Radio frequency (RF) power amplifiers (PAs) are key components in almost all wireless transmitters, ranging from tiny sensors and mobile devices to high-power cellular base stations. Their essential function is to convert DC power into amplified RF signals, ensuring reliable wireless transmission. With 6G networks expected to support ultra-high-speed communications, massive IoT connectivity, and immersive user experiences, PAs must overcome critical challenges in energy efficiency, broadband operation, and linearity, particularly under high peak-to-average power ratios and dynamic traffic conditions.
This talk discusses the major obstacles and emerging solutions in next-generation PA design. It will cover advanced PA architectures, novel device technologies such as GaN MMICs, operation in new frequency ranges (e.g., FR3), and the application of AI-driven optimization techniques. Approaches for linearity enhancement, tighter system integration, and cross-layer co-design will also be highlighted. By linking theoretical advances with practical implementations, the talk provides insights into the development of PA technologies capable of meeting the stringent efficiency and performance requirements of future wireless networks, paving the way toward a more sustainable and connected future.

Anding Zhu received the Ph.D. degree in electronic engineering from University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland, in 2004, where he is currently a Full Professor in the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. His research interests include high-frequency nonlinear system modelling, device characterization, high-efficiency RF power amplifier design, and nonlinear system identification algorithms. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers.
Prof. Zhu is an IEEE Fellow and currently serves as President of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology Society (MTT-S). He was a Track Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques from 2020 to 2022 and received the IEEE MTT-S Microwave Prize in 2021.

Space exploration has long served as a powerful catalyst for inspiring the imagination of the next generation. The sight of rovers on Mars, images from distant galaxies, and the dream of humans returning to the Moon or reaching Mars ignite curiosity and a spirit of discovery in young minds. These missions are not just feats of engineering – they are stories that capture the human desire to explore the unknown and push beyond boundaries. By engaging students, educators, and the public in the wonders of space, exploration fosters STEM education, fuels innovation, and builds a generation that dreams bigger and reaches further.
Beyond its inspirational value, space exploration offers a unique lens through which we can better understand ourselves and our place in the cosmos. As we study other planets and moons, we gain valuable insight into planetary evolution, atmospheric behavior, and the potential for life beyond Earth. Observing Earth from space also provides critical data on climate change, environmental degradation, and the fragile systems that sustain life. In this way, space science not only fuels our search for extraterrestrial life but also deepens our understanding of Earth's past, present, and future. Ultimately, exploring the universe is a journey inward as much as outward – it challenges us to think about our shared humanity, our responsibility to protect our planet, and our collective future among the stars.
In this lecture, we will explore the technological innovations in the MHz to THz frequency domain driving the next generation of instruments and highlight specific instrument developments along with the fundamental science questions they aim to address.

Goutam Chattopadhyay is a Senior Scientist at the NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, a Visiting Professor at the Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA, a BEL Distinguished Visiting Chair Professor at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, and an Adjunct Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India. He received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, in 2000. He is a Fellow of IEEE (USA) and IETE (India), Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, and an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer.
His research interests include microwave, millimeter-wave, and terahertz receiver systems and radars, and development of space instruments for the search for life beyond Earth.
He has more than 350 publications in international journals and conferences and holds more than twenty patents. He also received more than 35 NASA technical achievement and new technology invention awards. He received the IEEE Region-6 Engineer of the Year Award in 2018, Distinguished Alumni Award from the Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST), India in 2017. He was the recipient of the best journal paper award in 2020 and 2013 by IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology, best paper award for antenna design and applications at the European Antennas and Propagation conference (EuCAP) in 2017, and IETE Prof. S. N. Mitra Memorial Award in 2014.

The Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology, also known as 3D-printing technology, offers several interesting and attractive features, including fast prototyping, geometry flexibility, easily customizable products, and low cost (in some cases). However, using such technologies for microwave devices is not straightforward as AM has not been specifically developed for microwave components, and in most cases, some adaptation and post-processing is necessary. Furthermore, there are many AM technologies available, and it is important to understand their characteristics before selecting one.
In the presentation, an overview of the different AM technologies available will be provided. Additionally, an analysis of some of the most common AM technologies used for the manufacturing of microwave components will be conducted in more detail, with the help of several examples. Several microwave components manufactured with some of the most popular AM technologies will be shown, along with a detailed description of the manufacturing process, post-processing, and all actions necessary to make the component perform well. Furthermore, it will be shown how the flexibility of this technology allows the development of new classes of components with non-conventional geometries that can be exploited to obtain high-performing components in terms of compactness, weight, losses, etc.

