The 2018 IEEE IMS conference and exhibition will be recalled for many things, including the growing use of millimeter-wave frequencies for such applications as commercial collision-avoidance radars in automotive electronic safety systems, and for the fast data links in 5G smartphones and wireless networks. But it will also be remembered as the first annual IEEE IMS event without Harvey Kaylie of Mini-Circuits. Harvey came to this event many decades earlier, with a much smaller company built upon his knowledge of how to design and assemble RF/microwave components, such as frequency mixers, and charge prices that were a fraction of the cost of the competitors components.
Harvey grew that little company into a much larger, multi-dimensional supplier of many different types of components, including discrete circuits packed into surface-mount packages and miniature active and passive components built on advanced monolithic-microwave-integrated-circuit (MMIC) technology. Harvey was knowledgeable about technology and manufacturing techniques, but always interested in learning more. Any time spent at the Mini-Circuits’ booth during an IEEE MTT-S exhibition was time well spent, and time during which a visit had as much chance to teach Harvey something new as to learn from him.
Harvey Kaylie was the founder and long-time leader of Mini-Circuits, an innovator who will not soon be forgotten by the RF/microwave industry. (Courtesy of Mini-Circuits)
Harvey never lost his sense of humor, in spite of the years of hard work and the illnesses with later years. He continued to work every day, and to build Mini-Circuits into a supplier for all applications, from cellular telephones and radios to military radar systems. His personality was unique, and made Mini-Circuits the unique supplier and perhaps the one company most synonymous with the RF/microwave industry.
This year will be the first time in many decades that Harvey is no longer at the IEEE IMS or a personality on the show floor. But his legacy, Mini-Circuits, has been built to last, and his philosophy of designing high-performance products for the lowest prices possible has left behind a solid foundation. Certainly, many in the technical sessions and on the exhibition floor will be talking about the loss of Harvey Kaylie to the microwave industry. But during the show, take the time to stop by Mini-Circuits on the exhibition floor, at booth 203, and let their people know what Harvey meant to you, and that his ideas and contributions to this industry will never be forgotten.
