna systems) for spaceborn platforms. TNO has extensive programs investigating system design and integration involving applied research in RF front ends (including antennas). Finally, SRON develops terahertz radiometry for deep space investigations.

Belgium While Belgium is one of the smallest countries in Europe, it has a rich history in the field of microwaves and radio communications. In 1913 King Albert I was involved in the inception of the Commission Internationale de Télégraphie sans Fil Scientifique, the predecessor of the International Radio Science Union (URSI). He was the first honorary president of URSI . The secretariat of URSI is in Gent, Belgium. Belgian industry was early to adopt radio communications: the Compagnie Générale de Télégraphie sans Fil started in the early 1900s and today exists as Société Anonyme Internationale de Télégraphie sans fil (SAIT) Zenitel, concentrating on naval communications and professional wireless communications. The Antwerp Space N.V., the descendant of what used to be Alcatel Bell Space, has a rich history and works presently in the ground segment of satellite communications, with a speciality in high-performance RF converters and demodulators. It is now part of the group Orbitale Hochtechnologie Bremen (OHB) Technology AG. The Belgian Advanced Technology Systems company (BATS), founded in 1984, works both in the civilian and the military market. They develop and produce detection and tracking radars and sensors for different applications. Newtec, founded in 1985, designs satellite links and designs and manufactures the ground equipment for these. Applications range from broadcasting to IP-trunking. Agilent (Eesof EDA group ) has a center for the development and support of its electromagnetics software in Gent. BEA-BER develops radar detectors at 24 GHz for door opening. Icoms Detections, located in Louvain-la-Neuve, develops sensors for the detection of cars, pedestrians, and speed measurements. Septentrio Satellite Navigation, founded in Leuven in 2000, is developing GPS/global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers, applications in precision GNSS signal tracking, positioning and navigation. Belgian research in the microwave field is concentrated in the universities and in the research center Imec.

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The dramatic growth of RF and microwave applications has pushed continuous advances in research, development, and education during the last 50 years in France. KU Leuven has a standing reputation in the analysis, design and measurement of planar antennas. It nurtures a very high performance method-of-moment code for 2-D and 2.5-D structures. This group is also strong in measurement based nonlinear modelling of active devices and circuits, with a broad experience in terms of solution methods, ranging from tablebased models to neural networks, and semi-conductor technologies (Si, GaAs, InP, GaN). KU Leuven also models electromagnetic propagation for indoor and outdoor communications, and with special expertise in the effects of wind mills on air traffic radar. The group has also published on applications such as interconnects, MEMS, biomedical effects, positioning, and mmwave imaging. Measurement facilities are available for linear devices, circuits and antennas up to 110  GHz, including anechoic environments and nonlinear devices up to 50 GHz. The Université catholique de Louvain (UCL) microwave group is experienced in propagation research mainly oriented towards the channel modelling for satellite, cellular and sensor (body area network) communications. A wideband Elektrobit channel sounder has been obtained by a joined UCL/Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) project [Optique, Photonique, Electromagnétisme, Radio-communications, Acoustique (OPERA) group]. The UCL microwave group is active in the design and development of active circuits for 24 GHz application, in SOI active devices and passive structures modelling and optimisation. Several measurement set-ups are going up to 110 GHz. Research activities on the design of antennas are on-going, both from a theoretical and an experimental point of view. An anechoic chamber has recently been acquired. Finally, the group has a long-standing interest in biological effects of microwave radiation, most recently with a study of low-level long-term effects on rats. Universiteit Gent (UGent) has most of its microwave research in theoretical and numerical electromagnetics. With a long-lasting experience in solving integral equations, they have focused on fast multipole and fast Fourier techniques and parallel computing implementations. These techniques have been applied to waveguide and scattering problems, material design, optical components, and electromagnetic compatibility. A second major topic is the electromagnetic modelling of mostly indoor propagation channels and propagation of signals over wired interconnections. Also, the

