The University of Queensland
School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering
Semester 1, 2008

COMS4104- Microwave Subsystems & Antennas
COMS7104 - Equivalent Course

Course Profile

Version

This is version 1.0 of the COMS4104 course profile, dated 7 February 2008.

Changes since the last version

Course Summary

Course Code(s):	COMS4104/COMS7104
Unit Value:	#2
Contact Hours:	5 hours per week (3L1T1P)
Purpose:	COMS4104/COMS7104 is to present the principles of operation, design methods and testing of passive and active microwave subsystems and antennas that are part of modern communication equipment.

Teaching Staff

Professor Marek Bialkowski (Course Coordinator)
Office: 78-527
Phone: 53563
Fax: (07) 3365-4999
Email: meb@itee.uq.edu.au
http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/people/staff/meb.html

Consultation Time: Tuesday 3:00pm - 3:55pm

Note: If you are calling from outside the University follow the appropriate instructions for each location below.

University of Queensland (St Lucia) indial	(07) 336 5xxxx or (07) 334 6xxxx
Ipswich Campus indial	(07) 338 1xxxx

Tutors

Mr. Wee Chang Khor
Office: 78-440
Phone: 58307
Fax: (07) 3365-4999
Email:  khor@itee.uq.edu.au
Consultation Time:

Thursdays 2:00pm - 2:55pm

 

Course Goals

The course uses EM field principles in conjunction with network theory to obtain efficient means for analyzing and designing of microwave subsystems and antennas, which are the part of modern microwave communication systems.  In the first part of the course the emphasis is placed on planar guiding structures that enable either hybrid and/or monolithic integration of microwave devices.  Modern CAD software packages are introduced and demonstrated through simulations of microwave passive and active devices and sub-systems. The second part of the course is devoted to the analysis and design of antenna elements and arrays which are the part of modern wireless communication systems and radar. The design of antennas using antenna CAD software is demonstrated. Principles of experimental characterization of microwave sub-systems and antennas are also presented.

It is expected that upon successful completion of the course, students will:

• understand the principles of operation of typical passive and active microwave circuits and antennas that are essential to modern communication technologies
• know how to design simple microwave circuits including directional couplers, detectors, mixers, switches and amplifiers, as well as know how to design wire and patch antennas and arrays  
• be able to verify the design techniques learned in the course by using modern microwave and antenna CAD packages.

Graduate Attributes Developed

The University of Queensland has defined a set of graduate attributes to specify broad core knowledge and skills associated with all undergraduate programs (http://www.uq.edu.au/hupp/contents/view.asp?s1=3&s2=20&s3=5). This course addresses these attributes as follows:

 

Assumed Background

Pre-requisite: ELEC3100 + MATH2000. Inc. COMS7104 or 3E404, Rec. P: ELEC3200 (or equivalent that concerns Principles of Semiconductor Devices).
The course assumes that the students are familiar with the following concepts and terms: travelling and standing voltage and current waves, equivalent circuit parameters of a TEM transmission line, impedance/admittance and reflection coefficient presentation on the Smith Chart, Maxwell equations and expressions for a field radiated  by a Hertzian dipole. Also assumed is the basic knowledge of semiconductor devices such as diodes and transistors to better understand the operation of active microwave devices. 

 

Resources

Course Profile Copy

In the first lecture (or class meeting) students will be directed to the web address at which this course profile can be read.  Students enrolled at St Lucia who wish to retain a hard copy of the profile can use the free print quota provided each semester to students enrolled in courses in the School of Information Technology & Electrical Engineering.  For information on how to use this print quota, see the School Policy on Student Photocopying and Printing (St Lucia). Students enrolled at the Ipswich campus will either be provided with a hard copy or given directions in class on how to obtain a free copy.

Textbook

The suggested text is

1.  D. M. Pozar, Microwave Engineering - 2nd ed, John Wiley & Sons, 1998.

Note that recently the 3rd edition of this book has been issued. The relevant information is available at www.wiley.com/college/pozar.

