03/03/13

ECEN 4634 / 5634

Fall 2012
ECEN 4634 Microwave and RF Lab
Lecture Section M 3:00-4:15 010 PM Lab Section 011 Lab Section 012 T 12:00-2:30 PM Th 2:00-4:30 PM ECEE 1B32 ECEE 254A ECEE 254A

ECEN 5634 Graduate Microwave and RF Lab

Lecture Section M 3:00-4:15 010 PM Lab Section 011 Lab Section 012 T 9:00-11:30 AM Th 9:00-11:30 AM ECEE 1B32 ECEE 254A ECEE 254A

Page last updated 6 December 2012

Contact Instructor: Prof. Edward F. Info Kuester Email: Office: Phone: Office Hours:

TA: Joshua Chong

kuester@schof.colorado.edu Joshua.Chong@colorado.edu ECOT 248 ECEE 254 303-492-5173 M 4:30-5:30, W 4:00-5:00, Th 8:00-9:00 and 1:00-2:00, or by M W 10:00-11:00 appointment
Suggested Term Paper Topics Sample Midterm Exam Sample Lab Final Sample Written Final Prelab Homework Schedule Software Links

Course Latest Information Links Information Announcements

Lab Schedule

Lecture Section Schedule

Up-to-date Lab Descriptions (11-30-2012)

Previous AWR Announcements Tutorials

ecee.colorado.edu/~ecen4634/#Lecture_Schedule

1/20

03/03/13

ECEN 4634 / 5634

Latest Announcements
6 December 2012: Here is a copy of last year's written final exam for your use in studying for this year's. 3 December 2012: I still managed to leave one typo in my revision of the derivation of the radar equation in chapter 10 (thanks to Lex for catching this). Please download the corrected version again at the link below for the fixed (hopefully for the last time) version. The correction is to the first equation on page 180. 30 November 2012: The radar equation presented at the beginning of chapter 10 of the lecture notes turns out to have been badly garbled. Here is a corrected version of chapter 10. This change affects the solutions to problems 1 and 2 of chapter 10; those of you who have already turned in these prelab problems will have them graded very leniently. 29 November 2012: Here is a copy of last year's lab final exam to help you know what to expect. 14 November 2012: It turns out that the biasing network we provided for you to measure in part II of lab L10 is only that, and not also a matching network. Therefore, the original question Q6 for the lab report makes no sense. I have therefore eliminated it, and renumbered the remaining questions. Question Q3 has also been slightly reworded, and the revised version can be found in the link above. Sorry for the confusion.

Previous Announcements

Course Information Notes: In this course, you will study microwave transmission-line, waveguide and antenna
structures from the experimental point of view. In the process, you will also become familiar with some of the instruments that permit accurate microwave measurements to be made. No text is used; course notes (including the experiments) are available in PDF form for download here. You must use the username ecen_4634 and the password given out in class. The file can be read and printed using the free Adobe Acrobat Reader software. Use only the 2012 version of the notes, and not earlier ones.

Software: For many of the homework problems and lab write-ups, you will need access to a
microwave/RF circuit analysis program. The preferred tool for this class is an industry-standard microwave circuit simulator tool from Applied Wave Research (AWR): Microwave Office. AWR has generously allowed our class to obtain free licenses for their CAD tool Microwave Office. Please follow the instructions below to obtain a license for your computer:
1. Go to https://awrcorp.com/register/customer.aspx?univ 2. If for some reason you have previously already registered on the AWR website, you will

use the same account to get the software.

3. If you have not previously registered, the license generation will send you an email with the
ecee.colorado.edu/~ecen4634/#Lecture_Schedule 2/20

03/03/13

ECEN 4634 / 5634

account login information.

4. You will then obtain a license file with a link to the software download area.

If you are asked for a faculty contact name, use "Prof. Zoya Popovi". It is probably best if you download from an on-campus location, or use a VPN. The domain "colorado.edu" is added to the system so you should not have any problems, but please let me know as soon as possible if you have trouble downloading the software. Copies of the software will also eventually be installed on the lab computers. The AWR software runs on the Windows OS. If you run another OS, you will have to run it in a virtual machine. I use Linux (Ubuntu), and can successfully run AWR under Virtualbox, and I have reports that it has successfully been run on a Mac using VMware. I have posted the slides from a tutorial on the use of the AWR software that was given as a short course here at CU a few years ago. If you follow along with their examples, you should get a good feel for the software fairly quickly. Not all of these are needed for this course (in fact the last one is more of an advertisement than anything else), but the first several sets should be useful to you. AWR, Ansoft Designer and other EM/RF/microwave software have been installed on four computers in the outer lab (room ECEE 254) for use by students in this course. As students in this class, you will be granted access to this room during the semester via your BuffOne cards. These computers are shared with another class (ECEN 5134), and in addition to the TA office hours, other classes may also use this room for a few hours each week for various purposes. To start with, use of these computers will be on a first-come, first-served basis, and you may not leave a computer running your program without being present yourself. I hope that self-policing of this policy will work well for everyone. If it does not, I may have to revise it later on. Here are the rules for using this room; access rights may be terminated if you are found in violation of them:
1. Doors to this room are to remain closed except during class times, TA office hours or other

