1006 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 50, NO.

3, MARCH 2002

Microwave and RF Education—Past, Present,

and Future
K. C. Gupta, Fellow, IEEE, Tatsuo Itoh, Fellow, IEEE, and Arthur A. Oliner, Life Fellow, IEEE

Invited Paper

Abstract—This paper is an overview of how microwave and marily for military systems, but is playing a very significant role
RF education has changed over the years and where it is heading. in the current upsurge in wireless communications systems.
The history of microwave and RF education, and the key events The philosophy of engineering education practiced today is
that influenced its development, are summarized. These events
include the need for short-wavelength radar during World War
mostly based on the so-called “engineering science” model [1],
II, the invention of printed transmission lines in the 1950s, the [2] that was established soon after World War II and has stood
emergence of microwave integrated circuits and solid-state devices by successfully for several generations of engineers over the last
during the 1960s, the growing availability of computers and the 50 years. That was the last major shift in engineering education
development of numerical methods during the 1970s, and the that changed the emphasis from teaching “engineering practice”
availability of microwave circuit simulators and field simulators to “engineering sciences.” That shift changed both the contents of
in the 1980s and 1990s, respectively. The likely impact of recent
advances in Internet technology for the distribution of multimedia the curriculum and the manner in which the courses were taught.
information is then described. The paper concludes by pointing Microwave engineering education has seen several other para-
out the outstanding challenges for the education and continuing digm shifts. The first one occurred approximately 2–3 decades
education of microwave and RF engineers. back when planar transmission structures (strip lines, microstrip
Index Terms—History of education, microwave education, RF lines, etc.), and planar antennas (microstrip patches and printed
education, Web-based education. slots) started replacing waveguides, parabolic reflectors,and horn
antennas, which have been the landmarks of microwaves since
World War II. Associated with those new elements was their use in
I. INTRODUCTION microwave integrated circuits. At about the same time, computers
became available, and numerical methods were developed. The
E DUCATION in microwave and RF technology and sci-
ences, based on the underlying fundamental discipline of
electromagnetics, has been recognized as an essential core of
first of these two changes influenced the content of microwave
courses, while the primary impact of the second change was to
electrical, electronics, and computer engineering education over affect the way in which graduate research was conducted. The
the last 50 years. Although some aspects of microwave and RF next major shift in microwave engineering practice and educa-
technologies differ, the basic educational features for each dis- tion is more recent, only about a decade old, when microwave
cipline are very similar, and both microwave and RF engineers computer-aided design (CAD) techniques matured and both de-
need to be exposed to the same fundamentals. In the remainder signers and educators recognized the need and advantages of em-
of this paper, therefore, except for Section VI and the figures, ploying network and electromagnetic (EM) simulators for engi-
we shall drop the term “RF” for simplicity, but with the under- neering design, as well as for education and training [3].
standing that when the term “microwave” is used it is meant to As we now experience the rapid technological changes un-
imply “microwave and RF.” leashed by the upsurge in wireless communications and Internet
As microwave techniques developed rapidly during and im- technology, microwave education (in fact, all of engineering
mediately after World War II, microwave courses were intro- education) is facing new challenges and is up for another major
duced into electrical and electronics engineering curricula all paradigm shift [4]. These challenges include: 1) the need for
over the world. Today, we are on the threshold of another major formalized lifelong learning; 2) the need to broaden “engineering
paradigm shift in microwave discipline and practice. The end fundamentals” beyond mathematics and physics; 3) inadequacy
of the Cold War era, the globalization of industry, and the rapid of the first professional degree for engineering careers; 4) , need
emergence of wireless communications in all facets of today’s for engineering practice experience for faculty; 5) diversification
society have provided microwave technology a renewed promi- of engineering work force and faculty; and 6) the need for
nent role. Microwaves is no longer a technology crucial pri- enhancement of technological literacy in the general population.
Manuscript received October 12, 2001. In order to train the engineers who will still be practicing 40
K. C. Gupta is with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, years from now, microwave educators have to address these
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0425 USA.
T. Itoh is with the Electrical Engineering Department, University of California challenges.
at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1594 USA. As we now experience the rapid technological changes un-
A. A. Oliner, retired, was with the Department of Electrical Engineering, leashed by the upsurge in wireless communications and Internet
Polytechnic University, Brooklyn, NY 11201 USA. He is now at 11 Dawes
Road, Lexington, MA 02421 USA. technology, microwave education (in fact, all of engineering
Publisher Item Identifier S 0018-9480(02)01952-X. education) is facing new challenges and is up for another major
0018–9480/02$17.00 © 2002 IEEE
GUPTA et al.: MICROWAVE AND RF EDUCATION 1007

