RF Circuit Design: Theory and Applications

Rating:
Summary: Solid Introductory Book
Review: This is a solid book for fundamental understanding of RF circuit design and the implications of distributed theory. M-files are very useful for personal calculations in homebrew designs. Book is built around a fundamental understanding of material presented by Ulaby in his book Fundamentals of Applied Electromagnetics. I would recommend both books for anyone trying to understand how to design RF circuits. I also recommend this combination of sources due to the fact the Prof. Ludwig presented the material in this fasion in his RF design classes at Worcester Polytech, in good old Atwater-Kent... Errors may be present in some of his examples, but many high level textbooks contain errors especially in early editions; my class pointed out many as we were the first group to be taught from the book and hopefully they will be corrected in a later edition. The man certainly knows what he is talking about especially when it comes to MRI field coil design. This book will assume you are familiar with complex numbers, basic EM wave propagation, and will make heavy use of matrix oriented math. MatLAB is a must, but included m-files will aid significantly in plotting Smith Charts and ultimately in matching network design. Only 4 stars because I feel this book needs to be teamed up with Ulaby's book to be complete if your not completely familiar with high frequency analysis.