class-related activities.
2. If you are the last one to leave, you must make sure all lights are turned off, and the door

securely closed (you may have to push it closed---air flow from the heating/cooling system sometimes prevents it from closing on its own).
3. Do not let anyone else into the room on your card access. If someone is entitled to use the

room, they must enter using their own BuffOne card.

4. If another class activity is taking place (a help/recitation session, for example), please try

not to disrupt that activity. It may be that you will not be able to use a computer at all while this activity is going on, and must wait until it is over to do so. You may also need access to a version of the SPICE circuit analysis program in order to work one or two of the homework problems. Any version is okay, so long as it supports transmission line sections as circuit elements, as well as nonlinear voltage-controlled current sources. Several free versions of SPICE can be found on the Internet. If your version of a particular program
ecee.colorado.edu/~ecen4634/#Lecture_Schedule 3/20

03/03/13

ECEN 4634 / 5634

does not have its own suitable plotting capability (or if you need to plot versus a variable other than frequency or time), you will have to prepare plots using other software (such as Excel, Gnuplot, Matlab, etc.) which you are going to need anyway for other parts of your lab reports and homework. See Appendix D of the course notes for some tips on the usage of SPICE particularly relevant to this course. Programs in all these categories, and more, can be found at the software links below. ECEN 5634 students will also need some kind of mathematical numerical analysis software capable of solving matrix equations in more than one unknown (i. e., solving linear systems of equations). Examples of such software are: Mathcad, Matlab, Mathematica, Excel (with the Solver add-in), Euler , Scilab , XLPlot , etc. I don't care which you use, but you will need to be reasonably self-reliant in its usage, because I am not expert in all such programs.

Lab Rules:

The laboratory room, ECEE 254A, that we use for this course differs from lab rooms you may have used in other courses. It is NOT an open laboratory. Please read and understand the lab rules . You are responsible for the proper use of the facilities.

Further Reading: If you are curious to learn more about RF and microwave
measurements, I have put the following books on reserve at the Engineering Library: C. G. Montgomery (ed.), Technique of Microwave Measurements. New York: McGrawHill, 1947. E. L. Ginzton, Microwave Measurements. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1957. S. F. Adam, Microwave Theory and Applications. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1969. G. H. Bryant, Principles of Microwave Measurements. Stevenage, UK: Peter Peregrinus, 1993. D. Pozar, Microwave Engineering. New York: Wiley, 2005. (Various authors), ARRL UHF/Microwave Experimenter's Manual. Newington, CT: American Radio Relay League, 1990.

Course Organization: There will be 11 experiments this semester. You must complete
all of these to pass the course. If, with serious reason (medical emergencies qualify, workload from other courses does not) you miss one experiment, there will be make-up labs scheduled near the end of the semester. You must inform me ahead of time if you are going to miss a lab. If you arrive more than 15 minutes late for your lab section, you will not be allowed to do the lab, and will have to make it up during one of the make-up weeks. Homework (the "pre-lab") is assigned for each experiment, and is due at the beginning of your lab section each week. Be sure to do the homework appropriate to the lab that your group will be doing each week. See the Prelab Homework Schedule below to determine which assignments
ecee.colorado.edu/~ecen4634/#Lecture_Schedule 4/20

