ATLANTA – The Global Industry Practices Committee (GIPC) has published an Executive Summary with results of two surveys conducted by its core team of subject matter experts (SME) led by Brad Waisanen, VP, Global Cyber Security at TTI, Inc. ECIA member companies were surveyed with the goal of learning how the industry is responding to this serious threat to businesses.

Participants in the first survey represented the three ECIA constituencies as follows: Manufacturers (41%); Distributors (39%) and Manufacturers Reps (20%). The questions covered where organizations were turning to for guidance; whether they had risk management programs in place and for how long; reporting structure of the cybersecurity teams; perceived risks and metrics; costs of insurance; prevention measures and more.

Participants in the second survey represented the three ECIA constituencies in a similar measure: Manufacturers (39%); Distributors (39%) and Manufacturers’ Reps (23%). The questions in the second survey focused on ransomware readiness.

“The results of these two surveys were very enlightening and provide the GIPC Cybersecurity SME with concrete guidance on where to place our efforts going forward,” explained Don Elario, ECIA’s Vice President of Industry Practices. “There were clear differences in how the three constituencies have responded to these types of threats. Not surprisingly, larger companies have more mature cyber risk management programs than smaller companies and we see this as an opportunity for this work group to provide a baseline of cybersecurity best practices, among other initiatives.”

View the results of the two surveys here: Cybersecurity Executive Summary.

MADISON, AL – STI Electronics, Inc., a full-service organization providing training services, training materials, analytical/failure analysis, prototyping and contract PCB assembly, announces that Cesar Santos has joined the STI team as Kit Room Associate.

Santos brings with him various experience as well as completion of Siemens Level 1 Mechatronics Systems Assistant and certification in FS100 Basic Programming. He will be an asset to the STI team to ensure the ongoing customer service the company provides by preparing, packaging and shipping kits according to the customer’s request and needs.

NASHVILLE — KYZEN, the global leader in innovative environmentally friendly cleaning chemistries, will exhibit at the MCA How Clean Is Clean – Aerospace Exhibition, scheduled to take place Tuesday, March 7, 2023, at the Jackson Center in Huntsville, AL. The KYZEN team will discuss the benefits of its METALNOX M6920 VOC Free Solvent Cleaner, METALNOX M6386 Modified Alcohol Solvent Cleaner and METALNOX M6381 Precision Hydrocarbon Solvent Cleaner.

METALNOX M6920 is a highly effective VOC free cleaning solution intended for use in vapor degreasing equipment, cold cleaning and manual cleaning, and is a suitable replacement for AK225. It has proven compatible with a variety of metal parts, such as stainless steel, copper, iron, aluminum, and titanium. METALNOX M6920 also works well with alloys used in precision cleaning industries such as aerospace, automotive, medical, electronics and defense.

METALNOX M6386 is a modified alcohol-based solvent blend designed for use in automated vacuum degreasing parts cleaning machines. The cleaner is highly effective on paraffinic and water-based oils, cutting fluids and milling fluids commonly used to forge and cast metal hardware, fasteners and components. METALNOX M6381 is a hydrocarbon solvent cleaner formulated for use on non-polar soils and is commonly used to clean parts supplied to the automotive, medical, aerospace, and other high-tech industries. M6381 is most effective in vacuum degreasing, immersion, and manual applications.

As several traditional degreasing solvents face drastic exposure limit restrictions, KYZEN has safe and effective alternatives. KYZEN'S cleaning experts can evaluate your current cleaning process and parameters to help you choose products that will be a good fit with your process, as well as satisfy your cleanliness standards. METALNOX M6920, M6381 and M6386 meet U.S. EPA requirements for your vacuum and vapor degreasing cleaning processes.

CAMBRIDGE, UK – The next generation of telecoms technologies, 5G, is not fully deployed yet; in fact, the exciting high-frequency bands of mmWave 5G are not set to take off for another several years, according to IDTechEx forecasts. Still, people are already considering the next-next generation of telecommunications - 6G. While 5G will enable society to control more devices remotely in applications where real-time network performance is critical, 6G will bring much richer connectivity to the physical world, using advancements in AI and computing to enhance the machine-human interface. So, although 6G spectrum will not be standardized till 2027 at the earliest, researchers and OEMs like Huawei are already exploring the technical advancements needed to facilitate 6G.

