The University of Queensland
School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering
Semester 1, 2006

COMS7302- Design of Microwave Circuits I

Course Profile

Version

This is version 1.0 of the COMS7302 course profile, dated 27 February 2006.

Changes since the last version

Not applicable

Course Summary

Course Code(s):	COMS7302
Unit Value:	#2
Contact Hours:	4 hours per week (3L1C)
Purpose:	COMS7302 aims at developing advanced theoretical and practical skills associated with the analysis, design and optimization of passive microwave devices in microstrip and stripline technologies that are the part of modern wireless and landline communication systems.

Teaching Staff

Professor Marek Bialkowski (Course Coordinator)
Office: 78-527
Phone: 53563
Fax: (07) 3365-4999
Email: meb@itee.uq.edu.au
Consultation Time: Friday 4:00pm - 4:55pm

Note: If you are calling from outside the University follow the appropriate instructions for each location below.

University of Queensland (St Lucia) indial	(07) 336 5xxxx or (07) 334 6xxxx
Ipswich Campus indial	(07) 338 1xxxx

Course Goals

The course is intended for the Master of Engineering programme as set forth by the School of ITEE, University of Queensland.  If taken in conjunction with of some other courses in the RF and Microwave study program it can lead to obtaining a degree of Master of Engineering in the field of RF and Microwave by the coursework.

The course introduces EM field principles followed by the network theory to obtain efficient means for analyzing and designing of microwave passive devices, which are the part of modern microwave communication equipment.  It places an emphasis on planar guiding structures that enable either hybrid and/or monolithic integration of passive and active microwave devices.  Modern CAD software packages are introduced and demonstrated in simulation examples of microwave passive components and sub-systems.

It is expected that upon successful completion of the course, students will:

• obtain an advanced knowledge of operation of typical passive microwave circuits that are essential to modern communication technologies
• know how to design microwave circuits such as power dividers, directional couplers and filters
• be able to optimize their design using modern microwave CAD packages.
   

Graduate Attributes Developed

The University of Queensland has defined a set of graduate attributes to specify broad core knowledge and skills associated with all undergraduate programs (http://www.uq.edu.au/hupp/contents/view.asp?s1=3&s2=20&s3=5). This course addresses these attributes as follows:

 

Assumed Background

Pre-requisites:     (ELEC3100 or 7101) + (COMS4104 or 7104) or equivalent
 
Compatible:  COMS7300 or 7301;

Resources

Course Profile Copy

In the first lecture (or class meeting) students will be directed to the web address at which this course profile can be read.  Students enrolled at St Lucia who wish to retain a hard copy of the profile can use the free print quota provided each semester to students enrolled in courses in the School of Information Technology & Electrical Engineering.  For information on how to use this print quota, see the School Policy on Student Photocopying and Printing (St Lucia). Students enrolled at the Ipswich campus will either be provided with a hard copy or given directions in class on how to obtain a free copy.

Textbook

The suggested text is

* D. M. Pozar, Microwave Engineering - 2nd ed, John Wiley & Sons, 1998.

or

L. Besser and R. Gilmore, Practical RF Design for Modern Wireless Systems, vol. I: Passive Circuits and Systems, Artech House, 2003.

* Note that recently the 3rd edition of this book has been issued. The relevant information is available at www.wiley.com/college/pozar.

Microwave CAD for use in Classes:

1. SERENADE - SV85 (free download*)
* Serenade^TM Harmonica - Student Version, free download (~30MB) from the Laboratory/Projects page (can be accessed only by students actually enrolled in the course).

2. Microwave Office^TM - can be accessed in the Laboratory only by students actually enrolled in the course.

Handouts

Lecture and project materials will be available to students enrolled in the course via the course WEB site.

Facilities

Prac sessions will be held in 78-xxx. During these sessions students will be allowed to use computer facilities to conduct their work on assigned projects.

Consultation

Lecturer is available for consultations as indicated above. For an appointment outside these times an e-mail contact should be used.

Distribution of Notices

All important current notices will be conveyed to students via the Noticeboard linked to the course WEB page. Students are expected to visit the Noticeboard at least once a week.

Web

The course web site is available at http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~coms7302.  The course web site will contain: (1) Course Profile, (2) Lecture Material (Modules and Supplementary readings), (3) Assignments, (4) Noticeboard,  (5) Marking.

Newsgroup

The course newsgroup is uq.itee.coms7302. This group is available on both the University and School news servers (news.uq.edu.au and news.itee.uq.edu.au).

Students are free to post questions (and answers!) to the newsgroup. Copies of announcements will also be posted to the newsgroup. The teaching staff will monitor the newsgroup.

Teaching Activities

Lectures

There is one 3-hour lecture session each week for the first 7 weeks of semester 1:

 

Lecture :

 

Wednesday 5pm-7.50pm (room 78-420)

Pracs

Commencing from week 2, Room 78-108 in GP-South Blg will be available for students to familiarize themselves with Microwave CAD and to work on Two Assignment Projects, which concern:

No1: Development of own computer algorithms for determining equivalent circuit parameters of planar microwave waveguiding structures

No2: Design, analysis and optimization of planar microwave circuits using Serenade Harmonica or Microwave Office.

 The availability of Microwave Lab is listed below (subject to change).

Prac Session	Day	Time
Pa	Monday	5pm – 8pm
Pb	Saturday	10am-12noon

Attendance

You are strongly encouraged to attend the teaching sessions. Failure to attend a session may result in you being disadvantaged. It is up to you to find out what happened at any class session that you miss.

