D. Pozar Microwave Engineering
Renau Sheard
Microwave Engineering is a branch of electrical engineering that deals with the study and design of devices and systems that operate at microwave frequencies. These frequencies range from 300 MHz to 300 GHz and are used in various applications such as communication systems, radar, satellite communication, and more.
The basic concepts of Microwave Engineering include transmission line theory, microwave circuit theory, microwave network analysis, and microwave device design. These concepts form the foundation for understanding the behavior and design of microwave devices and systems.
Some commonly used microwave devices include microwave antennas, waveguides, couplers, amplifiers, filters, mixers, and oscillators. These devices are used in various applications and play a crucial role in the functioning of microwave systems.
There are various resources available for learning about Microwave Engineering, such as textbooks, online courses, research papers, and conferences. Some popular textbooks include "Microwave Engineering" by David M. Pozar and "Foundations for Microwave Engineering" by Robert E. Collin.
When designing microwave systems, it is important to consider factors such as frequency, power, impedance, bandwidth, and noise. Understanding these factors is crucial for designing efficient and reliable microwave systems that meet the desired specifications.
David Pozar is Professor Emeritus at UMass Amherst. His work involves antenna theory and design, microwave engineering, and wireless systems. He presently does consulting work in antenna design, and expert witness work for patent validity and infringment in the area of antennas and microwave engineering.
Specialties: Antenna theory and design, phased arrays, microwave engineering, and expert witness work for patents in these areas.
Here we will provide reviews on some of the available books that can help you in your microwave engineering career. There are hundreds of titles out there, so this is going to take some time to come up with the best.
Now, on to the traditional, hardcover, technical books. We've linked the image of each book to Amazon pages for those who might want to buy them, but you can also find some of these books in the library at universities with engineering programs. Got a favorite book on this topic? Send us a book review, and win a pocket knife!
Dr. Raghavan from the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, India wrote this book on using MATLAB to design microwave circuit components. In it, he explains microwave circuit theory and its comparisons, transmission line networks, S-parameters, ABCD parameters, basic design parameters of planar transmission lines, and much, much more.
Yeah, we get it. Words are hard, and you're an engineer who has more important things to worry about. HOWEVER, as the authors of this book point out from the very beginning, it doesn't matter how brilliant your ideas may be if you can't communicate them to other people such as your boss, your co-workers, your customers, and your employees. Authors Sharon and Bonnie know what they're talking about. In addition to working in the technical communication field for decades, they have also been teaching communication skills to engineers through the University of California since 2005. This book covers everything from the basics of clear writing to rsums to cover letters to requirements documents to presentations and much more. It's available in both paperback and Kindle editions.
This book is about the theory of RF circuits and systems and the practice of designing them. It is primarily intended for practicing RF engineers who are involved in PCB-based circuit designs and system integrations. This book is aimed at amplifier designers that use printed circuit boards but would be useful in other efforts. The author provides rigorous stability analyses, shows you how to develop matching network designs on the Smith Chart, including Q considerations, and discusses noise in RF systems. All of this is followed up with practical examples of amplifier designs. There is discussion of many of the metrics of wireless system design (topics which are mostly missing on Microwaves101!) such as modulation schemes, peak-to-average ratio in transmitters, phase noise, error vector magnitude (EVM), spectral regrowth, and intermodulation from external signals. There is some good discussion of passive components and how to model them. There's related material on switch designs, including power handling considerations. If you want to upgrade your library of books on practical microwave design, consider picking up a copy today!
Here's a brand new book on measurements, specifically intended as a single source of desktop ready-reference on most-often-used used RF/ microwave measurement parameters. Take a look, and let us know what you think!
The first edition of Satellite Communications Systems Engineering (Wiley 2008) was written for those concerned with the design and performance of satellite communications systems employed in fixed point to point, broadcasting, mobile, radio navigation, data relay, computer communications, and related satellite based applications. This welcome Second Edition continues the basic premise and enhances the publication with the latest updated information and new technologies developed since the publication of the first edition.
This book just came out in 2018 published by Cambridge University Press, and includes some of the latest advances in phased array analysis methods, including many examples of analysis using modern computational electromagnetic tools. It's primarily focused on pulling together the wide range of disciplines that have invested in radio astronomy research over the years, and forming a single approach to phased array research. As the authors say in their Preface: "Our goal is to gather in one place recent advances in the mathematical framework for phased array analysis and create a book for which the theorteical treatment reflects the state-of-the-art in the academic literature and is equal to the task of designing antenna arrays for applications with demanding performance requirements". There are plenty of references for those who want to investigate the topics further, and even some problems at the end of each chapter for those who want to use it as a textbook.
From the Unknown Editor: If you are looking for a deep-dive into phased array theory, the math behind it, and how to use computational elecromagnetics to model response, this book gives a thorough treatment to all of that. It is a well-organized textbook providing hundreds of references, as opposed to some books that are merely a collection of published papers. You won't find cartoons or vacation pictures here, like you might from other authors. As the title suggests it focuses mainly on receiving arrays for astronomy and remote sensing, so don't expect a lengthy treatment of transmitters, radar or military equipment. Hardware is treated as black boxes, this is not an instruction manual on how to build a phased array. It is a great textbook for antenna systems designers.
Matt is the inventor of a new class of filter, where the energy outside the pass-band is absorbed instead of reflected back. This solves the age-old receiver design problem... remember when you tried to cascade two filters and get twice the rejection, and ended up with a big mess? You can get a taste of reflectionless filters on this Microwaves101 page.
There is perhaps no subject that seems so simple but is so fraught with perils than RF grounding. Here's a great resource on the topic by Eric Holzman. Just for fun, you can also read Ode to Greentape, an engineer's words of warning for LTCC packaging.
First published in 1999 and updated in 2007, this book provides essentially everything you need to design coupled structures and coupled-line filters. Topics include forward- and backward-wave couplers, non-uniform couplers, improving microstrip couplers, tandem couplers, interdigital capacitors, spiral inductors, baluns and much, much more. We have used it on Microwaves101 to create three-section symmetric couplers.
This book presents theory, information and design procedures to enable engineers and technicians to build circulators successfully. Even managers can learn how to specify a circulator; in chapter 2 you will learn about their different types and what is possible and what is not.
An exceptional book on antenna design. It is very design oriented, easy to read and does not contain long derivations of anything - the stuff we antenna designers would skip anyway. The book deals with basic theory (of course), basics of numerical methods, arrays and array synthesis, all the basic radiator types, and phased arrays. In my opinion, only relevant information for practical design work is included in the book, no more to confuse you or make your reading experience tedious. That is why I like it. I have used that book a lot and found it exceptionally useful.
This book is by a team of professors from University of Arkansas. It's crammed with useful info on materials properties, and even though it is not specifically about microwave packaging it has a lot of good microwave stuff in it!
Microwave Tubes by A.S. Gilmour was published in 1986, so it isn't really new, but it is one of the best written microwave books we have come across. It includes some great microwave history, including tidbits about the Varian brothers, Kompfner, Pierce, Boot and Randall. It also describes the math behind why 50 ohms was chosen way back when. This is a must-have book if you want to learn about tubes.
If you are at all serious about designing microwave filters, you'll need to pick up a copy of Microwave Filters, Impedance-Matching Networks, and Coupling Structures, which is still in print more than four decades after it was first published. We like the book so much we put MY&J in the Microwave Hall of Fame! Remember, Matthaei rhymes with pat. Update September 2012: this book is available for free as a scanned pdf in our download area. It is in the public domain so there is no harm in grabbing a copy! On the other hand, if you prefer paper to pixels, you can still find copies on sites like Amazon:
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