ANTENNAS FOR WIRELESS SYSTEMS
cod. 1006063

Academic year 2024/25
2° year of course - First semester
Professor
Walter BELARDI
Academic discipline
Campi elettromagnetici (ING-INF/02)
Field
Ingegneria elettronica
Type of training activity
Characterising
48 hours
of face-to-face activities
6 credits
hub: PARMA
course unit
in ENGLISH

Learning objectives

At the end of the course the students will be able to:
− know the basic theory of electromagnetic propagation;
− understand the physical mechanisms of free microwave propagation;
− know the main microwave antennas;
− know and understand the most important microwave wireless systems;
− use and implement analysis and design tools of microwave antennas.

Prerequisites

Applied Electromagnetics

Course unit content

Maxwell’s equations
Boundary conditions
Antenna fundamental parameters
Numerical methods for electromagnetism
Field equivalence principle
Aperture antennas
Horn antennas
Patch antennas
Antennas for mobile devices
Smart antenna systems
Antenna technologies for 5G
Seminars could integrate the course programme

Full programme

Each class corresponds to 2 hours.

CLASS 1: Introduction to antennas and wireless systems
CLASS 2: Maxwell’s Equations, electrical properties of materials (conductors, dielectrics)
CLASS 3: Boundary conditions: fields at a general material interface, fields at a dielectric interface, field at the interface with perfect conductors (electric wall, magnetic wall)
CLASS 4: Radiation mechanism: single wire, two wires, dipole and transmission line
CLASS 5: Antenna fundamental parameters: radiation pattern, radiation power density, radiation intensity, directivity
CLASS 6: Antenna fundamental parameters: efficiency, gain, beam efficiency, bandwidth, input impedance
CLASS 7: Wave and antenna polarization
CLASS 8: Fundamental parameters of antennas in receiving mode
CLASS 9: Radiation integrals and auxiliary potential functions, dipole antennas
CLASS 10: Numerical simulation of a dipole antenna
CLASS 11: Field equivalence principle, rectangular aperture antennas
CLASS 12: Rectangular aperture antennas (ground plane, field distributions) and circular aperture antennas
CLASS 13: Numerical simulation of rectangular waveguides and aperture antennas
CLASS 14: E-plane sectoral horn, H-plane sectoral horn
CLASS 15: Pyramidal horn, conical horn
CLASS 16: Exercises.
CLASS 17: Patch antennas: basic characteristics, feeding methods, methods of analysis
CLASS 18: Rectangular patch antennas: transmission-line model
CLASS 19: Rectangular patch antennas: cavity model
CLASS 20: Exercises.
CLASS 21: Antennas for mobile devices
CLASS 22: Exercises.
CLASS 23: Smart antenna systems for mobile communications
CLASS 24: Antenna technologies for 5G wireless communications

Bibliography

C. A. Balanis, “Antenna Theory: Analysis and Design”, Wiley, 2016
D. M. Pozar, “Microwave engineering”, Wiley, 1998
Z. Zhang, “Antenna design for mobile devices”, Wiley, 2017
F. T. Ulaby, U. Ravaioli, “Fundamentals of Applied Electromagnetics”, 8th edition, Pearson, 2020
Scientific papers suggested during the lessons of the course

Teaching methods

The teaching activities include lessons carried out using multimedia presentations and images. In addition, practice lessons are carried out.
Additional teaching material used during the lessons is uploaded to the Elly web site. The registration to the course is necessary to download the slides.
Students who are not attending the course should periodically check the teaching material and the information provided by the professor on the Elly web site.
Further information about the lessons will be provided just before the beginning of the course.

Assessment methods and criteria

The learning assessment is made with an oral exam. However, in order to have access to the oral exam, students must pass a preliminary written test on the same examination day. The aim of the exam is to verify the student knowledge and understanding of basic electromagnetic propagation and working principles of microwave antennas. The oral exam is evaluated in the range 0/30. The mark of the oral exam is communicated to the student at the end of the oral test.
The online registration to the exam is mandatory and it is possible until three days before the exam date.
Further information about the examination procedure will be given to the students during the lessons and made available on the Elly web-site of the course.

Other information

- - -

2030 agenda goals for sustainable development

- - -