ENGG 199: Wireless Technology

Spring Term 2009

Instructor

Instructor: Paul Meaney
Office: Room 225, Cummings Hall
Telephone: 646-3939
E-mail: Paul.M.Meaney@Dartmouth.edu
Hours: Open Office Hours

Course Overview

This course provides a broad overview of the actual components and subassemblies used in RF systems. The course will initially focus on the function of individual components, basic figures of merit and critical aspects with respect to system design. It will then apply this knowledge base to investigate the area of system integration for several representative wireless and RF applications (such as GPS, RFID and wireless communications) and finally discuss these issues with respect to related fields such as acoustics and near infrared technology. Application examples will be taken from problems in the textbook as well as from other references. The specific subjects covered will be component function, component testing noise, bandwidth, harmonics, isolation, phase locking and preliminary system design. Students will be expected to complete problem-based assignments, laboratory testing examples, an exam and write a paper on material and topics that largely follow the course textbook and auxiliary references.

Textbooks

  • Primary - Pozar DM, Microwave and RF Design of Wireless Systems, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 2001.
  • Secondary - Skolnik MI, Introduction to Radar Systems, 3rd. Edition, McGraw-Hill Higher Education, Boston, 2001.
  • Secondary - Peebles PZ, Jr., Radar Principles, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1998.

Class Grading

  • Assignments: 30%
  • Labs: 20%
  • Project/Report: 25%
  • Exam: 25%

Honor Code

An honor code is in place during all course activities. Individual work is expected on all assignments. You may discuss problems with other students, but the work that you hand in must be your own. If you work with anyone else on an assignment, you should note this on the paper that is handed in. All work involving information from external literature should be referenced appropriately to avoid issues related to plagiarism. Any concerns about the honor code, either questions of interpretation or witnessing of violations, should be discussed with Professor Meaney.

Course Prerequisites

ENGS 32, 61 and 120 or equivalent

Course Objectives

This course will provide students with a practical and hands-on appreciation of working with RF components, subsystems and the tools necessary to assess RF system design and performance.

Students completing this course should be able to:

  1. Understand the basic function of typical microwave components and different propagation media
  2. Understand the nature of noise in a subsystem and describe strategies for reducing its effects
  3. Set up and test the performance of basic microwave components
  4. Design simple microwave subsystems for rudimentary functions
  5. Understand the relationship between subassembly performance and back-end signal processing
  6. Assess overall performance for a microwave system
  7. Understand the relationship between classical subsystem implementation and that for evolving technology.

Schedule

  • Week 1 - Introduction and Transmission Lines (Pozar: Chapters 1 & 2)
    Assignment #1
  • Week 2 - Noise (Pozar: Chapter 3)
    Assignment #2
    Lab 1
  • Week 3 - Intermodulation Distortion/Dynamic Range (Pozar: Chapter 3)
    Antennas (Pozar: Chapter 4)
    Project Start
    Lab 2
  • Week 4 - Distributed Passive Components - Filters, Couplers, Power Dividers (Pozar: Chapter 5)
    Assignment #3
  • Week 5 - Amplifiers (Pozar: Chapter 6)
    Assignment #4
    Lab 3
  • Week 6 - Mixers (Pozar: Chapter 7)
    Assignment #5
    Lab 4
  • Week 7 - Oscillators (Pozar: Chapter 8)
    Assignment #6
  • Week 8 - Receiver Design (Pozar: Chapter 10)
    Lab 5
  • Week 9 - System Design - Guest Lectures (Tom Farkas - Metrikos)
    Assignment #7
  • Week 10 - Radar Design Examples (Skolnik)
    Paper Due

Assignments

  • Assignment #1 - Transmission Lines
  • Assignment #2 - Noise
  • Assignment #3 - Passive Components
  • Assignment #4 - Amplifiers
  • Assignment #5 - Mixers
  • Assignment #6 - Oscillators
  • Assignment #7 - TBD

Proposed Labs

  1. Characterize Passive Components - filters, couplers, power dividers, isolators, etc.
    1. Network Analyzer Operation
    2. With Various Impedance Loads On Different Ports
    3. Signal Averaging/Video Bandwidth, etc.
  2. Antenna Measurements
    1. Network Analyzer Operation
    2. Radar Range Equation
    3. Phase Variation With Distance
    4. Averaging
  3. Synthesized Sources
    1. Phase Locking - Implications For Receiver Systems
  4. Amplifier Testing
    1. Saturation
    2. Linear Range
    3. Intermodulation Signals
    4. Noise
  5. Subassembly Testing - With Actual A/D Board To See Back-End Effects
    1. Receiver Subsystem