RF &

MICROWAVE
ENGINEERING

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

Electromagnetic spectrum:

Microwave Region : wavelength (1 cm – 1m)

frequency(300MHz – 30GHz)

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

 How it started??
Microwave engineering: Applied Synonym of RADAR in
Electromagnetic fields world war II
Engineering

Need for high Resolution

RADAR to detect enemy ships
and planes

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

 How can your cell phone and your television work
at the same time?

Both use antennas to receive information from

electromagnetic waves, so why isn't there a
problem?

Its Frequency bro!!

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

 Frequency band designation
Internationally, the RF spectrum is allocated by the International Telecommunication
Union (ITU) to various classes of service according to different regions of the world

USA
Federal Communications : Non-Government users
Commission (FCC)
National Telecommunications and :Departments and
Information Administration (NTIA) agencies of the U.S.
Government.

INDIA
Department of Telecommunication:
Wireless Planning and Coordination (WPC)

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID
GSM phone dual-band Tri-band Phones
Quad band
United States and Canada, North European and other
phones :
America: 850 / 1900 MHz countries: 850 / 1800 / 1900
World phones
Europe, Middle east, Asia and MHz
850/ 900/ 1800
Oceania and most other North America and Canada:
/1900 MHz
countries.: 900 / 1800 MHz 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz.

850MHz : 824-896 MHz

1900 MHz : 1850MHz-1990MHz

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

 “Rabbit-ears" VHF -UHF
television antenna

• Initially Analog television broadcast audio

for TV channels on a separate FM carrier
signal from the video signal

VHF and UHF Channels

Moderate TV signals Weak TV signals

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

 FREQUENCY BAND DESIGNATION

IEEE

ITU

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

 ITU(International Telecommunications Union) Radio Bands
Band no:
ELF (Extremely Low Frequency) HF (High Frequency)
1 7
3-30 Hz 3-30 MHz

SLF (Super Low Frequency) VHF ( Very High Frequency)

2 8
30-300 Hz 30-300 MHz

ULF (Ultra Low Frequency) UHF ( Ultra High Frequency)

300-3000 Hz 3 9
300-3000 MHz

VLF (Very Low Frequency) SHF ( Super High Frequency)

4 10 3-30 GHz
3-30 KHz

LF (Low Frequency) EHF ( Extremely High Frequency)

5 11
30-300 KHz 30-300 GHz

MF ( Medium Frequency) THF ( Tremendously High Frequency)

6 12
300-3000 KHz 30-300 GHz

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

 ELF (Extremely Low Frequency) Can penetrate deep into seawater
3-30 Hz

SLF (Super Low Frequency)

30-300 Hz
submarines

The Russian service is called ZEVS and

operates at 82 hertz

• Earth itself forms a significant part of the

antenna
U.S. Navy Clam Lake,
• Areas chosen for the ELF system have low
Wisconsin ELF transmitter
conductivity rock (rock that does not
facility
conduct electricity well)
Ground dipole antenna
• Low data transmission rate

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

 ELF (Extremely Low Frequency) • Penetrate significant distances into earth or
3-30 Hz
rock, and "through-the-earth" underground
SLF (Super Low Frequency) mine communication systems
30-300 Hz

Lightening : Observable ELF component (slow

tail) followed the VLF component

Earth-ionosphere cavity:
Fundamental resonance frequency ‘7.8 Hz’. Higher
resonance modes of 14, 20, 26 and 32 Hz

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

 ULF (Ultra Low Frequency)
300-3000 Hz

• Communications in mines

• Earthquakes are sometimes preceded by a

spike in ULF activity

• Many types of waves in the ULF

frequency band can be observed in
the magnetosphere and on the
ground. These waves represent
important physical processes in the
near-Earth plasma environment

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

 VLF (Very Low Frequency)
3-30 KHz

• Can propagate as Ground

waves
• subterranean mapping, or
detecting underground
structures
The submarine communication centre at
Satellite protection
INS Kattabomman.
ELF/VLF waves from lightning has been shown
to be a key driver of the removal of these
trapped particles

