Introduction to Microwaves Microwaves are electromagnetic waves whose frequencies range from 1 GHz to 1000 GHz (1 GHz = 10° Hz). For comparison, the signal from an AM Radio station is 1 MHz (Mega Hertz=10°H) and the signal from FM radio station is 100 MHz. Microwaves (w’s) are so called since they are defined in terms of their wavelength in the sense that micro refers to tinyness—tinyness referring to the wavelength and the period ofa cycle of a cm wave. In other words, the wavelength () of cm waves at microwave frequencies are very short; typically from a few tens of cm to a fraction of a mm. In short, a microwave isa signal that has a wavelength of 1 foot or less i.e..4 < 30.5 cms = 1 foot. This converts toa frequency of 984 MHz, approximately = 1 GHz. So, all frequencies above approximately 1000 MHz (t GHz) to about 1000 GHz are microwave frequencies. Microwave band Millimeter Les) ‘Submillimeter 7 7 | c | xin} K | kak | ] 1 2GHz 8GHz. 18GHz 40GHz 0.300 THz 1GHz 4GHz 12GHz 27GHz aos = & | i Cosmic ELF) SLF) LF) LF) MF! HF | VHF| UHF! SHF| EHF! Infrared! Light i crays | Cae | rays Poorer bebe ee ee | | | | 300Hz . 30KHz , 3MHz | 300ME2 | 30GHz | atte | sotetz | 10H 30Hz 3KHz — 300KHz = 30MHz 3GHz —- 300GHz 4000THz 10° THz. - Fig. 1.1. Electromagnetic frequency spectrumIntroduction to Microwaves 3 The higher frequency edge of microwaves borders on the infrared and visible-light regions or spectrum. This explains why microwaves behave more like rays of light than ordinary radio waves, Due to this unique behaviour, microwave frequencies are classified separately from radio waves. Fig 1.1 shows the various available electromagnetic frequency spectrum. The visible light is above infrared region and falls between 430 THz and 1 PHz (Peta Hz, 1 peta 0" Hz). This region includes the fibre optics and laser region. This region above 1 PHz includes X-rays, Gamma Rays and Cosmic rays. The various metric prefixes such as Mega, Micro are given in Table 1.1. Table 1.1 Metric Prefixes Prefix PowerofTen | Symbol __| Exa a8 = E Peta 108 i Tera 10% = Prefix Power of Ten Symbol Giga 10° G Mega 10° M Kilo 108 K milli 10% m micro ag B nano 10° n pico 10-2 > femto 10-8 £ atto 1078 a 1.1 ‘HISTORY As already stated, microwaves are electromagnetic waves. Hence, the history of microwaves 1s embodied in the evolution of electromagnetic waves. : James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879) unified all previous known results, experimental and theoretical on electromagnetic waves in four equations and predicted the existence of electromagnetic ates Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (1857-1937) experimentally confirmed Maxwells’s prediction. Gugliel ee Marconi (1874-1937) transmitted information on an experimental basis at microwave ae George C. Southworth (1930) really carried out Marconi’s experiments on. ei aaa During World War-II (1945) based on the previoys developments, radar was,invented ¢ exploited for military applications. LAMicrowave and Radar Engineering pérate in the UHF/microwave acuum tube was the best set, but then it haq qeatrode capacitance (IEC) between elements transit time. The IEC effectively shorting at them to be used only at lower operating The people then were trying to investigate how devices could 0] bands with larger powers. The conventional v several hitches at these frequencies like intere! within the vacuum tube and a longer electron tray higher frequencies and the longer transit time causing frequencies. ‘The transit time problem was solved by Germ: in the year 1920, They developed a special vacuul (BKO) that could generate high frequency oscillati was limited. In 1921, A.W. Hull developed the very PoP’ magnetic field to influence the flow of electrons. Rando! magnetron in 1939. : ‘The dilemma between power and frequency remained a problem for several years, until W.W. Hansen and D. Heil used the electron transit time to advantage by a mechanism called velocity modulation. The Varian brothers, in 1937 extended Hansen’s work by developing a khystron vacuum tube, which could be used, both as power amplifier and as an oscillator. With the production of these vacuum tube device, radar could be commercially developed for military use. Later semiconductor devices at microwave frequencies were also developed, ‘which saw these devices being used in communication engineering, particularly in telephony. By 1960's microwave communication had almost replaced 40% of the telephone communication between major cities of the word. In the early 1980's microwave devices found applications even in the consumer market with TV receive only (TVRO) broadcast services to the home of satellite TV transmission, In 1990's, microwaves became common consumer market products with the development of microwave ovens, network television, personal communication system (PCS), cellphones, personal communicators etc. They also found applications in areas other than