Topic outline



  • Teaching practicalities

    The course will take place during the spring term periods IV and V starting on Tuesday, 28th of February, 2023. The weekly schedule is the following

      • Lectures on Tuesdays at 12 noon - 14  in the class AS6 (Maarintie 8)
      • Exercise sessions on Fridays at 10 – 12 in the class AS6 

    Textbook of the course

    The course instruction follows the textbook: A.R. Harish & al. "Antennas and Wave Propagation", Oxford University Press, 2007. Its electronic version is available for Aalto students via lib.aalto.fi.  Lecture slides will be also published and they offer a complementary perspective on the discussion given in the course book. 


    Prerequisite knowledge required for a successful completion of this course
      • BSc level Mathematics
      • ELEC-E4130 Electromagnetic fields or equivalent
      • ELEC-E4420 Microwave engineering I or equivalent
      • Capability in using either Mathematica or Matlab

    Content

    The main topics of this course are

      1. Electromagnetic radiation and antenna parameters
      2. Wire antennas
      3. Antenna arrays
      4. Aperture antennas
      5. Antenna Measurements

    Intended learning outcomes
    • After successful completion of the course, the student is able to solve electromagnetic fields and basic antenna parameters for simple microwave radiators.
    • The student is able to explain fundamental antenna concepts and calculate common parameters used to describe their properties.
    • The student can analyse the effect of the antenna on the performance of radio communication systems. 
    • The student can describe the operation principles of most common antenna types, such as wire antennas, array antennas, and aperture antennas. He/she can compute the far-field radiation due to known current distributions.
    • The student has a readiness to perform basic antenna measurements such as the antenna impedance and radiation pattern measurements. The student can analyse the measurement results and estimate the error sources.  


    Nominal workload is 135 hours but individual workload varies

    The nominal workload is 135 hours corresponding to a 5-ECTS course. In-class teaching takes at maximum 50 hours which means that individual learning time is about 85 hours. Typically main part of this free time resource is dedicated to mandatory homework exercises, but students are advised to enrich they learning effort beyond this by making e.g. computational experiments on current topics  Notice, that the nominal workload is only approximate and it depends on the depth of the prerequisite knowledge. 

    Assessment

    Assessment is based on weekly homework exercises, quizzes and exam. This aims to balancing the study workload and also to fair final grading. The relative weights of these categories are the following:

    • homework 50%
    • pre-class quizzes 20%
    • exam 30%


    Instructions for homework

    Homework solutions should be submitted electronically into the return boxes. Follow the deadlines promptly because return boxes close automatically. Each exercise round solution is to be returned in one pdf file. If traditional pen and paper solutions are converted into pdf files specific attention should be paid to their organization and readability. Use of LaTeX in compiling exercise solutions is recommended but not required.

    The course assessment is individual. Discussions about the exercise problems between students are allowed, but everyone returns only their individual solutions. The students are assumed to be aware of Aalto University code of academic integrity

    Final exam 

    The final exam will be held on Tuesday, 23 May at 12-14 o'clock in class AS6 (during the regular teaching hours). The exam is "do you understand the basics" type - i.e., it does not include long mathematical calculations. 

    Teaching team
    Communication and news

    The main channels for communication and information are the teaching sessions and the "Announcements" in MyCourses.

    The teaching staff of this course can be contacted by e-mail outside the teaching sessions. However, general questions concerning the course, homework and assignments should be posted to the "General discussion" forum in MyCourses or discussed commonly during lessons.