2.  C A Balanis, Antenna Theory: Analysis and Design, 2nd ed. John Wiley, 1997.

3.  David K. Cheng, Field and Wave Electromagnetics, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1989.

4.  Fawwaz T. Ulaby, Fundamentals of Applied Electromagnetics, Pearson Prentical Hall, 2007.

 Reference Texts

Students are not expected to purchase the following books, but may find them useful. Copies of some of these books are available in the library.

1.  K Chang, Microwave Solid-State Circuits and Applications 1994, John Wiley, ISBN: 0471540447, UQ Library Call No.: TK7876 .C44

2.  D Roddy, Microwave Technology 1986, Prentice-Hall, ISBN: ASIN: 0835943909

3.  Edminister, Joseph, Schaum's Outline of Electromagnetics, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1993

Microwave CAD for use in Tutorials and Practical Classes:

1. PUFF - Computer Aided Design for Microwave Integrated Circuits - R. Compton and D. Rutledge.
2. SERENADE - SV85 (free download*)

3. PCAAD  - Personal Computer Aided Antenna Design, D. M. Pozar, Antenna Design Associates, Inc.

* Serenade^TM Harmonica - Student Version, free download (~30MB) from the Laboratory/Projects page (can be accessed only by students actually enrolled in the course).

 

Handouts

Lecture, tutorial and laboratory materials will be available to students enrolled in the course via the course WEB site.

Facilities

Laboratory sessions will be held in 50-S202. During the Lab sessions students will be allowed to use computer facilities allocated there to conduct their work on assigned projects.

Consultation

Lecturers and tutors are available for consultations as indicated above. For an appointment outside these times an e-mail contact should be used.

Distribution of Notices

All important current notices will be conveyed to students via the Noticeboard linked to the course WEB page. Students are expected to visit the Noticeboard at least once a week.

Web

The course web site is available at http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~coms4104. The course web site will contain: (1) Course Profile, (2) Lecture Material (Modules and Supplementary readings), (3) Tutorials, (4) Assignments, (5) Laboratory/Projects, (6) Noticeboard, (7) Marking.

Newsgroup

The course newsgroup is uq.itee.coms4104. This group is available on both the University and School news servers (news.uq.edu.au and news.itee.uq.edu.au).

Students are free to post questions (and answers!) to the newsgroup. Copies of announcements will also be posted to the newsgroup. The teaching staff will monitor the newsgroup.

Teaching Activities

Lectures

There are two lectures each week:

 

Lecture 1:

Thursday 4pm - 6pm

Room 78-344

Lecture 2:

Friday 9am - 10am

Room 78-344

 

Tutorials

 

Tutorials (commencing in week 2) will be used to reinforce understanding of the course material. Active student participation is expected. The tutorial sessions is listed below (subject to change).

 

Tutorial	Day	Time	Room
2-hour session	Friday	2pm - 4pm	32-214

 

Pracs

 

Students should sign-up for and attend a weekly prac session (commencing in week 3).  The pracs/lab involve the design and simulation techniques based on the software packages PUFF (or Serenade SV) and PCAAD for three laboratory projects and two assignments in this course.  The available prac sessions are listed below (subject to change).

 

Prac Session	Day	Time	Room
PA	Thursday	10am - 11am	50-S202
PB	Thursday	11am - 12pm	50-S202

 

Attendance

 

You are not required to attend any of the teaching sessions (except those in which an assessment activity is taking place), however, you are strongly encouraged to do so. The lectures, tutorials and pracs have been specifically designed to aid your learning of the course material. Failure to attend a session may result in you being disadvantaged. It is up to you to find out what happened at any class session that you miss.