“Trideco" antenna tower array

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

 LF (Low Frequency)
30-300 KHz
“Long wave" band

Propagation characteristics : • Non-directional navigational beacons

Surface waves and sky waves at night • Time standard frequency broadcast

MF ( Medium Frequency)
300-3000 KHz
• AM broadcasting
• Maritime radio Coast guard
communications

535- to 1,705-kHz frequency band, which

broadcast AM

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

 HF (High Frequency)
3-30 MHz

Radio waves in this band can be reflected back

to Earth by the ionosphere layer in the
atmosphere –”skip" or "skywave" propagation
• Reflection from ionosphere as per
time of the day ,depends on season
solar flares
“shortwave band”—” shortwave radio”
• Military and governmental communication
systems
• Aviation air-to-ground communications
• Amateur radio(Ham radio)
• Shortwave international and regional
broadcasting
• Maritime sea-to-shore services
• Over-the-horizon radar systems
• Global Maritime Distress and Safety System
(GMDSS) communication

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

 VHF ( Very High Frequency) UHF ( Ultra High Frequency)
30-300 MHz 300-3000 MHz

SHF ( Super High Frequency) EHF ( Extremely High Frequency)

3-30 GHz 30-300 GHz

THF ( Tremendously High Frequency)

30-300 GHz

IEEE Microwave Frequency Bands German word "kurz"

VHF ( Very High Frequency) UHF ( Ultra High Frequency) meaning “short”
30-300 MHz 300 MHz-1 GHz

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

 THF ( Tremendously High Frequency) sub millimeter band
30-300 GHz
Terahertz radiation occupies a middle ground
between microwaves and infrared light

EHF ( Extremely High Frequency)

30-300 GHz
Millimeter band or Millimeter wave

• modest size antennas to have a small beam

width
• frequency reuse potential
• Short-range fire-control radar in tanks
and aircraft, and automated guns (CIWS)
on naval ships to shoot down incoming
missiles

• Track the stream of outgoing bullets as

well as the target
• Absorption limits potential
communications range • Police Speed Radar

• Satellite-based remote sensing

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID
 VHF ( Very High Frequency)
30-300 MHz

• FM radio broadcasting

• Television broadcasting

• VHF waves are restricted to the local radio

horizon less than 100 miles.
• VHF is less affected by atmospheric noise
and interference from electrical equipment
than lower frequencies.
• Gets blocked by land features such as hills
and mountains

Long range data communication up to several

tens of kilometers with radio modems
• amateur radio
• Air traffic control communications and air
navigation systems

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

 UHFUHF ( Ultra High
L Frequency) S
300-1 GHz 300-3000
1-2 GHz
MHz 2-3 3-4 GHz

• UHF broadcasting can be received

with much smaller antennas than
VHF
• UHF signals can pass through smaller
• UHF less susceptible to diffraction that us openings than VHF (ex: Metal framed
signals will not bend around obstructions windows)
as rapidly as VHF signals Russian : Global Navigation Satellite
System (GLONASS)
• Television broadcasting, European Union: Galileo
• GPS positioning system
• Satellite communication China : BeiDou Navigation Satellite
• Personal radio services System
• Wi-Fi Japan : Quasi-Zenith Satellite Walkie talkies which
• Bluetooth System operate on the 446
• walkie-talkies India : Indian Regional Navigation MHz
Satellite System(IRNSS).
LTE-Advanced or UMTS/HSDPA base station
Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID
Industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) radio bands Internationally reserved

Applications
• RF process heating
• Microwave ovens
• Medical diathermy machines…...

communications
equipment
operating in these
bands must
tolerate any
interference
generated by ISM
applications

Signal comparison of wireless systems

operating in the 2.4-GHz band
Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID
X band 8.0 to 12.0 GHz
The shorter wavelengths of the X band allow for higher resolution imagery from
high-resolution imaging radars for target identification and discrimination.
• Weather monitoring
• Air traffic control
• Maritime vessel traffic control
• Defense tracking, and vehicle speed
detection for law enforcement

• DEEP Space operational satellites

Weather radar
The wavelengths of 1 – 10 cm are approximately ten times the diameter of the
droplets or ice particles of interest, leads to Rayleigh scattering

10 cm (S-band) radar 3 cm X-band radar

small-particle
expensive short-range units phenomena
( drizzle , fog)
5 cm C-band system 1 cm Ka-band radar

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

 30 MHz to 30 GHz (not absolute)

Above 30 GHz, the lower Below 30 MHz, the

atmosphere or ionosphere, at altitudes
troposphere, below 10 km, from around 100 to 500
absorbs radio signals due km, absorbs and
to oxygen and water vapor reflects signals.

