RF & Antenna Education

From first principles to advanced beamforming — our library of guides, tutorials, and deep-dives is free for engineers, students, and enthusiasts worldwide.

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Structured topic guides — each covers a complete subject area with articles, equations, and worked examples.

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Showing 48 articles  ·  Page 1 of 4
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Beginner
Fundamentals

Antenna Basics

Understand radiation patterns, antenna gain, directivity, polarisation, and the fundamentals of how antennas radiate and receive electromagnetic energy.

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Beginner
Fundamentals

RF Fundamentals

A practical introduction to frequency, wavelength, the electromagnetic spectrum, free-space path loss, and the physics behind radio wave propagation.

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Beginner
RF Fundamentals

dB, dBm & dBi Explained — The RF Engineer's Guide to Decibels

A complete practical guide to decibels in RF engineering — what dB, dBm, dBi, dBd, and dBW mean, how to convert between them, and how to apply them in link budgets, noise calculations, and antenna gain comparisons.

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Intermediate
RF Fundamentals

Impedance Matching — VSWR, Smith Chart, L-Networks & Stub Matching

A complete practical guide to impedance matching in RF engineering — covering VSWR, reflection coefficient, the Smith chart, L-networks, quarter-wave transformers, stub matching, and practical techniques for minimising return loss.

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Intermediate
RF Fundamentals

RF Behaviour of Passive Components — Resistors, Capacitors & Inductors

How resistors, capacitors, and inductors really behave at radio frequencies — parasitic models, self-resonance, impedance vs frequency graphs, and practical guidelines for selecting components in RF circuits.

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Intermediate
RF Fundamentals

The Friis Transmission Equation

How much signal power arrives at a receiving antenna? The Friis equation connects transmit power, antenna gains, and free-space path loss into a single expression — the foundation of every wireless link budget.

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Beginner
Transmission Line Theory

Why Transmission Lines and Transmission Line Theory?

Why a wire is not just a wire at RF frequencies — when lumped-circuit models break down, electrical length, the main types of transmission lines, and how signals propagate along them.

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Intermediate
RF Fundamentals

Low Noise Amplifiers — Introduction, Noise Fundamentals and Gain

Part 1 of the LNA series. What an LNA is and where it is used, the RF receiver chain, thermal and shot noise, the −174 dBm/Hz noise floor, noise figure, noise factor, the Friis cascaded noise formula, three power gain definitions, and input vs noise matching.

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Intermediate
RF Fundamentals

LNA Design — Noise Parameters, Stability, Topologies and Linearity

Part 2 of the LNA series. The four noise parameters (NF_min, R_n, Γ_opt), noise and gain circles on the Smith chart, Rollett stability factor and μ-factor, all major LNA topologies from common-source to current-reuse, lumped and distributed impedance matching, P1dB, IIP3, and SFDR.

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Intermediate
RF Fundamentals

LNA Implementation — Technology, Design Flow, Measurement and Advanced Topics

Part 3 of the LNA series. Biasing techniques and power trade-offs, CMOS vs GaAs vs GaN vs SiGe technology comparison, broadband LNA techniques, the seven-step practical design flow, ADS/HFSS/Cadence simulation, NF and S-parameter measurement, cryogenic and mmWave LNAs, noise cancellation, machine learning in RF, and a complete design trade-off summary table.

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Intermediate
RF Fundamentals

Oscillators and Voltage-Controlled Oscillators (VCOs)

Barkhausen criteria, feedback and negative-resistance oscillation models, Colpitts, Hartley, and cross-coupled LC VCO topologies, crystal oscillators, phase noise and Leeson's equation, varactor tuning, K_VCO, tuning range, ring oscillators, VCO figure of merit, and PLL integration.

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Intermediate
Transmission Line Theory

Transmission Line Theory — The RLGC Model and Telegrapher's Equations

A rigorous derivation from first principles — the distributed RLGC circuit model, Kirchhoff's voltage and current laws, the wave equation, propagation constant γ = α + jβ, characteristic impedance Z₀, and travelling voltage and current waves.

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