Teaching Plan

Week Number	Monday's Date	Lecture Number	Lecture Topic	Prac Session	Assessment
1	25 February	1	Module 1: Planar Microwave Waveguides
		2
2	3 March	3	Module 2: Characterization of Microwave Passive Reciprocal and Non-reciprocal Devices
		4
3	10 March	5	Module 3: Impedance Transformation and Matching	Familiarization with PUFF/Serenade
		6
4	17 March	7	Module 4: Passive Reciprocal Components	Project 1: Impedance Transformers
		8	Good Friday – no classes
	24 March			Mid-semester break
5	31 March	9	Module 4 - continued	Project 1: Impedance Transformers	One-hour test during Lecture 10
		10
6	7 April	11	Module 5: Microwave Network Analysers	Project 1: Impedance Transformers;  report writing and submission
		12
7	14 April	13	Module 6: Microwave Detectors and Mixers	Project 2: Hybrid Circuits: Microwave Phase Shifters with PIN diodes	Assignment No1 submission
		14
8	21 April	15	Module 7: Transistor Amplifiers	Project 2: Hybrid Circuits: Microwave Phase Shifters with PIN diodes
		16
9	28 April	17	Module 8: Wire Antennas I	Project 2: Hybrid Circuits: Microwave Phase Shifters with PIN diodes; report writing and submission
		18	Wire Antennas I
10	5 May	19	Module 9: Wire Antennas II	Familiarization with PCAAD	Assignment No2 submission
		20	Wire Antennas II
11	12 May	21	Module10: Antenna Arrays	Project 3: Analysis and Design of Antennas with  PCAAD
		22	Antenna Arrays
12	19 May	23	Module11: Microstrip Patch Antennas	Project 3: Analysis and Design of Antennas with  PCAAD
		24	Module12: Antennas in Communications Systems
13	26 May	25	Module12: Antennas in Radar Systems	Project 3: Analysis and Design of Antennas with PCAAD; report writing and submission
		26	Course Revision
	2 June	Revision Period
Exam Week 1	7 June				Final Exam
Exam Week 2	14 June

Assessment

COMS4104/7104 will be assessed by several methods as outlined below. Your final grade (on a 1 to 7 scale) will be determined by combining the marks from the various assessment components as described below. For each assessment item, reference is made to the specific learning objectives (from the list above) which the assessment item will address.

TOTAL MARK (100) = 2-ASSIGNMENTS (16) + 3-LAB REPORTS (24) + 1-MID-SEMESTER TEST (10)+ FINAL EXAM (50). A non-zero mark must be obtained from each of these FOUR components to be considered for the final assessment.

·         COMS7104 students are asked to use Serenade Harmonica in addition to PUFF in their assignment and labs reports.

·         Also, there are different break points for  grades 1,2 and 3. 

Assignments

Dates for submission of the 2 Assignments and the 2 Laboratory Reports are shown in the above table. The submission should be made via the Submission Box posted in the GPS by 5pm on the date indicated above. All details concerned with the format of Assignment and Laboratory Reports will be posted on the WEB and explained by the tutor during the Tutorial and Lab sessions. Also the mark allocation for each part of the Assignment or Lab Report will be clearly indicated on the Lab/Project WEB site. In general, the Assignment and Lab Reports reflect the student ability to perform a professional engineering design and including proper presentation of the results obtained by using available CAD software package.

Tutorial Exercises

A number of quantitative problems relevant to the covered lecture material will be solved during tutorial sessions. Students are encouraged to attempt them prior to tutorials in order to exercise their own understanding of the lecture material. Solutions to these tutorial problems will be of significant help in obtaining solutions to the 2 Tutorial Assignments and the 3 Laboratory Pracs scheduled in this course.

Final Examination

A two hour final examination will be held during the final examination period. This exam will be closed-book and will contain both multiple-choice/short-answer/essay questions.  The exam format is expected to be similar to that of tutorial assignments carried out during the semester. You may bring a battery-operated non-programmable calculator. Programmable calculators and other computing or communication devices are NOT permitted. You will require a HB or 2B pencil and an eraser to complete the exam.

Note: Assessment variation is possible for students with a disability.

Note: Students may request the use of dictionaries, including bilingual dictionaries, supplied by Examinations Section. 

Determination of Final Grade

Final mark for COMS4104 students will be calculated from your marks for the assignment, the two class tests, the mid semester and end of semester exams. Your final grade is then computed from the final mark using the following table:

final mark	grade
85-100	7
75-84	6
65-74	5
50-64	4
45-49	3
20-44	2
0-19	1

For COMS7104 students: grade 3 (47-49%), grade 2 (30-46%), grade 1 (0-29%).  

