ComSoc Technology News (CTN) is a free, online monthly publication that publishes interesting, timely, and newsworthy articles that span a wide range of topics related to the communications technology industry. Our mission is to be an informational resource that brings diverse perspective and thought leadership, while providing a platform for lively discussion amongst our readers.

CTN is run by a team of volunteer editorial board members who are technical experts in diverse fields. All articles are reviewed and edited by a technical editor. The editor-in-chief performs the final review prior to publication. 

November 2023 Issue

A Radio Spectrum Update on the Eve of the World Radiocommunications Conference (WRC)-2023

A Radio Spectrum Update on the Eve of the World Radiocommunications Conference (WRC)-2023 For the month of November CTN readers get a bonus article. We didn’t want to let WRC-23 slide by without providing a general overview of this important event which is starting this week in Dubai. With the growth of wireless services, spectrum management and availability has become of critical importance. Just this past week, the US Government issued a public document: the “U.S. National Spectrum Strategy” that discusses the USG efforts in terms of spectrum policy as a driver of societal equality and economic growth. Coincidentally or not, the document comes out just in time for WRC-23 and I encourage those interested in spectrum policies to read it. It is no secret that the future success of wireless based services is tied to the ability of governments to open new spectrum. In this article we provide a general overview of WRC-23 which we hope you find informative.

Miguel Dajer, CTN Editor-in-Chief

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November 2023 Issue

Photonic Integrated Circuits: Silicon-Adjacent Devices for High Beam-Bandwidth Communication and Sensing

As the fall season descends upon us, our October article takes us on a hayride through the somewhat unfamiliar yet fascinating landscape of photonic integrated circuits (PIC). Our October 2021 article, “Can RF Photonics Save the Wireless Day? Unbounded Beam-Bandwidth Product to the Rescue”, introduced the ComSoc community to the research and development efforts on RF photonic phased arrays, where photons interact with electrons to support extremely high beam-bandwidth applications for sensing and communication, envisaged by, e.g., the beyond-5G roadmap. Two years in, the authors are keen to share progress made in reducing the size, weight, power consumption and cost (SWAP-C) of such systems by way of PIC, bringing the approach closer to reality. This article provides an overview of the burgeoning foundry ecosystem for photonic integration, with a focus on the material platform frontrunners and challenges in heterogenous integration of electronic and photonic components. As always, reader comments and feedback are greatly appreciated.

Xiao Feng Qi, CTN Associate Editor

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