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The development of microwave activities in Italy began in 1919 with the early investigations carried out by Marconi. interaction of electromagnetic fields with the human body is a field of study. UGent has an anechoic chamber up to 12.4 GHz and a bistatic antenna measurement setup. For its numerical work it has its own grid with 24 processors. Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) is very well known for the design of nonlinear measurement setups. Today they can handle two-port measurement in CW, modulated and pulsed regimes. They have strongly contributed to the development of nonlinear measurement instruments. Also absolute calibration techniques have seen very strong inputs of this group. The measurement expertise is applied to modelling of nonlinear devices and nonparametric modelling. VUB also works on mm waves: dielectric spectroscopy, imaging for security applications and industrial sensors.It has a quasi-optical vector network analyser with an operational frequency range from 40 to 660 GHz. The Royal Military Academy (RMA) has unique expertise in humanitarian demining and associated robotics and in the broad field of microwave and mmwave sensors used on the ground and in the air in military environments. RMA has activities in THz imaging for nondestructive testing (NDT) purposes such as foreign object damage (FOD) and other defects such as delamination, voids, and heat damage. In the radar domain, they have expertise in measurements of the radar cross section of small drones and in radar camouflage materials. RMA is also active in the field of radar cross-section modelling and antenna design. Imec is one of Europe’s largest independent research institutes for the development of micro-electronic technologies. Imec has a great record for microwave applicable technologies: MMIC on GaAs and InP, also for space applications, multichip-module and MEMStechnologies. Imec keeps working on a GaN technology for high power microwave applications. Recently a shift towards applications and system design is apparent. The design of 60 GHz circuits, building blocks and radios have been main areas of research, in close cooperation with system designers focussing on reconfigurable and software defined radios. Integration of antennas and circuits on a single die is another point of attention.

France The dramatic growth of RF and microwave applications in the telecommunications and radar domain has pushed continuous advances in research, development, and education during the last 50 years in France.

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Similarly, research fields have evolved considerably due to the large progress of relevant technologies. New topics have emerged that cover the whole range of design of microwave systems, from basic devices to system design. Moreover, the expertise of the microwave community goes beyond the exclusive domain of electromagnetism and electronics, topics relative to new semiconductors (carbon nanotubes, graphene, nanowires) or new functional materials (ferroelectric, multiferroics, nanomagnetic/spintronic) push this community to interact and to publish with the best international research groups in the fields of applied physics and chemistry. In terms of research, all the fields of microwave from advanced materials for microwave to systems for communications are covered by academic laboratories. These laboratories have developed specific but non exclusive expertise. IEMN (University of Lille/ CNRS), LAAS (CNRS Toulouse) and IEF (University of Paris-Sud/CNRS) have developed facilities for the fabrication of advanced microwave and optoelectronics devices. XLIM (University of Limoges/CNRS), IMEPLAHC (University of Grenoble/CNRS) and IMS (University of Bordeaux/CNRS) are involved in microwave and optoelectronics devices and circuits design and characterizations. IETR (University of Rennes/CNRS), LaBSTICC (ENSTBr University of Brest/CNRS) and LEAT (University of Nice/CNRS) have developed expertise in microwave passive and antenna design and characterization. The French microwave community is important with respect to the other French scientific domains. A biannual conference (Journée Nationale des Microondes) is organized and gathers more than 500 researchers. Moreover, researchers are involved in major microwave conferences such as the International Microwave Symposium in the United States and the European Microwave Conference. Today, cooperation between academic and industrial laboratories is being encouraged in the programs of the French National Research Agency (ANR), which began its activities in 2007. Moreover the recently created competitive clusters facilitate academic and industrial R&D with strong involvement from SMEs. Although microwave activities are involved in a number of these clusters only the ones from Ile de France (SYSTEM@TIC) and Limousin (ELOPSYS) have a specific microwave activity. Those two clusters are mainly involved in basic RF technologies such as GaN devices and microwave for transportation systems at 79 GHz as well as telecom systems. Recently, a number of initiatives for excellence in research have been launched by the government and microwave labs are present in some of them. Finally the French National Space Agency (CNES) plays a leading role for microwave research. Industrial research centers (TRT, III-V Labs, UMS, NXP, STM, ThalesAlenia Space, Thales Aerospace-Air

