ABSTRACT
Modern microwave and radio frequency (RF) engineering is an exciting and dynamic field, due in large part to the symbiosis between recent advances in modern electronic device technology and the current explosion in demand for voice, data, and video communication capacity. Prior to this revolution in communications, microwave technology was the nearly exclusive domain of the defense industry; the recent and dramatic increase in demand for communication systems with such applications as wireless paging, mobile telephony, broadcast video, and tethered as well as untethered computer networks is revolutionizing the industry. These systems are employed across a broad range of environments, including corporate offices, industrial and manufacturing facilities, infrastructure for municipalities, and private homes. The diversity of applications and operational environments has led, through the accompanying high production volumes, to tremendous advances in cost-efficient manufacturing capabilities of microwave and RF products. This, in turn, has lowered the implementation cost of a host of new and costeffective wireless as well as wired RF and microwave services. Inexpensive handheld Global Positioning System (GPS) navigational aids, automotive collision-avoidance radar, and widely available broadband digital service access are among these. Microwave technology is naturally suited for these emerging applications in communications and sensing because the high operational frequencies permit both large numbers of independent channels for the wide variety of uses envisioned as well as significant available bandwidth per channel for high-speed communication. The interaction between microwave fields and biological tissues also enables exciting advances in medical diagnosis and treatment.