Cristiano Tomassoni received his Ph.D. in Electronics Engineering from the University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy, in 1999. In the same year, he joined the Lehrstuhl für Hochfrequenztechnik, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany as a Visiting Scientist, where he worked on the modeling of waveguide structures and devices using the generalized scattering matrix technique. In 2001, he was a Guest Professor at the Fakultät für Elektrotechnik und Informationstechnik, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany. In the early stages of his career, he contributed to the enhancement of several analytical and numerical methods for electromagnetic component simulation, including the finite-element method, mode-matching technique, generalized multipole technique, method of moments, transmission-line matrix, and mode matching applied to spherical waves. In 2001, he joined the University of Perugia, where he is currently an Associate Professor and teaches the ‘Electromagnetic Fields’ course and the ‘Advanced Design of Microwave and RF Systems’ course. His main research interests include modeling and designing of waveguide components and antennas, miniaturized filters, reconfigurable filters, dielectric filters, and substrate integrated waveguide filters. He is currently studying the use of Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology for the fabrication of microwave components, considering various technologies such as Stereolithography (SLA), Lithography-based Ceramic Manufacturing (LCM), Selective Laser Melting (SLM), Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), and PolyJet technology.
Prof. Tomassoni has been elevated to the grade of IEEE Fellow, Class of 2025. He serves as the Chair of the MTT-5 Filters Technical Committee of the IEEE MTT-S. Currently, he is a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE MTT-S. From 2018 to 2022, he served as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques. Prof. Tomassoni is also the recipient of the 2012 Microwave Prize, awarded by the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society.

In this talk, inkjet-/3D-printed antennas, interconnects, “smart” encapsulation and packages, RF electronics, RFIDs microfluidics and sensors fabricated on glass, PET, paper and other flexible substrates are introduced as a system-level solution for ultra-low-cost mass production of Millimeter-Wave/Sub-THz Modules and Metasurfaces for Communication, Energy Harvesting and Sensing (ISAC) applications. The presented approach could potentially set the foundation for the first truly convergent AI-enabled flexible wireless sensor ad-hoc ISAC networks of the future with enhanced cognitive intelligence and “rugged” packaging. Prof. Tentzeris will also discuss issues concerning the power sources of “near-perpetual” RF modules, including 5G+ enabled wireless power grids as well as energy harvesting approaches involving thermal, EM, vibration and solar energy forms. The final step of the presentation will involve examples from shape-changing 4D-printed (origami) phased arrays, packages, reflectarrays and mmW wearable (e.g. biomonitoring) antennas and RF modules. Special attention will be paid on the integration of ultrabroadband (Gb/sec) inkjet-printed nanotechnology-based backscattering communication modules, opto-RF modules as well as miniaturized printable wireless (e.g. CNT) sensors for Internet of Things (IoT), 5G+ and smart agriculture/biomonitoring applications. It has to be noted that the talk will review and present solutions for “5S Challenges” (Scalability, Sustainability, Speed, Security and Smartness) as well as future directions in the area of environmentally-friendly transient (“green”) RF electronics and “smart-skin” conformal sensors as well as massively scalable “tile-by-tile” RFID-enabled autonomous reconfigurable intelligent surfaces.

Manos Tentzeris was born and grew up in Piraeus, Greece. He graduated from Ionidios Model School of Piraeus in 1987 and he received the Diploma degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (Magna Cum Laude) from the National Technical University in Athens, Greece, in 1992 and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 1993 and 1998. He is currently a Professor with the School of ECE, Georgia Tech and he has published more than 550 papers in refereed Journals and Conference Proceedings, 4 books and 23 book chapters, while he is in the process of writing 1 book. He has served as the Head of the Electromagnetics Technical Interest Group of the School of ECE, Georgia Tech. Also, he has served as the Georgia Electronic Design Center Associate Director for RFID/Sensors research from 2006-2010 and as the GT-Packaging Research Center (NSF-ERC) Associate Director for RF research and the leader of the RF/Wireless Packaging Alliance from 2003-2006. Also, Dr. Tentzeris is the Head of the A.T.H.E.N.A. Research Group (20 students and researchers) and has established academic programs in 3D Printed RF electronics and modules, flexible electronics, origami and morphing electromagnetics, Highly Integrated/Multilayer Packaging for RF and Wireless Applications using ceramic and organic flexible materials, paper-based RFID 's and sensors, inkjet-printed electronics, nanostructures for RF, wireless sensors, power scavenging and wireless power transfer, Microwave MEM 's, SOP-integrated (UWB, mutliband, conformal) antennas and Adaptive Numerical Electromagnetics (FDTD, MultiResolution Algorithms). He was the 1999 Technical Program Co-Chair of the 54th ARFTG Conference and he is currently a member of the technical program committees of IEEE-IMS, IEEE-AP and IEEE-ECTC Symposia. He was the TPC Chair for the IMS 2008 Conference and the Co-Chair of the ACES 2009 Symposium. He was the Chairman for the 2005 IEEE CEM-TD Workshop. He was the Chair of IEEE-CPMT TC16 (RF Subcommittee) and he was the Chair of IEEE MTT/AP Atlanta Sections for 2003. He is a Fellow of IEEE, a member of MTT-15 Committee, an Associate Member of European Microwave Association (EuMA), a Fellow of the Electromagnetics Academy, and a member of Commission D, URSI and of the the Technical Chamber of Greece. He is the Founder and Chair of the newly formed IEEE MTT-S TC-24 (RFID Technologies). He is one of the IEEE C-RFID DIstinguished Lecturers and he has served as one IEEE MTT-Distinguished Microwave Lecturers (DML) from 2010-2012. His hobbies include basketball, swimming, ping-pong and travel.

