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Last December, before beginning my term as president of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology Society (MTT-S), I had the privilege of representing our Society at the 11th Tunisian Students and Young Professionals (TSYP11) Congress. TSYP11 was a large event organized by the IEEE Tunisia Section, attracting more than 1,200 students and young professionals (YPs) from all IEEE Student Branches of Tunisia. This event was entirely organized and managed by students and included plenary panel sessions, technical sessions, competitions, and social events (Figure 1). I was overwhelmed by the passion and energy of these young people, who enthusiastically welcomed their many Tunisian colleagues as well as international guests from several IEEE Societies. The MTT-S also had a booth in the exhibition area, which drew the attention of numerous students, particularly undergraduates, who were curious to learn about the activities of the MTT-S and the opportunities we provide for students.

I recently returned from a long international trip, including nine flights, a couple buses, and several taxis. I wore a face mask for the first leg of the trip. I was just getting over a cold and was worried that I might still be contagious. I also didn’t want to risk catching COVID at the beginning of a long trip. I encountered very few others wearing masks—less than 5% of air travelers and only an occasional crew member. A minority of airport workers wore masks, and many of them wore the masks too low on their faces to serve any useful function. I took all of this as a sign that we aren’t concerned with catching COVID anymore. In my travels prior to the onset of the pandemic, I would occasionally see people wearing masks, far fewer than today. So, perhaps we aren’t quite back to our behaviors before the pandemic, but we are trending that way.

The proof of the pudding lies in eating, and that is why 6G testbeds are essential in the progress toward the next generation of wireless networks. Theoretical research toward 6G wireless networks proposes advanced technologies to serve new applications and drastically improve energy performance. Testbeds are indispensable to validate these new technologies under more realistic conditions. This article clarifies the requirements for 6G radio testbeds, reveals trends, and introduces approaches toward their development.

The ever-increasing data rate and number of connections in mobile communication offer exciting user experiences in everyday life. Technological developments for beyond-5G and 6G wireless communications have occurred in recent years. Compared with current 5G networks, the next-generation network aims to deliver 10–1,000 times higher data rates with improved enhanced mobile broadband, a 1/10th lower latency based on ultrareliable and low-latency communications, and our society is expected to undergo a revolutionary change within the coming of a new era [1], [2].

Active phased-array systems are gaining popularity in many wireless applications due to their ability to electronically create, steer, and change multiple beams with high directivity as well as adaptively reduce external interference [1]. Fifth- and next-generation wireless communications are leveraging phased arrays to create smart base stations in sub-6-GHz Frequency Range 1 (FR1) [2] as well as overcoming the propagation losses in the Frequency Range 2 (FR2) millimeter-wave spectrum [3]. For space-based constellations like Starlink and Kuiper, ground stations utilize phased arrays to simultaneously track multiple satellites using different beams without any mechanical movement [4]. The stringent link budgets of radar applications have also benefited from the high directivity of phased arrays as well as their angle-of-arrival estimation accuracy without cumbersome and costly servo motors for object detection [5]. Finally, electronic warfare (EW) systems are beginning to leverage phased arrays to more accurately locate hostile signals in noisy environments and precisely direct their jamming attacks [6].

Four-port couplers are the fundamental building blocks of large-scale passive beamforming network design. They find application in the design of antenna feed networks, power combiners and dividers, and balanced mixers and amplifiers.

Provides society information that may include news, reviews or technical notes that should be of interest to practitioners and researchers.

The 26th European Microwave Week (EuMW) took place in Berlin, Germany, on 17–22 September 2023. After events in Munich and Nuremberg, this was the first time that the German edition of EuMW had taken place in the capital city of Berlin. Berlin, Germany’s capital and largest city, is a fascinating European city that is renowned not only for its landmarks and museums but also for a rich cultural life, vibrant party scene, and urban art. EuMW took place in the new building “hub27” at the exhibition center Berlin Messe, which offered very modern conference and meeting rooms in connection with a large exhibition hall. For all conference delegates, free public transportation was included in their badges. The EuMW conference team comprised Thomas Zwick (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) as the general chair, Ingmar Kallfass (University of Stuttgart) as the general technical program committee (TPC) chair, and Vadim Issakov (Technical University Braunschweig) as the general cochair.

After almost 15 years of serving on and/or cochairing the IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology Society (MTT-S) Women in Microwaves (WIM) Committee, I’m stepping down in 2024, so this will be my “swan song” article. I thought it would be appropriate to do a quick recap of some of the important things WIM has accomplished over the years that map to one of my favorite articles from the Lean In organization, which helps women achieve their ambitions and work to create an equal world. The article, “6 Ways That Women Can Champion Each Other At Work,” describes key ways women can support one another, something the committee and members of the WIM organization have increasingly taken to heart over the years I have been involved with the group (Figure 1).

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When the general public hears the term wireless communications, they might think of applications such as their wireless Internet connection, wireless earbuds, or perhaps the satellite radio receiver in their cars. Wireless technology is exceedingly reliable, and therefore, the general public takes it as a given that it works as soon as they need it and assumes that it will provide the needed service without giving it much thought. It is also a human trait that if something works well, they will inevitably ask “Can it work better (and cheaper and with a smaller footprint)?” Again, the general public assumes that these improvements will occur, given time and funding, and that applications such as high-definition video can be delivered to their mobile devices. Microwave and optical engineers know, though, that the robust and reliable technology required (and still requires) enormous time and effort to design, fabricate, and exhaustively test the systems to provide the functionality and reliability the general public expects. Wireless communication is a pervasive technology with a continued bright future as enhancements are built on previous technologies, with new applications yet to be envisioned. Because of this importance to society in general, the MTT-S has, among its 26 technical committees (TCs), a dedicated Wireless Communications Committee (TC-23).