Building Innovation Together: CST Supports IEEE MTT-S Student Design Competition

Cascade Systems Technology (CST) believes that some very exciting innovation happens when academia, industry, and professional organizations come together. In fact, we see this collaboration across silos and investment in STEM as a fundamental part of our nation’s ability to lead the world in technology.

That philosophy was on full display at the 2025 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS), where CST was proud to contribute to the Switched Acoustic Filter Module Student Design Competition, sponsored by IEEE MTT-S Technical Committee 6 “RF MEMS and Microwave Acoustics.” (You can read IEEE’s summary of the initiative here.)

The Challenge

This year’s challenge asked student teams to design a multi-band switched filter that combined both acoustic RF filters and RF MEMS switches from leading semiconductor manufacturers.

Each design needed to support one antenna port, one transmit port, and four receive ports, creating a six-port network capable of six different filter states (including carrier aggregation). Performance was judged on key metrics such as insertion loss and return loss across all bands and states.

Three student teams from across the globe rose to the challenge, each of them approaching the problem differently – and with board designs that reflected a range of innovative design strategies. The winners were:

• 1st place – Friedrich-Alexander-Universität (Germany)
• 2nd place – Korea University
• 3rd place – University of Texas at Austin (United States)

CST’s role in the competition was to aid in assembling the student-designed boards. In the process, we worked under guidance of (and express our thanks to!) our project advisor — Thomas Forster, an employee of Qualcomm (Munich) and a member of the IEEE TC-6 committee which is focused on MEMs and Microwave Acoustics, and the primary sponsor of the competition.

The student designs all utilized components provided by leading technology players, who also deserve a shout out for their contributions. These included acoustic filters from Qorvo, RF MEMS switches from Menlo Microsystems, and fabricated circuit boards from EuroCircuits.

More than Components and Boards

By providing precision component assembly assistance, Cascade Systems helped the student teams turn their designs into real, testable hardware. But for us, this wasn’t just about soldering parts onto a board. It was about being part of an ecosystem where:

• Students gain practical experience by pushing the limits of design.
• Professional organizations like IEEE provide a platform for innovation and recognition.
• Industry partners like CST contribute expertise and resources to make innovation tangible.

We enjoyed collaborating with the competition’s advisors and the talented student teams — and we are proud to have played a role in showcasing what happens when different parts of the electronics community work together.

This competition is a perfect example of why the U.S. (and global) electronics ecosystem thrives when academia, trade groups, and private companies partner to tackle complex challenges. CST is committed to continuing our support of efforts like this, which not only advance RF and microwave technology but also help inspire and train the next generation of engineers.

― Jack Frost,
Director of Business Development, Cascade Systems Technology

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