By Brent Klingforth

Microwave electrical design is not new to the industry, it’s been around since the 1940’s. However very few designers have had the requirement to design circuits or PCB’s using microwave frequencies. The late 1990’s introduced several technologies (WiFi, Bluetooth) that lead to what we think of today as IoT (Internet of Things). This phrase was actually coined in 1999 by Kevin Ashton during a presentation to Proctor & Gamble explaining how sensors, at the time RFID tags, could be used to automate supply chain management.

IoT to date has been used on a small scale compared to what’s about to happen in the coming years. With the advancement of 5G technology we’re going to see wireless communication and data collecting in the electronics we use and are surrounded by every day. In order to make this reality come true existing and new companies will need to start adding microwave technology to their products. As such, 5G will become the de facto standard for high-speed communication, replacing Ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth, etc.

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During our recent webinar “RF Design Challenges for PCB: Are you ready for 5G for IoT?” we showed some of these challenges and how PADS Professional provides technology to deal with microwave schematic and PCB design. During our 2 sessions there were more questions asked than we could answer live. The following PCB Tech Talk Podcast by John McMillan and myself Brent Klingforth provide answers to all the questions including those that were answered live.