paradigm shift [4]. These challenges include: 1) the need for That new element, the use of hollow pipes as waveguides,
formalized lifelong learning; 2) the need to broaden “engineering was reinvented independently by Southworth [6] and Barrow
fundamentals” beyond mathematics and physics; 3) inadequacy [7] during the middle 1930s. Neither one knew of Rayleigh’s
of the first professional degree for engineering careers; 4) , need much earlier work. Detailed discussions of their contributions,
for engineering practice experience for faculty; 5) diversification and the interesting history related to them, appear in two papers
of engineering work force and faculty; and 6) the need for en- [8], [9] in the special September 1984 volume published in this
hancement of technological literacy in the general population. In TRANSACTIONS celebrating the IEEE Centennial that year. By
order to train the engineers who will still be practicing 40 years the end of the 1930s, many papers had been published on the
from now, microwave educators have to address these challenges. EM field properties of these waveguides. There were also early
This paper is an overview of how microwave education has attempts at combining the field properties with impedance con-
changed over years, where it is heading, and what needs to be cepts.
done to address the outstanding challenges for education and During that period, the principles of radar became well under-
continuing education of microwave engineers. The four salient stood in various countries. The need was expressed for smaller
messages this article intends to emphasize are: 1) electromag- wavelengths to improve the resolution of radar systems, but
netics, RF, and microwave education is an important component no sources of microwaves could then produce sufficiently high
of any educational curriculum for electrical, electronics, and power. The discovery of the high-power magnetron in the U.K.
computer engineers; 2) technology has been changing rapidly shortly before World War II suddenly made radar an exciting
in recent years, and a microwave education curriculum needs possibility. Cooperation with the USA was established, and was
to emphasize that; 3) simulation (and CAD) needs to be used intensified during World War II when the Massachusetts Insti-
as a critical and efficient tool for microwave education; and tute of Technology (MIT) Radiation Laboratory and some as-
4) Web-based and Web-assisted education is a new paradigm sociated laboratories at universities and in industry were estab-
that is going to play an increasingly significant role in education. lished with the goal of making radar practical.
These efforts, which involved both physicists and engineers,
proceeded in a great spirit of cooperation. Circuit theory was
II. BIRTH AND FLOWERING OF MICROWAVE NETWORK THEORY applied to EM waves, resulting in a new discipline called mi-
AND MICROWAVE EDUCATION (1930S–1960S)
crowave network theory. However, the development of the nec-
The periods shortly before and during World War II, and the essary components and, therefore, systems, was hindered by the
period following until the 1960s, saw enormous progress in the fact that, although there was some physical understanding of
development of the microwave field, resulting in the establish- which junctions and discontinuities were capacitive or induc-
ment of a thriving microwave industry and fundamental changes tive, there was little or no quantitative information that could be
in the way electrical engineering was taught. During and im- used for accurate design purposes. Schwinger and others, both
mediately after World War II, electromagnetics saw a great re- at the MIT Radiation Laboratory and elsewhere, devised inte-
vival, and network theory, for the first time, was combined with gral-equation and other methods for obtaining accurate equiv-
EM theory to produce a new discipline, which was called mi- alent networks for many discontinuities in waveguides. Inter-
crowave network theory. As a result, many new courses, with esting historical details in this connection are presented in [9].
different names, but based to varying degrees on microwave Remarkable progress was made by the end of World War II
network theory, were introduced into electrical engineering cur- in placing microwave network theory on a sound quantitative
ricula at many universities. In order to understand how this enor- footing. Several volumes in the 28-volume Radiation Labora-
mous shift in course content came about, it is helpful to present tory Series of books [10]1 published shortly after the end of
a brief history of this period. World War II, particularly volumes 8–10 and parts of 11 and
During the decade of the 1890s, shortly after Hertz demon- 14, contain excellent material in this connection. Volume 10,
strated experimentally that he could actually produce the EM i.e., the Waveguide Handbook [11], was widely used at univer-
waves predicted by Maxwell’s theory, many people in various sities for its introductory chapters, and in industry for compo-
countries generated EM waves at microwave frequencies and nent design. EM theory in its classical form also encountered
explored their properties. Lord Rayleigh in 1897 even published substantial new interest. Several new books were written during
a theoretical paper [5] on hollow pipes as waveguides, and ex- the early 1940s, the most comprehensive of them being the one
plained the concept of cutoff frequencies. However, all this work by Stratton [12] in 1941. Other books written about that time
came to an abrupt stop in 1901 after Marconi showed that low- also included the information known then about guided waves
frequency waves could be transmitted over very long distances in hollow waveguides. The most influential and widely used of
with equipment that produced higher power at lower cost. Com- those books was written by Ramo and Whinnery [13], with their
munications after that were based on these lower frequencies first edition published in 1944.
and, during the 1920s, the ship-to-shore and transoceanic sys- All this new information, combined with a new understanding
tems became a practical reality. Although operating frequencies of the many potential applications for microwave systems, pro-
slowly crept higher during those years, the desire to explore duced a huge explosion in microwave industry just after World
still higher frequencies became very strong by 1930. It was rec- War II, and also resulted in a profound change in the nature of
ognized, however, that for these higher frequencies, radiation
would be produced at every bend and junction in the circuit so 1Reference [10] is a 28-volume series. A CD-ROM version is available from
that something new was required. Artech House, Norwood, MA.
1008 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 50, NO. 3, MARCH 2002