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systems-Land and Joint Systems, EADS-Astrium) have mainly focused their activities on microwave devices, antennas, MMICs, mm-wave components and microwave subsystems. Cooperation with academic laboratories has often specialized in specific topics (for instance, IEMN on device processing, simulation, and characterization; XLIM on microwave components and systems modelling and simulation; LAAS on noise; IMS on Silicon devices and reliability; LabSTICC on filtering; and IETR on antenna design and characterization), enabling the French research community to achieve state-of-the-art results. Successful studies have also been performed by academic research groups on microwave radiometry and imagery in Orsay (LSS) and Lille (IEMN), in support of industrial and biomedical applications; and on radar polarimetry and telecommunications systems (Nantes, Rennes, Nice). The French microwave community has played a very significant role in the field of submmwave devices and components for application to spaceborne radiometers (for instance, EADS-ASTRIUM in Toulouse), and to radio astronomy research (DEMIRN, Observatoire de Paris). Finally, over more than 15 years, a great deal of research has been undertaken in the field of microwave/optical devices, for applications such as local loops in telecommunication systems and phased-array antennas for radars. Such studies have been performed in cooperation between academic (Lille, Grenoble, etc.) and industrial groups (Alcatel, Thales). Very innovative solutions have been proposed both in terms of specific devices for detection (InP-HBTs) and in terms of mm-wave systems at 60 GHz and above. In the space domain, Thales Alenia Space and Astrium working in cooperation with ESA and CNES have achieved international recognition, both in CAD and in the technology for space components, specific packages, and 3-D assemblies. The emergence of the European Navigation System Galileo, military programs like SYRACUSE III and long term research into flexible payload satellites drive the French space microwave industry to a very high technical level. Under French MOD and European Defence Agency supports, Thales plays a prominent role in microwave R&D and units such as Aerospace, Air Systems, Land and Joint Systems have developed large systems for civil and military applications; radar, airborne, countermeasure systems, and telecommunications. They have reached a high international level, in terms of technology for passive and active circuits. They can rely on the two European foundries for III-V MMICs: UMS (based in Orsay in France and Ulm in Germany) and OMMIC (based in Limeil-Brevannes, France), which offer a wide range of different processes from low noise (0.1 nm PHEMT, 70 and 50 nm MHEMT), high power (HBT, Power PHEMT, GaN HEMT) or mixed analogue-digital (E/D HEMT, HBT).

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In the 1970s and early 1980s, microwave research in Spain was limited to few institutions on the topics of electromagnetic analysis and active circuit design and antenna design. Finally, we have to underline that silicon foundries (STM, NXP) also offer today the technological solutions (CMOS and BiCMOS) to address the microwaves and mm-wave applications within large potential markets for low consumption telecommunications, automotive radars and mm-wave imaging.

Italy The development of microwave activities began in 1919 with the early investigations carried out by Marconi, resulting in his first radio transmission experiments at microwave frequencies in 1931. The following year, he realized the first ground link between Villa Mondragone (near Rome) and the Vatican. In the same period, the first theoretical studies on microwave propagation and the first experiments on microwave generation and detection took place. It is interesting to note that the term “microwaves” was introduced into the international literature by Nello Carrara, who was working at the Royal Electronic and Communication Institute (RIEC) of the Italian Navy at Livorno. From this Institute, Italian microwave and radar techniques started. An important role was played by Ugo Tiberio, who has been credited as one of the inventors of radar. GaAs microwave technology in Italy started at the company CISE, Segrate, Milan, in the late 1970s, where a MESFET process was first established. In 1980, the same group manufactured the first X–band coplanar monolithic GaAs balanced amplifier. The activity on GaAs continued at Telefonia, Elettronica, Radio (TELETTRA), where the first air-bridge gate FET technology for GaAs MMICs was developed in 1985. In 1990 the company, owned by FIAT, was sold to Alcatel, now Alcatel-Lucent (2006) and its historical brand was lost. Microwave industrial activities in Italy were initially driven mainly by military needs for radar and EW applications. Selenia and Elettronica in Rome were leading players in this field. With the relative decline of the military market in the 1990s, microwave industrial activity was partly redirected toward civil applications, particularly communication services and space. The largest Italian industries in the RF and microwave area are owned totally or partially by the Finmeccanica Group, a government-controlled holding with offices in over 100 countries, operating in the fields of aerospace, security, automation, transport, energy and