03/03/13

ECEN 4634 / 5634

you are responsible for. Students will not be allowed to do the lab work (and hence will not get credit for that week's experiment) unless their pre-labs have been handed in at the beginning of the lab session. The purpose of the homework is to allow you to perform the experiments with some background and insight, rather than by the seat of your pants. You should also read the assigned sections of the course notes prior to each week's lecture. There is a very limited amount of lecture time available for the many topics we cover in this course, so the lectures cannot go into each one in as much detail as we might wish. Also, some of the material should be a review for you from your previous EM Fields courses. I expect that you will read the notes and review basic EM concepts as needed in order to keep up; I will always be glad to help you with any questions you may have during my office hours since there will not be time for long answers during the lectures. Please feel free to come in for help. Lab reports are due in lecture the Monday after your lab. Although you carry out the lab experiments in groups of two or three students, everyone must turn in their own individual lab report that shows your own understanding of the material. Only the data you took should be the same among reports from the same lab group. These write-ups are the only basis for determining your grade for each lab. Grading of pre-labs and lab reports is as follows: 10 --- complete and all correct 8-9 --- complete and mostly correct 5-7 --- complete but some errors 3-4 --- complete but mostly wrong 0-2 --- incomplete or wrong Please follow this guide to writing good lab reports when you write up your labs. You may discuss your labs with anyone you wish, but you must write up your lab reports and pre-labs yourself. Copying homework or lab reports from someone else (including your lab partners) or letting someone else copy from you is academic dishonesty, and will constitute grounds for failing the class. Please read the information on disabilities, religious observances, standards of behavior and academic integrity. The final exam for this course is given on Wednesday, December 19, 2012 from 4:30-7:00 PM in room ECEE 1B32. FCQs (Faculty Course Questionnaires) are administered online. You should be receiving an email late in the semester with instructions on how to fill out the online form. Information obtained via this questionnaire is very helpful in determining future improvements to the course, so please take the time to complete the form. The schedule of experiments will be posted on this web page. Each group of lab partners will either be in an A Group or a B Group---this will be decided in class when lab partners are chosen. You should follow the schedule as posted, making sure to hand in solutions for the
ecee.colorado.edu/~ecen4634/#Lecture_Schedule 5/20

03/03/13

ECEN 4634 / 5634

appropriate prelab homeworks (see prelab schedule ). Grades for the course will be determined as follows: Undergraduate Graduate (ECEN 4634) (ECEN 5634) Homework and Prelabs 20% 20% Lab Write-ups 25% 20% Midterm Exam (written) 20% 15% Term paper NA 10% Final Exam (lab portion) 15% 15% Final Exam (written portion: covers the entire course) 20% 20%

Course

Undergraduate vs. Graduate Course Requirements: Undergraduate (ECEN

4634) students do 11 labs and prelabs (including lab L5 but not lab L6). There is a TA for the two sections of ECEN 4634. The TA will grade the labs and prelabs; I will grade the exams. Graduate (ECEN 5634) students do the same labs and prelabs (but including lab L6 instead of lab L5), as well as some additional homework problems. The exams will also contain extra problems for the graduate students. In addition, graduate students will write a term paper on a topic related to RF and microwave measurements. There will be no TA present during the lab sections for ECEN 5634; I will be available during the lab, but graduate students are expected to work more independently. The TA will grade the labs and prelabs; I will grade the exams.

Term papers (ECEN 5634 only): Graduate students must each write a term paper on
some topic related to RF or microwave measurements. The paper should be written in either MSWord or LaTeX, in IEEE publication format. You should provide your paper electronically to me via email as either a .DOC, .DOCX or .PDF file. Here is a sample file (warts and all) so you can learn the correct format for an engineering technical paper, but keep in mind that this sample is a description of a project (including design, fabrication and measurements) rather than a term paper (which should be a summary of technical literature that you have read about a particular topic). I do not preclude your doing experimental work in connection with this term paper, but this is not required and its presence or absence will not affect your grade on this term paper. The paper should be at least 4 pages, but no more than 10 pages in length, with 6-7 pages as the most desirable length. The term papers are due no later than 5:00 PM Friday, December 14, 2012.

Suggested Term Paper Topics

Solitons on Artificial Transmission Lines with Varactor Diodes Waveguide or Coax Slotted Line Measurements TRL Calibration Standard Design and Implementation (for Microstrip and/or CPW
ecee.colorado.edu/~ecen4634/#Lecture_Schedule 6/20

03/03/13

ECEN 4634 / 5634

Circuits) Coupled Transmission Lines/Crosstalk in Transmission Lines Unusual Printed Transmission Lines (Coplanar Waveguide, Coplanar Stripline, Slotline) Dielectric Waveguides Attenuation Effects in Various Structures Tunable Matching Networks Advanced Time Domain Reflectometry Periodic Structures: Interdigital, Meander, Comb and other Periodic Transmission Lines Baluns, Hybrid Couplers, etc. Filters Isolators and Circulators Diplexers and Multiplexers Dual-band Circuits (couplers, antennas etc.) Oscillators Amplifiers and Repeaters Antenna Design and Measurement Antenna Arrays Microstrip Patch Antennas Monopulse Antenna Array for Direction Finding Ranging Radar Radar Jammer using a Mixer Measurement of Permittivity, Permeability and Conductivity Shielding: Wire Mesh, Metal Boxes, etc. Propagation Effects: Diffraction, Multipath, Clutter, etc. I'll take your own suggestions, too....
ecee.colorado.edu/~ecen4634/#Lecture_Schedule 7/20

03/03/13

ECEN 4634 / 5634

I and the TA will be available for questions regarding any aspect of the course during our respective office hours, which I hope will be such that everyone in the course can make use of at least some of them. In any case, you can also see me by appointment at other times. If you don't understand something, I'll never know until you ask or until you fail an experiment or an exam. Why not ask?

