Foundations for Radio Frequency Engineering

Book Preface

In an age of knowledge explosion, students have to meet the challenges of maintaining perspective amid a deluge of information and change in their developments of expertise. The traditional university courses and their contents must therefore be designed, planned or merged accordingly so that the students can master the core materials that are needed in their future careers, while having enough time to study the new courses to be frequently added to the curriculum.

With the rapid development of wireless communication technologies, the demand on wireless spectrum has been growing dramatically. This results in extensive and intensive research in radio frequency (RF) theory and techniques, and substantial advancements in the area of radio engineering, both in theory and practice, have emerged in recent years. RF engineering deals with various devices that are designed to operate in the frequency range from 3 kHz to 300GHz, and therefore covers all areas where electromagnetic fields must be transmitted or received as a carrier wave. For this reason, a good RF engineer must have in-depth knowledge in mathematics and physics, as well as specialized training in the areas of applied electromagnetics such as guided structures and microwave circuits, antenna and wave propagation, and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) designs of electronic circuits.

RF engineering is closely linked to three IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) professional societies: Microwave Theory and Techniques (MTT), Antennas and Propagation (AP) and EMC. Traditionally, different courses have been created to meet the needs for different societies. For example, the students oriented to the MTT society must take the courses such as Microwave Engineering, or Field Theory of Guided Waves. For the students specialized in AP and EMC societies, the courses Antenna Theory and Design and Electromagnetic Compatibility are compulsory. Nevertheless, these three professional societies are intimately related as they have numerous things in common in terms of theories and techniques. Many professionals are often active in the three societies at the same time. In fact, a typical RF department in a wireless company has engineers working in different areas belonging to these societies, and most of the time, they have to work together to solve an engineering problem as a team.

Contents

• Chapter 1. Solutions of Electromagnetic Field Problems
• Chapter 2. Waveguides
• Chapter 3. Microwave Resonators
• Chapter 4. Microwave Circuits
• Chapter 5. Antennas
• Chapter 6. Propagation of Radio Waves
• Chapter 7. Electromagnetic Compatibility
• Chapter 8. Information Theory and Systems