Development of a microwave design program for undergraduateengineering

摘要

The author describes an approach to the problem of educatingmicrowave engineers which relies on computer-aided engineering (CAE). Atwo-course sequence is described, and illustrated with design examples.The two courses comprising the microwave program are senior designelectives. They have as their foundation courses in circuit theory,electromagnetic fields, and transmission lines. In broad terms, thecircuit design course covers basic RF and microwave components which aresimulated on a computer using professional quality CAE software(TOUCHSTONE). One design from this course is then selected forcompletion in the second course. Computer-aided drafting software(MiCAD) is used to make the physical layout for the fabrication of amicrostrip circuit. The completed component is evaluated in a testlaboratory using a vector network analyzer. A special effort has beenmade to introduce students to modern design methods and test equipmentthat are standard in the industry