Radio frequency components and circuits form the backbone of today’s mobile and satellite communications networks. Consequently, both practicing and aspiring industry professionals need to be able to solve ever more complex problems of RF design.

Blending theoretical rigor with a wealth of practical expertise, Practical RF System Design addresses a variety of complex, real-world problems that system engineers are likely to encounter in today’s burgeoning communications industry with solutions that are not easily available in the existing literature. The author, an expert in the field of RF module and system design, provides powerful techniques for analyzing real RF systems, with emphasis on some that are currently not well understood. Combining theoretical results and models with examples, he challenges readers to address such practical issues as:

• How standing wave ratio affects system gain
• How noise on a local oscillator will affect receiver noise figure and desensitization
• How to determine the dynamic range of a cascade from module specifications
• How phase noise affects system performance and where it comes from
• How intermodulation products (IMs) predictably change with signal amplitude, and why they sometimes change differently

An essential resource for today’s RF system engineers, the text covers important topics in the areas of system noise and nonlinearity, frequency conversion, and phase noise. Along with a wealth of practical examples using MATLAB® and Excel, spreadsheets are available for download from an FTP Web site to help readers apply the methods outlined in this important resource.

About the Author

WILLIAM F. EGAN is an instructor at Santa Clara University, California, and formerly a Principle Engineer at TRW ESD and a Senior Technologist at GTE Government Systems. He received his PhD in electrical engineering from Stanford University and is the author of two previous books related to RF technology.