CEO of Mini-Circuits, USA
Title of the Talk: The Coming Wave of RF & Microwave Systems: Communication, Sensing, Energy and Beyond.
VP of Engineering, Octane Wireless, USA
Title of the Talk: Radio over Fiber Technologies for Future G Networks.
Professor, College of Engineering & Computing, Florida International University, USA
Title of the Talk: :Future Directions in Wireless Links: Fabrication and Packaging.
Biography: Jin Bains is the Chief Executive Officer of Mini-Circuits, a global leader in design, manufacturing, and direct sale of RF, microwave & millimeter-wave components and subsystems. Bains is a 30-year RF and microwave industry veteran who began his career as an RF engineer and R&D manager at Hewlett-Packard and Agilent Technologies, where he worked on a variety of systems including power amplifiers, cellular base stations, and test and measurement instrumentation. He went on to build the RF/Wireless division of National Instruments before serving as the Head of SoCal Connectivity for cellular and satellite programs at Facebook (now Meta), where he directed key aspects of the effort to expand access to affordable connectivity across the globe. Prior to joining Mini-Circuits, he served as a Director of Project Kuiper at Amazon, an initiative to increase global broadband access through a constellation of 3,236 satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO). Jin has played an active role in the industry as a senior IEEE member and has presented in numerous keynote talks and panel discussions. He also serves on the Board of Advisors of the University of California Davis Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department. Jin received an undergraduate degree in ECE from UC Davis and a graduate degree in Electrical Engineering and Communication Systems from Stanford University.
Abstract: The ever-expanding technology landscape is opening new possibilities for a more intelligent, connected, and resource-efficient society. RF and microwave systems are already essential to many applications fundamental to contemporary life and will become increasingly central to future advancements in communication, sensing, energy, and computing.
In this plenary talk, Mini-Circuits CEO, Jin Bains will explore several areas in which RF and microwave technologies are shaping the future of life on Earth and beyond. The discussion will survey examples including 6G, E-Band and optical satellite communications, millimeter-wave radar and sensing, quantum computing, and ongoing research toward practical nuclear fusion energy systems. The underlying microwave systems and design techniques will be examined in each case to identify opportunities for continued innovation within the industry.
Biography: Dalma Novak is VP of Engineering at Octane Wireless (formerly Pharad) where she develops high-performance RF-over-fiber technologies for commercial and defense wireless applications. She is also an Honorary Professorial Fellow in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at The University of Melbourne, Australia. Dr. Novak has over 30 years of experience working in the optical and wireless communications fields. She has contributed several book chapters on the design of fiber-wireless communication systems and has more than 300 publications in these areas, including several book chapters and patents. Dr. Novak has extensive technical leadership and project management experience in both the industrial and academic sectors. In 2007 Dr. Novak was elected to the grade of IEEE Fellow for her contributions to enabling technologies for the implementation of fiber-radio systems. In 2018 she received the IEEE Photonics Society Engineering Achievement Award. Dr. Novak is the 2025 IEEE Technical Activities Vice President. She received her Bachelor of Electrical Engineering (with First Class Honors) and Doctor of Philosophy from The University of Queensland, in 1987 and 1992, respectively.
Abstract:The use of fiber-optic links for transporting radio signals in wireless networks is a well-established technology and the convergence of optical and wireless networks continues to evolve. Fiber-optic remoting of radio signals is used in a diversity of wireless networks, including indoor/in-building distributed antenna systems and outdoor cellular networks. Today the capabilities of wireless networks are progressing more rapidly than ever. The proliferation of connected high-capacity smart devices as well as the increase in the number of broadband multi-media services available to the consumer, has led to an escalating demand for wireless access to high-speed data communications. The next generation 5G+/6G network promises to deliver unprecedented data rates to the mobile user and the millimeter-wave and Terahertz frequency regions are being actively pursued for the provision of these services. This talk will describe some of the related challenges and opportunities for radio-over-fiber technologies in emerging Future G wireless systems.