Lab Group Assignments

Prepare for the experiments each week according to the schedule indicated. Note: if the schedule says "no expt", it means there is no experiment that week, but I will be using the Thursday lab section for a lecture period, and you should attend. If the schedule says "No Lab", that means you do not have to attend the lab section that week.

Section
ECEN 4634-011 ECEN 4634-011 ECEN 5634-012 (Tuesday afternoon) ECEN 4634-012 ECEN 4634-012 ECEN 5634-011 ECEN 5634-011 ECEN 5634-011 ECEN 5634-011 ECEN 5634-012 ECEN 5634-012 ECEN 5634-012 ECEN 5634-012

Lab Group
(A) (A) (B) (A) (A) (A) (A) (B) (B) (A) (A) (B) (B)

Group Members
Blair, Defibaugh Argo, Parker, Rahimizadeh Grohoski, Kaslon Guriel, Telischak, Wentling Fouss, Mohrman, Wang Maddocks, Montgomery, Ryan Periasamy, Sabadin Batista Litchfield, Sobtzak, Wang Lee Samson, Sun, Tarrats Coffey, Field, Korhummel Ha, Hwang, Sanghai Aeiad, Chen, Muthukumar Brehm, Khadye, Li

Lab Schedule Please read the experiment description BEFORE you come to lab each week. Week ECEN 4634 A ECEN 4634 B ECEN 5634 A ECEN 5634 B of Group Labs Group Labs Group Labs Group Labs
Lab Lab introduction (no August 27 introduction (no expt) expt) Lab Lab September lecture/recitation (no lecture/recitation 3 expt) (no expt) September Experiment L1 Experiment L2
ecee.colorado.edu/~ecen4634/#Lecture_Schedule

Lab introduction (no Lab introduction (no expt) expt) Lab Lab lecture/recitation (no lecture/recitation (no expt) expt) Experiment L1 Experiment L2
8/20

03/03/13

ECEN 4634 / 5634

10 September Experiment L2 17 September Experiment L4 24 October 1 Experiment L3 October 8 Experiment L5 October Experiment L7 15 October Experiment L9 22 October No Lab 29 November Experiment L8 5 November Experiment L10 12 November Experiment L11 26 December Experiment L12 3 December Lab finals 10

Experiment L1 Experiment L3 Experiment L4 Experiment L7 Experiment L5 Experiment L8 No Lab Experiment L9 Experiment L11 Experiment L12 Experiment L10 Lab finals

Experiment L2 Experiment L4 Experiment L3 Experiment L6 Experiment L7 Experiment L9 No Lab Experiment L8 Experiment L10 Experiment L11 Experiment L12 Lab finals

Experiment L1 Experiment L3 Experiment L4 Experiment L7 Experiment L6 Experiment L8 No Lab Experiment L9 Experiment L11 Experiment L12 Experiment L10 Lab finals

Prelab Homework Schedule You must turn in your prelab homework problems at the beginning of the lab section each week.
Note that Prelab "0"is to be turned in at the beginning of your lab section during the week of September 3, even though you will not be doing an experiment that week. Grad students should do the "Additional Homework" assignment as well as the "Prelab Homework". NOTE: Please use AWR Microwave Office (preferred) or Ansoft Designer for all problems that require the use of software, unless only SPICE will work. ECEN 5634 Experiment ECEN 4634/5634 Prelab Homework Additional Homework "0" (TO BE TURNED
ecee.colorado.edu/~ecen4634/#Lecture_Schedule 9/20

03/03/13

ECEN 4634 / 5634

IN AT YOUR Lecture 1: Problems 1 and 9 from Lecture 1 (pp. 26-28 of the course notes) LAB SECTION on September 4 or 6)

NONE

L1

G1: Do a literature search for articles, books or application notes dealing with the effect of surface Lecture 1: Problems 7, 12, 13 and 14 from Lecture 1 (pp. 26-28 of the roughness on the walls of a course notes) waveguide on propagation in that waveguide. Summarize your findings in no more than one page.

L2

G2: Problems 13 and 14 Lecture 2: Problems 1, 6, 11 and 12 from Lecture 2 (pp. 51-52 of the from Lecture 2 course notes) (p. 52 of the course notes) G3: Problem 9 from Lecture 3 (p. 67 of the course notes) G4: Problems
10/20

L3

Lecture 3: Problems 2, 3, 4 and 5 from Lecture 3 (pp. 66-67 of the course notes)

ecee.colorado.edu/~ecen4634/#Lecture_Schedule

03/03/13

ECEN 4634 / 5634

L4

Lecture 4: Problems 2, 3, 7 and 9 from Lecture 4 (pp. 87-90 of the course notes)

L5 L6

Lecture 3: Problems 6, 7 and 8 (p. 67 of the course notes) Lecture 4: Problems 16, 17 and 18 (pp. 89-90 of the course notes)

