The 7th biennial IEEE International Conference on Microwaves, Communications, Antennas, and Electronic Systems (IEEE COMCAS 2019) was held 4–6 November 2019 at the David Intercontinental Hotel in Tel-Aviv, Israel. The first two days of the conference included the plenary sessions together with nine parallel sessions, while the third day was reserved for short courses and workshop tracks in five parallel sessions as well as an additional two plenary sessions. The Conference was attended by more than 1900 engineers, academics, and technical developers.
IEEE COMCAS is organized as a multidisciplinary international Conference where scientists, engineers and students can meet and discuss their common interests. In addition, it includes an industry-focused exhibition that features leading companies in the fields of antennas, microwave, solid-state and systems engineering, where colleagues researching and developing the products and systems of tomorrow can interact with their industry colleagues.
This conference was sponsored by the IEEE Israel Section, the Israel AP/MTT Chapter (Antennas and Microwaves), and the AEAI (The Association of Engineers in Israel). It was technically co-sponsored by IEEE Region 8, APS (Antennas and Propagation Society), IEEE ComSoc Israel, AES (Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society), EPS (Electronic Packaging Society), and the European Microwave Association (EuMA).
This year we significantly increased the number of tutorials and industry-oriented invited sessions, making this conference more relevant than ever. This was the largest ever COMCAS with more than 240 technical presentations, 50 posters, 10 courses and special sessions, 52 invited speakers, 88 sessions, nine parallel halls, and 100 exhibition booths over more than 5700 square feet. Emphasis continued to be on applications-oriented research and development, from antennas and devices to systems and software, including GaN technology and applications, SDR and “5G” cellular mobile, biomedical systems and applications, and phased array radars, with strong industry patronage and participation.
Our plenary session was opened with welcome addresses by Shmuel Auster, IEEE COMCAS General Chair; Amir Boag, IEEE COMCAS TPC Chair; Avram Bar-Cohen, IEEE EPS President 2019; Douglas N. Zuckerman, IEEE ComSoc Past President; and Roberto Graglia, IEEE APS President 2015. It was followed by Theodore (Ted) S. Rappaport from NYU-Tandon, who presented a keynote lecture on “Wireless Beyond 100 GHz: Opportunities and Challenges for 6G and Beyond”; Ben Epstein (on behalf of Hava T. Siegelmann from DARPA) who presented a keynote lecture on “Lifelong Learning in Nature and Machines”; Yoram Palti from NovoCure, Israel, who presented a keynote lecture on “Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields) from Theory to Clinical Practice”; and Avram Bar-Cohen from Raytheon – Space and Airborne Systems, who presented a keynote lecture on “Wireless Power Beaming.”
Session topics at IEEE COMCAS 2019 included Radar and Microwave Technologies, Defense Challenges and Green Communication, Power Amplifiers and Device Modeling, Antennas, Radar Signal Processing, Networking Technologies, Defense and UAS Applications, Passive Circuits and Components, Computational Methods Non-Intrusive Monitoring, Communication Measurements, Implementations and Resource Allocation, Embedded Electronic Systems and Sensors and Advanced Frequency Synthesizers.
Our WIM/WIE Panel was organized by Amelie Hagelauer. The moderator was Sherry Hess. This panel hosted an invited talk by Yonina Eldar, inspired by the recent book Alpha Girls: The Women Upstarts Who Took on Silicon Valley’s Male Culture and Made the Deals of a Lifetime by Julian Guthrie. The panel discussed what it takes to move up the management chain and eventually into the C-suite (officers who have the word “chief” in their titles) in a male-dominated tech world. Alpha Girls is the story of four women who succeeded in Silicon Valley’s venture capital environment. Five tips extracted from the book were discussed and debated: your family doesn’t need you every second, humor works wonders, don’t sit on the sidelines, find out about the locker room talk, and don’t enable underachievement. The panel session presented the wisdom shared by leading high tech women and individuals’ experience.
We also had a special session of IEEE Young Professionals, chaired by Aleksey Dyskin that covered the fascinating field of industry and research with automotive industry leaders. This session featured Omer Keilaf, CEO of Innoviz Technologies; Kobi Morenko, CEO of Arbe; Avi Bakal, CEO of TriEye; and Orr Davon, CEO of Hailo.
Many dedicated members of the COMCAS team, both industrial supporters and conference organizers, saw their contributions recognized at the conference’s social events. Conference Chair Shmuel Auster presented Honorary Member certificates to long-time members Ben Epstein, Harvey Kaylie and Steve Weinstein.
Hosting regional conferences in various locations around the world is an excellent way to encourage IEEE Members and Societies and the technical community at large to participate. This helps improve recognition and generates growth for IEEE and its Sister Societies. The 7th IEEE COMCAS conference was highly successful, with participants from 39 countries who expressed their positive feedback and comments during and after the conference. COMCAS continues to be very successful and will likely be well attended in the future by many technologists who lead innovation and have an impact on microwave, communications, antennas and electronic systems technologies.
Shmuel Auster, IEEE COMCAS 2019 General Chair, is with IAI Elta and is the IEEE Israel Section Chair. Itai Dabran, IEEE COMCAS 2019 Executive Committee member, is a R&D Manager and Senior Lecturer at Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, and the IEEE ComSoc Chapter Chair. Amir Boag, IEEE COMCAS 2019 TPC Chair, is a professor at Tel Aviv University, Israel.