communication and radar, such as medicine, surveying land, industrial quality control, radio astronomy, global positioning system, power transmission, space shuttle etc. an Scientists, K. Kurz and H. Barkhausen rh tube called Barkhausen-Kurz oscillator However the available output power ular magnetron device, who used a 11 and Boots further developed the ions. 4.2 MICROWAVE REGION AND BAND DESIGNATIONS Microwave region in the electromagnetic spectrum is shown in Table 1.2 along with other frequency ranges as per CCIR recommendations. It may be noted that the beginning of each band is @ multiple of ten of the previous band or the next band. Standard band designations for microwave frequencies listed as per Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (IEEE) is the industry standard. This is shown in Table 1.3. ‘The new US! Military microwave frequency designation are shown in Table 1.4, Table 1.5 shows the various bands with their propagation characteristics and applications, (Introduction to Microwaves Table 1.2 CCIR Band Band | Frequency Range Band Designation 1. | 3 Hz-30 Ha Ultra Low frequency (ULF) 2, | 80 Hz-300 Hz Extra low frequency (ELF) 3. | 300 Hz-8000 Hz. (8 kHz) Voice frequency (VF) Telephone/baseband frequencies 4. | 3KHz-30 KHz Very Low frequency (LVF) 5 80 KHz-300 KHz Low frequency (LF) 6. | 300 KHz-3000 KHz (3 MHz) Medium frequency (MF) 7 | 3 MHz-30 MHz High frequency (HF) 8 30 MHz~300 MHz, Very High frequency (VHF) 9. | 300 MHz-300 MHz (3 GHz) Ultra High frequency (UHE) 10. | 3 GHz-30 GHz Super High frequency (SHF) 11. | / 30 GHz-300 GHz, Extreme High frequency (EHF) 12. "}\ 300 GHz-3000 GHz (8 THz) Intrared light 13, | 8 THz-30 THz Infrared light 14. | 30 THz-800 THz Infrared light 15.. | 800 THz-3 PHz Visible light 16. | 3 PHz-30 PHz Ultra voilet light 17. | 30 PHz-300 PHz X-rays 18. | 300 PHz-3 EHz Gamma rays 19. | 3 EHz-30 EHz Cosmic rays Table'$.3 IEEE/Industry Standards Band Designation Frequency Range (GHz) UHF 0.3-8.0 L LS s c x Ku 12.5-18.0 \ K 18-26 Ka 26-40 a7 33-60 U 40-60 M 50-75 E 60-90 Eo) Millimeter 90-140 G 140-220 R_] 220-300 e Sub-millimeter > 330Microwave and Radar Engineering Table 1.4 US/Military Microwave Frequency Bands ft Band Designation ZErORaK Masso Aw> Frequency Range (GHz) 0.1-0.25 0.25-0.5 0.5-1.0 1.0-2.0 2.0-8.0 3.0-4.0 4.0-6.0 6.0-8.0 8.0-10.0 10.0-20.0 20.0-40.0 40.0-60.0 60.0-100.0 100.0-140.0 e Table 1.5 Propagation characteristics and applications of various bands Band Frequecy Wavelength Propagation Applications SS characteristics ELF 30-300)Hz 10-1 Mm Penetration into ‘Communication with earth and sea. Very | submarines. ’ lbw VLF 3-80 kHz, 100-10 km Surface wave upto | | Long distance point 1000 km. Sky wave | to-point inthe nightextends | communication. range. Low attenuation both during day and night. Very reliable. LF 30-300 kHz 10-1 km Surface wave and sky | Point-to-point marine wave at night. communication, time Surface wave standard frequency attenuation greater | broadcast. than VHF (Contd)Introduction to Microwaves z Band Frequecy Wavelength Propagation Applications characteristics MF 300-8000 kHz 1000-100 m Groundwave during | Broadcasting and day and in addition | marine sky wave at night. | communication. Attenuation high in daytime and low at night time. HF 3-30 MHz 100-10 m Reflection from Moderate and long ionosphere and distance varies as per time of | communication of all day. Season types. frequency. Quality. generally poor VHF 30-300 MHz 10-1 m Space wave line of _ | Television FM sight. service, aviation and police UHF 300-3000 MHz 100-10 em Same as VHF. Short distance Affected by tall communication objects, like hills including Radar. skyscrapers. SHF 3-30 GHz 10-1 em Same as VHF, UHF | Radar, microwave sufférs atmosphere | and space attenuation above communication 10 GHz EHF 30-300Hz 10-1 em Same as above (SHF) | Same as above 1.3° ADVANTAGES OF MICROWAVES ‘There are some unique advantages of microwaves over low frequencies. 1. Increased bandwidth availability Microwaves have large band widths (1 GHz — 103 GHz) compared to the commgn bands namely MW, SW and UHF waves. The advantage of large bandwidths is that the frequency range of information channels will be a small percentage of the carrier frequency and more information can be transmitted in microwave frequency ranges, Microwave region is very useful since the lower band of frequency is already crowded. Infact, microwave region (1000 GHz) contains thousand sections of the freque! and hence any one of these thousand sections may be used to transmit all the T ney band 0-109 Hz 'V, ratio and other AZ8 Microwave and Radar Engineering communications that is presently transmitted by the 0-10° Hz band. (andwidths of speech = 4 kHz; Music = 10-16 kHz, T.V. = 5-7 MHz; Telegraph channel = 120-240 Hz), i. greater bandwidth provides more room for stuff to be packed into the transmission. ie Itis current trend to use microwaves more and more in various long distance communication applications such as Telephone networks, TV network. Space communication, Telemetry, Defence, Railways etc, FM and present day digital modulation schemes also require higher bandwidth. 