L7

Lecture 5: Problems 1, 4, 6 and 9 [use Z0 = 10 for this problem] (pp. 103-104 of the course notes)

10 and 11 from Lecture 4 (pp. 87-90 of the course notes) NA none G7: Practice question 8 from Lecture 5 (corrected from p. 103 of the course notes)

L8

Lecture 6: Problems 1, 3 and 4

L9

Lecture 7: Problems 3, 5, 7 and 9

G8: Problem 5 from Lecture 6 G9: Problem 4 from Lecture 7

L10

Lecture 8: Problems 1, 9, 11 and 13 [for problem 11, use the transistor described here biased at VDS = 4 V, IDS = 40 mA, design G10: Problem 3 the match for 3 GHz, and plot the response from 1 to 8 GHz. See from http://www.avagotech.com/pages/en/rf_microwave/transistors/fet/atfLecture 8 33143/ for an s2p data file to use with AWR] G11: Practice question 6 from Lecture 9 G12: Problem 10 from Lecture 10
11/20

L11

Lecture 9: Problems 1, 2 and 3

L12

Lecture 10: Problems 1, 2, 4 and 6

ecee.colorado.edu/~ecen4634/#Lecture_Schedule

03/03/13

ECEN 4634 / 5634

Lecture Section Schedule

DATE LECTURE TOPICS August 27 Lecture 1: Review of Transmission Lines September Lectures 1 and 2: S-Parameters and Smith Chart 10 September Lecture 3: Microwave Power Measurements, Slotted 17 Line Measurements September Lecture 4: Multiport Networks 24 October 1 Lecture 5: Time-Domain Reflectometry October 8 Lecture 6: Nonlinear Microwave Circuits October Lecture 7: Antennas 15 October Lectures 7 and 8: Antennas (continued), Microwave 22 Transistor Amplifiers October Mid-Term Exam (covers Labs L1-L7 and Lecture 29 chapters 1-5) November Lecture 8 Microwave Transistor Amplifiers 5 (continued) November Lecture 9: Microwave Communication Links 12 November Lecture 9: Radar Fundamentals 26 December Lecture 10: Propagation Effects 3 December Review for final exam (graded labs and prelabs will 10 be handed out) ADVANCE READING ASSIGNMENT Lecture 1 Lecture 2 Lecture 3 Lecture 4 Lecture 5 Lecture 6 Lecture 7 Lecture 8 (none) (none) Lecture 9 Lecture 10 (none) (none)

Lab Final Exam Schedule (TBD)

Each student will take the lab portion of the final exam in room ECEE 254A during the 30 minute time period listed in the table below. You will also be allowed an extra 15 minutes after the measurements are complete to write up your results and finish any computations that are needed. The exam will consist of two measurements and some questions about each one. Here is a copy of last year's lab final to help you know what to expect. Please show up promptly, since you only have your designated half hour during which to complete the measurements portion of this exam.

Students (Tuesday
ecee.colorado.edu/~ecen4634/#Lecture_Schedule

Students (Thursday
12/20

03/03/13

ECEN 4634 / 5634

Time

December 11)

December 13)
Brehm, Chen Coffey, Field Ha, Hwang Khadye, Li Muthukumar, Korhummel

9:00-9:30 Litchfield, Maddocks 9:30-10:00 Montgomery, Periasamy 10:00Ryan, Sobtzak 10:30 10:30Sabadin Batista, Samson 11:00 11:00Sun, Tarrats 11:30

11:3012:00 12:0012:30 12:301:00

Wang Lee Argo, Blair Defibaugh, Parker

1:00-1:30 Rahimizadeh

1:30-2:00 Grohoski, Kaslon

2:00-2:30 2:30-3:00 3:00-3:30 3:30-4:00 4:00-4:30
Fouss, Guriel Mohrman, Telischak Wang, Wentling Sanghai

SOFTWARE
AppCAD
Free from Hewlett-Packard. Their Website description: "AppCAD is an easy-to-use program that provides you with a unique suite of RF design tools and computerized Application Notes to make your wireless design job faster and easier. AppCAD's unique, interactive approach makes engineering calculations quick and easy for many RF, microwave, and wireless applications. AppCAD is useful for the design and analysis of many circuits, signals, and systems using products from discrete transistors and diodes to Silicon and GaAs integrated circuits. The keyword for AppCAD is easy- no circuit files, no manuals - just quick and easy." It is still available, although no longer supported.

AWR Software Download LTSpice IV

ecee.colorado.edu/~ecen4634/#Lecture_Schedule 13/20

03/03/13

ECEN 4634 / 5634

Free Windows high performance SPICE simulator, schematic capture and waveform viewer. Primarily intended for applications using the company's switching regulators, it is a very good general-purpose SPICE program, including transmission-line circuit elements.