Teaching Plan

Week Number	Monday's Date	Lecture Number	Lecture Topic	Prac Session	Assessment
1	27 February	1	Module 1: Microwave Transmission Lines A. Relationship between an EM Field and Lumped-Element Circuit Parameters B. Waves and Modes in Cylindrical Waveguides
2	6 March	2	Module 2: Microwave Planar Waveguides and Their Parameters	Special Sessions: Overview of Microwave Office – to be presented by an external Lecturer
3	13 March	3	Module 3: Impedance Transformers	Project No 1: Determination of  Characteristic Impedance of Stripline and Microstrip Using  Analytical Methods
4	20 March	4	Module 4: Planar Couplers	Module 5: Overview of Serenade Harmonica
5	27 March	5	Module 6: N-way Dividers	Project 2: Design of Impedance Transformers and Couplers with the Use of Microwave CAD	Submission of Report on Project 1.
6	3 April	6	Module 7: Microwave Filters	Project 2: continued
7	10 April	7			Submission of Report on Project 2.

Assessment

Assessment in COMS7302 is based on the two Assignment Reports. Your final grade (on a 1 to 7 scale) will be determined by combining the marks from the various assessment components as described below. For each assessment item, reference is made to the specific learning objectives (from the list above) which the assessment item will address.

Assignments

Dates for submission of the two Assignment Reports are shown in the above table. The submission should be made via the Submission Box posted in the GPS by 5pm on the date indicated above. All details concerned with the format of Assignment Reports will be posted on the WEB and explained by the coordinator during the Lecture sessions. Also the mark allocation for each part of the Assignment will be clearly indicated on the Project WEB site. In general, the Assignment Reports reflect the student ability to perform a professional engineering design, including proper presentation of the results obtained by using available CAD software packages.

Determination of Final Grade

The final grade for COMS7302 will be determined based on the marks for the TWO assignment reports, which are of equal value.

Your final grade is then computed from the final mark using the following table:

final mark	grade
85-100	7
75-84	6
65-74	5
50-64	4
45-49	3
20-44	2
0-19	1

1. Serious Fail
Fails to satisfy most or all of the basic requirements of the course.

2. Fail
Fails to satisfy some of the basic requirements of the course.

3. Pass Conceded
Falls short of satisfying all basic requirements for Pass but can be granted concession for deficiencies through:

·         being close to satisfactory overall, or

·         having compensating strengths in some aspects of the course, or

·         having compensating strengths in other courses, or

·         other mitigating considerations.

4. Pass
Satisfies all of the basic learning requirements for the course, such as knowledge of fundamental concepts and performance of basic skills; demonstrates sufficient quality of performance to be considered satisfactory or adequate or competent or capable in the course.

5. Credit
Demonstrates ability to use and apply fundamental concepts and skills of the course, going beyond mere replication of content knowledge or skill to show understanding of key ideas, awareness of their relevance, some use of analytical skills, and some originality or insight.

6. Distinction
Demonstrates awareness and understanding of deeper and subtler aspects of the course, such as ability to identify and debate critical issues or problems, ability to solve non-routine problems, ability to adapt and apply ideas to new situations, and ability to invent and evaluate new ideas.

7. High Distinction
Demonstrates imagination, originality or flair, based on proficiency in all the learning objectives for the course; work is interesting or surprising or exciting or challenging or erudite.

Each passing grade subsumes and goes beyond the grades lower than it.  At the discretion of the lecturers, final grades may be scaled upwards but not decreased.

In order to successfully pass this course you will have to obtain the Pass grade (at least 50% of the total allocated mark) in each of the two assignments.

Assessment Policies

Submission

Submission of the assignments will be via the submission boxes on level one of the GP South building. Your assignment submission must be accompanied by a signed coversheet declaring that the submission is your original work.

Late Submission

Late submission will attract a penalty of 10 % of the total mark per (working) day late. The request of extensions will only be considered for medical reasons (directed to lecturer or tutor).

Return of Assignments

The assessed Project Reports will be returned to students personally on specific dates only (see announcements on the Noticeboard regarding dates).

Academic Merit, Plagiarism, Proper Referencing, Collusion and Other Misconduct

The School and the wider academic community in general take academic integrity and respect for other persons and property very seriously. In particular, the following behaviour is unacceptable:

• Submission of plagiarised work, i.e. work that contains content copied from an unacknowledged source.
• Submission of work without academic merit, i.e. work that adds little or nothing to material available from reference sources such as textbooks, websites, etc., even where this is appropriately acknowledged.
• Engaging in collusive behaviour, i.e. inappropriate working together with other students where individual work is required, or working with people outside your team where team work is required.
• Copying work done by other students.
• Failing to adhere to the School's regulations concerning behaviour in laboratories, in particular occupational health and safety regulations.

Penalties for engaging in unacceptable behaviour can range from cash fines or loss of grades in a subject, through to expulsion from the University.

You are required to read and understand the School Statement on Misconduct, available on the ITEE website at: http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/about_ITEE/policies/student-misconduct.html.  This Statement includes advice and links to other sites on how to properly cite references and other sources in your submissions and on acceptable levels of collaboration.

If you have any questions concerning this statement, please contact your lecturer in the first instance.

Assessment Feedback

Timely feedback on all progressive assessment in this course will be available in accordance with University policy (HUPP 3.30.6 Student Access to Feedback on Assessment). 

It is a student’s responsibility to incorporate feedback into their learning; making use of the assessment criteria that they are given; being aware of the rules, policies and other documents related to assessment; and providing teachers with feedback on their assessment practices.

Support for Students with a Disability

Any student with a disability who may require alternative academic arrangements in the course is encouraged to seek advice at the commencement of the semester from a Disability Adviser at Student Support Services.