2. Improved directive properties As frequency increases, directivity increases and beamwidth decreases. Hence the beamwidth of radiation @ is proportional to A/D. At low frequency bands, the size (diameter) of the antenna becomes very large if itis required to get sharp beams of radiation. However, at microwave frequencies, antenna size of several wavelength lead to smaller beam- widths and an extremely directed beam, just the same way as an optical lens focusses light rays. Therefore microwave frequencies are said to possess quasi-optical properties. For example we know that for a parabolic antenna, . _ 140° ~ (DIA) where, D= diameter of antenna incm = wavelength inom B=beamwidth in degrees. ; At 30 GHz (.=1em)for 1° beam width Da n= MO x= 1400m At 300 MHz (2.= 100 em) for 1° beam iwidth p= * 100 = 140 em From above example, itis lear that antenna size is small for microwave frequencies, Power radiated is given by pyr? a(t) where, /=length Jy=ac current carried As frequency increases, 4. decreases hence power radiated and gain increases, ‘As gain (power) is inversely proportional to 2, high gain is achievable at microwave frequencies i.e. high gain and directive antennas can be designed and fabricated more easily at microwave frequencies, which is highly impracticable at lower frequency bands,Introduction to Microwaves 9 3, Fading effect and reliability Fading effect due to variation in the transmission medium is more effective at low frequency. Due to “Line of Sight” (LOS) propagation and high frequencies there is less fading effect and hence microwave communication is more reliable. 4, Power requirements ‘Transmitter/Receiver power requirements are pretty low at microwave frequencies compared to that at short wave band. 5. Transparency property of microwave Microwave frequency band ranging from 300 MHz-10 GHz are capable of freely propagating through the ionized layers surrounding the earth as well as through the atmosphere. The presence of such a transparent window in a microwave band facilitates the study of microwave radiation from the sun and stars in radio astronomical research of space. It also makes it possible for duplex communication and exchange of information between ground stations and space vehicles. 1.4. APPLICATIONS OF MICROWAVES Microwaves have a broad range of applications in modern technology. Most important among them are in long distance communication systems, radars, radio astronomy, navigation ete. Broadly the applications can be in the areas listed below. 1, Telecommunication : Intercontinental Telephone and T.V., space communication (earth- to-space and space-to-earth), telemetry communication link for railways etc. 2, Radars : Detect aircraft, track/guide supersonic missiles, observe and track weather patterns, air traffic control (ATC), burglar alarms, garage door openers, police speed detectors etc. 3. Commercial and industrial applications use heat property of microwaves. (@® Microwave oven (2.45 GHz, 600 W) (i Drying machines — textile, food and paper industry for drying clothes, potato chips, printed matter etc. (iil) Food processing industry — Precooling/cooking, pasteurising/sterility, heat frozen/ refrigerated precooled meats, roasting of food grains/beans. (v) Rubber industry/plastica/chemical/forest product industries. (© Mining/Public works, breaking rock, tunnel boring, drying/breaking up concrete, breaking up coal seams, curing of cement. (vi) Drying inks, drying/sterlising grains, drying/sterlising pharmaceuticals, drying textiles, leather, tobacco, power transmission.10 1 12 13 14 15 16 Microwave and Radar Engineering ip Bi i i for localized superficial (vii) Biomedical applications (diagnostic/therapeutic) — diathermy 1 sea Coe, heating, deep electromagnetic heating for treatment of yl ey regional or whole body for cancer therapy), electromagnetic tens re juman, ody has been wsed for monitoring of heart beat, lung water detec . Electronic warfare : ECM/ECCM (Electronic counter meas) measure) systems, spread spectrum systems. re/Electronic counter counter Identifying objects or personnel by non-contact method. or makes it possible to create a Light generated charge carriers ina microwave semiconduct« : \ phase shifters, HF generation, whole new world of microwave devices, fast jitter-free switches, tuning elements ete. REVIEW QUESTIONS What are microwaves? What hampered the early development of microwave devices ? Explain the evolution of microwaves from World War II to the present days. Name different electromagnetic frequency spectrum region and microwave band designations for CCIR/IEEE/US military bands. Enumeraté the basic advantages of microwave. Briefly list the typical application of microwaves. Q00