university courses involving electromagnetics and microwave are large and bulky. Coaxial lines can provide a dominant mode
networks. with very large bandwidth and they can be miniaturized, but it
Prior to World War II, circuit theory and EM field theory is difficult and expensive to build components based on them.
tended to be separate worlds in university education, usually Two-wire (or two-strip) line can also provide the bandwidth and
taught separately in electrical engineering and physics depart- miniaturization, but it is inconvenient to work with. The ideal
ments, respectively. Following World War II, they became com- solution is either to cut and then flatten the coaxial line, or to bi-
bined, at least in electrical engineering. This important change sect the two-wire line with a ground plane and support the other
has often been characterized as a major part of a general shift wire (or strip) with a dielectric layer. One then obtains strip and
from an engineering-practice curriculum to an engineering-sci- microstrip lines, respectively. The strip-line version came a bit
ences one. EM theory was then usually taught in both physics earlier, and it was actually conceived by its inventor Barrett as
and electrical engineering departments, with a different stress in a printed line. Its dominant mode is TEM and, therefore, dis-
each, but in most electrical engineering departments, new (mi- persionless, whereas microstrip, because of the dielectric sup-
crowave) courses were introduced that combined circuit theory port layer, possessed dispersion. Also, because it is open and
with electromagnetics. unsymmetrical, every discontinuity on the line would radiate.
As a result of these deficiencies, microstrip was shelved for the
The general approach in these new courses was (and is) to
next 15 years or so, and strip line became the line of choice.
view microwave networks as composed of lengths of waveg-
Due to its symmetry, strip line is easy to analyze, and many
uides connected together by various types of junctions. The
papers appeared on the properties of the dominant mode [15],
lengths of waveguides were treated as transmission lines, and
and even some on equivalent circuits for various discontinuities
the junctions as lumped discontinuities represented in equiva-
on the line [16], [17]. Those results were widely used by in-
lent network or scattering matrix form. The formulation was
dustry for component design, but the impact on microwave ed-
systematic and rigorous. Many special network techniques were
ucation was minor, except in a few universities, where it was
also developed around this approach.
shown that microwave network techniques could be applied to
At many universities, however, the combination of circuit guiding structures other than rectangular waveguide. Microstrip
and field theories was initially only partial. As microwave net- was ignored until the late 1960s, after integrated circuits were
work theory developed further, and became more widely under- introduced and the circuits were miniaturized, so that the ef-
stood, microwave courses across the country slowly absorbed fects of dispersion and discontinuity radiation became essen-
more and more of these techniques. The principal contributor to tially negligible for low operating frequencies. Further com-
such developments was Marcuvitz of the Polytechnic Institute ments on these two lines are given in Section III.
of Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY. Several valuable books devoted to
this approach appeared during this period, the most influential of
them, in addition to the Waveguide Handbook[11], being Field III. IMPACT OF COMPUTERS AND NUMERICAL METHODS
Theory of Guided Waves by Collin [14], first published in 1960. (LATE 1960S–EARLY 1980S)
Since there were no electronic computers at that time The period roughly from the late 1960s to the early 1980s
(although there were mechanical computers that resembled may be characterized by the emergence of computer power
typewriters that provided numerical results for simple prob- into microwave research and graduate education, particularly
lems), it became necessary to develop physical understanding in the area of EM aspects of microwave engineering. The
and also various approximation methods. Today, with the emerging technology of microwave integrated circuits based
universal availability of computers, there is widespread use of on microstrip line is one of the most significant beneficiaries
numerical techniques, CAD procedures, and even commercial of this trend. Prior to this period, many microwave problems
EM solvers, which are a tremendous boon to industry and have were attacked based on analytical or semianalytical approaches
allowed the solution of many problems deemed impossible typically found in the Radiation Laboratory series [10]. Such
during the period before computers. The absorption of these approaches are still used today, but primarily in the analytic
calculation tools into microwave education is discussed below phrasing of the problem, with the remainder of the problem
in Sections III and VI. Unfortunately, along with these calcula- solved using a numerical method.
tional tools and their great benefits, physical understanding has In the early stages of microstrip-line research, the analysis
suffered greatly because it is believed by the newer generations methods were based on the quasi-TEM approximation for its
of students to be of only minor importance since numerical dominant mode, in which the axial components of the modal
results can often be obtained with only limited understanding. EM fields are neglected. This approximation is found to be ac-
Also, many of the microwave network techniques, and par- ceptable at lower microwave frequencies. On the other hand,
ticularly the approximate methods, are largely lost. This sad strip line has a cross section homogeneously filled with a dielec-
consequence is unnecessary, and future microwave education tric material so that the dominant mode of this configuration is
must address this highly important issue. TEM. A large body of literature based on TEM analysis, such
In the remainder of this section, we discuss the invention of as conformal mapping, was available at that time for strip-line
printed-circuit transmission lines in the early 1950s, although analysis [15]. Other comments on the distinctions between strip
their full impact on the microwave field did not occur until about and microstrip lines are presented at the end of Section II. Typ-
two decades later. The dominant mode of rectangular waveguide ical of the early work on microstrip line is a modified conformal
has a limited bandwidth, and circuits based on those waveguides mapping by Wheeler [18].
GUPTA et al.: MICROWAVE AND RF EDUCATION 1009

