After last year’s EDI CON China event taking place in Shanghai, EDI CON China returned to Beijing at the Chinese National Convention Center directly across from the Olympic Park. Close to 3,000 unique attendees participated in the conference with more than 125 companies in the exhibition.
The 5G conference sessions covering topics from device design to system testing were very well attended filling a room of more than 100 attendees in every session on the first day. Eric Bogatin of Teledyne LeCroy and Signal Integrity Journal presented a workshop on 
“Essential Principles of Power Integrity Measurements” to a full house of signal/power integrity engineers. The featured panel sessions including 5G Massive MIMO, 5G mmWave OTA Measurements, The State of GaN Technology in China, and RF Energy Commercial and Industrial Applications. In addition, the American Certification Body (ACB) held a two day seminar on certification training covering topics such as FCC standards, IoT, EMC, SAR, shielding, and spectrum analysis.
New this year were the product innovation awards that were given out to the new products that represented the best design innovation of releases over the past year. Companies receiving the EDI CON China Innovation awards included Focus Microwaves for the MPT-110200 Multi-Harmonic Tuner, 20 to 110 GHz; ANSYS for Discovery Live (Instantaneous 3D Simulation); Analog Devices for the AD9375 Integrated, Dual RF Transceiver with Observation Path; Pasternack for the PEM010 60 GHz WR-15 Waveguide Tx Module; and Rogers Corporation for their XtremeSpeed RO1200 Laminates for high speed designs.
The first day keynotes included “IMT-2020 (5G) Standardization Process,” by Dr. Ying Peng, Senior Standardization Expert, DaTang Telecommunication Technology & Industry Holding Co.; “Embracing Over The Air Testing—A challenge or an opportunity for 5G,” by Giampaolo Tardioli, Vice President of the Network Access, Keysight Technologies; “T&M Challenges and Current Developments for 5G Testing in a Future Networked World,” by Christoph Pointner, Vice President for Signal Generators, Audio Analyzers and Power Meters, Rohde & Schwarz; and “A Platform based Approach to 5G: Design, Prototyping and Test,” by Luke Schreier, VP of Automated Test Marketing, National Instruments. These talks filled the 300+ seat capacity of the auditorium on site. The second day keynotes included “Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Wireless Communication Industry,” by Dr. Gordon GC Liang, President & CEO, Pivotone; “Solid State RF Energy is the Smart Technology Solution for 2018,” by Dr. Klaus Werner, Executive Director, RF Energy Alliance” and “The Advantages of Using Multiple Satellite Navigation Systems,” by Rainer Horn, Managing Partner, SpaceTec Partners.
The welcome reception hosted by Keysight Technologies was filled to capacity with more than 350 attendees. The night included welcoming remarks by Keysight, food and drink plus entertainment for the delegates, visitors and special guests. After some traditional Chinese musicians entertained the crowd, the team from ACB Training, lead by Mike Violette, brought many talented singers to the stage and concluded with a group song.
In the exhibition, we met with many of the companies on the show floor. Here is a summary of the products we came across that were highlighted at the event:
Ampleon’s booth included solutions for particle accelerators, Doherty broadcast transmitters, and wireless base stations. LDMOS-based products will also be on display, including high power devices for FM broadcast applications, extremely rugged solutions for laser and plasma generation, and devices for avionics and RADAR systems. Devices and pallets for use in RF Energy applications will also be on the booth. In addition to the booth exhibits, a number of Ampleon staff are involved in the event’s conference program: Amit Dixit, RF Modeling Engineer, presented a paper on “Accurate GaN modelling for RF power amplifier design enablement” and Mr Coen Centen, Senior Director of Development and Applications, participated in the RF Energy Alliance Panel workshop on the topic of “Inroads to the Industrial Market”. Ampleon is a founding member of the RF Energy Alliance and has taken a leading role in promoting energy efficient, compact and extremely reliable solid state RF power solutions. Finally, Osman Ceylan, Innovation Engineer, presented a paper on the topic of ‘Design and Optimization of Biasing Networks for Wideband High Power Amplifiers”.
Analog Devices was featuring the AD9172 meets the demands of gigahertz bandwidth applications and delivers the increased spectral efficiency needed for 4G/5G multi-band wireless communications base stations and 2 GHz E-band microwave point-to-point backhaul platforms. Its design also benefits production instrumentation targeting multi-standard direct-to-RF signal synthesis. Engineered for gigahertz-bandwidth applications, the AD9208 A/D converter meets the increased spectral efficiency demands of 4G/5G multi-band wireless communications base stations. It also meets the reduced run-time targets of multi-standard production instrumentation and provides greater detection range and sensitivity for defense electronics. They also featured the AD9375, a wideband RF transceiver with integrated Digital Pre-Distortion (DPD), targeting 3G/4G small cell and massive MIMO with the following functions: RF transceiver operating from 300 MHz to 6 GHz, dual channel transmitters (Tx) and receivers (Rx) supporting Rx bandwidths up to 100 MHz, and Tx bandwidths up to 250 MHz. It also has a fully integrated, ultra-low power DPD actuator and adaptation engine, supporting up to 40 MHz linearization bandwidths. Additional observation receiver (ORx) and sniffer receiver JESD204B data interface with integrated synthesizers and digital signal processing function is also included. All of these devices were finalists in the EDI CON China Product Innovation Awards.
Highlighting its multiple locations in China, ANSYS was a proud finalist and winner in the first EDI CON CHINA Innovation Product Awards with its ANSYS Discovery Live. This EDA product provides instantaneous 3D simulation, tightly coupled with direct geometry modeling, to enable interactive design exploration.
