IN Brief:
- Pickering will showcase RF and microwave switching systems at IMS 2026 in Boston.
- The portfolio includes PXI, PXIe, LXI, and USB-supported platforms, with modules reaching up to 110GHz.
- The systems target growing test complexity across defence, communications, semiconductor, automotive, and GNSS applications.
Pickering Interfaces will showcase scalable RF and microwave switching systems at IEEE International Microwave Symposium 2026, presenting modular and turnkey platforms for aerospace, defence, communications, semiconductor characterisation, automotive RF, and GNSS test applications.
The company will show COTS RF and microwave switching products, configurable RFIU switch platforms, turnkey signal-routing subsystems, and its Microwave Switch Design Tool. The hardware range includes PXI and PXIe switching modules with bandwidths up to 110GHz, including SPDT, transfer, multiplexer, and matrix options, with support for PXI, PXIe, LXI, and USB chassis.
Pickering’s flexible RFIU platforms allow users to specify microwave switching solutions in PXI and LXI formats, supporting high-performance microwave relays up to 110GHz at 50Ω impedance and up to 2.5GHz at 75Ω impedance. Custom LXI microwave switching subsystems are also available for applications requiring long-term test compatibility or non-standard signal-routing arrangements.
The Microwave Switch Design Tool, part of Pickering’s Test System Architect toolset, gives engineers a graphical route to design, configure, simulate, and model RF and microwave switching systems. Designs can include relays, attenuators, connectors, and cables, allowing system architectures to be developed and reviewed before build.
RF test has become more difficult for reasons that extend beyond frequency alone. Modern systems often combine wider bandwidths, multiple antenna paths, beamforming, high-speed digital control, tight phase requirements, and mixed RF/digital architectures. Switching hardware must preserve signal integrity while remaining repeatable, serviceable, and compatible with automated test environments.
Defence programmes continue to sharpen those requirements. Radar, electronic warfare, avionics, secure communications, and resilient navigation systems all need reliable RF routing during development, validation, and production test. In systems such as resilient autonomous links for defence platforms, the communications path has to be characterised, stressed, routed, and repeated under controlled conditions long before deployment.
Semiconductor and automotive test are moving in the same direction. RF front ends, radar modules, high-speed communications ICs, and connected vehicle platforms all increase the number of signal paths that must be validated. Manual switching and bespoke cabling become harder to sustain when test repeatability, traceability, and throughput affect production economics.
Pickering’s IMS 2026 showcase reflects the continued industrialisation of RF test architecture. As frequency rises and systems become more integrated, value shifts toward modular platforms that can be configured quickly, modelled before build, maintained over long programme lifecycles, and adapted without rebuilding the entire test rack.
