The RF Week — May 2026 | Week 19 | FermionIC Design | Data Patterns | Nokia | Apple | DCX Systems Ltd | GalaxEye | R&S
A concise roundup of the most important RF and wireless news updates this week.
Dear Subscriber,
Happy weekend, and welcome to another edition of The RF Week.
Before we dive into this week’s RF news, I want to share the list of articles we posted for our paid subscribers.
Paid Article#1: Understanding Bluetooth (Classic BT & BLE) from PHY to MAC Layer (A Complete Guide)
Paid Article#2: Altair FEKO in Practice: Electromagnetic Simulation and a Patch Antenna Design Explained
Paid Article#3: A Beginner’s Guide to Microwave Engineering, Frequency Bands and RF Applications
Paid Article#4: The RF Job Signal — May 2026 | Week 19 | H1-B Sponsoring | USA | Open RF Positions
That said, here are a few important RF & Wireless developments worth catching up on this week.
RF News#1
Bengaluru’s Accordyne Pvt. Ltd. and FermionIC Design held discussions on potential collaboration in RF and mixed-signal MMIC technologies, focusing on phased-array systems with adaptive beamforming. The proposed work targets applications in cognitive radios, radar systems, satellite communications, and autonomous UxV swarms, with an emphasis on strengthening indigenous capability across hardware and software layers. The potential partnership reflects a shared emphasis on India’s technological sovereignty across hardware and software layers.
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RF News#2
RF/Wireless professionals from India are increasingly eyeing an exit from the USA amid stagnant job markets, visa hurdles, and booming NRI demand back home.
This isn't isolated—it's part of a larger trend where 40% of Indian Americans have thought about packing up, per a recent Carnegie Endowment survey. Frustration stems from political polarisation, rising expenses, and unease about discrimination or workplace bias. Students hit OPT/visa walls post-graduation, facing a shortage of entry-level RF jobs amid H-1B restrictions and green card delays (10+ years). I've heard it firsthand from RF Engineers in my network who are weighing returns to India or shifts to Europe/Canada.
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RF News#3
Tamil Nadu’s largest indigenous RF systems employer, Data Patterns (India) Limited, hit a new all-time high as investors price in its record defence order book and strong quarterly growth. The stock rose to about ₹4,193, after a sharp multi-week rally driven by defence orders, Make in India tailwinds, and solid Q3 FY26 numbers. The stock has climbed roughly 97% in the last three months, making it one of the stronger defence-sector movers this year. The company’s order book hit a record ₹1,868 crore in Q3 FY26, which the market sees as the main reason for the continued rally. Data Patterns is positioned to benefit from India’s defence modernisation, especially the demand for radars, electronic warfare systems, missiles, and other advanced electronics.
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RF News#4
Finland’s Nokia is selling its Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) CPE business to San Diego-based Inseego Corp, and the deal is expected to close in Q4 2026. Nokia will get about a 7% equity stake at closing, plus an additional $10 million investment that takes its total ownership in Inseego to roughly 11%. For Inseego, this acquisition will roughly double its revenue and expand it into a global wireless broadband player across fixed wireless, mobile broadband, and cloud-managed connectivity. The two companies also plan to collaborate on 6G, wireless edge, and AI-related opportunities. This move by Nokia fits its strategy of simplifying operations and concentrating on infrastructure for the AI era under the leadership of Justin Hotard.
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RF News#5
Bengaluru-based DCX Systems Ltd and IAI - Israel Aerospace Industries’ ELTA Systems Ltd have started building a radar manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu through their joint venture ELTX Systems. The plant is being set up in Shoolagiri Industrial Area, with completion expected by April 2027 and production to begin soon after. The facility is intended for the manufacture, integration, and testing of advanced radar systems. The JV also says it will support armed forces programmes, transfer knowledge, and advance technologies for high-end defence systems, including airborne radars and ground-based systems. Radar is one of the most RF-intensive domains in engineering, so any new facility in this space tends to create demand for engineers who understand microwave hardware, antennas, front-end chains, and measurement systems.
