At IMS 2026, Pickering Interfaces showcased its expanding portfolio of RF and microwave switching solutions, combining hardware platforms with advanced digital switch design tools. In a conversation with everything RF, Tom Sarfi, Global Business Development Manager at Pickering, demonstrated how the company is helping engineers accelerate RF system development from concept to deployment.
Custom RF Switching Meets Standard Platforms
A key highlight of the demonstration was a custom RF switch matrix developed for a customer, integrating switches, attenuators, and couplers into a unified architecture. The solution is built on Pickering’s commercial switching platforms, enabling both flexibility and scalability while ensuring long-term product support.
This hybrid approach aligns with Pickering’s broader product ecosystem, which includes PXI, PXIe, and Ethernet-based switching systems designed for automated test applications. These platforms are widely used for signal routing in RF environments, supporting 5G testing, semiconductor validation, and radar system development. Within this portfolio, RF matrix modules play a central role by enabling engineers to route signals between multiple instruments and devices under test. These modules support frequencies up to 8 GHz and are available in both 50Ω and 75Ω configurations, making them suitable for telecom and high-frequency test setups.
Accelerating Design with the Microwave Switch Design Tool
A central part of Sarfi’s presentation was the Microwave Switch Design Tool (MSDT), an online platform that complements Pickering’s hardware solutions. The tool enables engineers to:
- Design RF switching architectures in a 2D schematic environment
- Select components with full part-number visibility
- Simulate signal performance using S-parameter data
- Predict end-to-end RF behavior across complete paths
- Visualize systems in 3D before production
Pickering Interfaces Microwave Switch Design Tool
In the live demonstration, Sanfi showed us how engineers can create system layouts in a 2D environment, build schematics, select components, and view detailed specifications. He then demonstrated how the tool simulates RF performance across complete signal paths using S-parameter data, allowing users to evaluate system-level behavior before manufacturing, and ended the demonstration with a 3D model generated from a design.
The platform allows engineers to model signal paths and evaluate performance across interconnected components, addressing a key challenge in RF design: predicting cumulative loss and behavior across a full switching system. Recent updates to the tool have added schematic design and RF simulation capabilities, allowing users to verify electrical performance in a virtual environment before committing to hardware builds. This helps reduce design risk and shortens development cycles.
Enabling Faster Concept-to-Production Cycles
According to Sarfee, one of Pickering’s core strengths lies in close collaboration with customers during the design process. Engineers can use the MSDT platform alongside Pickering’s engineering team to iterate designs quickly, moving from initial architecture to validated performance and ultimately to a production-ready system. This integrated approach, combining design tools, standard modules, and custom engineering, supports faster deployment while maintaining consistency and reliability. It also ensures that custom systems remain aligned with commercially supported platforms, providing lifecycle stability over 15–20 years.
Click here to learn more about Pickering Interfaces and its technology.
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