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Portuguese R&D in the RF and microwave fields had its dawn in the 1960s when this topic began to be taught and investigated in universities. defense electronics, the last being developed within the SELEX family. SELEX-Sistemi Integrati (founded in the early 1950s as Microlambda, later evolved into Selenia, then Alenia, later Alenia Marconi Systems) develops large systems for defense and homeland protection, especially focused on the production of radars for both military and civil systems. It owns the only Italian foundry for the III-V MMICs, including GaN devices. SELEX Galileo, originated as a joint venture between Finmeccanica and BAE Systems, and active in Italy, the UK and the United States, is a defense electronics company specialised in surveillance, protection, tracking, targeting, navigation and control, and imaging systems. Elettronica, partly owned by Finmeccanica, is specialised in the design, development and production of EW systems for search, interception, analysis, identification and localisation of electromagnetic emissions, EW counter-measure systems, radar warning receivers, and integrated EW systems. SELEX Elsag was born in 1969 as Marconi Communication Systems Ltd, rooted in The Wireless Signal & Telegraph Company funded by Guglielmo Marconi and his cousin Henry Davis in 1897 in London. After various acquisitions, in 2002 it became a Finmeccanica company which in 2005 took the name of Selex Communications S.p.A. Since June 2011, after incorporating Elsag Datamat, the company has taken the new name, SELEX Elsag. The company is a supplier of advanced communication, navigation and identification systems operating in the areas of professional communications, avionics, automation, security and defense. Thales Alenia Space-Italy, originally born out of Selenia, then an independent company with the name of Alenia Spazio, merged in 2005 with Alcatel under the name of Alcatel Alenia Space. The company acquired its present name in 2006, when Alcatel sold its 67% share to Thales group. It is one of the leading space communication companies, with RF and microwave technologies as one of its major assets. Telespazio, funded in 1961, two years before COMSAT in the United States, is the oldest company in the world operating exclusively in the area of space services. In 2005, simultaneously with the creation of Alcatel Alenia Space, Telespazio, at that time owned by Finmeccanica, it became a joint venture of Finmeccanica and Alcatel, now Finmeccanica (67%) and Thales

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(33%). Telespazio is a worldwide operator in the orbital management of satellites, earth observation, and satellite navigation. Microwave industrial activities are carried out also at MBDA, a company born in 2011 as a merger of Finmeccanica, EADS and BAE. It is a missile developer and manufacturer with operations in France, UK, Germany, Italy, and the United States. STMicroelectronics is one of the world’s largest semiconductor companies. It was created in 1987 by the merger of SGS Microelettronica of Italy and Thomson Semiconducteurs of France. Currently, ST has a worldwide network of front end (wafer fabrication) and back end (assembly, packaging and test) plants. The company’s principal wafer fabs are located in Italy in Agrate Brianza and Catania. On the research side, until the early 1970s, four major public centers operated in Italy—at the University of Rome La Sapienza, at the University of Naples, at the Polytechnic Institute of Turin, and at the Research Institute of Electromagnetic Waves (IROE), now Istituto di Fisica Applicata Nello Carrara, in Florence. Since then, the number of university laboratories involved in microwave research activities has increased significantly, now being about 40. In the 1970s, Italian researchers in the field of electromagnetics, mostly from academia, but also from public research centers, formed the National Group on Electromagnetics (GEm) with the scope of co-coordinating their activities at a national level under the umbrella of CNR, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (National Research Council). In 2002 the group funded SIEm, the Italian Electromagnetic Society, grouping all university centers active in Italy in this area, with representative of industries and other public research centers and comprising about 200 members. Among other activities including Doctoral Schools and a printed bulletin distributed to all members, SIEm organises the biennial RiNEm (Riunione Nazionale di Elettromagnetismo, National Meeting on Electromagnetics) where the Italian advances in all areas of electromagnetics and its applications are presented and discussed. On the governmental side, many microwave activities are sponsored by the Italian Space Agency (ASI), in the framework of national, European, and International programs and are carried out at various Institutes of the CNR (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, National Research Council).

