Practical Antenna Design (RF59-14-0)

SynopsisAntennas play an important role in modern wireless systems such as mobile phones, cordless phones, wireless LAN, and Bluetooth. In order to function satisfactorily, these antennas must be designed to conform to both electrical and mechanical specifications. An understanding of antenna parameters and design methodologies will be valuable to antenna designers in selecting the appropriate antenna type for a particular application.

Course Highlight
This course brings together the fundamentals of antenna performance parameters and practical design techniques so that useful antennas can be designed, analyzed, built and tested to satisfy a set of design criteria. Several practical antenna design examples are worked out in the class. Participants will be introduced to a hands-on antenna design task.

What previous participants say about this course
Answers to the question 'what did you like most about the course'

• "Practical design and hand on" - 14 Feb 06
• "The practical demo and practical tips" - 14 Feb 06
• "Good examples, clear explanations" - 2 Jul 07
• "Demonstration of measuring prototype Antenna using VNA" - 2 Jul 07
• "Antenna Design technique and rule of thumb. Practical section after theory class" - 2 Jul 07
• "Guideline for designing from the instructor's experiences" - 2 Jul 07
• "The experienced instructor's sharing about the trouble shooting of the antenna design" - 2 Jul 07
• "Course material, experienced lecturer, effective presentation skill of lecturer" - 7 Jul 08

What You Will Learn

• concept of antenna radiation, important antenna parameters and current antenna analysis tools
• antenna impedance matching and antenna measurement techniques
• practical design techniques and measurement for a number of popular antennas

Who Should Attend

• antenna engineers
• wireless electronic designers
• wireless communication specialists
• EMC specialists
• RF and radar engineers/technicians
• others who need a working knowledge of RF and antennas

PrerequisiteTechnical background or working experience in the field of electronic product manufacturing, testing or development. Advanced mathematics will not be required although previous exposure to RF and/or high-frequency areas will be an advantage.

Course MethodologyThis course is presented classroom style, with practical demonstrations to illustrate the design and measurement principles.

Course Duration3 days, 9am - 5pm

Course StructureDay 1
1) INTRODUCTION

• Antenna Equivalent Circuit - Thevenin and Norton
• Electromagnetic Radiation Principle - due to current or charge
• Animation of EM Radiation *- pulse on a wire *- CW from a horn
• Methods of Analysis - review of various methods
• New Challenges in Antenna Design

2) ANTENNA PARAMETERS

• Radiation Pattern
• Field Regions
• Radiation Power Density and Radiation Intensity
• Beamwidth, Beam Efficiency
• Directivity, Gain, Antenna Efficiency
• Input Impedance, Bandwidth, Antenna Radiation Efficiency
• Polarization
• Effective Length, Effective Area
• Radar Cross Section
• Antenna Temperature

3) IMPEDANCE MATCHING TECHNIQUES

• Gamma, S11, RL, VSWR, Smith Chart
• Transmission-Line Type
• Discrete Lumped-Elements Type
• Distributed L and C Type

Day 2
4) ANTENNA MEASUREMENTS

• Pattern Measurement
• Gain Measurement
• Directivity Measurement
• Impedance Measurement
• Polarization Measurement
• Scale Model measurement

5) WIRE ANTENNA DESIGN

• Ideal Dipole and Monopole
• Practical Dipoles and Monopoles
• Long-wire Antennas
• Design Softwares
• Design Examples
• Practical Measurement of Impedance and Radiation Pattern

Day 3
6) BROADBAND ANTENNA DESIGN

• Biconical and Discone Antennas
• Yagi and LPDA
• Design Softwares
• Design Examples
• Practical Measurement of Impedance and Radiation Pattern

7) MICROSTRIP PATCH ANTENNA DESIGN

• Circular and Rectangular Patch Antennas
• Linear and Circular Polarization Feeds
• PIFA
• Design Softwares
• Design Examples
• Practical Measurement of Impedance and Radiation Pattern

8) SMART ANTENNAS

• What are and Why Smart Antennas?
• Antenna Arrays
• Antenna Beamforming
• Smart Antenna System Design and Simulation