Topic outline

  • General information

    Teaching periods

    This is a one-and-a-half period long course and lasts only ten (10) weeks. The course starts at the beginning of Period 3 (in early January) and ends in the middle of Period 4 (in mid-March). ELEC-E4430 Microwave engineering II course is a direct continuation of this course, and it starts directly after this course.


    Position of the course

    The course is primarily meant for the first-year Master's students in the Master's Programme of Electronics and Nanotechnology, especially in the major of microwave engineering, but also in space science and technology, and circuit design. This course would also probably suit well for the final-stage Bachelor's students of the electrical engineering (EST) programme. Other students, for instance, in wireless communication, engineering physics or anyone who is interested in the topic and master the pre-knowledge (see below) are warmly welcome, too! 

    This course is the first part of the microwave engineering course series, followed by Microwave engineering II (taught directly after MiWE I) and Microwave engineering workshop (in the autumn of 2023). The related courses that are running in parallel are Electromagnetic and circuit simulations (taught also in Period 3) and Antennas (in Periods 4-5), followed by the Antennas workshop course in autumn 2023. Other supplementary courses are ELEC-E4760 Terahertz Techniques (next time in spring 2024), ELEC-E4720 Advanced Circuit Theory (next time in spring 2024), and ELEC-E4920 Special Assignment in Radio Science and Engineering (any time).


    Preliminary knowledge of the course

    • bachelor's level engineering mathematics (e.g., algebra, trigonometry, linear algebra, complex numbers, complex vectors, differential and integral calculus, differential equations etc.)
    • circuit theory (e.g., ELEC-C4110 Piirianalyysi I and ELEC-C4120 Piirianalyysi II or ELEC-E3120 Analysis and design of electronic circuits)
    • electromagnetic field theory (e.g., ELEC-C4140 Kenttäteoria or ELEC-E4130 Electromagnetic fields)
    • some mathematical software, for instance, Matlab or Wolfram Mathematica (e.g., ELEC-C4140 Matematiikkaohjelmistot or ELEC-E9111 Mathematical computing).
    • circuit simulations, for example, with AWR Design Environment (e.g., we recommend taking parallel in Period III the course ELEC-E4410 Electromagnetic and circuit simulations)


    Teaching sessions in the winter of 2024

    On Tuesdays at 9 - 12 interactive exercise sessions and Thursdays at 9 - 12 interactive lectures.


    Teacher team in the winter of 2023

    Jari Holopainen (responsible teacher), Katsuyuki Haneda (responsible teacher), and Ali Kourani (teaching assistant).


    Learning outcomes

    The course aims at creating readiness to work in microwave engineering related tasks and projects and enable further studies and continuous learning in microwave engineering.

    The verbs that reflect those activities that the students are assumed to do during the course and master after successful completion of the course are written in bold font. The learning outcomes are ranked on the Comprehension (2/6) and Application (3/6) levels of Bloom's taxonomy.

    • The student is able to identify the types of radio waves and discuss the usage of the radio-frequency spectrum and typical applications in microwave engineering.
    • The student can discuss the biological effects and safety issues of radio waves. 
    • The student is able to explain the behaviour of a radio signal in typical transmission lines (such as signal propagation, attenuation, reflection), calculate and simulate related circuit parameters, and design transmission lines.
    • The student can design impedance matching circuits using the Smith chart and simulator tool (AWR) and explain the design principles and bandwidth issues.
    • The student is able to model basic microwave circuits and resonators with suitable circuit parameters and analyze their operation based on calculations and simulations.
    • The student can explain the operational principles of basic microwave systems (such as mixing phenomenon and superheterodyne transceivers) and calculate relevant system parameters (such as signal-to-noise ratio, noise figure, link budget).
    • The student is able to explain the basic principles of radio wave propagation. They can calculate the basic characteristics (such Fresnell ellipsoide) of radio links based on basic propagation models. 

      Course literature

      • The main course literature is Pozar - Microwave Engineering (editions 2-4 are okay). Physical books (altogether 11 copies) are available in the learning centre. An e-book can be found at lib.aalto.fi.
      • The course book can also be bought, for instance, through Amazon.de (edition 2 from 38 €, edition 3 from 39 €, edition 4 from 275 €) or Adlibris (edition 4 from 275 €).
      • You may also use the book Räisänen/Lehto - Radio engineering for wireless communication (11 copies and e-book) or the very same book written in Finnish: Räisänen/Lehto - Radiotekniikan perusteet (15 copies). However, we follow more closely the Pozar book.
      • Microwave engineering II course uses the very same Pozar book – i.e., buying this standard handbook of microwave engineering may be a good investment.


