Microwave Engineering July 1999 Cover story It's time for our annual review issue and directory of manufacturers and representatives. The listings section is, as usual, at the back of the journal. At the front, our reviews focus on what happened at last month's MTT-S Symposium, the 3rd generation saga and Europe's future research frameworks. We also feature another paper in our regular series on ferrite devices. Between engagements It's that time of year when one is "between engagements". The MTT-S symposium has already taken place, including Microwave Engineering Europe's tenth birthday barbecue, and we are now looking ahead to the European Microwave Week in Munich, early in October. So what did we discover at the MTT-S event in Anaheim? In the formal report you can read about some of the specific technologies and products unveiled. Beyond those specifics, there were some interesting trends waiting to be spotted. Companies are still trying to re-brand themselves, taking advantage of the wireless revolution. This always surprises us when we recall that the revolution has already taken place and the heads of those that weren't able to keep up have already rolled. Is a design win for a power amplifier in a handset or a power combiner in a base station going to be seriously influenced by the name or latest slogan from a company? Probably not. That design decision is surely more likely to be based on performance, quality and the ability to deliver. Is the stock market valuation likely to be affected by the rebranding? Now there's an interesting question. One would like to think that the smart investor, broker or analyst could look through the hype to the technical and managerial foundations of a company when making important investment decisions. What do you think? Another striking feature at the Anaheim event was the number of RF and microwave CAD companies emerging. Just a couple of years ago few new ones were surfacing, and the existing ones were all merging to cut the number of options available for designers. There even seemed to be less of the small CAD companies dedicated to optimised solutions to specific classes of design problems. But now, the numbers are back up and we can see at least five companies planning to offer design tools with a broad range of general-purpose capabilities. Is there enough business for them all to make a decent living? It's difficult to tell. The more general-purpose the design capability, the more development, documentation and support it is likely to need. That's expensive to do properly. It is also potentially expensive to tie a new RF design package in with the existing software which is used for the non-RF parts of the circuit. Then there is the related question of how much design will be undertaken at a circuit level and how much will need to go up to a system level. How about circuit optimisation? In our experience, the more questions you can think of, the more opportunities you create for design solutions. Perhaps the CAD vendors are thinking the same thing. Engaging times! Paul Jackson

Contents In focus TT-S, Silicon devices steal the show. CDMA and the race towards 3G The route to 3rd generation cellular systems became clearer this year, at least in technical terms, when agreement was reached on intellectual property rights. Peter Clarke, from our US-based sister publication Electronic Engineering Times, discusses the solutions. Collaboration for a wireless Europe – the EC 4th and 5th framework programmes The European Community has achieved some admirable results over the past 15 years with its collaborative programmes in IT and communications. MCM-D 2.45GHz VCO from Mitel, manufactured as part of the TWiCS project As the various projects in the Fourth Framework near their conclusion, Helen Duncan reviews the most recent RF and microwave achievements from these initiatives, and looks forward to what is planned under the Fifth Framework for the first years of the new Millennium. Adjustment of degree-2 H-plane waveguide turnstile circulator using prism resonator The choice of the resonator shape in the design of a junction circulator is dictated by the gain-bandwidth product of its specification. The optimum configuration in the design of a high quality waveguide circulator using a weakly magnetized turnstile junction is a half-wave long gyromagnetic prism open-circuited at each end. Joe Helszajn from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland, describes measurements on the complex gyrator circuit of this configuration. European Microwave Week 4th-8th October 1999 Programme Overview Calendar 2000 European directory of manufacturers and distributors Introduction and contents Classified Catalogue Update & Appointments