OrCAD Demo Software

Free feature-limited circuit design software for Windows from Cadence. The OrCAD Demo software includes demo versions of the following tools: OrCAD Capture, OrCAD Capture CIS Option, PSpice A/D, PSpice AA, OrCAD PCB Editor and SPECCTRA for OrCAD.

PUFF
Puff is an MS-DOS program for computer aided design and analysis of RF circuits. It was originally developed at California Institute of Technology (Caltech) by the research group of Prof. David Rutledge. You can freely download a copy of this program without a manual. More information is available at the Caltech website.
Qucs Quite Universal Circuit Simulator; an open source circuit simulator with graphical user interface (GUI). The GUI is based on Qt by Trolltech. The software aims to support all kinds of circuit simulation types, e.g. DC, AC, Sparameter, Harmonic Balance analysis, noise analysis, etc. It is available natively for GNU/Linux, but is also ported to many other platforms: MacOS, Windows, Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, etc. Long-term ambitions are grand, but even now it has quite respectable capabilities. Documentation is not quite as complete as could be desired at this stage, however.

atlc - Arbitrary Transmission Line Calculator

From their website: "Transmission lines, including directional couplers, of arbitrary cross section and an arbitrary number of dielectrics can be analysed with atlc. The impedance Z0 of a two-conductor transmission line, as well as the odd-mode, even-mode, differential mode and common mode impedances of a directional coupler can all be computed with atlc. Tools to both analyse and synthesise directional couplers are available." atlc is primarily a UNIX or linux program, but ports to many other OSs have been made.

Fabian Kung's Home Page

Presents two useful Windows software programs for microwave and RF modeling. Windows FDTD 1.10 Software is Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) software by F. Kung for printed circuit board (PCB) modeling. "This software can model propagation of electromagnetic wave in a three-dimensional PCB structure, with lump components such as resistors, capacitors, inductors, diodes, and bipolar junction transistors. Sinusoidal and pulse voltage sources model are also included. The software runs on Windows platform (Win95 and above), and requires minimum 64 MByte RAM. Included with this version are utilities to view the output data and to draw the model." Windows Smith Chart/Impedance Matching Tool (1.15) is a simple and intuitive tool for viewing an impedance value in Smith chart. "The latest version also allows the user to perform L, T, Pi and single stub transmission line network interactive impedance matching/transformation. It is a versatile tool, which can be used to teach engineers and students on transmission line and impedance
ecee.colorado.edu/~ecen4634/#Lecture_Schedule 14/20

03/03/13

ECEN 4634 / 5634

matching theory."

Fast Field Solvers

Freeware Windows software for the solution of Maxwell's equations and extraction of circuit parasites (inductance and capacitance), thanks to which equivalent circuits can be derived for simulation of EM behavior of a 3D structure with SPICE-like simulators. Common usages include the analysis of connectors, strip lines, IC packages, ram cells, etc.

FEMM Finite Element Method Magnetics

Freeware. From the reference manual: "FEMM is a suite of programs for solving low frequency electromagnetic problems on two-dimensional planar and axisymmetric domains. The program currently addresses linear/nonlinear magnetostatic problems, linear/nonlinear time harmonic magnetic problems, and linear electrostatic problems." FEMM is a Windows program, useful for getting numerical solutions of fields and line parameters for TEM and quasi-TEM modes on transmission lines, among many possible applications.

MMTL - Multilayer Multiconductor Transmission Line Electromagnetic Modeling Tools

Freeware tool for generating transmission parameters and SPICE models from descriptions of electronics interconnect (transmission line) dimensions and materials properties.

TX-Line Transmission Line Calculator

TX-Line is a free, easy-to-use, Windows-based interactive transmission line calculator from AWR. It can be used for the analysis and synthesis of transmission line structures. TX-Line enables users to enter either physical characteristics or electrical characteristics for common transmission media such as: microstrip, stripline, coplanar waveguide, grounded coplanar WG and slotline. TX-Line has an easy-to-use interactive graphical user interface and runs on Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/etc.

4NEC2
A freeware windows program for analyzing the properties of wire antennas, including input impedance and radiation patterns.

Euler
A freeware numerical mathematics program similar in many ways to Matlab. It is available for Windows, Linux, Unix and OS/2 (this latter is no longer maintained). May be worth a look, though I haven't really used it myself.

