Teaching Radio Frequency (RF) and Microwave Engineering to Technology Students without Engineering Electromagnetics Background

Mohammad-Reza Tofighi

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Conference: ASEE Zone 1 Conference - Spring 2023
Location: State College,, Pennsylvania
Publication Date: March 30, 2023
Start Date: March 30, 2023
End Date: April 12, 2023
Page Count: 3
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--45087
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/45087
Download Count: 68

Paper Authors

biography

Mohammad-Reza Tofighi Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg

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Mohammad-Reza Tofighi is a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg. He holds a B.S. degree from Sharif University of Technology, Iran (1989), an M.S. degree from Iran University of Science and Technology (1993), and a Ph.D. degree from Drexel University (2001), all in Electrical Engineering. From 2001 to 2004, he was a post-doctoral associate and a research professor at Drexel. Since joining Penn State in 2004, has taught a variety of courses on RF and microwave, electromagnetics, antennas, and communication systems to Electrical Engineering and Electrical Engineering Technology students. Dr. Tofighi’s main research interest for about 25 years has been on medical/biological applications of RF and microwave including wireless implants, microwave radiometry and imaging, biomedical antennas, interaction of microwave with tissues, and permittivity measurement using time and frequency domain methods. Dr. Tofighi’s main professional affiliation is with the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S). For many years, he has served the IEEE MTT-S in various capacities such as serving as a Guest Editor of IEEE Transactions MTT; a founding member and associate editor of the IEEE Journal of Electromagnetics, RF and Microwaves in Medicine and Biology (IEEE J-ERM); and the Technical Program Committee (TPC) Co-Chair of 2018 IEEE International Microwave Symposium (IMS), the flagship conference of the IEEE MTT-S.

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Abstract

With the ever-increasing desire for higher mobility, connectivity, bandwidth, and speed, and related emerging technologies such as 5G/6G networks and their applications, the industry’s demand for students trained in radio frequency (RF) and microwave engineering is expected to remain high. In distant past, the application of this discipline of electrical engineering used to be almost exclusively limited to military, space, and communication infrastructure backbone. However, products featuring GHz frequency of operation can now be recognized everywhere, ranging from consumer application to those products facilitating higher mobility and information transfer in the larger industry and civil infrastructure. Traditionally, a broader training of electrical engineering students in RF and Microwave discipline would require at least a junior level engineering electromagnetics course, followed by courses on electromagnetic field theory, antennas, and microwave (high frequency) engineering. It is no secret that being heavily relied on vector calculus (calculus 3) and physics, namely Maxwell’s equations, makes these “electromagnetic based” subjects perceived by students among difficult subjects to learn. For electrical engineering technology students, this challenge is further exacerbated by the lack of a vector calculus and a rigorous engineering electromagnetics (EM) course in their curriculum. This paper presents our strategy for teaching RF and Microwave Engineering basics to senior electrical engineering technology students at Penn State Harrisburg. This course is solely relied on the students’ background on non-calculus based physics and their circuit theory background, while circumventing their lack of vector calculus and EM background. At the start of the semester, we use lab and lecture hours, in parallel, to address students’ deficiencies and make transition from traditional circuit theory that they already know to the high frequency/microwave circuit theory. Through continued labs and class activities, by the end of the course, students have not only learned the foundation and design approaches that differentiate RF and Microwave from low frequency circuit analysis but have been able to operate related equipment and software.

Citation
Format

Tofighi, M. (2023, March), Teaching Radio Frequency (RF) and Microwave Engineering to Technology Students without Engineering Electromagnetics Background Paper presented at ASEE Zone 1 Conference - Spring 2023, State College,, Pennsylvania. 10.18260/1-2--45087

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - With the ever-increasing desire for higher mobility, connectivity,  bandwidth, and speed, and related emerging technologies such as 5G/6G networks and their applications, the industry’s demand for students trained in radio frequency (RF) and microwave engineering is expected to remain high. In distant past, the application of this discipline of electrical engineering used to be almost exclusively limited to military, space, and communication infrastructure backbone. However, products featuring GHz frequency of operation can now be recognized everywhere, ranging from consumer application to those products facilitating higher mobility and information transfer in the larger industry and civil infrastructure. Traditionally, a broader training of electrical engineering students in RF and Microwave discipline would require at least a junior level engineering electromagnetics course, followed by courses on electromagnetic field theory, antennas, and microwave (high frequency) engineering. It is no secret that being heavily relied on vector calculus (calculus 3) and physics, namely Maxwell’s equations, makes these “electromagnetic based” subjects perceived by students among difficult subjects to learn. For electrical engineering technology students, this challenge is further exacerbated by the lack of a vector calculus and a rigorous engineering electromagnetics (EM) course in their curriculum. This paper presents our strategy for teaching RF and Microwave Engineering basics to senior electrical engineering technology students at Penn State Harrisburg. This course is solely relied on the students’ background on non-calculus based physics and their circuit theory background, while circumventing their lack of vector calculus and EM background.  At the start of the semester, we use lab and lecture hours, in parallel, to address students’ deficiencies and make transition from traditional circuit theory that they already know to the high frequency/microwave circuit theory. Through continued labs and class activities, by the end of the course, students have not only learned the foundation and design approaches that differentiate RF and Microwave from low frequency circuit analysis but have been able to operate related equipment and software.  
AU  - Mohammad-Reza Tofighi
CY  - State College,, Pennsylvania
DA  - 2023/03/30
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Teaching Radio Frequency (RF) and Microwave Engineering to Technology Students without Engineering Electromagnetics Background
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/45087
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--45087
ER  -