Administration
- Syllabus
- Discord Server
- Priority Lab Hours Sign Up
- Canvas, you can access Gradescope through Canvas.
- There is class the Monday of Thanksgiving week.
- There is no final exam, but DP2 is due during finals week.
- The weekly schedule is as below
| Meeting | Location | Time |
| Lecture | SH3461 | 9:35-10:50 Mon/Wed |
| Office Hours | P2358 | 11-1 Mon/ 3-4 Mon |
| Lab Hours | PB159 | Any time except when another team exercises priority |
Labs and Design Projects
- Example Lab Notebook for this Example Lab. You will submit a lab notebook with each lab.
- Design Project 1 Report Template [docx]
- Design Project 2 Report Template [docx] (old version) and Design Project 2 Link Budget Template
- Though lab work is completed in pairs, lab notebooks will be maintained individually. I recommend you try using Evernote. Submit exported notebooks on Canvas by midnight on days labs are due.
- Theory and practical problems are done individually, and they are due at the same time as lab notebooks.
| Due | Manual | Lab Name |
| 9/4 | Lab 01 | Lab certification and ltSpice |
| 9/18 | Lab 02 | Transmission Line Time Responses (Old Version) |
| 10/2 | Lab 03 | VNA Calibration and De-Embedding |
| 10/11 | DP1 | Design 1: Filter |
| 11/06 | Lab 04 | Near Field Measurements |
| 11/20 | Lab 05 | Antenna Characterization |
| 12/06 | Lab 06 | Amplifier Linearity |
| 12/10 | DP2 | Design 2: Communication System |
Resources
Course Notes
- Mike Perrott's 2005 RF Course Notes from MIT
- Ali Niknejad's "Introduction to RF" Lecture Notes from Berkeley
- Ali Niknejad's "Advanced RF" Lecture Notes from Berkeley
- An online book from MIT on applications of Maxwell's Equations
- A set of video lectures that covers much of the same stuff as this class
Derivations
- Solution to the Telegrapher Equation from UMBC
- Complex Analysis and Conformal Maps from UMN
- Lines of Resistance and Reactance on Smith Chart from UIUC
- Power Gains in Terms of S Parameters from Chris Angrove
- Stability Circles and Rollett Stability Factor from Clive Poole
- Field around a Hertzian Dipole from U Texas, Leads to Dipole Impedance
- Reciprocity from Libretexts.
- Effective Aperture from Libretexts.
Smith Charts
- A Blank Smith Chart and another with impedance and admittance
- Online Smith Chart and Impedance Match Calculator
Vector Network Analyzers
- Tips and Tricks for Calibrating VNAs mirrored by Keysight
- White Paper About VNA Calibration and Dispersion from Anritsu
Propagation
Other
- Handy ltSpice Re,Im to S1P converter from Diego Herrera Vicioso '23
- w2aew Youtube channel with videos on many common pieces of test equipment.
- Introduction to antennas from antenna-theory.com
- Mixer basics from Digikey
- Scikit-RF Plotting Package for S-Parameter Data
Radar isn't Covered in this Class, but These are Cool Links
- Great radar building tutorial from MIT
- Overview of the radar equation from Lincoln Labs (pdf)
- Overview of the radar equation from radartutorial.eu
- Some guy named Henrik Forsten building awesome homebrew radars on his blog
Lecture Notes, Handouts, Readings
| # | Resources | Title | References |
| 01 | Class | Welcome to RF! | |
| 02 | Class Slides | Introduction to Transmission Lines | Lee 2.3-4 |
| LABOR DAY, NO CLASS ON 9/4 | |||
| 03 | Class Slides | Loss, Characteristic Impedance and Reflections | Lee 2.5, 2.7 |
| 04 | Class Slides | Sinusoids in Transmission Lines | Lee 2.6, video |
| 05 | Class Slides | Impedance Transformation and the Smith Chart | Lee 3.2 |
| 06 | Class Slides | Impedance Matching Networks 1 | Lee 4.2 |
| 07 | Class Slides | Impedance Matching Networks 2 | Lee 4.3 |
| 08 | Class Slides | Filter Design | Lee 22.1 |
| 09 | Class Slides | Introduction to S Parameters | Lee 3.3 |
| 10 | Class Slides | Measuring S Parameters | Lee 8.4-5 |
| 11 | Class Slides | Power Flow I | Lee 3.3 |
| 12 | Class Slides | Power Flow II | Lee 3.3 |
| 13 | Class Slides | Stability | Lee 12.7 |
| FALL BREAK, NO CLASS ON 10/14 | |||
| 14 | Class | Midterm Review, no new videos | |
| MIDTERM IN CLASS ON 10/21 | |||
| 15 | Class Slides | Maxwell Review, Near Field Measurements | Perrott Notes 3 |
| 16 | Class Slides | Why Radiation? Types of Antennas | Lee 21.1, 21.6-7 |
| 17 | Class Slides | Near and Far Fields, Radiation Patterns | Lee 21.2-3 |
| 18 | Class | Antenna Review and Practice, no new videos | |
| 19 | Class Slides | Linearity 1 | LibreText Notes |
| 20 | Class Slides | Linearity 2 | LibreText Notes |
| 21 | Class Slides | Noise Sources, Noise Temperature | LibreTexts Notes |
| 22 | Class Slides | Noise in Communication Systems | LibreTexts Notes |
| 23 | Class Slides | Mixers, Spectrum Analyzers | Digikey Notes |
| 24 | Class Slides | Modulation and Communication System Examples | Perrott Notes |
| THANKSGIVING BREAK, NO CLASS ON 11/27 | |||
| 25 | Class Slides | Board Layout Techniques and Practices | |
| 26 | Guest Lecture or Special Topic | ||
| NO FINAL, DP2 DUE BY END OF FINALS WEEK |