Gnuplot
A portable command-line driven interactive data and function plotting utility for UNIX, IBM OS/2, MS Windows, DOS, Macintosh, VMS, Atari (!) and many other platforms. The software is copyrighted but
ecee.colorado.edu/~ecen4634/#Lecture_Schedule 15/20

03/03/13

ECEN 4634 / 5634

freely distributed (i. e., you don't have to pay for it). It was originally intended as to allow scientists and students to visualize mathematical functions and data. It does this job pretty well, but has grown to support many non-interactive uses, including web scripting and integration as a plotting engine for third-party applications like Octave. Gnuplot supports many types of plots in either 2D and 3D. It can draw using lines, points, boxes, contours, vector fields, surfaces, and various associated text. It also supports various specialized plot types. Gnuplot supports many different types of output: interactive screen terminals (with mouse and hotkey functionality), direct output to pen plotters or modern printers (including postscript and many color devices), and output to many types of file (eps, fig, jpeg, LaTeX, metafont, pbm, pdf, png, postscript, svg, ...).

Scilab
A free mathematical software package for various Unix flavors and for Windows, somewhat more advanced in capabilities than Euler. From its website: "Scilab is a scientific software package for numerical computations in a user-friendly environment. It features: Elaborate data structures (polynomial, rational and string matrices, lists, multivariable linear systems,...). Sophisticated interpreter and programming language with Matlab-like syntax. Hundreds of built-in math functions (new primitives can easily be added). Stunning graphics (2d, 3d, animation). Open structure (easy interfacing with Fortran and C via online dynamic link). Many built-in libraries: Linear Algebra (including sparse matrices, Kronecker form, ordered Schur,...). Control (Classical, LQG, H-infinity,...). Package for LMI (Linear Matrix Inequalities) optimization. Signal processing. Simulation (various ode's, dassl,...). Optimization (differentiable and non-differentiable, LQ solver). Scicos, an interactive environment for modeling and simulation of dynamical systems. Metanet (network analysis and optimization). Symbolic capabilities through Maple interface. Parallel Scilab." I have used it only sparingly myself.
ecee.colorado.edu/~ecen4634/#Lecture_Schedule 16/20

03/03/13

ECEN 4634 / 5634

Engauge Digitizer
"This open source, digitizing software converts an image file showing a graph or map, into numbers. The image file can come from a scanner, digital camera or screenshot. The numbers can be read on the screen, and written or copied to a spreadsheet." Very handy for comparing your own calculations with those someone else has previously published only in the form of a graph.

XLPlot
Windows Freeware. From the website: "XLPlot is a program to create graphs for MS-Windows 98, 2000, XP and Vista. XLPlot accepts ASCII data on a spreadsheet and it outputs a vector drawing. The primary purpose of XLPlot is to create a figure rapidly. It is ideal for for use at high school, as the path from data in one or more spreadsheet columns to the final figure is short (just a few mouse clicks) and easy to grasp. It contains basic statistical functions, such as Student's t-test and linear correlation of two sets of data (two columns in a spreadsheet). XLPlot has a number of built-in functions that can be fitted to the data in columns on a spreadsheet or to a curve in a graph. The user can easily add fitting functions of his own design." It is a modest piece of software that does a surprising number of tasks well.

INFORMATION Smith Chart Links

Various links containing information about the Smith chart, as well as Postscript and PDF files of the chart.

Impedance Matching
Various links containing information about impedance matching, including some Smith chart tools. Many of the links are to MathCAD files.

Java Applet Tutorials on Transmission Lines

Some Java applets that are useful in reviewing concepts from transmission lines (and other areas of EM).

AWR Software Tutorials

Slides from a short course tutorial on AWR software: Outline Environment Linear Simulation Nonlinear Simulation Harmonic Balance Introduction to Layout Schematic Layout EM Simulation Interconnect Aware Design

Microwaves 101
From their web site: "We're building a practical web resource covering the fundamental principles of microwave design, just for microwave engineers like you. Here you'll find: The basic concepts of microwave design theory in hypertext encyclopedic format! Practical rules of thumb and other sage advice from Microwave O.F.s!
ecee.colorado.edu/~ecen4634/#Lecture_Schedule 17/20

03/03/13

ECEN 4634 / 5634

Useful microwave formulae presented in enter-and-click calculator formats! The best microwave acronym and abbreviation dictionary anywhere! A message board for technical and not-so-technical interchange! The content on Microwaves101 is intended to be the following mix: Useful microwave information - 75%, Humor and assorted foolishness - 20%, Historical stuff - 15%, The remainder of 5% is stuff we've misplaced... We are here to help. If you can't get a response on the message board, send a question directly to the Unknown Editor. In-line content provided by vendors is intended to be useful technical information, not cheesy product releases."

Quick Guide to Ansoft Designer SV

Although Ansoft no longer provides its free student version of Ansoft Designer SV, here is an introduction to it for simple circuits.

A Little Longer Introduction to Ansoft Designer

A somewhat more extended Introduction to Ansoft Designer for simple circuits.

Tutorial on the Use of Ansoft Designer SV

Here is a guided introduction to the use of version 2.0 through a series of examples. It should still have some relevance to the full version.

