RF
fundamentals
course contents
What is RF?
Definition of RF, RF wave characteristics: Frequency, wavelength, power, phase, impedance, RF history, radio signals, frequency bands, safety issues, legal issues.
RF systems
Microwaves, cellular/mobile RF, WLANs, other fixed wireless networks, basic RF components. Hands on: Building a basic WLAN network.
RF system components
Transmitters:
Antennas: Isotropic, Dipole, how antennas achieve gain.
Modulation
Schemes, bandwidth, AM, FM, FSK, PSK, QAM, QPSK, interference, performance. Hands on: Interference and performance.
Multiple access schemes
FDMA, CDMA, TDMA, CSMA/CA.
Wireless systems
Cellular (GSM, UMTS), Wifi, WiMax, others: GPS, DBS, RFID, radar, Bluetooth. Hands on: cellular.
Spread Spectrum technologies
Spread spectrum benefits and disadvantages, how it works, Direct Sequence, Frequency Hopping, hybrids.
RF propagation
Models, link budget, Smith chart, RF matching with the Smith chart. cell capacity, tradeoffs: power vs. bandwidth, free space, reflection, diffraction, multipath cancellation, propagation prediction and measurement tools. Hands on: Smith charts.
RF testing
Why power rather than voltage/current, units of power, dB and
dBm power conversions. Test equipment: signal generators,
power meters, network analysers, spectrum analysers. RF test
setups: return loss, insertion loss. Hands on: RF testing.
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