Long before the widespread adoption of the internet and smart devices, researchers envisioned ubiquitous mobile broadband connectivity for the flying public. The objective was to establish a global RF information grid – an interconnected “internet of mobile nodes” providing secure, high-bandwidth wireless access anywhere & anytime to support live sports, entertainment, and streaming data. However, realizing the vision required, not only massive infrastructure – including satellites, satellite network, microwave relay towers, and thousands of miles of fiber optics – but also significant leaps in developing technologies. In the 1990s, development was heavily constrained by a lack of low-cost multilayer materials/processes, limited full-wave simulation tools, and expensive RF device design/fabrication cycles. For the system to achieve mass adoption and commercial viability, the cost of Microwave Monolithic Integrated Circuits (MMICs) and RFICs had to also decrease significantly even as their performance and functionality increased. This talk explores a critical breakthrough that addressed these challenges and enabled a flourishing industry: the Boeing affordable phased-array antenna (PAA) for mobile Satellite Communications (SATCOM) that initiated ConneXion-by-Boeing (CBB) and the Boeing Broadband SATCOM Network (BBSN). The foundational technology laid the initial ground work to make ubiquitous mobile broadband connectivity a reality.

Julio Navarro is a Principal Senior Technical Fellow (PSTF) of the Boeing Company and a member of the National Academy of Engineering (sections 1 & 7) for the development and implementation of phased-array sensors and communication systems in aerospace applications. He is a subject matter expert in radio frequency (RF) circuits, antennas & heterogeneously-integrated electronics. He provides technical leadership and guidance and has initiated, designed and delivered many phased array antennas (PAAs) for unmanned aerial vehicles, aircraft, ships, submarines, satellites and missiles. He defines, shapes and develops technical concepts along with product planning roadmaps to advance the state-of-the-art, improve performance and deliver efficiency gains to our business unit customers.
Before his current position, Dr. Navarro was the key innovator in the design, development and transition of Ku- and Ka-band compact radar sensors, as well as the Ku-band directional network (DNW) line-of-sight communication PAAs. His designs have transitioned to the Zumwalt class DDG1000 Command-Data-Link PAAs, the UAE Small-Form Factor Ka-band SATCOM PAAs and mm-wave PAAs on the Talon Hate efforts. For nearly two decades, Dr. Navarro’s integrated ceramic module design served the government VIP Strategic Air Mission (SAM) fleet in the arbitrary linear-pol transmit PAAs of the Boeing Broadband SATCOM Network (BBSN). The VIP SAM fleet of Boeing derivative aircraft include the VC-25, C40 and C32 biz jets.
Dr. Navarro began his career with Boeing Heritage in 1996 in Information, Space and Defense Systems as a principal RF designer for the Teledesic Phased Array program. Since joining Boeing’s RF technology and PAA group, he has introduced electronic packaging architectures that have increased integration and functionality, and reduced the number of piece-parts resulting in significant PAA cost reduction. He is now in the Mission Systems organization of BR&T and may consult for Omni-Patch Designs, Inc.
Dr. Navarro served as Boeing’s executive sponsor for the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and a mentor for Great Minds in STEM for nearly two decades. He has authored more than 40 peer-reviewed publications, has been granted 33 U.S. patents and has received four Boeing Special Invention Awards.
In 2021, Dr. Navarro was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering for the development and implementation of phased-array sensors and communication systems for aerospace applications. Julio received the 2017 Engineer of the Year from Great Minds in STEM, the 2015 Scientist of the Year from the Black Engineer of the Year organization, the 2014 President’s Award from SHPE, the GMIS’s Hispanic in Technology Award of 2011, SHPE’s STAR Award for Outstanding Technical Achievement of 2008 and HENAAC’s Most Promising Engineer of 2001.
Dr. Navarro has a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering, and a doctorate from Texas A&M University in 1988, 1990 and 1995, respectively. His focus areas are electromagnetics, solid-state electronics and communications.