Workshop Program

Those who got started Wireless Power Transfer (WPT), shall we move on to the next step? Let us learn tips to enhance circuits and systems performance in WPT!
There is a growing demand for high-power and high-efficiency system development in WPT. In this fundamental course, two young faculty members specializing in technology and science will explain their technical approaches to WPT systems, power electronics design, and how to implement them into practice that achieve high efficiency in kHz and MHz frequency bands.

Keyword ： Wireless Power Transfer, Magnetic Field Coupling, Inductive Power Transfer, Capacitive Power Transfer, Electric Field Coupling, Electric Vehicle, Biomedical

In the current era, often referred to as the Third AI Boom, AI (Artificial Intelligence) is widely utilized across various fields. Among them, AI's role in the design of next-generation communication circuits is particularly remarkable. It is extensively employed in tasks such as selecting and modeling circuit structure patterns, conducting circuit simulation and evaluation, optimizing circuit parameters, and other design processes. The automation of circuit design using AI, in particular, has garnered significant attention as it saves time and effort for circuit designers.
In this special session, we will first introduce the fundamentals of AI technology and then showcase the latest applications and future trends, such as AI-driven topological optimization for high-performance optical and millimeter-wave devices, automatic design of operational amplifiers, and modeling of millimeter-wave GaN HEMTs for communication circuits.

Keyword ： AI, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Circuit Design, Automatic Design, Optimization, Millimeter-Wave

Sub-terahertz frequency bands are to be used for future 6G. The biggest challenge of using highly directive electromagnetic waves in this frequency band is to extend wireless coverage even in a non-line-of-sight environment. To address this issue, metasurface technology is attracting attention due to its extremely high flexibility in dynamic reflection angle control depending on the demands of the propagation environment and network toward arbitrary angles which do not necessarily obey the law of reflection with extremely high reflection efficiency exceeding that of conventional reflectarrays. In this workshop, we will present the latest trends in metasurface technology for 6G including material measurement and characterization techniques in the sub-terahertz band and discuss challenges and future prospects for practical applications.

Keyword ： Metasurfaces, Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces, 6G, Sub-Terahertz Waves

Since its inception in the 1950s, network analyzers have undergone significant advancements. Through continuous improvements in system design and calibration techniques, network analyzers have evolved to incorporate a wide range of functions. Their significant impact on modern society can be attributed to their ability to enable precise measurements and analysis of signals in fields such as telecommunications, electronics, and scientific research.
In this workshop, three manufacturers will present the current state and future developments of network analyzer technology.

Keyword ： Network analyzer, Microwave

In Japan, along with sub6, millimeter waves in the 28 GHz band were allocated with a wide bandwidth of 400 MHz per operator for the commercialization of 5G. In addition, the 28GHz band has been allocated for local 5G along with the 4.7GHz band. Even in the international standardization of 3GPP, standard specifications supporting millimeter waves were included from the initial specifications of 5G. However, the commercial deployment of 5G is currently limited to the 5G refarming of the low- and mid-bands, and the sub6. The introduction of millimeter waves has not progressed sufficiently in terms of area and terminal penetration. In terms of the global situation, the number of countries where commercial deployment of millimeter waves has started is extremely limited.
On the other hand, thanks to its wide frequency bandwidth, millimeter waves are expected to play a major role in the creation of new service fields by realizing ultra-high-speed, large-capacity communication, low-delay communication, etc., which are one of the characteristics of 5G. Traffic volume continues to increase, and expectations are high for future traffic accommodation by millimeter waves.
Considering these expectations, in January 2023, the millimeter wave promotion ad hoc group was established in the 5G Mobile Promotion Forum (5GMF) with the aim of promoting the spread of millimeter waves. The Ad hoc developed and published their white paper.
In this workshop, the basic content of this white paper, i.e. the necessity, use cases, domestic and international situations, performance, affinity with local 5G, and views of millimeter wave will be explained and discussed.

