RF & Wireless Engineering
RF circuits, antennas and wireless link design: radio architectures and cascade analysis, S-parameters and network analysis, Smith-chart matching, RF passives and filters, low-noise and power amplifiers, mixers and frequency synthesis, product antennas, propagation models, wireless standards and spectrum regulation, and coexistence, carried through the design and compliance plan of a three-radio telemetry product.
ELE-455 Year 4 3 credits 12 lessons · 4 h 44 min ▶ Video lessons coming soon
Offered by HSM University · Electrical Engineering
This is the American version of this course. See the Canadian version.
What you'll learn
- Compare superheterodyne, zero-IF and low-IF radio architectures, and calculate the gain, noise figure, IIP3, sensitivity and dynamic range of a receiver line-up.
- Define and measure S-parameters, convert between S, Z and ABCD parameters, and apply VNA calibration and fixture de-embedding.
- Design L, Pi, T and stub matching networks on the Smith chart, and relate their loaded Q to bandwidth, harmonic rejection and loss.
- Account for the parasitics of real capacitors, inductors, vias and pads, and design LC harmonic filters from low-pass prototypes, choosing among LC, distributed and acoustic filters.
- Evaluate amplifier stability with K, Δ and μ, use noise parameters and noise circles, and design a stabilized low-noise amplifier that balances noise figure, gain and return loss.
- Design a power amplifier output from its load line, compare amplifier classes and their efficiency at back-off, and specify harmonic filtering against emission limits.
- Explain mixers, oscillators and fractional-N synthesizers, integrate phase noise to jitter, and calculate reciprocal-mixing desensitization from blockers.
- Select and place antennas for products using the Chu limit, total efficiency, TRP and TIS, and estimate isolation between antennas.
- Predict cellular path loss with the Okumura–Hata and COST-231 models, estimate knife-edge diffraction and set fade margins for location reliability.
- Compare BLE, LoRaWAN, LTE-M, NB-IoT and related standards for a machine application, and identify the Canadian and US spectrum rules and certification steps for a multi-radio product.
- Diagnose and fix self-interference in a multi-radio product: clock harmonics, transmitter blocking and noise, and intermodulation, and calculate the isolation required.
- Assemble link budgets, emission results, coexistence results, a certification plan and a production test plan into a design review for a radio product.
Course content
12 lessons · 4 h 44 min total · final exam
- 1 RF systems and radio architectures 27 min · quiz
- 2 S-parameters and network analysis 25 min · quiz
- 3 The Smith chart and impedance matching networks 24 min · quiz
- 4 RF passive components and printed-circuit realization 24 min · quiz
- 5 Low-noise amplifiers 24 min · quiz
- 6 Power amplifiers 25 min · quiz
- 7 Mixers, oscillators and frequency synthesis 22 min · quiz
- 8 Antennas for products 22 min · quiz
- 9 Propagation and channel models 21 min · quiz
- 10 Wireless standards and spectrum regulation 21 min · quiz
- 11 EMC and coexistence 24 min · quiz
- 12 TLR-2 RF design and compliance plan 25 min · quiz
- E Final exam 20 questions
Requirements
Recommended background. You can start any course at any time.
Description
RF circuits, antennas and wireless link design: radio architectures and cascade analysis, S-parameters and network analysis, Smith-chart matching, RF passives and filters, low-noise and power amplifiers, mixers and frequency synthesis, product antennas, propagation models, wireless standards and spectrum regulation, and coexistence, carried through the design and compliance plan of a three-radio telemetry product.
Part of the Engineering stream, typically taken in year 4.