The Electronic Design Innovation Conference and Exhibition (EDI CON) USA, the first industry event to bring together RF/microwave and high-speed digital design engineers and system integrators, announced the addition of a the High-Speed Digital Symposium to its conference line up during the event at the Hynes Convention Center, September 11-13 in Boston, Mass. Eric Bogatin, editor of Signal Integrity Journal, dean of the Signal Integrity Academy and an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado, has organized the symposium at this year’s event.

“Many high-speed serial links above 15 Gbps are pushing against fundamental material limits in the interconnects. This means designs living on the edge can ‘fall off the cliff’ if the material properties used in the design are optimistic. How do we gain confidence in the values of the material properties in the manufactured product? What input information do we need to accurately design robust high-speed channels and how do we test the simulations? These topics will be addressed by industry experts at this symposium,” explains Bogatin.

Scheduled presentations include:

• “Insitu Glass Fabric Characterization,” Brandon Gore and Scott McMorrow, SAMTEC Inc.
• "Extraction of Frequency-Dependent Dielectric Constant: Loss and conductor effects of high-speed digital laminate materials for high-speed channel simulation,” Chris Caisse, Allen F. Horn and Patricia LaFrance, Rogers Corporation.
• “Test Vehicle Development for Systematic Development and Verification of Materials Models to 50 GHz,” Alfred P. Neves, founder and chief technologist at Wild River.
• “A Case Study of Effective Surface Roughness Acquisition,” Jason Ellison, The Siemon Company.
• “Practical Modeling of High-Speed Channels Based on Data Sheet Input,” Bert Simonovich, Lamsim
• Panel Discussion wrap up on and Q&A on practical approaches to accurate channel simulation with all the presenters, moderated by Eric Bogatin.

Attendees will require a conference pass to attend these sessions.

EDI CON USA 2017 is building on its inaugural 2016 conference with multiple parallel tracks covering RF/microwave, high-speed digital and EMC/EMI topics. The conference features these extended short courses on Monday, September 11 followed by technical sessions, invited talks, workshops, panels and exhibition on Tuesday and Wednesday. Technical sessions focus on actionable, educational information for working engineers rather than product pitches and commercial presentations.

This year, EDI CON USA is the biggest RF/microwave industry conference and exhibition in the continental U.S., and the largest high-speed technical conference on the U.S. East Coast. Networking opportunities will abound on the exhibit floor, and attendees can enjoy a welcome reception and happy hour. More information, including registration and how to exhibit, is available at www.ediconusa.com. EDI CON USA 2017 is supported by its primary media sponsors, Microwave Journal and Signal Integrity Journal. For future planning, EDI CON USA 2018 will be held at the Santa Clara Convention Center (Santa Clara, Calif.) October 17-18, 2018.