Since computer power was still quite primitive at that time, plicated the deck of programming cards or a box of them and sub-
substantial effort was expended by a number of research groups mitted them simultaneously (earlier form of parallel processing)
involving graduate studies. For instance, Miyoshi and Okoshi or sequentially so that, within a given time, one can obtain mul-
introduced the planar circuit approach to simplify the analysis tiple sets of answers. Of course, there were many opportunities to
of microstrip discontinuities [21] while Wolff’s group worked make punching errors on the card. One night is then completely
on the waveguide model based on a similar concept [22]. These wasted if you submit a program containing such a card. This situ-
approaches were introduced primarily to avoid complicated ation has, of course, been alleviated gradually, first by remote ac-
full-wave three-dimensional field analyses for discontinuities cess using dumb terminals, then by the use of minicomputers and
in microwave integrated circuits. It is interesting to note that finally workstations with a computation power much exceeding
one of the most popular three-dimensional full-wave analysis that of the previous main frames.
methods, i.e., the finite difference time domain (FDTD), was Unlike today, the computer language taught at school has
considered to be impractical at that time, as it required too been FORTRAN and later on BASIC in some instances. Also,
much computer memory, even though the leap-frog method and practically no commercial software for EM simulation for mi-
Yee’s mesh were invented in the 1960s [23]. The use of FDTD crowave programs existed then, but circuit design programs had
for microstrip discontinuities did not enter the mainstream of been developed, although rather primitive by today’s standards,
numerical electromagnetics until the late 1980s [24]. by such companies as COMPACT and EESof.2 However, these
In parallel with the slowly improving computational capa- programs were not used extensively in the academic environ-
bility, novel numerical methods were introduced. Yamashita ment. A substantial portion of the graduate study, therefore,
[19] introduced a new method based on the Fourier transform was expended for developing computer programs, debugging,
technique and the variational principle. For this method, the use and waiting for responses from the computer. Nevertheless,
of computers was essential, even though the computer is more the mode of graduate research has not essentially changed, at
or less used as a powerful calculator. In the case of Yamashita’s least for microwave problems involving electromagnetics. One
approach, the variational integral needs to be computed numer- first analyses the EM-wave phenomena and extracts necessary
ically. All of these quasi-TEM approaches required calculations system parameters. They are compared with published results
of the capacitance per unit length of the transmission line. In by other methods or by other authors. More comprehensive
the meantime, it was gradually recognized that a full-wave research programs carried out experiments to validate the nu-
analysis is needed to characterize the dispersion characteristics merically simulated results. The major difference is that today
of the microstrip lines. Several methods including the widely it is often not necessary for the students to be equipped with
used spectral-domain method [20] then emerged. In these computer programming capability, thanks to the availability of
methods, extensive use of the computer became a necessity. software packages for EM field simulation.
For instance, in the spectral-domain method, several rather One of the dangers associated with the use of computers in
slowly converging integrals need to be computed, as well as the EM education has been a tendency to increase the number of
numerical solution of the linear simultaneous equations. students who believe that whatever the data punched by the com-
In the late 1960s to at least the mid-1970s, EM education puter tells us are accurate or even rigorous. Another is the ap-
leaned heavily toward antennas and propagation. Relatively parent decrease in the capability to carry out “back-of-the-en-
few educational institutions had been engaged in the EM velope” calculations to estimate the EM phenomena or data. Of
aspects of microwave guided-wave problems. Therefore, course, these problems are not caused by the computer itself, but
much of the educational effort did not distinguish between often by the educational environment. Since the computational
those problems involving microwaves (guided waves), which power was minimal at that time (and still is in some cases), it
includes microwave network theory, which is a combination was almost impossible to visualize the distribution of the EM
of electromagnetics and networks, and free-space radiation, fields and currents. As pointed out in Section IV, as well as in
which includes only electromagnetics. With the improvements [34], the visualization capability of the computer for these quan-
in computing power, and with the availability of numerical tities is one of the major assets in modern EM education assisted
methods, an increasing number of guided-wave problems were by computer. Only then has the computer-assisted education be-
solved, and the university courses contained an increasing come effective for undergraduate teaching.
proportion of topics of interest to the microwave field.
The need for computers in solving electromagnetics problems IV. IMPACT OF CAD (SIMULATORS) ON
has grown steadily. Many of these problems have been attacked MICROWAVE EDUCATION
by research teams involving graduate students who quickly be-
The introductions of microwave circuit simulators in the
came adapted to the computer environment. Nevertheless, they
early 1980s [25]–[27] and of EM field simulators in the early
were faced with the everlasting problem of insufficient computa-
1990s [28] have drastically changed the design procedures
tional power,bothin termsofmemoryandspeed.Mostofthecom-
followed for microwave circuits and microstrip antennas.
putations for research and education were carried out on a main
Computer-aided analysis and optimization have replaced the
frame, such as an IBM 370 typically located at the computation
design process of iterative experimental modifications of the
center of the university. The input mechanism used was initially
initial design. In addition to their impact on design practice in
tapes and then a deck of IBM programming cards. Typical turn-
around time for a computer program for the propagation constant 2COMPACT has since become a part of Ansoft, and EESof is now a part of
of microstrip line was overnight. Therefore, the students often du- Agilent.
1010 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 50, NO. 3, MARCH 2002

Fig. 1. Application of simulators in microwave and RF instruction and independent learning.

industry, microwave circuit and field simulators have found his life) by starting from the -parameters of an available tran-
extensive applications in undergraduate, graduate, and con- sistor, finding what impedances the transistor should see at the
tinuing education in electromagnetics, RF, microwave, and two ports, and designing appropriate input and output matching
millimeter-wave areas [29], [30]. Many of the software tool networks. A quick simulation of the designed circuit on a mi-
vendors have educational/student versions of their software crowave network simulator confirms to the student that the de-
and provide substantial discounts to educational institutions. sign process has been learned and applied correctly. This veri-
The major impact of simulators in education is in making fication provides an immediate confidence buildup needed for
realistic design examples and case studies available to students. further learning. Any such similar feedback was not possible
Thus, the introduction of these simulators has contributed to earlier before the availability of microwave simulators. The only
bridging the gap between classroom instruction of microwaves procedure at that time was to turn in the assignment to the in-
and the practice of microwaves in industry. For the first time structor who could provide the needed confirmation (hopefully
in the history of microwave education, it has become possible within a few days) or go to the laboratory to collect the com-
to provide classroom instruction that is 100% relevant to the ponents, build the amplifier, and make actual microwave mea-
practice in industry. Some of the applications of simulators in surements. Thus, the circuit simulators have opened up a new
education are depicted in Fig. 1, and are discussed briefly in learning paradigm intermediate between the design and experi-
this section as well as in [3]. mental verification thereof.