Spain In the 1970s and early 1980s microwave research in Spain was limited to few institutions on the topics of electromagnetic analysis and active circuit design and antenna design. Companies like Telefónica I+D, Inisel, Ceselsa and Telecomunicación y Control (TyC), Mier Comunicaciones, and Telettra España, S.A. collaborated with universities and research institutions in the

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development components for RF and microwave front ends. The research activity was significantly promoted by the first Science Law, in 1986, and the so called National Research Plan (Plan Nacional de Investigación), which is the mechanism to establish the objectives and priorities of the research and innovation politics and the instruments to achieve these objectives. There have been several revisions of the National Research Plan. The present plan supports research projects with three-year duration through the Subprogram of Fundamental Nonoriented Research with an amount of 385 million Euros in 2011. The most recent microwave projects focused on: 1) passive microwave components for on-board equipments with strict requirements, 2) development and implementation of DC-contact and capacitive MEMS microswitches, 3) devices inspired on metamaterials and plasmonics concepts, 4) applications of sensor and image systems operating in the terahertz band, 5) active heterodyne sensors for remote detection in millimetric and submillimetric band, 6) MMIC circuits for onboard space applications: Galileo program and Planck mission, 7) modelling of GaN HEMTs and high voltage LDMOS, 8) high efficiency power amplifiers and 9) nonlinear analysis methods beyond the capabilities of commercial software. The research in microwave technology is carried out by universities, public research institutes, adscribed to the Centro Superior de Investigaciones Científicas CSIC (Scientific Research High Center), the Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Aeroespacial INTA (National Institute for Aero Spatial Sciences) and Yebes Astronomy Center. There are more than 30 universities with research groups working on microwave theory and techniques. The collaboration of universities with national industries through contracts is very common and a relevant number of spin-off companies have emerged in the last few years. Two new instruments for research funding started in 2006: CONSOLIDER and CENIT. CONSOLIDER promotes the collaboration of prominent research institutions in order to consolidate up-to-date research lines, with average funding per project of 4 million Euro. There are three CONSOLIDER projects in the microwave field, respectively devoted to research on metamateral applications, terahertz technologies and radiometry. CENIT promotes the R&D collaboration between public and private sectors, with an average budget per project of 25 million Euro. In the last years, the scientific production has increased in quantity and  quality. The total number of published papers in ISI microwave journals between 2001 and 2010 is 748, with 311 in IEEE journals. On the other hand, there is now an important microwave business sector related with applications in space and military sector and with the development of systems for public communications and commercial applications.

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Microwave engineering in Serbia can be traced back to more than half a century, when focused activities in this field first started at the University of Belgrade. Companies devoted to space and military sectors, among others, are: TTI, RYMSA, INSA, Mier, Thales Alenia Space Spain and Indra. Thales Alenia Space Spain, is a worldwide reference in the development of space equipment in the Radiofrequency, for Telecom, Navigation, Observation, Science and Space Infrastructure missions. RYMSA’s Space Division is dedicated to the design, manufacture and supply of on-board antennas and passive microwave equipment for communications satellites. The Space and Microwave Division of Mier is devoted to the design, development and manufacture of microwave advanced equipment for ground and flight segments. Indra is the most important Spanish company in the field of Information Technology. Microwave technology is present in the design, manufacturing and testing of products and systems for the Security & Defence market of Indra (23% of 2010 revenues in relation with Indra total revenues). Indra is involved in major European programs as Eurofighter, A400M, Galileo, etc, Core of the microwave design and production activities is placed in Torrejón de Ardoz, and are focused to Electronic Warfare and Radar equipment and systems, covering bands from L up to Ka (1 to 40 GHz). Most of the projects (but not all) are military. There is a 1,700 square meters thin film Clean Room (class 10,000, with some areas class 1,000 and class 100) able to manufacture substrates and assembly, tuning and test MICs up to 50 GHz. 100% of the items built in this facility are for Indra projects. There are other small business enterprises like INFACOM, Erzia Technologies, ACORDE, ALFA Imaging, NOVALTY and TTI. Some of them are company specializes in the development and production of components, subsystems and systems up to 40  GHZ for applications in the sector of telecommunications, military, satellite communications and space, Others, like, NOVALTY, a wholly private company, provides aerospace equipment and components design and manufacturing, offering to the customers integral products from design to development, manufacturing, coating and assembly. On the other hand, ALFA Imaging is a company dedicated to the research, design and development of mm-wave imaging systems EDA THz group. The intense research activity in universities has led to the creation of spin-off companies. In particular, from the Public University of Navarra, have emerged

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Israel has always been a large center for microwave activity.

and dedicated short range communications for road traffic tolling and vehicular communications.

