At EuMW 2026, everything RF stopped by the Spectrum Control booth, where Engineering Director Miro Blicharz and Senior RF Design Engineer Joss Spear showcased the company’s latest radar, RF, optical, and system integration technologies for aerospace and defense applications. European Microwave Week (EuMW) 2026, held from 4-9 October at ExCeL London, is Europe’s premier event for the RF, microwave, mmWave, and radar industry, bringing together the companies and technologies shaping the future of high-frequency engineering.
Spectrum Control has recently established a System-in-Package (SiP) Design Center in the UK, strengthening its ability to develop and support highly integrated RF and microwave front ends for European aerospace and defense programs. At their booth in London, the company showcased a tri-band radar transmit/receive module that combines RF, digital, power supply, and high-power amplification functions across eight channels. The showcase also featured custom glass filters, EMI-filtered connector solutions, a high-temperature optical transceiver, and a compact 18 to 40 GHz SiP up/down converter.
Tri-Band Radar Module
At their booth, Miro Blicharz presented Spectrum Control’s new tri-band radar transmit/receive module, developed to help radar systems operate across multiple frequency bands from a single platform. Designed for modern radar applications, the module allows users to switch between three frequency bands depending on mission requirements and operating conditions, providing greater flexibility than conventional single-band systems.
The module integrates RF, digital, power-management, and power-amplifier functions into each of its eight transmit/receive channels, reducing subsystem count and simplifying integration. The design was developed in response to specific customer requirements, with the company responsible for the architecture, development, and verification of the solution. The project also demonstrates Spectrum Control’s expertise in RF miniaturization and subsystem integration, combining multiple functions into a compact design while maintaining demanding RF and power-performance requirements. The company is now focused on further reducing the module’s size while preserving its electrical and RF performance.
Glass Filters
They also showcased their custom glass filter technology, which is designed to deliver RF filtering in a significantly smaller package than conventional filter implementations. During the demonstration, he explained how glass-based structures enable the company to shrink filter size while still tailoring designs to specific frequency and performance requirements.
Spectrum Control’s High-Q glass filters use integrated passive devices embedded within layered glass structures to create unique solenoid inductor designs. This approach enables high selectivity, low insertion loss, and strong temperature stability while dramatically reducing filter size compared to traditional lumped-element implementations. The technology supports frequencies from 0.5 to 10 GHz and is suitable for low-pass, high-pass, band-pass, notch, diplexer, and multiplexer applications. The filters are well suited for aerospace and defense systems where board space, weight, and overall system size are critical design considerations. Spectrum Control has also introduced these ultraminiature filters in surface-mount QFN packages, making them easier to integrate into densely packed RF and microwave assemblies. Click here to learn more about their High-Q glass filters.
EMI-Filtered Connector Solutions
Spectrum Control’s EMI-filtered connector solutions combine electrical interconnects and EMI filtering within a single package. Rather than adding separate filtering circuitry elsewhere in the system, the filtering is integrated directly into the connector, reducing component count, saving board space, and simplifying system design. The portfolio includes circular and MIL-spec connector designs that use integrated planar filter arrays to suppress unwanted interference on both power and signal lines. By placing the filtering at the point where signals enter or leave the equipment, the connectors help improve electromagnetic compatibility while reducing the size and weight of the overall system.
These solutions are designed for aerospace, defense, naval, and unmanned systems where stringent EMC requirements must be met without sacrificing valuable space inside the platform. Spectrum Control also offers configurable and custom connector designs tailored to specific electrical and mechanical requirements. Click here to learn more about their EMI-filtered solutions.
OptoXtreme™ 16010 Pluggable Micro-Optical Transceiver
Spectrum Control demonstrated its OptoXtreme™ 16010 pluggable micro-optical transceiver, a rugged four-channel optical data link designed for aerospace, defense, and other mission-critical applications. The transceiver supports data rates from 20 Mb/s to more than 10 Gb/s over fiber and integrates four transmit and four receive channels in a compact package, helping reduce size, weight, and power (SWaP) compared to traditional copper-based interconnects.
The OptoXtreme 16010 features a hermetically sealed enclosure, a pluggable optical connector interface, and BGA base-layer contacts for secure PCB mounting. Designed to maintain reliable operation in harsh environments, it is qualified for operating temperatures from -50°C to +125°C and provides resistance to shock and vibration that can affect conventional optical connections. The transceiver supports high-bandwidth optical communications for applications including avionics, electronic warfare, radar, munitions, and satellite systems, while enabling greater payload capacity, mission flexibility, and dependable performance in demanding aerospace and defense environments. Click here to learn more about Spectrum Control’s Optical Transievers.
18 to 40 GHz System-in-Package Up/Down Converter
In this video, Joss Spear demonstrates a compact 18 to 40 GHz up/down converter designed to integrate much of the RF subsystem into a single package. The solution is available in single- and dual-channel configurations and combines the RF conversion circuitry, FPGA, and power regulation functions within a compact 30 mm × 30 mm module, reducing the amount of hardware that engineers need to design and integrate separately.
The module is aimed at applications where size, weight, and integration complexity are critical considerations. Instead of building a subsystem from multiple RF, digital, and power-management components, engineers can integrate a pre-engineered module that already addresses many of the challenges associated with high-frequency system design, including power distribution, thermal management, and RF performance. This approach helps accelerate development while reducing integration risk.
Spear also highlighted a newly introduced connectorized version of the module, providing a more straightforward path for integration into larger systems. The platform forms part of Spectrum Control’s broader strategy of miniaturizing complete RF and microwave subsystems, enabling customers to deploy complex functionality in a smaller footprint while shortening development timelines.
Spectrum Control’s growing System-in-Package (SiP) capabilities bring multiple RF, digital, and power-management functions together within a single compact module. This allows complex subsystems that would traditionally require multiple circuit boards and discrete components to be delivered as a fully integrated solution. The capability is now available from the company’s UK operations, enabling the development of ITAR-free solutions for customers across Europe.
Rather than leaving customers to integrate functions such as frequency conversion, filtering, amplification, power regulation, and digital control themselves, Spectrum Control can combine them into a pre-engineered subsystem. This reduces the size and complexity of the final system while helping address challenges such as RF isolation, thermal management, and power distribution earlier in the design process. As a result, customers can shorten development cycles, reduce integration risk, and bring new systems to deployment more quickly.
European Microwave Week 2026 showcased the latest developments in wireless communications, aerospace and defense, radar, satellite technology, semiconductors, antennas, and test and measurement solutions. From cutting-edge mmWave and terahertz technologies to advanced RF design and testing tools, the event highlighted many of the innovations shaping the next generation of high-frequency systems. To discover more technologies, product launches, and demonstrations from across the exhibition floor, explore everything RF’s complete EuMW 2026 coverage.
Click here to learn more about Spectrum Control and its RF solutions.