Absorbers Manage Military Electronics Microwave RFI

RF Design, August 2004

XBee Antennas

Practical information regarding the performance of the XBee and XBee-PRO RF Modules., from MaxStream (now Digi).

DACs - Double Rate With Mixers

Double DAC rate by using mixers as switches, by Randall Carver, Analog Devices.

DACs - Radio Frequency

By Michael Hopkins, CurrentRF.

Clock Requirements for Data Converters

Equations for calculating jitter and phase noise in data converters.

A/D & D/A Design Data

Design data links.

A/D, D/A & Sampling

By Maxim Integrated Products.

Data Converters

By Texas Instruments.

Sampling & Aliasing

Mathematical basics of band-limited sampling and aliasing, by Vladimir Vitchev.  Jan 2005 RF Design

ADC Interleaving

"Interleaving ADCs for Higher Sample Rates," by National Semiconductor

Amplifier Design (Microwave)

Very informative presentation from the National Taiwan University (in English)

Amplifier Design

Design of Microwave Transistor Amplifiers Using S Parameters by D.B. Leeson.

Opamp RF Parameters

A Tutorial on Applying Op Amps to RF Applications, by National Semiconductor.

Amplifier Design, Class-E

By Nathan O. Sokal, WA1HQC.

RF Power Amplifier Design

Design and Implementation of a Common Collector Class B RF Power Amplifier in InGaP HBT Technology, Oliver Isler

GaAs FET Power Amp Simulation

By Eagleware.

Amplifier Load Mismatch Design Using MMICAD

Application note from Optotek, by D. Fitzpatrick.

 RF & Microwave Power Amplifier Design

By Andrei Grebennikov, M/A-COM Eurotec

Lecture 1: Nonlinear Active Device Modeling

Lecture 2: Impedance Matching

Lecture 3: PA Design Fundamentals

Lecture 4: High Efficiency Power Amplifier Design

RF Amplifier Design Using HFA3046, HFA3096, HFA3127, HFA3128 Transistor Arrays

Application note from Intersil.

First-Time-Right Design Of RF/Microwave Class A Power Amplifiers Using Only S-Parameters

A procedure of how to design RF/Microwave Class A power amplifiers in a very efficient and highly accurate manner when the only initial data available are the S-parameters of the transistors. By Ivan Boshnakov, Aerial Facilities Limited

Instrumentation Amplifiers, A Design Guide

This 108-page, highly detailed handbook is provided by Analog Devices - download it for free while it is available!

Amplifiers: HPSSA vs. TWTA

Design of a High Power Solid State Amplifier to replace TWTAs in Airborne Applications, by Milmega.

Anechoic Chambers

"How RF Anechoic Chambers Work," by Dr. Glen Dash. This is a good introduction that covers the effects of physical distances and materials.

Antenna Basics

Introduction & Basics from Granite Island Group.

Adaptive Antenna Tutorial
Spectral Efficiency and Spatial Processing

FCC Office of Engineering and Technology, 7 September 2001

Antenna Application Notes

From N6CA, ham-radio.com.

Antenna Basics

A very extensive treatise of many antenna types, including definitions, photos, and examples, by David Jefferies of University of Surrey.

Antenna Design Considerations

Application note from Telecontrolli.

Antenna Design - Fractal Patterns

Fractals™ new era in military antenna design, by Nathan Cohen. Wideband and size reduction.

Compact Integrated Antennas

Compact integrated (into PCB) antenna design. Starts with basic antenna theory and builds through dipole, inverted-F, helix, loops, meandering, and other types. Ends with layouts & radiation patterns. AN2731, by Freescale Semiconductor.

Antenna Design Tutorial

Application note from Micrel, by Tom Yestrebsky.

Antenna Efficiency Measurement (Cellular Handset)  Using the Wheeler Cap

By Skyworks.

Antennas, Transmission Lines, Wave Propagation

Navy Electricity and Electronics Training Series Module 10 - Introduction to Wave Propagation, Transmission Lines, and Antennas

Antennas: Design, Application, and Performance

Application note from Linx Technologies.

Antenna Terms & Formulas

By Antenna Research Associates.

Antennas - WLAN Design & Optimization

Antenna Performance and Design Considerations for Optimum Coverage in Wireless Communication Systems, by Cushcraft Corporation.

The Basics of Patch Antennas

Antenna application notes from Orban Microwave Products.

The W1GHZ Online Microwave Antenna Book

Excellent - a good reference for all microwaves.

Understanding Antenna Specifications and Operation

Application note from Linx Technologies.

