RF fundamentals

Description

Radio Frequency engineering is an important yet often overlooked area in today's wireless world. This course provides a grounding in RF theory and practice for wireless, cellular and microwave systems.

What will you learn

RF fundamentals training course details

Those working with wireless, cellular and microwave systems.

None.

2 days

Definition of RF, RF wave characteristics:
Frequency, wavelength, power, phase, impedance,
RF history, radio signals, frequency bands, safety
issues, legal issues.

Microwaves, cellular/mobile RF, WLANs, other
fixed wireless networks, basic RF components.

Hands on Building a basic WLAN network.

Transmitters:
Antennas: Isotropic, Dipole, how antennas achieve
gain.

Schemes, bandwidth, AM, FM, FSK, PSK, QAM,
QPSK, interference, performance.
Hands on
Interference and performance.

FDMA, CDMA, TDMA, CSMA/CA.

Cellular (GSM, UMTS), Wifi, WiMax, others: GPS,
DBS, RFID, radar, Bluetooth.
Hands on cellular.

Spread spectrum benefits and disadvantages, how
it works, Direct Sequence, Frequency Hopping,
hybrids.

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.

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.