IMS2012 International Microwave Symposium

Foundation of MTT-S and previous history

• 1952: foundation of the Professional Group for Microwave Electronics (IRE), predecessor of IEEE MTT-S by a group of microwave pioneers, but...
• the first wireless transatlantic transmission occured back in 1901, 51 years earlier!
• The history of microwaves really started an even much longer time ago.

MTT-S membership growth over the years

• 1952:        471
• 1953:     1,064
• 1954:   ~2,335
• 1961:   ~5,000
• 1987: ~10,000
• 2002: ~13,000
• 2011: ~12,000

Some facts about International Microwave Symposium (IMS)

• 1952, New York: first conference, 201 attendees
• 1957, New York: starting of annual repetition, 306 attendees
• 1972, Arlington Heights: starting of exhibtion, table tops, 19 exhibitors
• 1977, San Diego: starting of booth exhibits, 63 exhibitors
• 1979, Orlando: >1,000 attendees
• 1998, Baltimore: >10,000 attendees
• 2002, Seattle: 50th Anniversary of MTT-S, 900+ exhibition booths

Some facts about MTT-S Publications

• Transactions on MTT: first issue March 1953 - 93 pages
• Microwave and Wireless Component Letters: started in 1991 ("Microwave and Guided Wave Letters"), renamed in 2001
• Microwave Magazine: started in 1999, highly successful start-up

60 years of microwave theory and techniques

• Then
  • long distance communications
  • WW II radar, MIT Radiation Lab
  • microwave field and network theories
  • integral and asymptotic techniques
• Later
  • ferrites
  • filters, couplers and multiplexers
  • frequency- and time-domain numerical techniques
• Now
  • wireless local and personal communications
  • ICs with thousands of active devices
  • millimeter-waves and THz, photonics
  • SAW, MEMS, RFIDs, medical devices
  • new materials
  • RF nanotechnologies

(source: mainly John Barr, 2002 MTT-S president)