ECGR 6xxx/8xxx Radio Frequency Design

The course is being taught together with Dr. Tom Weldon of UNCC, 6xxx/8xxx "Radio Frequency Design" at the master’s/Ph.D. level. This course was presented live both locally at UNCC and remotely at Mississippi State University through the Centra Internet Symposium system in the Spring of 2002. This was the first course exported from UNCC to universities outside the North Carolina system. This course presents the architectures of modern RF receivers, transmitters, and transceivers and develops the language of RF design. This includes noise figure, intercept point, spurious-free dynamic range, phase noise, and other measures of modern RF circuit performance. Cascaded analysis of receiver stages is presented along with S-parameters and Smith-chart matching. Common RF devices are presented along with the analysis and design of low phase noise, phase locked loop (PLL) frequency synthesizers. Course topics include:

• RF receiver fundamentals and architectures
• Communications spectral manipulation using graphical Fourier techniques
• Introduction to crystal and SAW filters
• Noise figure analysis
• Nonlinear circuit intermodulation analysis, including 3rd-order intercept point concept
• Receiver spurious free dynamic range and design of high dynamic range receivers
• Analysis of cascaded stages
• Frequency planning
• Transmission lines, reflection, VSWR, Smith chart, and s parameters
• Impedance matching, microstrip lines
• Hybrids, directional couplers, isolators, circulators, transformers and baluns
• PLL frequency synthesizer design fundamentals
• Low phase-noise oscillator and PLL synthesizer design
• Link to the class web site