ATI's Microwave & RF Circuit Design & Analysis course

Summary: This four-day course is designed for engineers, technicians, and managers who are involved in developing hardware for the Microwave and RF industry. The material presented in this course is useful for both discrete circuit and chip level technologies. Techniques and designs will be presented for active, passive and mixed mode applications. Receiver and transmitters characteristics will also be presented. Most sections of the course are supported with simulations that verify the technical presentation. Many technical references are provided in each section of the course. Simulation files can be provided upon request. Instructor: Steven E. Hamilton is a consultant and lecturer in RF and Microwave active and passive circuit design, covering frequencies from 10 MHz to 94GHz. Mr. Hamilton has over 30 years of design experience including product research and development of military and commercial circuits and systems, first RF coaxial connector to work to 19 GHz, HARM missile corporate feed system, First solid-state transmitter for the Phoenix Missile system, AMRAM, fly off, transmitter, AEGIS link for the standard missile system, and a receiver for the Patriot Missile. Commercial products include TVRO and DBS receivers, low noise and power amplifiers. What you will learn: Describe RF circuit parameters and terminology. State the effects of parasitics on circuit performance at RF. Use graphical design techniques and the Smith Chart. Match impedances and perform transformations. Predict RF circuit stability and stabilize circuits. Design small signal and low noise RF amplifiers. Design power amplifiers. Understand manufacturing issues that affect RF performance. Design circuits that work the first time. Course Outline: Review of Basic Principles. Useful Equations and Tips. Transmission line concepts and techniques. Reflection Coefficient, VSWR, Return Loss, Mismatch Loss. Electrical Length. Lossless and Lossy Lines. Physical realization — microstrip, Stripline, coax, Waveguide, CPW. Smith Chart. Impedance Matching. S-Parameters. Circuit Realization Considerations. Microwave R, L, C components. Interconnects. Active Devices. Package Parasitics. CAD/CAE Tools. Microwave Office (Applied Wave Research). Linear Simulator. Harmonic Balance Non-linear simulation. Volterra mildly non-linear simulation. Electromagnetic Simulator. Layout Tools. Passive Networks. Couplers — Branchline, edge-coupled, Lange. Splitters — symmetrical and non-symmetrical Wilkinson. Phase Shifter-Schiffman and Branchline coupler. Filters LPF prototype, HPF, Bandpass, Bandstop, Notch. Circulator. Baluns. Mixers — balanced, double balanced, image reject. Attenuators — Pi, Tee, balanced series and shunt. Active Linear Amplifier Design. Microwave Transistor Issues. Silicon vs. GaAs. Noise sources. S-Parameters, noise figure parameters. Test fixture and model development. Small Signal Design. Low Noise Amplifier Design for maximum gain and low noise. Bias network considerations. Noise Figure and/or linear power tradeoffs. Intercept point (IP3) tradeoffs. Active Large Signal Amplifier Design. Device tradeoffs - Silicon vs. GaAs. Single ended vs. push-pull. Non-linear device characterization. Differences between push-pull and single-ended characterization. Load-pull and source-pull methods. Circuit Design Issues including CW vs. pulsed operation, Peak/Average Ratio and design considerations, Optimal matching networks, Bias considerations, Stability considerations, Balanced vs. push-pull vs. inphase combining, Amplitude and Insertion phase tracking. Oscillator Design Considerations. Oscillators. Device Selection. Phase Noise. VCO Design Example. System Issues. Receiver Design Issues. Cascaded noise figure (Friis Formula). Cascaded IP3. Transmitter Design Issues. Up/down Converter Issues. Circuits Realization and Fabrication. Substrate materials and selection tradeoffs. Component selection and mounting issues. Design for Manufacture Issues. Housing Design and potential Waveguide issues. Tuition: Tuition for this course is $1595 per person at one of our scheduled public courses. Onsite pricing is available. Please call us at 410-956-8805 or send an email to ati@ATIcourses.com. Register Now Without Obligation