Keyword ： Millimeter Wave, 5G, Local 5G

Millimeter wave and terahertz wave applications have been studied in various fields as well as in device development. Since propagation loss is large in these frequency bands, array antenna technology has attracted much attention as one of the approaches to overcome the loss.
In this session, R&D efforts aimed at applying array antenna technology to next-generation mobile communications and sensing will be presented.

Keyword ： Next Generation, Millimeter Wave, Terahertz Wave, Array Antenna

Since the electromagnetic environments around recent electronic devices have become complex and diverse, it has been increasingly difficult to intuitively design and implement countermeasures having regard to electromagnetic compatibility (EMC). With the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies such as machine learning and deep learning in various fields, some efforts to solve EMC problems with the help of these technologies have been attracting attention.
In this workshop, we will introduce how to apply the AI technology to various problems related to the EMC design and countermeasures, including board design and noise suppression, and its application examples.

Keyword ： Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC), Noise Countermeasure, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, Deep Learning

In recent years, the incorporation of wireless communication functions in electronic devices has opened the door to new use cases and the launch of services that would have been unimaginable a decade ago. Although research and developments for low power consumption have been conducted in the hardware of portable terminals such as smartphones, in actuality, the capacity of the batteries installed in these devices is increasing. In the spring of 2022, the Japanese law had been established and wireless power supply products will be on the market in Japan. In this session, we will discuss the business model of wireless power transfer and its application in Japan.
In this session, we will explain the frontiers of research and development of wireless power transfer for spatial transmission with a view to business implementation.

Keyword ： Wireless Powering, Wireless Power Transmission, IoT Devices, Microwave Systems

In order to achieve the target performance of the next-generation mobile communication systems (Beyond 5G/6G), research and development of the high-efficiency power amplifiers has been active. The power amplifiers account for a large proportion of the power consumption of the base stations, and the efforts are being made to achieve the high-efficiency and the low-distortion from various perspectives, including the circuits and the devices.
This session focuses on the circuit topology and introduces the technologies for the high-efficiency and low-distortion applicable to power amplifiers.

Keyword ： Beyond 5G/6G, Sub-6 GHz, Base Station, Power Amplifier, GaN-HEMT, GaAs-HBTs, High-Efficiency, Load Modulation, Outphasing, Load Modulated Balanced Amplifier, Doherty, Microwave, Millimeter Wave

The modulated signals with higher bandwidth and more complex scheme are used to realize ultra-high speed and high capacity communications in Beyond 5G/6G. In particular, transmit amplifiers are required to achieve both high efficiency and wideband operation.
In this course, the fundamentals of high efficiency and wideband techniques for amplifiers towards Beyond 5G/6G will be explained, and the latest examples with them will be presented.

Keyword ： Beyond 5G, 6G, Harmonic-Tuning Techniques, High-Efficiency Amplifier, Broadband Amplifier, Doherty Amplifier

S-parameters are widely used in the design and measurement of microwave circuits. Recently, circuit simulators and electromagnetic simulators have become increasingly convenient. As a result, we have less opportunity to measure or calculate S-parameters. It prevents us from understanding microwave circuits.
In this session, basic knowledge of S-parameters is explained for beginners. In addition, examples of S-parameter calculation are introduced for the purpose of microwave circuit design.

Keyword ： S-Parameter, dB, Insertion Loss, Return Loss, VSWR, Passive Circuit

High-frequency circuits such as antennas and RF circuits (large circuits where the size of wires and objects are approximately 1/100 or more compared to the wavelength) cannot be designed with only knowledge of electrical and electronic circuits. The reason for this is that it is necessary to consider the behavior of electromagnetic waves, which cannot be described by voltage and current alone.
This super introductory course will explain the flow of design through analysis using an electromagnetic field simulator and measurement using a network analyzer. High-frequency measuring instruments used to be expensive, but in recent years inexpensive measuring instruments that cost around 10,000 JPY have appeared. Taking microstrip lines and patch antennas as examples, this course will provide you with a first-hand experience of the design and prototyping process through simulations, actual measurements using inexpensive measuring instruments, and comparative discussion of the results.

Keyword ： Antenna Design, Electromagnetic Simulation, FDTD Method, S-parameter, Vector Network Analyzer (VNA)