A. Illustration of Basic Concepts by Iterative Computations C. “What if” Explorations

The students can learn some of the very basic concepts by re- Simulators allow the students to explore how the design per-
peated computations making use of microwave circuit and field formance will be affected if the value of a design parameter were
simulators. For example, the reflection of waves by a complex to be altered either intentionally or because of the unavoidable
impedance load terminating a uniform transmission line is tradi- tolerances in the values of the components or in the fabrication
tionally studied by deriving the relevant results using transmis- process. For any design, several questions may be asked. “What
sion-line equations. However, the same concept can be illustrated will happen to my amplifier bandwidth if the transconductance
in a more student-friendly way by simulating a simple circuit con- of the MESFET were to go down by 10%?” “How will the per-
sisting of a transmission line with a variable load at one end and formance be altered if during the photoetching process all the
a dual directional coupler at the other end. The student varies the microstrip lines in the circuit are over-etched by 10 m?” “How
load impedance and observes the reflected power as seen by the will the output power be changed if the load impedance is 60
voltage probe sampling the reflected voltage at the appropriate in place of the 50- value used in the design calculations?” An-
port of the directional coupler in the circuit. Observations in this swers to such questions were not easily obtainable before the
interactive simulation experiment constitute a powerfully effec- availability of network simulators. These additional pieces of
tive way to learn that there is no reflected wave when the load information can now be conveniently obtained through circuit
impedance is equal to the characteristic impedance of the trans- simulations.
mission line. This simulation experiment can also be used for il-
lustrating the properties of a directional coupler (by monitoring D. Effect of Real-Life Parameters on Design
the incident and reflected waves), and the concept of a matched Every design process involves a number of engineering
source (byvaryingthesourceimpedanceandmonitoringthewave approximations. For example, in arriving at the initial design of
reflected from the source). This learning process is similar to what microwave circuits, we normally assume the transmission-line
a student will pick up in a corresponding laboratory experiment. sections to be lossless. This makes the design process tractable.
However, we know that, in real life, these transmission lines
B. Design Verification (particularly when we are dealing with planar transmission
Microwave network simulators provide a powerful tool for structures on ceramic and semiconductor substrates) have
the verification of designs carried out by students. For example, finite losses that can alter the circuit performance appreciably.
a student designs a microwave amplifier (for the first time in Effects of such real-life parameters on circuit characteristics
GUPTA et al.: MICROWAVE AND RF EDUCATION 1011

can now be evaluated before investing in the actual fabrication

of the circuits. Students come to learn facts like: the line loss
can add to the insertion loss of a bandpass filter significantly,
but the effect of line loss on the gain of an amplifier may be
ignored. Investigations of the effect of temperature variations,
of package enclosures, of close proximity between two circuits
in a system layout, etc., can now be studied economically
before sending the circuit for manufacture.

E. Realistic Design Examples

Before the availability of microwave simulators, examples
of design performed by students in a classroom environment Fig. 2. Two approaches for the use of the Internet in higher education and
continuing education in microwave studies.
had to be kept simple because of the computational complexity
involved. For example, students could handle a single-stage
amplifier design, but multistage amplifier design could not be geometry. For a uniform microstrip line, the distribution of
easily carried out. The use of microwave simulators overcomes the current lines along the width of the microstrip provides a
such limitations. Students in the academic environments of clear visual demonstration of the current-crowding effect near
universities can now carry out practical system and subsystem the edges. Thus, displays of current distributions associated
designs. This has brought instruction in universities much closer with microstrip, CPW, and slotline discontinuities yield peda-
to actual professional practice in industry. Thus, the availability gogically significant information about the behavior of these
of microwave simulators has increased the university–industry components.
collaborations that are very desirable for the advancement of Two-dimensional field solvers (such as is available with
the state of technology. three–dimensional finite-element analysis-based EM sim-
ulators) provide us with two-dimensional electric field
F. Virtual Experiments distributions in the cross-sectional planes of transmission-line
As mentioned in Sections IV-A–E, the use of simulators can structures. Comparing the electric field distributions in a
provide design performance evaluation experience that was ob- coaxial line and a microstrip line, for example, one observes
tainable earlier only through practical experimental measure- the crowding of -field lines at the edges of the microstrip
ments in a microwave laboratory. Several universities have used line. This increased -field at the edges accounts for the
this feature to substitute some of the laboratory hours in the mi- lower values of voltages for dielectric breakdown in microstrip
crowave curriculum with what are sometimes called simulation lines leading to the lower peak power-handling capability
experiments or virtual experiments [31]. More recently, soft- of these lines. Observation of the field distributions for even
ware has been developed [32] to convert simulators into what are and odd modes in coupled transmission lines is a very useful
known as “virtual instruments.” Virtual instruments are claimed step in appreciating the differences in the characteristics of
to provide us with a unique method for speeding up the anal- these modes. Three-dimensional EM simulators also serve the
ysis of microwave circuits within simulation software. These useful purpose of visualizing the fields in three-dimensional
“instruments” look like and can be used like their real counter- components. From an educational point-of-view, this visual
parts. They make the step from the real laboratory environment representation is even more important because of the lack of a
to the software solution easy, and provide software substitutes complete analytical understanding of several three-dimensional
for really hard laboratory experiments. microwave components.
While using EM or circuit simulators for educational pur-
G. Visualization of Currents and Fields poses, it is necessary to emphasize that the experience with sim-
ulators does not replace the insight or the precise details that are
EM simulators yield not only terminal information about the obtained by a mathematical analysis of the EM structure. Simu-
characteristics of a component at the port locations, but also tell lators should be used for supplementing the knowledge attained
us a lot more about what is happening inside the component. by mathematical analysis and/or getting the feel of the perfor-
Planar EM field simulators (based on method-of-moments, mance of complicated physical structures for which mathemat-
spectral-domain analysis, or variations thereof) base their ical analysis is not easily tractable.
results on computations of current distributions over the met-
allized portion of the circuit and/or calculations of equivalent
V. WEB-BASED AND WEB-ASSISTED EDUCATION
magnetic current distributions (corresponding to the transverse
-field) in the slots of coplanar waveguide (CPW) or slotline Education is among the various aspects of modern society
components. These current distributions can be used to learn that are experiencing significant impact from recent inventions,
qualitatively about the reasons for the component’s terminal and now from the ubiquitous popularity of the Internet or Web.
behavior. For example, looking at the current distribution on Universities (and other educational enterprises) are making in-
the surface of a right-angled microstrip bend, one observes a creased use of Internet technology to enhance and supplement
crowding of current lines at the bend and can thereby conclude the classical classroom style of education. Websites are being
that an increased series inductance is contributed by the bend created for a number of courses (particularly those with large
1012 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 50, NO. 3, MARCH 2002