Even between 20
and 30 GHz, there
are some absorption
bands that must be
avoided.
Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID
K band
• Ka band high-resolution, close-range targeting radars aboard military airplanes
(18 and 26.5 GHz)
Absorbed easily by water vapor primarily for radar and satellite communications
Ka band Ku band C band
C Band Ku Band

• Fixed satellite service (FSS) • Fixed satellite service (FSS)

• Broadcast satellite service (BSS) • Broadcast satellite service (BSS)
more
C-band (4 to 8 GHz) susceptible to
rain
• Satellite communications transmissions
• Wi-Fi devices
• Weather radar systems.

Hey dude it’s a bad

weather .. I’ll go for C-band
rather than Ku band

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

 Ku band is primarily used for satellite communications, most notably for fixed and
broadcast services
A noticeable degradation occurs, due to the
problems caused by and proportional to the
amount of rainfall (commonly known as "rain
fade")

C-band : Restricted in power Ku band Higher power : smaller receiving

(avoid interference with terrestrial dishes
microwave systems)
frequencies parabolic reflectors
increase become more efficient at
focusing
US FSS (Fixed
*require moreSatellite
accurateService) service
position -- 2when
control
degrees apart.
operating at Ku band Ku band : cheaper(End user)
At 4 GHz (C-band) a 3-meter dish is required to smaller antennas (both because
achieve this narrow of a focus beam of the higher frequency and a
more focused beam)

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

Today’s mobile devices contain more than millions of transistors, with only a small
fraction operating in the RF range and the rest performing low-frequency “base-band”
analog and digital signal processing

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

RF TRANRECEIVER SYSTEMS
Antenna

Transmitter
Tx
Duplexer/
Diplexer

Receiver
Rx How can both the transmitter and
the receiver use the same antenna?

Can I transmit and

Receive at same
Well!! If you don’t want Frequency??
FULL DUPLEX
communication YOU can

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

 LO Tx
Antenna

Base band RF Power

circuit Tx Amplifier
RF Duplexer/
Mixer Diplexer
Image
Base band rejectionLNA LNA
circuit Rx filters

***More Importantly:
LO Rx Need to synchronize to Base
station frequencies

Single
Generate Frequency at same• Sync toDepending
• Two Frequencies Global
timeSynthesizers Clock on protocol:
RF IC
• Contains
• Two frequencies at different PLL
TDMA
time ,CDMA

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

Simplified circuit diagram of the first stage of a 2 GHz power amplifier

Printed circuit board (PCB) layout of the power amplifier

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

 SKIN DEPTH

Conductor

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

 Bessel
Ez , H Functions

DC

 ar 
exp  1  j 
Neglect pI
Jz  
2aj r   

AC
Frequency behavior of normalized
AC current density for a copper wire
of radius a = 1 mm.

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

surface or skin resistance Rs (Ω/m2)
Resistance of a unit width and unit
length of the conductor

For a given width w and length ‘l’, the ac

resistance
1  1
Rs  R
 1  
conductor wire

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

Printed Circuit Board
Lands

l
RLf 
wt
l
Rhf 
2 w  t 
Rhf wt

RLf 2 w  t 

Oh come on ..Lets
decrease radius or
thickness
Dude !!
Resistance is inversely proportional to the
NO
skin area

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

Self Inductance for wire Internal inductance + External Inductance

Not exactly!!!
Is there Lin and
Lext in case of DC
In case of a   ,which
??
happens at low frequencies
Internal 0
inductance per Lin 
unit length 8

In case of a   ,which External Inductance Lex

happens at High frequencies
For a wire of radius ‘a’ and
length ‘l’
Inside conductor