Biography: John L. Volakis is a Professor in the College of Engineering and Computing at Florida International University (FIU). From 2017-2023, he served as the Dean of Engineering and Computing where he grew the College’s research by over 200% and increased three-fold the 4-year graduation rates. He is an IEEE, AAAS, NAI, URSI and ACES Fellow. He is the designated 2026 recipient of the IEEE Electromagnetics award and the 2014 recipient of the IEEE APS Distinguished Achievement Award. Prior to coming to FIU, he was the Roy and Lois Chope Chair in Engineering at Ohio State and a Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept. (2003-2017). He is currently an Emeritus faculty at Ohio State. He also served as the Director of the Ohio State Univ. ElectroScience Laboratory for 14 years. His career spans 2 years at Boeing, 19 years on the faculty at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, and 15 years at Ohio State. At Michigan he also served as the Director of the Radiation Laboratory (1998-2000).
Prof. Volakis has 40 years of engineering research experience, and has published over 450 journal papers, nearly 1000 conference papers, and over 30 chapters. He also has 48 patents/disclosures to his credit. Among his many leadership positions, he served as the 2004 IEEE APS President and as the Vice Chair/Chair of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI)-Commission B from 2017-2024. In 2004, he was listed by ISI Web of Science as one of the top 250 most referenced authors, and his google h-index=84 with over 35,000 citations. He mentored nearly 120 Ph.Ds/Post-Docs and has written with them 50 papers which received best paper awards. He is one of the most active researchers in electromagnetics, RF materials and metamaterials, antennas and phased array, RF transceivers, textile electronics, millimeter waves and terahertz, EMI/EMC as well as EM diffraction and computational methods. He is also the authors of 9 books, including the Antenna Handbook, referred to as the “antenna bible.” His research team is recognized for introducing and/or developing 1) hybrid finite method for microwave engineering, now defacto methods in commercial RF design packages with over 6 million google hits, 2) novel composite materials for antennas & sensor miniaturization, 3) a new class of wideband conformal antennas and arrays with over 30:1 of contiguous bandwidth, referred to as tightly coupled dipole antennas garnering several million google hits , 4) textile surfaces for wearable electronics and sensors, 5) battery-less and wireless medical implants for non-invasive brain signal collection, 6) diffraction coefficients for material coated edges, and for 7) model-based radar scattering verification methods.
Abstract: The rapid evolution of wireless communications with potentially 3 orders of magnitude in higher data connectivity and a goal of Terabit per second speeds for wired/chip-to-chip data transfers is upon us for the next decade. These speeds are needed to enable short range (a few meters) and long-range communications (km and satellite links) for distributed systems that will realize visions for tactile internet and haptic communications, virtual reality/artificial intelligence, manufacturing with digital twin models for inline adaptable fabrication, intelligent transportation, digital health care and remote surgery, to mention a few. These technologies are bound to change our way of living and in the next 10 years and beyond, from our workspace, government services to our daily routines. This presentation will present progress in technologies that will contribute to this vision with laboratory demonstrations. Among them: 1) reinventing spectral employment by co-designing multi-functional system that better exploit the millimeter-wave to THz spectrum, 2) wide band RF-front ends boasting 30:1 contiguous bandwidths and beyond to consolidate several functions under a small aperture for the smaller vehicles (drones, cubesats or remote controlled automated delivery vehicles), 3) vertical heterogenous packaging of high-density RF/millimeter -wave transceivers that combine high power and low power components and deliver gigabit speeds on the go, and terabit speeds within the package, 4) suppression of EMI/EMC with inline corrections during manufacturing while realizing <10 µm pitch, 5) digital ultrawideband beamformers for high power and high rate deliveries on portable handheld devices with MIMO capabilities, 6) secure communications by exploiting the larger bandwidths, possibly with co-sharing options, 7) integration of wireless systems, algorithmic, and circuit technologies, required in future wireless links across low SNRs for IoT and privacy as relates to medical data sharing, navigation and vehicle to vehicle to vehicle communications, to mention a few, 8) robotics and 3D manufacturing with low latencies, 9) digital twin Multiphysics modeling for pre-design of entire densely packaged electronics with 1000s of parameters using AI algorithms, 10) entire radio transceivers that include apertures and reflectarrays operating across 30:1 bandwidth with reconfiguration and enabling technologies such as tiny implants to simultaneous transmit-receive radios (STAR).