The October issue of the IEEE Microwave Magazine is out. We have great features and a terrific collection of columns. Our features focus on RFID, sensing and IoT. Not to mention we have an application note. This has been another great year of monthly issues. Please check out the Editor’s Desk column for the real information on this issue but for now we have this summary.

For the low down on our features please check out the Guest Editor’s Desk column on how our technical committee on RFID, Wireless Sensors, and the Internet of Things put these features together. But we will take a quick look at them now. Our features start off with backscattering RFID for wireless sensing, then dealing with sensing and ice, plus pulse modulation with passive RFID and dealing with RFID multi path. RFID tags are everywhere and designers are getting more creative with getting RFID to handle more complex environments. This is a fun set of articles for those interested in RFID and those interested in RF systems. Our application note tackles the details of over the air testing of phased array antennas.

We have a great set of columns in this issue. Our President’s Column discusses the advantages of in-person and purely online events as well as the issues with hybrid conferences. Also our president gives us some insight into our cooperative efforts with other IEEE societies. We also have a Society News column which focuses on our Measurements Committee (TC-3) and their informational activities such as the Distinguished Lecturer. This magazine was founded as a service to our members and the information in the Women in Microwaves column is one of our significant services of which both women and men should be aware. The sharing of experiences, both good and bad, in this column helps us all be aware that women face an uphill challenge – and each of us can do something to reduce that challenge. Be a mentor.

On the more technical side we have the MicroBusiness column. Can unicorns become real? And our Enigmas, etc. column discusses the solution to last month’s quiz. And finally our Microwave Bytes column discusses solutions without a problem (SWAP). Something one of my product managers said engineers who were infatuated by new technology often did. As an ending note I will say that I have known several engineers who did their PhD research on TRAPATT diodes and all of them turned out to be really terrific real world problem solvers – I will maintain in part because their difficult research problem forced them to learn so much.

Enjoy the issue and don’t forget to check out the Conference Calendar!