      Course content 
      1. Transmission line theory (standing wave and reflection, Pozar Chapter 2) and typical waveguides (Pozar Chapters 2 and 3)
      2. Smith chart and impedance matching (Pozar Chapters 2 and 5)
      3. Analysis of microwave circuits (Pozar Chapters 4 and 6)
      4. Radio systems and applications (Pozar Chapters 10 and 14)
      5. (Teaser of) Radiowave propagation (Pozar Chapter 14)

      Nominal workload 135 hours in ten weeks, individual workload varies
      • 5 ECTS ↔ 5 x 27 hours – i.e., nominally 135 hours of working
      • 10 weeks x (2+3) hours/week ↔ 50 hours of sessions – i.e., 5 hours per week
      • 85 hours of independent working – i.e., average 8.5 hours per week
      • The number of hours for independent work is only indicative. The studying may take more or less than the nominal working hours. It is affected by the pre-knowledge, learning-to-learn skills, and the target grade of the student.
      • In a case of heavy burden, contact the responsible teachers.

      Grading
      • The grading of the course is based on continuous assessment which means that the course fulfilment accumulates throughout the course. This allows more support and guidance for the students, the observation of learning, and the opportunity for fine-tuning the learning and teaching methods.
      • Mastering the learning outcomes of the course is demonstrated by answering the polling questions and active participation during the interactive lectures, returning the weekly preliminary tasks in MyCourses and the exercise problems during the exercise sessions and in the final exam. 
      • The preliminary tasks affect 15%.
      • The Thursday interactive lectures affect 15%. The points are granted for active participation, which means that the student successfully participates in the activities during the Thursday lectures. Such activities are, for example, but not limited to, multiple-choice quizzes (answering through Presemo), in-class questions, discussions and exercises. The criteria for the points are: 1 point = successfully participating in activities during the session and 1 point = return a “good effort” in-class exercise during the session.
      • The exercise problems affect 50%. There is a possibility for some extra exercise points during the course.
      • The final quiz (in the last session of the course) affects 20%.
      • It is not possible to retake the interactive lectures, but the preliminary tasks and the exercise problems can be revised under certain conditions (the details are given in the corresponding activity).
      • Grading: 50.0% of the total points → the course is passed with adequate (1) level, 60.0% → satisfactory (2), 70.0% → good (3), 80.0% → very good (4) and 90.0% → excellent (5). The teachers have a right to lower the limits.
      • Students' points are calculated with one decimal precision. 
      • The course grading is individual. Teaching each other and discussing the exercise problems is recommended, but everyone returns only one’s individual answers. For instance, reporting someone else's answer or the result of group work as your individual answer is forbidden. The students are assumed to be aware of “Aalto University code of academic integrity”, the link can be found here.

      Communication and news
      • The main forums for communication and information are the teaching sessions and the "Announcements" in MyCourses. The registered students will get the News also as an email. All the important information will be published in the News forum.
      • Students' questions shall be addressed during the teaching sessions.
      • If you have a private question and you cannot ask it during a teaching session, using consideration, you may also send an e-mail. In this case, send your e-mail simultaneously to both responsible teachers.

      Principles of studying
      • The preliminary tasks (to be returned before Thursdays' interactive sessions), interactive lectures (on Thursdays) and exercise problems and related course book chapters cover all the learning outcomes.
      • The interactive lectures are held on Thursdays and the exercise returns take place during the Tuesday session. Students can reserve their individual exercise return appointment in MyCourses. 
      • The course consists of five successive topics (Topics 1-5). Due to the cumulative nature, study the topics one by one and start solving exercise problems from Problem 1 of each topic.
      • Progress with your individual speed but notice that at least one exercise problem answer per week must be returned. The hard DL for the exercise problem return is the end of the course. 
      • The optimal speed would be to return two (2) exercise problems per week.
      • The idea of the final exam is "do you understand the basics" - i.e., there will not be long design or mathematical problems in the final exam. 
      • If you need any special arrangements, contact the teachers well in advance. Last-minute requests may not be possible to arrange. 


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