Millimeter-wave research activities in Japan

Millimeter-wave research activities in Japan are reviewed from various points of view. It is shown that a quarter of the papers presented at microwave sessions in the two major annual conferences of the Institute of Electronics. Information and Communications Engineers (IEICE), Japan, are millimeter-wave research papers. Monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) devices such as high-power amplifiers (HPAs), low-noise amplifiers (LNAs), and mixers developed by several companies are compared in terms of state-of-the-art performances. Unique cost-reduction techniques are also discussed. Two types of car collision-avoidance radar systems have been constructed using nonradiative dielectric waveguide (NRD-guide) technology peculiar to Japan. Topics presented at Microwave Photonics '96, Japan, are reviewed, with emphasis on the Japanese contributions to this field.