V / UHF Antenna Design

Application note from INGECOM.

Yagi-Uda Antennas

Tutorial with photographs of actual antennas, by David Jefferies, of University of Surrey.

ASIC Design Guidelines

Application note from Atmel Corporation.

Attenuator Design Data

Design data links.

From Narda Microwave East.

Attenuators (variable)

Application notes by American Microwave.

Attenuators

Application notes by Herley.

Attenuators, PIN

A Wideband General Purpose PIN Diode Attenuator by Skyworks.

Attenuators

Minimum loss design by Ernie Kim, University of San Diego, CA.

Balun (chip) Measurement

Chip Balun: Definitions & Measurement Methodology  technical note, by Johanson Technology.

Lifexâ„¢ Lithium Coin Cells & FB Encapsulated Lithium Coin Cells - Part 1

Application notes & product data sheet from Rayovac.

Battery Application Manuals

 Alkaline, Carbon Zinc, Manganese Dioxide App Note, NiCad, NiMH, Silver Oxide, Zinc Air. By Energizer.

Battery Handling - Li-Ion

By Matt Schindler, Maxim Integrated Products.

Battery Selection Guide

Lots of good information on battery chemistries and charge/discharge characteristics.

Battery Tutorial

PowerStream Battery Chemistry - Custom design and manufacture of state-of-the-art battery chargers, UPS, and power supplies for OEMs.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth^TM Manufacturing Test - A Guide to Getting Started by Agilent Technologies.

Bluetooth Remote Control from Your Mobile Phone

FlexiPanel makes a lot of turnkey modules for ZigBee and Bluetooth applications. Admittedly, this concept does scare me a bit from a terrorist perspective!!!

Common Mode Signals

Understanding Common-Mode Signals, by Maxim.

Capacitor Basics

Definitions and configurations, with some equations and illustrations.

Capacitors - Benefits of Thin-Film Dielectric Chip Capacitors at VHF, UHF and Higher Frequencies

By virtue of these characteristics and excellent mechanical features, this thin film capacitor is the ideal surface mount chip for high frequency applications.

Capacitors, Ceramic

Technical information by AVX.

Capacitors, Energy Handling

Energy and power handling capabilities of thin film and ceramic capacitors, by AVX.

Capacitor Primer

A very nice introduction to capacitors including history back to Leyden Jar, by Tony vanRoon.

Capacitor Q & ESR Explained

A Johanson Technology Primer.

Capacitor RF Current & Power

By Johnson Technology.

Half-IF (2x2 product)

By Maxim.

Intercept Points & Receiver Sensitivity

By Maxim.

Adjust mis-matched delay lines in Cypress Semiconductor Application Note on Jitter in Transmission Systems

Describes the basics of jitter in transmission systems

Fine tuning clock source for Agilent Pattern Generator 70841B

Provides design guidance, test techniques, performance data and suggested layout recommendations for a 622 MBd ATM/SONET/SDH physical layer interface reference circuit.

Jitter in Clock Sources

Application note by Vectron International.

Junction Temperatures and MTTF in MMIC Devices

Article by Radha P.N. Setty, in August 2005  RF Design magazine.

Measuring Jitter in Digital Systems

For engineers who design data transfer systems and components operating at over a gigabit per second, and so must be concerned with the effects of jitter on their system's bit error ratio (BER).

Phase Noise Measurements & Jitter Analysis

The Agilent JS-1000 Performance Jitter Solution is a Phase Noise System that measures clock jitter characteristics.

Synchronizing differential clock sources for Bit Error Ratio Test (BERT)

Interfacing the OmniBER 725 communications performance analyzer to optical transceivers.

Circulators

Basic Circulator Facts, by UTE Microwave.

Isolator/Circulator Basics

Isolator/Circulator basic theory and definitions, common applications, power ratings, special handling and storage considerations, from MECA Electronics.

Control & Monitoring

By Texas Instruments.

Couplers

From Narda Microwave East.

Directional Coupler Basics

How to specify the best directional coupler solution for your critical application, from MECA Electronics.

Directional Couplers

RF Directional Couplers and 3dB Hybrids Overview, by M/A-COM.

Directional Couplers & Power Dividers

Very informative presentation from the National Taiwan University (in English)

Hybrid Coupler Basics

Basic theory and common applications for 90° and 180° hybrid couplers, from MECA Electronics.

Hybrids

From Narda Microwave East.

Why Directional Couplers Are Better for High Power Measurements vs. Attenuators

From MECA Electronics.