Joule’s power loss inside = reactive power inside  0l   2l  

Lex   ln   1
2   a  
1 2 1
I Rac  I 2 X L Rac  L'in
2 2

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

Tutorial

A Copper wire of AWG 26 is 2 cm long .For frequencies of 100MHz,2 GHz and 5

GHz compare the internal and external inductance

AWG = American Wire Gauge

AWG 26  diameter is 16 mils

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

Surface mount
Technology PCB

Through hole PCB

• Higher component density per unit area

• Higher circuit speed is easier due to the reduced size
• Reduce the length of the attachment leads(an important factor in achieving the
desired behavior of the component), but it also speeds the automated
attachment of the component to the PCB

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

 At high frequencies Voltages and current
doesn't follow the impedance relation

Non ideal behavior of components

Important factor
“length of the component component must inevitably be connected to
attachment leads” the circuit via ‘leads’

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

Carbon Composition Resistor

lack of stability
tolerance indications of ±20%.
lack of temperature stability value could change by as much as 5% in a year

Metal film Resistor

Temperature stable
materials (nickel
chromium, tin, antimony,
gold, platinum etc.,)

tolerance indications
of ±0.5%.

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

Wire-wound resistors

Resistance value is dependent

on the resistivity of the wire,
the cross section and the
length

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

Thin film resistors
SMD Resistor
Surface mount device , SMD,
resistors are the most widely
used electronic component.

tin
nickel
**thickness, and the length of the actual film
determines the resistance

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

Electric equivalent circuit representation of a high frequency resistor

Absolute impedance value of a

2000-Ω thin-film resistor as a
function of frequency

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

Different Capacitor types

The tantalum capacitor is similar to

the electrolytic capacitor, but using
tantalum within the construction of
the capacitor it is able to offer
extremely high levels of capacitance
for any given volume.

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

 Ceramic capacitors

bare leadless disc ceramic capacitors

that are designed to sit in a slot in
the PCB

construction of a surface-mounted
ceramic multilayer capacitor
Silver mica capacitor used in RF
oscillators because of its high
stability

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

Factors associated with capacitor choice

• Value range available • Polarization • Temperature coefficient

• Working voltage • Tolerance

• Some
** Care mustcapacitors, such
be taken to as tantalum
ensure • Forrating
that the ripple current someofcoupling and
the capacitor
meetsones, tend to be available
the requirements in lower application.decoupling applications the exact
of the capacitor
voltages, whereas others like ceramic value of the capacitor is not
capacitors have a much wide operating critical. However for a filter or
range oscillators the value of the
capacitor may be critical.
• Leakage current
Data sheets normally provide a factor
called ESR (Equivalent series resistance)
instead of loss tangent

**Loss tangent is Loss tangent can be defined as the

dependent on ratio of equivalent series resistance
frequency to the capacitor reactance
Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID
 Due to Finite Losses in
lead length capacitor
plates Due to
dielectric
losses at
high
frequency

• Lead capacitance is neglected as its very small compared to actual

capacitance , in parallel to actual capacitance it can be neglected

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

Self resonant frequency
of capacitor

Inductive
nature
domination

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

Shunting noise currents to ground (PCB) Low impedance  Capacitor

Parallel suppression component is to be used for high impedance loads, for low
impedance load it would be ineffective

Condition :: frequency of the current to be suppressed must be lower than the

self-resonant frequency

 capacitor with a separation of 0.25 in. and

lead length 0.5 in has Llead =14 nH.
470-pF  SRF  62 MHz
RC Racks
0.1-mF SRF  4.25 MHz

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

Tutorial

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

Inductor

Equivalent circuit of the high-frequency inductor

Distributed capacitance and

Lead inductance and lead capacitance
series resistance in the
can be neglected for small lead lengths
inductor coil

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID
Capacitors are used to divert noise currents, whereas inductors are placed in
series with wires or lands to block noise currents

Should I use a capacitor

or inductor to suppress
noise currents

series inductors are most effective in shunt capacitors are most effective in high-
low-impedance circuits impedance circuits

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

FERROMAGNETIC MATERIALS

(1) saturation

(2) the ability to concentrate magnetic flux

(3) frequency response

Ferrite core materials have different frequency

responses

permeability decreases with

increasing current
Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID
FERRITE BEADS

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID

Bharath Ganji , RGUKT- NUZVID