IEEE’s Interactive Mars Exploration Vehicle (MEV) experience will send attendees on mission to Mars at the IEEE MTT-S 2016 International Microwave Symposium (IMS) beginning Tuesday, May 24 at the Moscone Center South. As part of the symposium’s Wireless Wonders Pavilion, attendees can visit booth #1800 and pilot the Mars Exploration Vehicle in an interactive virtual reality game.

In the cooperative experience, three players, each using a VR headset and microphone, virtually command a planetary exploration vehicle and collaborate to accomplish a series of missions on Mars. Players appear inside the game as 3D digital avatars but must communicate verbally to manipulate the rover controls and operate the vehicle. This hands-on demonstration showcases how microwave and RF technology makes many of today’s greatest innovations possible, while also exploring the future of human interaction with and within virtual environments.

The MEV experience is a part of the symposium’s Wireless Wonders Pavilion, which showcases emerging wearable electronics that utilize RF and microwave technologies. Curated and sponsored by Wireless Design and Development, the Pavilion will feature a number of consumer-facing technologies including a smart driving assistant, the first home wireless system, and devices that don’t just think, but instinctively react to their surroundings.

IMS, the annual conference and exhibition of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S), is the premier international meeting for technologists involved in all aspects of microwave theory and practice. IMS2016 will be held May 22-27, 2016 at the Moscone Center as the centerpiece of Microwave Week 2016. On Wednesday, May 25, IMS will offer a free pass to the exhibit hall.