Low-Loss Materials: The Essential Building Block for 6G

As with any new technology, material innovations act as essential building blocks on which other technical advances can develop. This is no different with 6G. While transmission loss and atmospheric dispersion is bad enough at high frequency 5G bands, affecting the range and signal integrity of mmWave 5G networks, it will be even worse at 6G bands like the D-band (110-170GHz). Thus, the world's 1st consortium for 6G technology development, 6Genesis Flagship Program 2018, identified the development of new low-loss materials as a critical technology enabler for 6G. Therefore, it is important to investigate the potential dielectric performance required for 6G technologies, which is spurring current research into ultra-low-loss materials for 6G by many important players.

The key players developing in this field include materials suppliers like Taiyo Ink and ITEQ Corporation and research institutions like the USA's Georgia Institute of Technology, South Korea's Yonsei University, and Germany's Fraunhofer IKTS (Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems). Some approaches for low-loss materials for 6G involve commercially established materials like PTFE, PPE, and glass fiber-reinforced thermosets with novel architectures or molecular compositions. Other approaches involve less conventional materials, like low-cost thermoplastics, silica foams, or even wood-based composites.

The development of these dielectrics is challenging on many levels. First, there is no clear dielectric performance target for these materials to hit. IDTechEx expects the loss tangents of current commercial ultra-low-loss laminates to be the minimum performance standard for 6G devices, and it is difficult now to see how much lower loss tangents will need to be for 6G devices.

It is also tricky to even characterize dielectric materials at terahertz frequencies, which iNEMI (the International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative) is researching with their 5G/6G MAESTRO project. Lastly, none of this considers the cost and manufacturability of such ultra-low-loss materials, which will significantly affect the economic viability of 6G devices. Suffice to say, there is a lot of work to be done to advance low-loss materials enough to support 6G communication networks.

What Low-Loss Materials Can Enable: Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS)

With the right innovations, low-loss materials will support some critical 6G technologies, like reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) made of metamaterials. Metamaterials are structures consisting of a periodic regular pattern that is designed to interact with an incident wave; RIS are artificial surfaces that can produce unique wireless communication capabilities. RIS integrates passive or active metasurfaces to redirect and (occasionally) amplify telecommunication signals. The primary factor distinguishing RIS from existing technology are their cheap, almost passive panel of unit cells; these have reflective functionality when entirely passive but can steer/amplify the beam if active. RIS can be used in many 6G wireless telecommunications applications, from beam amplification at base stations to active direction of signals to users. Not only can RIS enhance signal quality and coverage, but they also offer other benefits like reduced energy consumption and increased security compared to existing steering technologies. There is a tradeoff to be made, but the use of more RIS can enable fewer base stations for the same coverage, lowering costs for the same network coverage.

Critical to RIS are low-loss radio frequency metamaterials. With operating frequencies between 95GHz and 1THz, minimizing transmission loss from metasurfaces is essential to maximizing their performance for RIS. Current research and development in low-loss materials for 6G are integral to implementing not only RIS but other impactful 6G applications.

Market Forecasts for Low-Loss Materials for 5G and 6G

IDTechEx's report, "Low-loss Materials for 5G and 6G 2023-2033", explores these technology and market trends driving low-loss materials for next-gen telecommunications like 6G. IDTechEx forecasts future revenue and area demand for low-loss materials for 5G while carefully segmenting the market by frequency (sub-6 GHz vs. mmWave), six material types, and three application areas (smartphones, infrastructure, and CPEs) to provide sixty different forecast lines. For further information on low-loss materials for 5G and 6G, including material benchmarking studies, player analysis, market drivers and barriers, and granular 10-year market forecasts, please visit www.IDTechEx.com/LowLossMats.

For the full portfolio of 5G/6G related research available from IDTechEx, please visit www.IDTechEx.com/Research/5G.