Radio Frequency (RF) covers the spectrum from 3 kHz up to 300 GHz. RF work has gained a reputation of being something of a “black art”. It is a fact that, in general, RF products will need to be tuned as simulation tools and models are not accurate enough to get to first pass success without tuning. However, a lot of issues occur needlessly from sloppy work and a lack of understanding of basic principles. This means that, in general, a lot of issues can be solved before they even occur. This requires that the basic principles of RF are understood and there is rigorous attention to detail in all phases of design and test.

This course is an introduction to RF for design engineers, test engineers and product engineers or anyone else who needs to work with RF or has an interest in the field of RF. The emphasis of the course will be on the practical aspect rather than the mathematical aspect. The aim is for engineers to obtain an intuitive understanding of the concepts to allow them to apply these concepts in their work.

The internet offers a lot of resources for the RF engineer and it is not the objective of this course to supplant the internet, but to offer a guide for the engineer to know what to look for and where to find it. Engineers who take this course should leave knowing the basics of RF design and test, what to look for on the internet and where to find the relevant articles and calculators to help them during their work.