Essentials of RF Front-end Design and Testing

A Practical Guide for Wireless Systems

Haroun, Ibrahim A.

1. Auflage November 2023
288 Seiten, Hardcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd

ISBN: 978-1-394-21061-9

John Wiley & Sons

Wiley Online Library Probekapitel

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Essentials of RF Front-end Design and Testing

Highly comprehensive text delivering the RF system essentials required to understand, develop, and evaluate the performance of RF wireless systems

Essentials of RF Front-end Design and Testing: A Practical Guide for Wireless Systems is a system-oriented book which provides several wireless communication disciplines in one volume. The book covers a wide range of topics, including antenna fundamentals, phased array antenna and MIMOs that are crucial for the latest 5G mmWave and future 6G wireless systems, high-frequency transmission lines, RF building blocks that are necessary to understand how various RF subsystems are interrelated and implemented in wireless systems, and test setups for conducted and Over-The-Air (OTA) transmitter and receiver tests. The text enables readers to understand, develop, and evaluate the performance of RF wireless systems.

The text focuses on RF system performance and testing rather than mathematical proofs, which are available in the provided references. Although the book is intended for testing and building RF system prototypes, it has the sufficient theoretical background needed for RF systems design and testing. Each chapter includes learning objectives, review questions, and references.

Sample topics covered in the book include:
* An overview of cellular phone systems, 5G NR wireless technology, MIMO technology, terahertz communications for 6G wireless technology, and modulation and multiplexing
* Analog and digital modulation techniques, including AM, SSB, FM, FSK, PSK, QAM, SSFH, DSSS, and OFDM
* High-frequency transmission lines, S-parameters, low-noise amplifier, RF mixers, filters, power amplifiers, frequency synthesizers, circulators/isolators, directional couplers, RF switches, and RF phase shifters
* Antenna basics, including antenna gain, radiation pattern, input impedance, polarization, and antenna noise temperature; microstrip antenna, antenna array, propagation path loss, compact antenna test range (CATR), and test setups for antenna measurements.
* Basics of MIMO and beamforming technology, including analog, digital, and hybrid beamforming
* Test setups for characterizing the key RF performance parameters of 5G New Radio base station transmitters and receivers.

Essentials of RF Front-end Design and Testing: A Practical Guide for Wireless Systems is a highly comprehensive resource on the subject and is intended for graduate engineers and technologists involved in designing, developing, and testing wireless systems, along with undergraduate/graduate students, enhancing their learning experience of RF subsystems/systems characterization.

About the Author xiii

Preface xv

Acknowledgments xvii

1 Introduction to Wireless Systems 1

1.1 Chapter Objectives 1

1.2 Overview of Wireless Communications 2

1.3 Radio Systems Classification 3

1.4 Cellular Phone Systems 6

1.5 Terahertz (THz) for 6G Wireless Technology 9

1.6 Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) 10

1.7 Basic Concept of Modulation 11

1.8 Modulation 11

1.9 Radiofrequency Spectrum Allocation 13

2 Analog Communication Systems 19

2.1 Chapter Objectives 19

2.2 Overview of Analog Communications 20

2.3 Amplitude Modulation (AM) 20

2.4 Single-Sideband Modulation 23

2.5 AM Demodulation 26

2.6 Frequency Modulation (FM) 26

2.7 Noise Suppression in FM Systems 32

2.8 FM Demodulation 32

2.9 Phase Modulation (PM) 34

3 Digital Communication Systems 39

3.1 Chapter Objectives 39

3.2 Overview of Digital Communication 40

3.3 Types of Digital Signals 41

3.4 Data Conversion 42

3.5 Digital Modulation 45

3.6 Spectral Efficiency and Noise 51

3.7 Wideband Modulation 52

4 High-Frequency Transmission Lines 61

4.1 Chapter Objectives 61

4.2 RF Transmission Lines Overview 62

4.3 Transmission Line Analysis 63

4.4 Reflection Due to Impedance Mismatch 67

4.5 Voltage StandingWave Ratio VSWR 68

4.6 Input Impedance of a Transmission Line 70

4.7 Quarter-Wave Transformer 73

4.8 Planar Transmission Lines in Radio Systems 74

4.9 Smith Chart 76

4.10 Impedance Matching Using Smith Chart 88

4.11 ABCD Parameters 98

4.12 S-parameters 102

4.13 Transmission Line Connectors 106

5 RF Subsystem Blocks 111

5.1 Chapter Objectives 111

5.2 Introduction to RF Building Blocks 111

5.3 Low-Noise Amplifiers 112

5.4 RF Mixers 117

5.5 Filters 121

5.6 Frequency Synthesizers 125

5.7 RF Oscillators 127

5.8 RF Power Amplifiers 129

5.9 Power Amplifier Linearization Techniques 130

5.10 Circulators/Isolators 132

5.11 Directional Couplers 133

5.12 Power Splitter/Combiner 134

5.13 Attenuators 134

5.14 RF Phase Shifters 135

5.15 RF Switches 137

6 Basics of RF Transceivers 143

6.1 Chapter Objectives 143

6.2 RF Transceivers 144

6.3 Superheterodyne Receiver Architecture 144

6.4 Receiver System Parameters 146

6.5 Dual-Conversion Superheterodyne Receivers 156

6.6 Direct Conversion (Zero-IF) Receiver 157

6.7 Software-Defined Radios 158

6.8 RF Block-Level Budget Analysis 159

6.9 Direct-Conversion Transmitters 162

6.10 RF Transmitters System Parameters 162

7 Antenna Basics and Radio Wave Propagation 169

7.1 Chapter Objectives 169

7.2 Introduction 170

7.3 Antenna Fields 172

7.4 Antenna Radiation Pattern and Parameters 173

7.5 Isotropic Antenna 179

7.6 Fields Due to Short Antenna 180

7.7 Received Power and Electric Field Strength 181

7.8 Effective Radiated Power 183

7.9 Antenna Types 184

7.10 Antenna Impedance Mismatch 187

7.11 Antenna Polarization Mismatch 189

7.12 Antenna Noise Temperature 190

7.13 Multielements Antenna (Array) 191

7.14 Multipath Propagation 193

7.15 Antenna Characterization 198

7.16 Antenna Measurements 200

8 Introduction to MIMO and Beamforming Technology 207

8.1 Chapter Objectives 207

8.2 Overview of 5G NR Technology and Beyond 207

8.3 5G NR Frequency Ranges 209

8.4 5G NR Radio Frame Structure 210

8.5 5G NR Numerology 211

8.6 5G NR Resource Grid 212

8.7 Massive MIMO for 5G Systems 213

8.8 Beamforming Technology 216

9 RF Performance Verification of 5G NR Transceivers 223

9.1 Chapter Objectives 223

9.2 Test Instruments for Radio Performance Verification 224

9.3 RF Performance Verification of 5G NR Transmitters 225

9.4 RF Performance Verification of 5G NR Receivers 238

9.5 Over-The-Air (OTA) Testing of Radio Systems 251

Review Questions 253

References 254

Suggested Readings 254

Index 257

Dr. Ibrahim A. Haroun is a retired senior RF system designer, Canada. In his career, Dr. Haroun has worked for a number of companies in different capacities, from a senior radio frequency (RF)/microwave designer to a RF hardware system design manager. He was a Lecturer with the Marine Institute of Memorial University, Canada, and he was a Research Adjunct Professor with the Department of Electronics, Carleton University, and the University of Western Ontario, Canada. Dr. Haroun has also published and presented several papers at international conferences and is a senior member of the IEEE.

I. A. Haroun, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada; Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada