EE 481 - Microwave Engineering

Fall 2008

 Some documents listed here require viewing with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.

EE 481 Course Syllabus 

Lecture Notes

 Lecture #
 Title
0 Cover page. Table of contents.
1 Introduction. Overview of pertinent electromagnetics.
 2 Telegrapher equations for transmission lines. Power flow.
 3 Phasor wave solutions to the telegrapher equations. Termination of TLs.
 4 TL input impedance, time average power, return and insertion losses. VSWR.
5 Generator and load mismatches on TLs.
6 The Smith chart.
7 Transmission line matching using lumped L networks.
8 Single-stub tuning.
9 Quarter-wave-transformer matching.
10 TEM, TE, and TM modes for waveguides. Rectangular waveguide.
11 Dispersion. Stripline and other planar waveguides.
12 Microstrip. ADS and LineCalc.
13 Simple quasi-static moment method analysis of a microstrip.
14 Impedance and admittance matrices.
15 S parameters and the scattering matrix.
16 Properties of S matrices. Shifting reference planes.
17 S parameters and time average power. Generalized S parameters.
18 Vector network analyzer.
19 Proper microwave laboratory practices.
20 Transmission (ABCD) matrix.
21 Signal flow graphs.
22 Measurement errors. TRL calibration of a VNA.
23 Basic properties of dividers and couplers.
24 T-junction and resistive power divider.
25 Wilkinson power divider.
26 Quadrature (90º) hybrid.
27 The 180º hybrid.
28 Coupled line and Lange directional couplers.
29 Microwave filter design by the insertion loss method.
30 Scaling of low pass prototype filters. Stepped impedance low pass filters.
31 Stub synthesis. Kuroda’s identities. Stub low pass filters.
32 High pass and bandpass microwave filters. Stub resonant filters.
33 Coupled line filters.
34 Coupled line bandpass filters.
35 Active microwave circuits: Two-port power gains.
36 Amplifier stability.
37 Single stage amplifier: Design for maximum gain.
38 Single stage amplifier: Design for specific gain.

 

Homework Problems and Solutions

  1. Homework #1. Assigned Sept. 5. Due Sept. 12. (Solutions)
  2. Homework #2. Assigned Sept. 12. Due Sept. 19. (Solutions)
  3. Homework #3. Assigned Sept. 19. Due Sept. 26. (Solutions)
  4. Homework #4. Assigned Sept. 26. Due Oct. 3. (Solutions)
  5. Homework #5. Assigned Oct. 3. Due Oct. 10. (Solutions)
  6. Homework #6. Assigned Oct. 17. Due Oct. 24. (Solutions)
  7. Homework #7. Assigned Oct. 24. Due Oct. 31. (Solutions)
  8. Homework #8. Assigned Oct. 31. Due Nov. 7. (Solutions)
  9. Homework #9. Assigned Nov. 10. Due Nov. 14. (Solutions)
  10. Homework #10. Assigned Nov. 19. Due Nov. 26. (Solutions)
  11. Homework #11. Assigned Nov. 26. Due Dec. 5. (Solutions)
  12. Homework #12. Assigned Dec. 5. Due Dec. 12. (Solutions)
 

Labs

 Lab #
 Title Assigned Due
1 Single stub tuner in microstrip. 10/22 11/3
2 T-junction 1:1 power divider. 11/3 11/14
3 Quadrature hybrid coupler. 11/19 12/3
4 Stepped impedance low pass filter. 12/3 12/12
5 Maximum gain common emitter amplifier. (S2P files for BFP620.)    

 

Additional Course Materials 

Laboratory and Equipment Information 

  • Equipment:
  • "Network Analyzer Basics," Agilent Product Note E206. 
  • Agilent 8753ES user's manual (6 GHz Vector network analyzer ).
  • Agilent 4396B user's manual (1.8 GHz RF/Network/Spectrum analyzer).
    •
  • Calibration of VNAs:
  • Thru-Reflect-Line (TRL) calibration manual for RO4003C substrate (measurements from 4 to 6 GHz).
  • "Applying the 8510 TRL Calibration for Non-Coaxial Measurements" Agilent Product Note 8510-8A.
    •
  • Microwave Connections:
  • "Quick Start Guide for Precision Microwave Coaxial Connections."
  • "Improving SMA Tests Using APC3.5 Hardware" Maury Microwave Application Note 5A-011.
  • Milling machine tools and procedure for milling a PCB.
  • Data sheet for the Infineon Technologies BFP620 transistor.
    •

    Useful References

  • Advanced Design System (ADS) by Agilent Technologies:
  • Smith charts:
  • Color combined impedance and admittance chart.
  • Microwave laminate information:
  • RO4003C laminate from Rogers Corporation.
  • Fabrication guidelines using RO4003C laminate.
  • "A Low Cost Laminate for Wireless Applications," Microwave Journal, Sept. 1996.
  • "Measurement of Copper Thickness by the Weight Method" from Rogers Corp.

    • K. W. Whites

    Last modified on December 20, 2008.