Speakers
Duplex evolution’s RF challenges
Risto Valkonen, Nokia Bell Labs
Dr. Risto Valkonen is Department Head of Transceiver Research at Radio System Research laboratory of Nokia Bell Labs in Espoo, Finland. Risto received his D. Sc. (Tech) degree on Radio Engineering from Aalto University in 2013. His team focuses on applied research of antennas as well as RF analog and digital front-ends and RF algorithms, covering steps from design to manufacturing and testing – from electromagnetic simulations to implementation and characterization of proof-of-concept radios. His own research interests include antenna arrays and metasurfaces in applications for wireless communications and sensing.
Model-based reinforcement learning for integrated sensing and communications
Petteri Pulkkinen, Saab
Petteri Pulkkinen received the M.Sc. (Tech.) and the D.Sc. (Tech.) degrees (with honors) in signal processing from Aalto University at the Department of Information and Communications Engineering, in 2020 and 2025, respectively. From 2020 to 2025, he was a doctoral student in the Saab Industrial PhD program and, after graduation, continued at Saab Finland as a data scientist. From 2023 to 2024, he was also a Visiting Scholar at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN, USA. His professional and research interests include cognitive radars, integrated sensing and communication systems, statistical signal processing, convex optimization, and machine learning.
End of PIN diodes: RF GaN devices in tactical and drone communications
Pasi Tikka, TagoreTech
Pasi Tikka is the Vice President of Strategy and Global Business Development at TagoreTech. With over 25 years of experience in RF engineering, Pasi began his career at Nokia, specializing in BAW filters. He later joined EPCOS-TDK, where he expanded his expertise into RF semiconductors, specifically RF switches and Low Noise Amplifiers. Following this, he served as Vice President at Silanna, a pioneer in layer transfer SOI technology.
A key figure in the industry, Pasi founding father of an RF design center in Espoo, which is now known as Qualcomm Finland, currently employing approximately 70 engineers. Drawing on his vast experience in RF systems, his current focus at TagoreTech includes tactical communications, drone datalinks, and radar applications dedicated to enhancing safety and security across Europe and worldwide.
Frequency-division multiplexing mm-wave MIMO radars
Henrik Forstén, VTT
Henrik Forstén received the M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from Aalto University, Finland in 2016. He is currently a Senior Scientist at VTT Technical Research Center of Finland, where he works on end-to-end development of microwave and mm-wave systems, including MMIC design, RF PCB design, and digital signal processing. His primary focus is on radar systems, especially synthetic aperture radar and counter-UAS applications.
Toward an Electromagnetic Information Theory for Reconfigurable Microwave Systems
Philipp del Hougne, Aalto University & Université de Rennes
Philipp del Hougne is a Nokia Visiting Professor at Aalto University (Finland) and a tenured CNRS Associate Professor (Chargé de recherche, HDR) affiliated with the Université de Rennes (France). He graduated in Physics from Imperial College London (United Kingdom) and received the Ph.D. degree in Physics from the Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (France). He subsequently held postdoctoral positions in Nice and Rennes (France), and Lausanne (Switzerland). His current research interests relate to the theory and applications of reconfigurable wave systems to mold the flow of information through tailored wave-matter interactions, spanning applications from information extraction (imaging, sensing, localization), via information processing (analog wave-based computing), to information transfer (wireless communications).
RF Positioning, Mapping and SLAM – Towards 6G Situational Awareness
Mikko Valkama, Tampere University
Mikko Valkama received the M.Sc. (Tech.) and D.Sc. (Tech.) degrees (Hons.) from Tampere University (TAU) (formerly Tampere University of Technology), Tampere, Finland, in 2000 and 2001, respectively. In 2003, he was with the Communications Systems and Signal Processing Institute, SDSU, San Diego, CA, USA, as a Visiting Research Fellow. He is currently a Full Professor and the Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering at Tampere University, Finland. His research interests include radio communications, radio localization, and radio-based sensing, with particular emphasis on 5G and 6G mobile radio networks. He is a Fellow of IEEE, has published around 750 peer-reviewed scientific papers, and supervised 34 PhD students as the main responsible supervisor.
Towards Wide-Angle Scanning and Reconfigurability Features in Wideband Antennas and Arrays
Ping Jack Soh, University of Oulu
Ping Jack Soh received the PhD degree in electrical engineering from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium in 2013. He is currently a Professor at the University of Oulu, Finland, and a Research Council of Finland’s Research Fellow with the same university. He was the coordinator for the “Devices and Circuit Technology” strategic research area within the 6G Flaghip research program (2022-2023). His research interests include antenna, metasurface and array design, including their applications in wireless body area communication (WBAN); 5G/6G communication; and wireless techniques for sensing and healthcare. (text in blue is optional, depending of the availability of space) He serves as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters (AWPL) and the IEEE Open Journal of Antennas and Propagation; and as the Co-Chair of the Undergraduate Scholarships of the IEEE MTT-S Education Committee. He is also TPC Chair of the 20th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP) 2026.
6G Bridge Program Updates
Pekka Rantala, Business Finland
Mr. Pekka Rantala is the Head of Business Finland’s 6G Bridge Program. This four-year national program commenced in January 2023 with a funding budget of 130 million euros. The 6G Bridge program encourages top-notch Finnish researchers and companies to increase radically both national and international collaboration – also outside the EU.
The program goals will be met e.g. by:
- Increasing ecosystem-driven collaboration in research and innovation for 5GA/6G
- Building future business ecosystems in 5GA/6G and attracting international investments
- Strengthening the key capabilities in 5GA/6G
- Fostering testing and experimentation facilities in 6G
RF ECO3 – Benefits from Leading Company perspective!
Jari Jauhiainen, Bittium
Jari Jauhiainen is a Senior Manager at Bittium with over 30 years of experience in technology management, research collaboration, and program and contract leadership. He currently leads Bittium’s national and international R&D collaboration efforts across major innovation programs such as BF, ITEA, EIT, EU and Chips-JU. Jari brings deep expertise in technology licensing, program management, and ecosystem-driven innovation to his conference engagements.
Examples of component de-embedding, passivity and data fitting in RF design
Jussi Rahola, Optenni
Jussi Rahola is the founder and CEO of Optenni Ltd. He obtained the M.Sc. (Tech.) and D.Sc. (Tech.) degrees in applied mathematics from Aalto University (former Helsinki University of Technology) in 1990, and 1996, respectively. From 1989 to 1999 he was working as an application specialist and a development manager in CSC – IT Center for Science Ltd, Finland. During 1997-1998 he also worked in CERFACS, Toulouse, France as a post-doctoral researcher in the field of computational electromagnetics. From 2000 to 2009 he worked in Nokia Research Center and Nokia Devices R&D as a senior research engineer, research manager and principal scientist in the field of antenna research. In 2009 he founded Optenni Ltd for developing the Optenni Lab circuit synthesis software. He has over 30 publications in international journals and conference proceedings. His research interests include antennas, circuit simulation, impedance matching, computational electromagnetics and numerical mathematics.
Recent activities on RF Microelectronics at Aalto University
Kari Stadius, Aalto University
Kari Stadius is a senior scientist and a research group leader at the Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering, Aalto University School of Electrical Engineering, with over thirty years of experience on RF IC design.
His research interests include RF and microwave circuits for communications and sensing, and analog and mixed-mode circuit design.
Currently, he conducts RF research on FinFET transceivers for full-duplex communication, heterogeneous integration of CMOS and GaN technologies, and antenna-IC co-design methods.
In addition, Kari is leading research on cryogenic IC design and ASIC-assisted power electronics.