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RF News#6
California-based Marki Microwave announced the acquisition of Saetta Labs, a Colorado-based developer of ultra-low-phase-noise oscillator technology. Saetta’s sapphire‑loaded cavity oscillators operate in X‑band (e.g., 7–10 GHz) and deliver record‑low phase noise. Saetta’s SLCOs replace multi‑stage traditional references (OCXO + SAW + DRO) with a single‑oscillator, high‑Q sapphire‑based solution, enabling cleaner local‑oscillator and clocking subsystems. Marki also acquired LintrinsIC Semiconductors Inc., a developer of high‑power, ultrafast RF switches implemented in silicon‑on‑insulator (SOI) CMOS processes. Taken together, these acquisitions position Marki as a more vertically integrated full‑signal‑chain RF vendor, combining high‑dynamic‑range, low‑noise mixing and amplification.
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RF News#7
Mission Drishti, the world’s first OptoSAR satellite developed by Bengaluru‑based space startup GalaxEye, has been successfully launched. The satellite carries an X‑band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) payload operating with VV polarisation, integrated on board with multi‑spectral optical imagers to enable all‑weather, day‑night Earth observation. From an RF viewpoint, the mission is notable for its spaceborne X‑band SAR front‑end, which demands tight phase and timing stability, high linearity, and low‑noise RF chains to support coherent imaging over long synthetic apertures.
The payload architecture also implies high‑speed onboard digitisation and substantial downlink capacity, relying on RF communication links and precise antenna pointing to transfer large SAR data volumes reliably. Mission Drishti is a dual‑use Earth observation satellite, supporting applications in defence, agriculture, disaster management, maritime monitoring, and infrastructure planning. The satellite is expected to complement India’s broader Earth‑observation ecosystem, including the fleet of 29 operational Earth Observation satellites outlined in ISRO’s recent annual report.
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RF News#8
Rohde & Schwarz is hosting its annual Technology Symposium in Bangalore on 28 April 2026, aimed at engineers, technical leaders, and innovators working across RF, wireless, automotive, aerospace, and defence. The event’s central theme is “Where Innovation Meets Measurement”, with a strong emphasis on agentic AI, 6G, non‑terrestrial networks (NTN), and AI‑driven physical layer processing.
There are three main technical tracks: one on wireless evolution and AI‑enhanced modems, another on advanced test & measurement (including high‑speed ADCs and edge AI), and a third covering aerospace and defence trends. The hands‑on segment includes practical demos on GaN device characterisation, 10G automotive Ethernet validation, AI‑powered test environments, and techniques for conducted/near‑field EMC investigation. This is a valuable opportunity for India’s RF, 6G/NTN, automotive, and defence ecosystem to engage directly with Rohde & Schwarz’s latest tools and thinking.
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RF News#9
California’s Apple naming of John Ternus as CEO signals that hardware and RF‑level innovation are now at the center of Apple’s next decade. Ternus, a 25‑year Apple hardware veteran, will take over as CEO on September 1, 2026, promoting a deep product engineer into the top chair for the first time in years. Under his leadership, Apple is already acting like one of the largest employers of RF talent in consumer tech.
Across iPhone, iPad, Mac, AirPods, and Vision‑era products, RF design, antenna integration, and wireless systems have become core competitive differentiators. The company now runs dedicated RF teams and posts roles like RFIC Design Engineer, Cellular RF Systems Engineer, and RF Requirements & Standards Engineer—showing an explicit, long‑term bet on RF innovation at scale. As Ternus steers Apple forward, expect even tighter integration between custom silicon, antennas, and RF systems across the entire product stack
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That’s all for this week. I hope you enjoyed reading this edition of The RF Week.
Share your thoughts in the comments — I’d love to hear what caught your attention.
Signing off,
Prem 🚀📡