This short course will cover the basics of Microwave and RF Control using PIN diodes, FETs and MEMS devices. The goal of the course is to provide engineers enough of an overview of the topic to be able to design, simulate and implement simple control and other reconfigurable circuits using commercial off the shelf components to fulfill their design requirements. An introduction to CAD models for the devices will be covered as part of the design flow goal. This workshop is intended to be a crash course for microwave engineers in the field of RF/microwave control/reconfigurability device technologies. The course covers the basic principles illustrated with examples from advanced practice in applications such as reconfigurable switches, attenuators and filters/tuning networks in such applications pertaining to communications and magnetic resonance imaging.

The aim of this short course is to provide a general overview of solid-state power amplifiers (SSPA), their architecture, and use in the space applications. The course will delineate the main differences in designing SSPAs for ground and for space segment applications in terms of achievable RF performances, overall cost and lead times. The course will also describe the environment in which the equipment operates and give an overview of the necessary provisions made during the design of this equipment to ensure the high level of reliability needed in space. The impact of market trends will be described, driving the need for research and development at an architectural and technological level in increased efficiency and output power whilst at the same time reducing volume, mass and cost, as the next generation of megaconstellation demand.

In this fun and interactive short course, participants will learn the basic theory of modern digital radios as well as the RF circuits and systems used to build them. After an introductory session on digital radios, participants will select an RF building block to design and build. There will be short mini-classes (run in parallel) on each component: double balanced mixer, microstrip filters, low noise amplifiers, power amplifiers, baluns, patch antenna, etc. The radios will operate in the ISM 920 MHz band. After the mini-classes, each participant will design their RF component using NI AWR software, including full layout and EM simulation. In the afternoon, the designs will be transferred to PCB via a simple “PCB in a bag” method and each circuit built and tested using a simple VNA. The workshop will conclude with a full radio test of at transmitter and receiver. Participants need only a basic background in RF circuits, such as S-parameters and basic transmission line theory. Example designs will be available to ensure that everyone, form the most advanced RF designer, to the student can build a successful RF component. You only need to bring your laptop - all materials and equipment will be provided. Due to the nature of this practical short course, your attendance during the entire day is required. Course notes can be found at www.rickettslab.org/bits2waves

This short course introduces students to the science and art of RF/microwave filter design. Students taking this course should be familiar with fundamental RF concepts, such as impedance matching, transmission line theory, and scattering parameters. Previous exposure to filter design is helpful but not required. The course starts by introducing students to the importance of RF filters in current high-frequency applications followed by the fundamentals of filter design. It subsequently introduces students to the coupling-matrix-based design theory followed by many practical synthesis examples. Without sacrificing mathematical rigor, the course emphasizes the practical step-by-step design process. Relevant MatlabTM scripts will be also provided to students as a guideline so they can perform their own designs. Students will be able to design complex transfer-function filters (e.g., multi-band, filter cascades) that go beyond traditional textbook-style filter examples. In addition, several planar and three dimensional filter developments will be presented as supporting practical examples. The course will conclude by providing examples of the most successful reconfigurable filter architectures that exploit the aforementioned techniques to realize adaptive-transfer-function filters. Students completing this course will be able to understand basic and advanced filter concepts as well as comprehend state-of-the-art designs published in the recent technical literature.

In this short course the fundamentals of microwave imaging are presented. We will begin with the simple equations describing transmission-line wave propagation that are known to almost all electrical engineers. Based on the relations between intrinsic impedance, local reflection coefficient and local input impedance, and propagation speed, a nonlinear Riccati-type differential equation is derived, which represents the fundamental equation of one-dimensional imaging. Exact and different approximations of this equation in both “direct” and “inverse” cases are presented and discussed. The discussions show in a very clear, intuitive, and systematic way which conceptual and practical problems characterize the imaging process. These include the resolution degradation due to bandwidth limitations, the creation of what is called “artifacts” in imaging due to improper image reconstructions, as well as noise impact on imaging quality. The course moves then smoothly to two- and three-dimensional imaging schemes explaining the concept of “temporal” and “spatial” focusing and the role of antenna arrays for achieving the latter. The tradeoff between wave penetrability (usually associated with low frequencies) and resolution needs (dictating bandwidth requirements) is discussed. A number of imaging modalities and their technical, medical, environmental, and industrial applications are finally presented.

The Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) technology is gaining more grounds in the domains of low power and RF applications. Nearly 100% of RF antenna switches in wireless system Front-End Modules (FEM) are based on SOI. A FEM entirely built on SOI can be implemented in the observable future as both academia and industry are working in this direction. In addition, FDSOI opens new horizons for designers by offering more flexibility for design and optimisation of low power applications. This short course will be of interest for engineers and graduate students willing to prepare themselves for the future of low power and RF applications.

Next generation communications systems need more signal bandwidth capability to handle increased data rates and to provide more network capacity. Direct RF sampling data converters operate in the multi-GHz range to directly capture or generate signals in the RF band. The RF sampling converters also support very large signal bandwidths (currently over 1-GHz) that were not possible with previous architectures. The course will illustrate the key technical challenges related to system noise figure, spurious performance, and intermodulation distortion. The course will provide techniques and examples of proper frequency planning with RF sampling converters to relax analog filtering requirements and to minimize spurious impact. The RF analog-to-digital converter (RF ADC) includes a digital down-converter (DDC) to reduce the output data rate and improve signal-to-noise (SNR) performance. The RF digital-to-analog converter (RF DAC) includes a digital up-converter (DUC) to keep the input data rates at reasonable levels while maintaining a high output sample rate. Integrated Numerically Controlled Oscillators (NCOs) allow the user to capture/generate signals to any desired bands. This course will highlight the key system parameters related to RF sampling converters for designing high bandwidth transceivers in high performance communication systems like 5G wireless infrastructure.

Multi-Beam Antennas (MBAs) find application in several fields including wireless and satellite communications, RADARs for electronic surveillance and remote sensing, science (e.g. radio telescopes), RF navigation systems, etc. Beam-Forming Networks (BFNs) play an essential role in any antenna system relaying on a set of radiating elements to generate a beam. Depending mainly on the antenna mission (i.e. operational frequency, pattern requirements, transmitting and/or receiving functionality, number of beams to be generated, etc.) different MBA architectures may be selected: from antenna systems completely based on independent feeds illuminating a number of reflectors, to hybrid systems based on both arrays and reflectors, from phased arrays to lens antennas. The trade-off on the antenna solution largely involves the BFN interconnectivity and flexibility requirements, with a wide range of applicable BFN architectures with different complexity and performance. The objective of the course is to present design principles and state-of-the-art in MBAs and BFNs.

This full-day course addresses the fundamental topic of stability in nonlinear microwave circuits and networks (MCNs), covering concepts, qualitative analysis, simulation, and engineering design. The many unique qualitative behaviors possible in common nonlinear MCNs will be illustrated, as well as the fundamental means by which these behaviors can abruptly arise with parameter changes (termed a bifurcation). Course attendees will learn about different types of steady-state solutions, identify instability problems through small- and large-signal stability analysis in the time/frequency domains, and understand dynamical mechanisms responsible for instabilities. The primary approaches for stability analysis will be presented and compared, ranging from classical (e.g., Rollet factor, stability circles) to advanced that can be implemented using classical harmonic balance methods. The most common bifurcations will be described, enabling designers to confidently identify them in measurement/simulation. Practical examples of instability, stability analysis, and stabilization design will be presented for such important MCNs as power amplifiers, frequency multipliers/dividers, and voltage-controlled oscillators. Finally, the vast research area on harnessing nonlinear dynamics for engineering purposes will be surveyed, providing a glimpse into future nonlinear designs. The course will include video/hardware demonstrations of bifurcation and nonlinear qualitative behaviors, as well as several live stability analysis sessions using ADS.