1. Serious Fail
Fails to satisfy most or all of the basic requirements of the course.

2. Fail
Fails to satisfy some of the basic requirements of the course.

3. Pass Conceded
Falls short of satisfying all basic requirements for Pass but can be granted concession for deficiencies through:

·         being close to satisfactory overall, or

·         having compensating strengths in some aspects of the course, or

·         having compensating strengths in other courses, or

·         other mitigating considerations.

4. Pass
Satisfies all of the basic learning requirements for the course, such as knowledge of fundamental concepts and performance of basic skills; demonstrates sufficient quality of performance to be considered satisfactory or adequate or competent or capable in the course.

5. Credit
Demonstrates ability to use and apply fundamental concepts and skills of the course, going beyond mere replication of content knowledge or skill to show understanding of key ideas, awareness of their relevance, some use of analytical skills, and some originality or insight.

6. Distinction
Demonstrates awareness and understanding of deeper and subtler aspects of the course, such as ability to identify and debate critical issues or problems, ability to solve non-routine problems, ability to adapt and apply ideas to new situations, and ability to invent and evaluate new ideas.

7. High Distinction
Demonstrates imagination, originality or flair, based on proficiency in all the learning objectives for the course; work is interesting or surprising or exciting or challenging or erudite.

Each passing grade subsumes and goes beyond the grades lower than it.  At the discretion of the lecturers, final grades may be scaled upwards but not decreased.

Assessment Policies

Submission

Submission of the assignments will be via the submission boxes on level one of the GP South building. Your assignment submission must be accompanied by a signed coversheet declaring that the submission is your original work.

Late Submission

Late submission will attract a penalty of 10 % of the total mark per (working) day late. The request of extensions will only be considered for medical reasons (directed to lecturer or tutor).

Return of Assignments

Projects and Test materials will be returned to students personally by a tutor during tutorial sessions on specific dates only (see announcements on the Noticeboard regarding dates).

Academic Merit, Plagiarism, Proper Referencing, Collusion and Other Misconduct

The School and the wider academic community in general takes academic integrity and respect for other persons and property very seriously. In particular, the following behaviour is unacceptable:

·         Submission of plagiarised work, i.e. work that contains content copied from an unacknowledged source.

·         Submission of work without academic merit, i.e. work that adds little or nothing to material available from reference sources such as textbooks, websites, etc., even where this is appropriately acknowledged.

·         Engaging in collusive behaviour, i.e. inappropriate working together with other students where individual work is required, or working with people outside your team where team work is required.

·         Copying work done by other students.

·         Failing to adhere to the School's regulations concerning behaviour in laboratories, in particular occupational health and safety regulations.

Penalties for engaging in unacceptable behaviour can range from cash fines or loss of grades in a subject, through to expulsion from the University.

You are required to read and understand the School Statement on Misconduct, available on the ITEE website at: http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/about_ITEE/policies/student-misconduct.html.  This Statement includes advice and links to other sites on how to properly cite references and other sources in your submissions and on acceptable levels of collaboration.

If you have any questions concerning this statement, please contact your lecturer in the first instance.

Assessment Feedback

Timely feedback on all progressive assessment in this course will be available in accordance with University policy (HUPP 3.30.6 Student Access to Feedback on Assessment).  The students feedback on the matters concerned with this course is highly encouraged during consultation hours.

Students wishing to view examination answer scripts and/or question papers should consult with the School office (Room 217, General Purpose South Building [78], St Lucia; Room 218, Building 1, Ipswich) regarding arrangements.

It is a student’s responsibility to incorporate feedback into their learning; making use of the assessment criteria that they are given; being aware of the rules, policies and other documents related to assessment; and providing teachers with feedback on their assessment practices.

Support for Students with a Disability

Any student with a disability who may require alternative academic arrangements in the course is encouraged to seek advice at the commencement of the semester from a Disability Adviser at Student Support Services.