Serbia companies like ANTERAL S.L. and TAFCO Metawireless. In the Politechnical University of Cartagena have emerged spinoffs like RADIATIO Ingeniería S.L., EMITE and SIDCOM. From the two public Universities of Valencia (Spain), another spin-off called AURORASAT emerged in 2006, whose main activity is focused on the development of CAD for the analysis, synthesis and design of passive microwave components. The Astronomical Center of Yebes and the National Institute of Aerospace Technology, as noted above, are government agencies with intense activities in the area of microwave technology, the former in the development of cryogenically cooled amplifiers, the latter in research projects for space and aviation.

Portugal Portuguese R&D in the RF and microwave fields had its dawn in the 1960s when this topic began to be taught and investigated in universities. First professors with specific PhDs in that area appeared in the 1970s and 1980s, usually resulting from collaborations with other foreign universities. During those days, first steps were taken by local industry when projects were started to develop VHF and UHF communication equipment for military use and microwave ovens for domestic heating applications. Research began, and is still mostly active, on atmospheric and in-door and out-door microwave propagation, antennas, microwave guiding structures and microwave and wireless solid-state electronics. Microwave work in Portugal saw its boom in the 90s as a result of the admittance of this country into the EU, the significantly higher investments made in R&D infrastructures and the fast deployment of wireless communications. Nowadays, research in RF and microwaves is still concentrated in a few universities, mainly at the Technical University of Lisbon and University of Aveiro, and framed in the Institute of Telecommunications, a joint venture of a group of three universities and the R&D labs of the major Portuguese telecom operator. Research funds come mostly from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the EU and ESA—under collaborative projects—and, to a lesser but growing extent, from local industry. Microwave and wireless industry in Portugal is mainly concentrated in small and medium enterprises. That work focuses on microwaves for several commercial applications, spanning from silicon chip design for wired and wireless data communications, microwave heating equipment, microwave broadband links, RFIDs, antennas for RFID and satellite applications

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Microwave engineering in Serbia can be traced back to more than half a century, when focused activities in this field first started at the University of Belgrade. As a result, four scientists became members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts and one became Fellow of IEEE. Today, the University is the home to one of the world-wide known groups in numerical simulations of electromagnetic fields, whose results, besides a number of papers, patents and monographs include WIPL-D Microwave—a successful software for full 3D-EM simulations. During the 1970s, teaching and research activities in the field of microwaves rose also at the University of Niš, and further developed during the 1980s for the needs of the Yugoslav army and the local electronic industry. SHF converters, satellite receivers and microwave barriers for space protection present some of the most significant results from that era. In 1990s, Pogled telekomunikacije company was established, noted for the development of transmitters and microwave links for radio and TV broadcasting. Current research in Niš encompasses TLM modeling of microwave fields and devices, application of networks methods in EM field modeling, application of metamaterials, development of neural-network-based models for characterization of microwave resonators, antennas and EM wave propagation, microwave active components, power amplifier linearization, and modeling of microwave transistors. In less than ten years since the activities in the field of microwaves have started, the University of Novi Sad became widely recognized for its research in artificial EM materials and fractal-based filters, boosting a strong portfolio of international collaborations. Apart from the filter design, research is also focused at the development of microwave devices for agricultural and environmental applications. Institute for Microwave Techniques and Electronics IMTEL was founded in Belgrade in 1975. Until the end of 1980s, its intense activities focused on R&D and pilot production of various military applications up to 40 GHz, such as radars, surveillance and jamming systems, systems for UAV guidance, identification systems, etc. In early 1990s, the Institute turned to civil applications: small-series digital microwave links at ranges up to 40 GHz, antennas up to 90 GHz, filters, baluns and transitions as well as active microwave circuits. Along with many other awards, Institute’s associates have been honored by Maxwell Prize (IEE), IEEE Third Millennium Medal and Tesla’a Award. YU IEEE MTT-S Chapter was established in 1989 as one of the first IEEE chapters founded in Yugoslavia. A national Society for microwave technique, technologies

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and systems was founded in 1992 and today it regularly publishes scientific journal Microwave Review. Since 1993, IEEE conference TELSIKS is organized biannually, with the majority of papers related to the fields of microwave technique and technologies.