Fig. 3. Current challenges in RF and microwave education.

student enrollment) and these are used to distribute course ma- crowave education, all over the globe [4], [35]3 . These include:
terial as enrichment to the normal course materials. Typically 1) the current evolution from an industrial to a knowledge-based
the materials on the Web include the course syllabus, semester society; 2) demographic changes; 3) increased globalization of
schedule, assignments, assignment solutions (posted after as- professional activities; 4) priorities in the post-cold-war era; and
signments have been turned in), additional course notes and pa- 4) the development of market forces in the education field. Con-
pers, and in some cases, copies of viewgraphs or handwritten sequently, a number of new themes are being recognized to be
notes used by the instructor. The students have access to and crucial for higher education in this century. Among these are:
download the needed material at any time and at any place at 1) learner-centeredness; 2) affordability; 3) need for lifelong
their convenience. This arrangement assumes the students have learning; 4) need to address diverse populations; and 4) need
access to the Web either on the campus or at their homes. In this for intelligent and adaptive learning environments. As conven-
model, most of the instruction is in synchronous mode (with tional universities have started to respond slowly (compared to
regularly scheduled lectures) with some asynchronous commu- the rapidity of changes in information technology) to these re-
nication via e-mails between the individual student and the in- cent needs in higher education, a few institutions based on newer
structor and among the students within the course. models (such as the University of Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ, and
For continuing education, including that in microwaves and the Open University, Milton Keynes, U.K.) have made a defi-
related areas, another model for Web-based instruction [33] nite presence and are challenging the concept of the traditional
(see Fig. 2) is convenient for completely asynchronous distance system of universities.
education. In this model, the whole course, a set of courses, Due to this changing educational scenario, there are a
or a program is delivered over the Web. In this case, Web number of challenges facing microwave and RF educators
pages incorporate hypertext, video, graphics, sound, pictures, today. These are summarized in Fig. 3. Some of these echo
animations, spreadsheets, and presentation packages. Such the opinion articulated by Prof. Wulf (President, U.S. National
courses can allow the student to access remote library systems Academy of Engineering) for engineering education in general
and remote databases anywhere in the world. Asynchronous [36]. The first one is reflected in the growing recognition
communication among the class students and the instructor in academia as well as industry that the bachelor’s degree
is possible via a discussion-group type of arrangement on does not adequately prepare the students for the practice of
the Internet. The instructor can post the assignments and the RF and microwave engineering. Everyone agrees that the
students can submit homework and participate in collaborative undergraduate curriculum should emphasize the fundamentals,
projects with other students around the world. In this model but the challenge is in deciding what the fundamentals are.
of continuing microwave education, it is convenient to couple Do they include information technology, biological materials
microwave simulators with the Web-based educational material and processes, engineering systems, global business issues,
made available to learners. A model for this coupling between etc? The introduction of RF/microwave courses for digital
the traditional educational material and microwave design designers is another challenging issue. As clock rates reach the
software tools has been reported recently [3]. gigahertz domain, an understanding of microwave phenomena
A companion paper [34] in this issue presents a detailed dis- becomes essential for the design and packaging of high-speed
cussion on Web- and multimedia-based microwave and electro- digital circuits. This has presented an educational curriculum
magnetics education. development challenge. The introduction of an ever-increasing
number of new topics in microwave and RF engineering is an
item that calls for judgment and wisdom on the part of edu-
VI. CHALLENGES FOR MICROWAVE AND RF EDUCATION 3Reference [35] is a quarterly publication published by the National Academy
of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and The Cecil and Ida Green
Several factors are likely to change in profound ways the Center for the Study of Science and Technology at the University of Texas at
current setup of the higher education enterprise, including mi- Dallas.
GUPTA et al.: MICROWAVE AND RF EDUCATION 1013