While Anokiwave has released chip sets and partnered with Ball Aerospace for full beam steering arrays at 28 and 39 GHz, but for China and Europe, the AWMF-0135 is a highly integrated silicon quad core IC intended for 5G phased array applications at 26 GHz. The device supports four Tx/Rx radiating elements, includes 5 bit phase and 5 bit gain control for analog RF beam steering, and operates in half duplex fashion to enable a single antenna to support both Tx and Rx operation. The device provides 23 dB gain and +10 dBm output power during transmit mode and 26 dB coherent gain, 5.0 dB NF, and -28 dBm IIP3 during receive mode. Additional features include gain compensation over temperature, temperature reporting, Tx power telemetry, and fast beam switching. The device features ESD protection on all pins, operates from +1.8 V, and is packaged in a 48 lead 6x6 mm QFN for easy installation in planar phased array antennas. Anokiwave/Ball Aerospace arrays were in the NI booth for active demonstrations of 5G mmWave technology.
Beijing Xutec Technology Company Ltd. was featuring power amplifiers and EMC test solutions in its booth; Beijing Xutec is the distributor for Ophir (USA) and Narda Italy. The booth featured Ophir power amplifiers that ranged from 10 kHz to 40 GHz with output power up to 24,000 W.
The CETC 41 booth featured a number of test and measurement products, including the Ceyear 4456D digital 4-channel oscilloscope with an integrated protocol analyzer and digital voltmeter. The booth also featured the 3656D vector network analyzer, (300 kHz~20 GHz) with up to 64 independent measuring channels and 1-Hz frequency resolution. Data analysis functions include ripple test, bandwidth test, and limit tests.
Dynax Semiconductor customers produce high-efficiency and high-gain wide-band signals using Dynax GaN power amplifiers that are simple to use and suitable for applications such as LTE, 4G, and 5G ultra-wideband power amplifiers for mobile communications. They also supply GaN HEMT dies that can support ultra-wideband applications within DC-6 GHz for customers with industry-leading power density, efficiency and reliability. These are suitable for use in compact RF amplification modules, general purpose or personal communication subsystems.
Farran specializes in test and measurement systems, such as VNA extenders and noise figure analyzers, as well as waveguide-based components, such as amplifiers, detectors, frequency converters, and mixers. One item showcased in its booth was the Cobalt Fx Series of millimeter wave VNA products, with target applications in 5 GHz and automotive radar. The product features three frequency bands in one unit. With an operating frequency range of 50 to 75 GHz, the minimum dynamic range is 110 dB (120 dB typical). Other frequency ranges include 60 to 90 GHz and 75 to 110 GHz.
Focus Microwaves introduced the first wideband coaxial 110 GHz Multi-Purpose-Tuner (MPT) that is an impedance tuning solution with the flexibility to perform source- or load-pull on-wafer and in-fixture measurements. The internal three independent probes enable separate changing of impedances at fundamental and harmonic frequencies at literally millions of impedance points. The versatile electromechanical tuner can create impedances using three independently adjustable wideband probes at three harmonic frequencies continuously from 20 to 110 GHz. Focus won the EDI CON China Product Innovation Award in the test and measurement category for this product.
GLOBALFOUNDRIES announced during the event a new ecosystem partner program, called RFwave™, designed to simplify RF design and help customers reduce time-to-market for a new era of wireless devices and networks. The last few years there has been an increasing demand for connected devices and systems that will require innovations in radio technologies to support the new modes of operation and higher capabilities. The RFwave Partner Program builds upon GF’s 5G vision and roadmap, with a focus on the company’s RF solutions, such as FD-SOI, RF CMOS (bulk and advanced CMOS nodes), RF SOI and SiGe technologies. The program provides a low-risk, cost-effective path for designers seeking to build highly optimized RF solutions for a range of wireless applications such as IoT across various wireless connectivity and cellular standards, standalone or transceiver integrated 5G front end modules, mmWave backhaul, automotive radar, small cell and fixed wireless and satellite broadband. RFwave enables customers to build innovative RF solutions as well as packaging and test solutions.
Specializing in GaN and GaAs foundry service, HiWafer Semiconductor was showcasing its ability to supply MMICs, AD/DA, MCU, and DC-DC products. Highlighted processes included the HW-PPA25 GaAs 0.25 um power pHemt process that features a 0.25 um optical T-gate, ion-implant isolation, and a high-Q passivation layer. The HW-HBT02 2um foundry technology supports frequencies up to 10 GHz with wafer thickness from 100 um.
IDT offers high performance millimeter wave RF and timing products for 5G wireless basestations and fixed wireless access at 26/28/39 GHz, roof-top backhaul in E-Band (71 to 86 GHz), and 5G small cell LTE backhaul and fixed wireless access in V-band (51 to 71 GHz). IDT was featuring products such as RF beamformers, power amplifiers and power detectors, RapidWave™ baseband modem ICs, and advanced timing solutions for these markets along with other devices such as their amplifiers, mixers, attenuators, switches, modulators/demodulators, synthesizers/PLLs and VGAs.
Keysight participated in the plenary session presenting on “Embracing Over-The-Air (OTA) Testing—A challenge or an opportunity for 5G” delivered by Giampaolo Tardioli, VP of Network Access, Keysight Technologies. The talk discussed how engineers can respond to the challenges they are facing in over-the-air testing as it relates to 5G. As the host sponsor, Keysight lead the technical sessions with more than 20 presentations plus presented several workshops and participated on several panels.