Time-Domain Simulation with Ansoft Designer

Tips for time-domain simulations in Ansoft Designer.

Coaxial Connector Information

Information collected from a variety of sources about RF and microwave coaxial connectors.

Instructions for Circuit Etching

Instructions for etching planar microwave circuit boards.

Agilent Interactive Model for S-Parameter Techniques

Agilent (n Hewlett-Packard) Application Note 95-1, "S-Parameter Techniques for Faster, More Accurate Network Design", discusses S-parameter techniques for designing networks used in amplifiers and oscillators. The basic theory behind using S-parameters to characterize any two-port network is presented, and the measurements of s-parameters for a transistor are summarized. Examples of using S-parameters to optimize amplifier and oscillator performance are presented and the optimization of the power gain of a narrow-band amplifier is used to illustrate the use of S-parameters and the Smith Chart in network design. This application note is in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format and is bundled with QuickTime animations. It is available for download for all major computing environments. There is also an interactive JavaTM model that illustrates
ecee.colorado.edu/~ecen4634/#Lecture_Schedule 18/20

03/03/13

ECEN 4634 / 5634

basic techniques for using S-parameters in network design.

Article on TDR
An article by David J. Dascher entitled "Measuring Parasitic Capacitance and Inductance Using TDR" from the Hewlett-Packard Journal. The article discusses TDR for transmission lines that have inductive or capacitive loads (in PDF, so Acrobat Reader or something similar is needed to view it).

S-Parameter Stuff
A collection of links to S-parameter related things (including the HP item above), courtesy of Spread Spectrum Scene magazine.

Network Analyzer Usage Tips

Some useful hints on operation of network analyzers.

Previous Announcements
18 October 2012: Due to my upcoming eye surgery on October 29, and because I have heard no serious objections to the proposed schedule revision, the schedule for next week and the week after has been changed. Lecture and labs will be held during the week of October 22 according to the revised schedules below. The midterm exam will be given in class on Monday October 29, and no labs other than make-ups will take place the rest of that week. The following revised due dates apply for the labs and prelabs for the next two weeks (after that, the schedule returns to normal): 1. Lab reports for all labs done on October 16 or 18 are due no later than Friday October 26 (in my mailbox or at my office). 2. All prelab homework for labs done on October 23 or 25 must be turned in no later than Thursday October 25, regardless of which day your lab section takes place. 3. Lab reports for labs done on October 23 or 25 are due in class on Monday November 5. 16 October 2012: Here is last year's midterm exam to give you an idea what to expect. 4 October 2012: Two errors in the course notes have been called to my attention. First, in Lab L4, question Q1, you are instructed to use eq. (1.42) of the notes. That should be eq. (1.66) instead. Secondly, the statement of Practice question 8 in chapter 5 is still not correct. Here is a corrected version. 26 September 2012: In response to a student request, I am posting the latest updated version of the lab descriptions (the ones kept in the 3-ring binders in the lab) here. 24 September 2012: To supplement my office hours (which are limited by my class schedule and other commitments) and those of the TA, Prof. Zoya Popovi has graciously offered to help with questions on homework and lab reports during her office hours, the most current version of which are posted on her office door (ECOT 252). 10 September 2012: Here are corrected versions of problems 7 and 13 from chapter 1.

ecee.colorado.edu/~ecen4634/#Lecture_Schedule

19/20

03/03/13

ECEN 4634 / 5634

28 August 2012: I have set my office hours as shown above. I have tried to accommodate most people's schedules as given to me yesterday in class. 27 August 2012: The course notes and experiment descriptions are not sold in the bookstore; instead they are available for download in PDF form here. The username ecen_4634 must be used, along with the password supplied in class. Use only the 2012 version of the notes, and not earlier ones, as significant changes have been made from earlier versions. Please do not waste paper needlessly: print the file only if you need to, and only those pages you really need hard copies of. Note also that only a few pages are not in black and white; use color printing only for the few pages that actually have color. Try to refer to the notes on your computer whenever possible. Note that use of WiFi and cell phones in the lab room (ECEE 254A) is prohibited, so I will have hard copies of the lab descriptions available for use there while you do the experiments. The PDF file can (of course) be read and printed using the free Adobe Acrobat Reader software. 27 August 2012: This week and next week (August 28 and 30, September 4 and 6) there will be no lab experiments. Instead, come to room ECEE 254 for lectures at the following times: Tuesday at 12:00 PM, Thursday at 9:00 AM or Thursday at 2:00 PM. There will be no meeting of the Tuesday 9:00 AM lab section on August 28 or September 4. Its first meeting will be on September 11. Students enrolled in that section may attend any of the lab sections listed above for this week and next.

ecee.colorado.edu/~ecen4634/#Lecture_Schedule

20/20