cators. The urgent need to include experience in design under [28] M. S. Mirotznik and D. Prather, “How to choose EM software,” IEEE
cost constraints is another challenge for any specialization in Spectr., pp. 53–58, Dec. 1997.
[29] J. C. Rautio, “Educational use of a microwave electromagnetic analysis
engineering. In addition to all these curriculum issues is the of 3-D planar structures,” Comput. Applicat. Eng. Educ., vol. 1, no. 3,
global need and challenge of designing a structured continuing pp. 243–254, 1993.
[30] , “The impact on education of widely available commercial 3-D
lifelong learning environment for microwave and RF engineers. planar electromagnetic software,” Comput. Applicat. Eng. Educ., vol. 8,
no. 2, pp. 51–60, Sept. 2000.
[31] M. Righi, W. J. R. Hoefer, and T. Weiland, “A virtual field-based labo-
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[8] K. S. Packard, “The origin of waveguides: A case of multiple re-
discovery,” IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech., vol. MTT-32, pp. K. C. Gupta (M’62–SM’74–F’88) received the
956–969, Sept. 1984. B.E. and M.E. degrees in electrical communication
[9] A. A. Oliner, “Historical perspectives on microwave field theory,” IEEE engineering from the Indian Institute of Science,
Trans. Microwave Theory Tech., vol. MTT-32, pp. 1022–1045, Sept. Bangalore, India, in 1961 an 1962, respectively,
1984. and the Ph.D. degree from the Birla Institute of
[10] MIT Radiation Laboratories Series. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1940. Technology and Science, Pilani, India, in 1969.
[11] N. Marcuvitz, Waveguide Handbook. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1951, Since 1983, he has been a Professor at the
vol. 10, MIT Rad. Lab. Series. University of Colorado at Boulder. He is currently
[12] J. A. Stratton, Electromagnetic Theory. New York: McGraw-Hill, also the Associate Director for the NSF I/UCR
1941. Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Packaging
[13] S. Ramo and J. R. Whinnery, Fields and Waves in Modern Radio. New of Microwave, Optical and Digital Electronics
York: Wiley, 1944.
(CAMPmode), University of Colorado at Boulder, and a Guest Researcher with
[14] R. E. Collin, Field Theory of Guided Waves. New York: McGraw-Hill,
1960. the RF Technology Group, National Institute of Standards and Technology
[15] R. M. Barrett, “Microwave printed circuits—The early years,” IEEE Mi- (NIST), Boulder, CO. His current research interests are in the area of com-
crowave Theory Tech., vol. MTT-32, pp. 983–990, Sept. 1984. puter-aided-design techniques (including ANN applications) for microwave and
[16] A. A. Oliner, “Equivalent circuits for discontinuities in balanced strip millimeter-wave integrated circuits, nonlinear characterization and modeling,
transmission line,” IRE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech. (Special Issue), RF MEMS, and reconfigurable antennas. He has authored or co-authored eight
vol. MTT-3, pp. 134–143, Mar. 1955. books, including Microstrip Line and Slotlines (Norwood, MA: Artech House,
[17] H. M. Altschuler and A. A. Oliner, “Discontinuities in the center 1979; revised second edition, 1996), CAD of Microwave Circuits (Norwood,
conductor of symmetric strip transmission line,” IRE Trans. Microwave MA: Artech House, 1981; Beijing, China: Chinese Scientific Press, 1986;
Theory Tech., vol. MTT-8, pp. 328–339, May 1960. Moscow, Russia: Radio I Syvaz, 1987), Microstrip Antenna Design (Norwood,
[18] H. A. Wheeler, “Transmission-line properties of parallel strips sepa- MA: Artech House, 1988), and Neural Networks for RF and Microwave
rated by a dielectric sheet,” IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech., vol. Design (Norwood, MA: Artech House 2000). He has also contributed chapters
MTT-13, pp. 172–185, Mar. 1965. to the Handbook of Microstrip Antennas (Stevenage, U.K.: Peregrinus, 1989),
[19] E. Yamashita and R. Mittra, “Variational method for the analysis of mi- the Handbook of Microwave and Optical Components, vol. 1 (New York:
crostrip lines,” IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech., vol. MTT-16, pp. Wiley, 1989), Microwave Solid State Circuit Design (New York: Wiley,
251–256, Apr. 1968. 1988), Numerical Techniques for Microwave and Millimeter Wave Passive
[20] T. Itoh and R. Mittra, “Spectral-domain approach for calculating the Structures (New York: Wiley, 1989), and the Encyclopedia of Electrical and
dispersion characteristics of microstrip lines,” IEEE Trans. Microwave Electronics Engineering (New York: Wiley 1999). He is the founding Editor of
Theory Tech., vol. MTT-21, pp. 496–499, July 1973. the International Journal of RF and Microwave Computer-Aided Engineering,
[21] T. Okoshi and T. Miyoshi, “The planar circuit—An approach to mi- published by Wiley since 1991. He has also authored or co–authored over 200
crowave integrated circuitry,” IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech., vol. research papers. He holds four patents in the microwave area. He is on the
MTT-20, pp. 245–252, Apr. 1972.
Editorial Boards of Microwave and Optical Technology Letters (New York:
[22] I. Wolff, G. Kompa, and R. Mehran, “Calculation method for microstrip
Wiley) and the International Journal of Numerical Modeling (U.K.: Wiley).
discontinuities and T junctions,” Electron. Lett., vol. 8, no. 7, pp.
177–179, Apr. 1972. He is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who in
[23] K. S. Yee, “Numerical solution of initial boundary value problems in- Engineering, and Who’s Who in American Education.
volving Maxwell’s equations in isotropic media,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Dr. Gupta is a Fellow of the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunica-
Propagat., vol. AP-14, pp. 302–307, May 1966. tion Engineers (India). He is a member of URSI (Commission D) and the Elec-
[24] X. Zhang and K. K. Mei, “Time-domain finite difference approach to tromagnetics Academy [Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)]. He is a
the calculation of the frequency-dependent characteristics of microstrip member of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (IEEE MTT-S)
discontinuities,” IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech., vol. 36, pp. Administrative Committee (AdCom), chair of the IEEE MTT-S Standing Com-
1775–1787, Dec. 1988. mittee on Education, past co-chair of the IEEE MTT-S Technical Committee
[25] K. C. Gupta, R. Garg, and R. Chadha, Computer-Aided Design of Mi- on Computer-Aided Design (MTT-1), a member of the IEEE Technical Com-
crowave Circuits. Norwood, MA: Artech House, 1981. mittee on Microwave Field Theory (MTT-15), a member of the IEEE–EAB
[26] L. Besser, “An overview of available CAD programs,” in Computer- Committee on Continuing Education, a member of IEEE–EAB Societies Ed-
Aided Design of Microwave Circuits. Norwood, MA: Artech House, ucation Committee, and has been on the Technical Program Committees for the
1981, pp. 619–648 . IEEE MTT-S International Symposia. He is an associate editor for the IEEE Mi-
[27] B. S. Perlman and V. G. Gelnovatch, “Computer aided design, simulation crowave Magazine. His is on the Editorial Board of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON
and optimization,” in Advances in Microwaves. New York: Academic, MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES. He was a recipient of the IEEE MTT-S
1974, vol. 8, pp. 321–399. Distinguished Educator Award and the IEEE Third Millennium Medal.
1014 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 50, NO. 3, MARCH 2002