Hungary In Hungary, the milestone of microwave research was the “Moon experiment.” Almost at the same time, independently from the U.S. experiment, reflection from the Moon was obtained by a radar signal with success. The Research Institute for Telecommunications, was founded in 1949 with the mission to be the central R&D institute in microwave techniques in Hungary. The first microwave link utilizing PAM (pulse amplitude modulation) in the band of 2 GHz was put into operation in 1951. It was followed by a high capacity system operating with six parallel microwave channels in the 4 GHz band in 1958. Further second and third generation high capacity systems were developed in the 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 15 and 26 GHz bands meeting very severe climatic requirements. All these systems were put into production at FMV (Fine Mechanics Works) and ORION factory. Small capacity microwave links were also developed and manufactured at the factory ORION. The microwave education started at the Technical University of Budapest in 1949. Since that time several text books were published. An international conference series called Microcoll, Colloquium on Microwave Communications was started the late 1950s and then held with a periodicity of four years in Hungary. In the framework of the research activity in Hungary significant results were achieved in microwave circuits and systems. Such areas are: microwave waveguide and microstrip filters, low noise and high gain amplifiers, parametric circuits, microstrip antennas, nonlinear microwave circuits like oscillators, mixers, frequency multipliers, dielectric surface waveguides, injection locked oscillators, as well as theoretical work on remote sensing, modulation theory and wave propagation. A significant activity has started on microwave photonics as well.

Israel Israel has always been a large center for microwave activity. In the past it was almost exclusively in the defense industry. Presently the defense activity is also large, and has increased; however, there is also commercial activity. The activity exists both in academia and industry. The activity in academia is concentrated in the following universities: Technion—InP HBT device development for both microwave and optics applications, Tel Aviv University—design center for RFICs as well as antennas and numerical electromagnetic, Ben Gurion University—large activity in various antennas and metamaterials, Ariel Academic Center— intensive activity in THz imaging. The activities in industry include: intensive activity in the defense industry (Rafael, Elta, Elisra) in communications, radar, EW. MMIC and RFIC design centers operate in Rafael and Elta. GaAs foundry activity is established in Gal-El. Radar imaging activity for military as well as civilian applications also exists in Camero. Novatrans is developing a novel vacuum device for signal generation up to the THz range. Herley has a large activity in Israel on both military and commercial systems, and is also a supplier of many microwave components. Intel has a very large activity in Israel, and many of its computer products are developed here. For several years now, there is a large RF design center in Israel, which develops the communication cards for computers as well as other applications.

Acknowledgments The authors are indebted to the many colleagues who have provided the material collected for this article: T. Oxley and S. Lucyszyn (United Kingdom and RI), J. Modelski (Poland, Czech Rep. and Baltic Countries), Y. Kuznetsov (Russia), F. Yanovsky and A. Nosich (Ukraine), P. Russer and R. Weigel (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland), J. Lager (The Netherlands), B. Nauwelaers and D. Vanhoenacker (Belgium), R. Quéré and G. Dambrine (France), A. Suàrez and J. I. Alonso (Spain), J. C. Pedro (Portugal), V. Crnojevic Bengin (Serbia), T: Berceli (Hungary), C. Buiculescu (Romania), and A. Madjar (Israel)

Romania

References

Microwave activities in Romania are concentrated at the National Institute for Research & Development in Microtechnologies, IMT Bucharest, where significant technological developments are carried out on micromachined structures, including, among others: semiconductor (Si, GaAs, GaN) micromachining and nanoprocessing materials, acoustic devices (FBARs and SAWs) based on micromachining and nanoprocessing of wide band gap semiconductors (AlN, GaN); microwave devices based on carbon nanotubes; CRLH materials (metamaterials); MEMS and NEMS.

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[2] R. Sorrentino and A. Vander Vorst, “Microwaves in Europe: Historical milestones and industry update: Part 1,” Microw. J., vol. 59, pp. 28–68, Sept. 2008. [3] R. Sorrentino, T. Oxley, G. Salmer, A. Vander Vorst, L. P. Ligthart, P. Russer, G. Gerosa, G. Pelosi, J. B. Andersen, A. V. Räisänen, E. Kollberg, J. Modelski, G. Vendik, I. B. Vendik, T. Berceli, M. Salazar-Palma, J. C. Freire, N. Uzunoglu, and A. Madjar, “Microwaves in Europe,” IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech., vol. 50, no. 3, pp. 1056, Mar. 2002.

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