MICROWAVE

COMMUNICATION
ECE 303 – ELECTIVE 1

Engr. Amos C. Fiesta

Instructor
OBJECTIVES
After completing this chapter, you will be able to:

Explain the reasons for the growing use of microwaves and millimeter waves In
communications.
Identify the microwave and millimeter-wave band segments.
Identify the circuits that require the use of special microwave components.
Define the term waveguide, explain how a waveguide works, and calculate the cutoff
frequency of a waveguide.
Explain the purpose and operation of direction couplers, circulators, isolators, T sections,
cavity resonators, and microwave vacuum tubes.
Describe the operation of the major types of microwave diodes.
Name five common types of microwave antennas and calculate the gain and beam width
of horn and parabolic dish antennas.
Explain the basic concepts and operation of pulsed and Doppler radar.
What are Microwaves?
- Ultrahigh, SuperHigh, and
Extremely High frequencies
directly above the lower
frequency ranges where
most radio communication
now takes place and below
the optical frequencies
that cover infrared, visible,
and ultraviolet light
Microwave and Millimeter-wave Frequency
Bands

Frequencies above 30 GHz

are referred to as millimeter
waves.

Frequencies above 300 GHz

are in the submillimeter
band.
Advantages of Microwave
1. Wide Bandwidth
The higher the frequency, the greater the bandwidth available for the
transmission of information.

2. Transmission of high-speed binary information

The great amount of spectrum space available in the microwave region
makes multiplexing and the transmission of binary information, both of which
require wide bandwidths, more easily achievable.

3. Radio systems do not require a right of way acquisition between

stations.
Advantages of Microwave
4. Each station requires the purchase or lease of only a small area of
land.
5. Small Antennas.
6. Radios signals are more easily to propagate.
7. Fewer Repeaters are necessary for amplification.
8. Underground facilities are minimized.
9. Minimum delay times are introduced.
10. Increased reliability and less maintenance.
Disadvantages of Microwave
1. Difficult to analyze electronic circuits.
Equivalent Circuit of Components in Microwave Frequencies
Disadvantages of Microwave (Cont.)
2. Transistor Transit time (Noise)
- the amount of time it takes for the current carriers (holes or
electrons) to move through a device.

3. Line-of-sight/ Short distance

- shorter the wavelength and the higher the frequency, the shorter
the transmission range.

QUESTION:
Why not use multi-hop communication for long range?
Disadvantages of Microwave (Cont.)
4. Measuring Techniques are more difficult to perfect and implement
at microwave frequencies.

5. It is difficult to implement conventional circuit components at

microwave frequencies.
Microwave Communication System
TRANSMITTER: Microwave transmitter using frequency multipliers to
reach the microwave frequency.
Microwave Communication System
TRANSMITTER: Microwave transmitter using up-conversion with a
mixer to achieve an output in the microwave range.

A conventional crystal oscillator

using fifth-overtone VHF
crystals followed by a chain
of frequency multipliers can be
used to develop the local
oscillator frequency.
Microwave Communication System
TRANSMITTER: Microwave transmitter using up-conversion with a
mixer to achieve an output in the microwave range.

At frequencies less than about

10 GHz, a microwave
transistor can be used. At the
higher frequencies, special
microwave power tubes are
used.
Microwave Communication System
TRANSMITTER: Microwave transmitter using up-conversion with a
mixer to achieve an output in the microwave range.

Linear power amplifiers are used to

boost the signal to its final power
level.
Microwave Communication System
RECEIVERS: Microwave receivers, like low-frequency receivers, are the
superheterodyne type.
Microwave Communication System
RECEIVERS: In modern devices, microwave frequencies are generated
by Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) multiplier.
Microwave Communication System
TRANSCEIVERS:
Direct Conversion
Microwave Transceiver.
Microwave Communication System
TRANSMISSION LINES made of hard tubing
1. Coaxial Cable (100 ft. for 10 GHz) rather than wire with an
2. Hard Line Cable (low-loss coaxial cable) insulating cover, can be
3. Waveguides used on the lower
microwave bands.
ANTENNAS
- simple dipole and the one-quarter wavelength vertical antenna.
half-wave dipole at 2 GHz is only about 3 in.
one-quarter wavelength vertical antenna for the center of the C
band is only about 0.6 in long.
Microwave Lines and Devices
Microwave Devices:

Vacuum tubes
Microwave tubes
1.Klystron
2.Magnetron
Transistor amplifiers
Microstrip transmission line:
Used for reactive circuits
Construction and Parts

The PCB is usually made of G-10 or

FR-4 fiberglass or a combination of
fiberglass and Teflon.
Microstrip transmission line
Microstrip is preferred for reactive circuits at the higher frequencies:
1. Simpler
2. less expensive (than stripline)

Note:
Stripline is used where shielding is necessary to minimize noise and
cross talk.
Microstrip transmission line
The tuned circuits are created by using a copper pattern Printed-Circuit
Board (PCB).

Equivalent circuits of open and shorted Microstrip lines

Microstrip can transform IMPEDANCES and
REACTANCES
Common Characteristic
Impedance of Microstrip is
50 Ω.
Microstrip can transform IMPEDANCES and
REACTANCES
Common Characteristic
Impedance of Microstrip is
50 Ω (can be 75).

One-quarter
Wavelength Microstrip
Microstrip can transform IMPEDANCES and
REACTANCES
Common Characteristic
Impedance of Microstrip is
50 Ω (can be 75).

One-quarter
Wavelength Microstrip
Microstrip can transform IMPEDANCES and
REACTANCES
Common Characteristic
Impedance of Microstrip is
50 Ω (can be 75).

One-quarter
Wavelength Microstrip
Physical configurations for equivalent coils and
capacitors in Microstrip form
Common Microstrip patterns and their equivalents.
Microstrip for coupling from one circuit
Microstrip 90˚ turns
Microstrip Hybrid Ring
CASES PORT 1 PORT 2 PORT 3 PORT 4

OUTPUT
OUTPUT
(½ of NO
CASE 1 INPUT (½ of Power
Power OUTPUT
Input)
Input)

OUTPUT OUTPUT
(½ of NO (½ of
CASE 2 INPUT
Power OUTPUT Power
Input) Input)

SUM OF DIFFERENCE
INPUT OF OF INPUT OF
CASE 3 INPUT INPUT
PORT 1 & PORT 1 &
PORT 3 PORT 3
Microstrip filter

(a) Microstrip low-

pass filter.

(b) Lumped constant

equivalent circuit.
Microwave Transistors
whether they are bipolar or FET types, operate just as other transistors do.
the primary differences between standard lower-frequency transistors and
microwave types are internal geometry and packaging.

Geometries
special chip configurations used to reduce internal inductances and
capacitances of transistor elements
are used that permit the transistors to operate at higher power levels
minimize distributed and stray inductances and capacitances.
Types of Microwave Transistors
WAVEGUIDES
are hollow metal conducting pipes designed to carry and constrain the
electromagnetic waves of a microwave signal.

Handle most high-power microwave energy transmission above about 6

GHz.

Most waveguides are rectangular.

can be used to carry energy between pieces of equipment or over longer

distances to carry transmitter power to an antenna or microwave signals
from an antenna to a receiver
Signal Injection and Extraction
Dimension of Rectangular Waveguide
Waveguide Cutoff frequency.
At its cutoff frequency and
below, a waveguide will not
transmit energy. At frequencies
above the cutoff frequency, a
waveguide will propagate
electromagnetic energy.