Tatsuo Itoh (S’69–M’69–SM’74–F’82) received the Arthur A. Oliner (M’47–SM’52–F’61–LF’87)

Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Uni- was born on March 5, 1921 in Shanghai, China. He
versity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in 1969. received the B.A. degree from Brooklyn College,
From September 1966 to April 1976, he was with Brooklyn, NY, in 1941, and the Ph.D. degree from
the Electrical Engineering Department, University Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, in 1946, both in
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. From April physics.
1976 to August 1977, he was a Senior Research He joined the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn
Engineer in the Radio Physics Laboratory, SRI (now Polytechnic University) in 1946, and became
International, Menlo Park, CA. From August 1977 Professor in 1957. He then served as Department
to June 1978, he was an Associate Professor at the Head from 1966 to 1974, and was Director of its
University of Kentucky, Lexington. In July 1978, Microwave Research Institute from 1967 to 1982. He
he joined the faculty at The University of Texas at Austin, where he became has also been a Visiting Professor at several universities around the world. His
a Professor of electrical engineering in 1981 and Director of the Electrical research has covered a wide variety of topics in the microwave field, including
Engineering Research Laboratory in 1984. During the summer of 1979, he network representations of microwave structures, guided-wave theory with
was a Guest Researcher at AEG-Telefunken, Ulm, Germany. In September stress on surface waves and leaky waves, traveling-wave antennas, waves in
1983, he was selected to hold the Hayden Head Centennial Professorship of plasmas, periodic structure theory, and phased arrays. His interests have also
Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. In September 1984, he was included waveguides for surface acoustic waves and integrated optics, novel
appointed Associate Chairman for Research and Planning of the Electrical leaky-wave antennas for millimeter waves, and leakage effects in microwave
and Computer Engineering Department, The University of Texas. In January integrated circuits. He has authored or co-authored over 250 papers and various
1991, he joined the University of California at Los Angeles, as Professor of book chapters. He has also coauthored or edited three books.
Electrical Engineering and Holder of the TRW Endowed Chair in Microwave Dr. Oliner is a Fellow of the IEEE, the American Association for the Ad-
and Millimeter Wave Electronics. He was an Honorary Visiting Professor vancement of Science (AAAS), and the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE),
at the Nanjing Institute of Technology, Nanjing, China, and at the Japan U.K. He was a Guggenheim Fellow. He was president of the IEEE Microwave
Defense Academy. In April 1994, he was appointed as Adjunct Research Theory and Techniques Society (IEEE MTT-S), and its first Distinguished Lec-
Officer for the Communications Research Laboratory, Ministry of Post and turer. He is also a past U.S. chairman of Commissions A and D of the Inter-
Telecommunication, Japan. He currently holds a Visiting Professorship at The national Union of Radio Science (URSI), and a member of the U.S. National
University of Leeds, Leeds, U.K., and is an External Examiner of the Graduate Committee of URSI. He was elected an Honorary Life Member of the MTT-S
Program of the City University of Hong Kong. He has authored or co–authored (one of only seven such persons), and in 1982, he received its highest recogni-
280 journal publications, 585 refereed conference presentations, and has tion, the Microwave Career Award. A special retrospective session was held in
written 30 books/book chapters in the area of microwaves, millimeter-waves, his honor at the IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium in 1988. In
antennas and numerical electromagnetics. He has overseen 49 Ph.D. students. 1993, he became the first recipient of the Distinguished Educator Award of the
Dr. Itoh is a member of the Institute of Electronics and Communication IEEE MTT-S. He was the recipient of prizes for two of his papers: the IEEE
Engineers of Japan and Commissions B and D of USNC/URSI. He has been Microwave Prize in 1967 for his work on strip-line discontinuities, and the In-
the recipient of numerous awards including the Shida Award presented by stitution Premium of the IEE in 1964 for his comprehensive studies of complex
the Japanese Ministry of Post and Telecommunications in 1998, the Japan wave types guided by interfaces and layers. He was awarded the URSI van der
Microwave Prize in 1998, the IEEE Third Millennium Medal in 2000, and the Pol Gold Medal in 1990, which is given once every three years, for his contribu-
IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (IEEE MTT-S) Distinguished tions to leaky waves. He was elected a member of the U.S. National Academy
Educator Award in 2000. He served as the editor of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS of Engineering in 1991. He was also the recipient of the IEEE Centennial and
ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES from 1983 to 1985. He serves on Millennium Medals. He was also awarded the 2000 IEEE Heinrich Hertz Gold
the Administrative Committee of the IEEE MTT-S. He was vice president of Medal.
the IEEE MTT-S in 1989 and president in 1990. He was the editor-in-chief of
IEEE MICROWAVE AND GUIDED WAVE LETTERS from 1991 through 1994. He
was elected as an Honorary Life Member of the MTT-S in 1994. He was the
chairman of the USNC/URSI Commission D from 1988 to 1990, and chairman
of Commission D of the International URSI from 1993 to 1996. He is chair of
the Long Range Planning Committee of the URSI. He also serves on advisory
boards and committees of a number of organizations.