Power Management

Power Management application notes by Texas Instruments.

Power Meters & Sensors

Choosing the Right Power Meter and Sensor product note, by Agilent Technologies.

Decoupling: A Standard Methodology

To deal with the side effects of increased clock speeds and frequencies, engineers must bypass di/dt transitions and reduce noise. By Barry Caldwell, Vitesse -- EDN

Decoupling Capacitors

By Carl Lodstrom.

Designing Filters Using the Digital Filter Design Toolkit

From National Instruments, by Rahman Jamal, Mike Cerna, John Hanks.

Application Note 1364-1 from Agilent contains the procedure that a lot of people are looking for to embed or de-embed the 12-term SOLT error terms.

Adjust mis-matched delay lines in Cypress Semiconductor Application Note

Describes the basics of jitter in transmission systems.

CPDL Operating and Programming Manual

Custom Programmable Delay Line (CPDL) Operating and Programming Manual.

PDL-30A Operating and Programming Manual

Programmable Delay Line Operating and Programming Manual.

Level Detector

A Level Detector Design for Dual-Band GSM-PCS Handsets, by Skyworks.

Detectors

Square Law and Linear Detection by Agilent Technologies.

Dielectric Constant & Loss Tangent
Measurement in FR-4

UMR EMC Laboratory Technical Report: TR00-1-041

Dielectric Aging

By ATC Ceramics.

Dielectric Properties of Portland Cement in the Low Microwave Frequency Range

Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University - covers mainly up through 700 MHz.

Dielectric Constants of Wall Materials

"Ultra-wideband Propagation Measurements and Channel Modeling DARPA NETEX Program Report on Through-the-Wall Propagation and Material Characterization"

Digital Transmission: Carrier-to-Noise, Signal-to-Noise & Modulation Error Ratio

Definitions, equations, images, tutorial, by Cisco Systems

Digital Modulation in Communications Systems

This application note covers the reasons for the move to digital modulation, how information is modulated onto in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) signals, different types of digital modulation, filtering techniques, ways of looking at digitally modulated signals, multiplexing techniques, how a digital transmitter and receiver work, measurements on digital RF communications systems, an overview table with key specifications for the major digital communications systems, a glossary of terms used in digital RF communications.

Electromagnetic Radiation and Human Health:
A Review of Sources and Effects

A very good synopsis from the July 2005 edition of High Frequency Electronics

EMC Design

"Designing Enclosures for EMC Compliance," by Dr. Glen Dash. Even though Dr. Dash is an accomplished expositor on Maxwell's Equations, his opening quote here is, "While science has devised new models and computerized methods for EMC design, your best tool for enclosure design may still be your thumb."

ESD

Electrostatic Discharge Association website.

EMI/RFI Shielding

By Tech-Etch.

Equalizer Key Specifications

"A Review of Key Equalizer Specifications and What They Mean," by Richard Kurzrok, Oct 2005 High Frequency Electronics magazine.

Near Field, The World of the

Here's a good article in the October 2005 edition of Evaluation Engineering, by Tom Lecklider.

Network Analysis

Very informative presentation from the National Taiwan University (in English)

Analog Filter Design Demystified

Application note by Maxim Integrated Products.

Filter Design, Distributed Element

Periodic structures and equivalent lumped element models.

Filter Design - Transmission Line

Very informative presentation from the National Taiwan University (in English)

Fiber Optic Products

From Narda Microwave East.

GPS Hardware Design

by Zarlink

Grounding for Low- & High Frequency Circuits

By Analog Devices.

Power Plane & Ground Design for RF PCBs

Power supply and ground design for WiFi transceiver, by By Roger Bremer, Tracey Chavers, Zhongmin Yu, RF Design magazine.

Group Delay

By Applied Radio Labs.

Inductors

RF inductor design, from Ernie Kim, University of San Diego, CA.

Intercept Points & Receiver Sensitivity

By Maxim.

Magnetic Core Design Rules

By Lodestone Pacific.

Interference Handbook

This is a handy troubleshooting guide created by the FCC, mainly for commercial equipment such as television, AM/FM radio, paging systems, VCRs - even doorbell transformers. It was last updated in 1993. Still, it can be useful.

Two-Tone vs. Single-Tone Measurement
of 2nd-Order Non-linearity and IP2
Performance of Direct Conversion Receivers

By Skyworks

Interference Technical Index

By Motorola.

Interference Mitigation

"Detecting Interfering Signals and Mitigating Them" by Steve Thomas, Jan 2005 RF Design