Practical Antenna Design: From Theory to Practice

Overview

The course covers the important and timely issues involving modern antenna design and theory. Developed specifically for engineers and designers who work with radar and radio communications, this workshop will give participants the understanding of antenna theory and techniques, the skills to analyse, design and measure various antennas, and the knowledge of antenna measurements.

You will have the opportunity to use industry standard software to design a practical antenna, and use equipment to conduct some antenna measurements during the course.

This course is based on the book, "Antennas: From Theory to Practice, 2nd edition" by Yi Huang and Kevin Boyle (the course tutors). This book can be used as a reference but is not required as part of the course. Full course notes are included in the standard course fee.

This is a practical course. It is filled with practical examples (including 4G/5G, mmWave, MIMO and IoT antennas), explanations, and classroom computer simulation and measurements. Anyone who works with antennas and radio propagation will understand and benefit from the material presented. No advanced mathematics are necessary.

Programme details

Course Outline

Day One

Morning: Transmission lines, Antennas and Radio Propagation (Prof Yi Huang)

  • Understand the transmission line theory and identify the advantages and limitations of various transmission lines (such as coax, micro-strip, waveguide, and CPW).

  • Review the fundamental theory of antennas and radio propagation.
  • See how a voltage/current is converted to a radio wave, and vice versa.
  • Gain a thorough understanding of the important concepts such as characteristic impedance, radiation pattern, input impedance, VSWR, bandwidth, directivity, gain, efficiency, polarisation, effective aperture, antenna temperature, near-field and far-field.
  • Characterise various radio propagation channels and find out how to link them to antennas.

Afternoon: Antenna Analysis, Design and Measurements (Prof Yi Huang)

  • Introduce antenna analysis methods and apply to a few practical examples (such as dipole, loop, helical, patch, and PIFA antennas).
  • Discuss balun and impedance-matching techniques.
  • Appreciate and compare a wide range of antennas: wire type and aperture type, narrow band and wide band, element and antenna array.
  • Demonstrate how to design an antenna with a set of given specifications using industrial standard commercial software.
  • Outline the basic theory of antenna measurements.

Day Two

Morning: Special Topics (Dr Kevin Boyle)

  • Techniques to make an antenna small for wireless LAN, IoT and Bluetooth applications.

  • Wide-band and multi-band antennas.
  • Mobile antennas, MIMO and antenna diversity.
  • Reconfigurable antennas.
  • Practical consideration in designing antennas for wireless communications (such as the interaction between mobile antenna and human body).

Afternoon: Practical Session on Antenna Design and Measurements (Prof Yi Huang, Dr Kevin Boyle)

  • Learn how to use some commercial software packages (EZNEC, HFSS, CST-MS) to design various antennas.
  • Understand the theory, advantages and limitations of these packages.
  • Use network analyser to measure antennas parameters.
  • Identify the possible source of errors.
  • Develop necessary skills for antenna design and measurements.

Attending Your Course 

Further details will be emailed to you two weeks ahead of your course, which will include registration information. 

Please get in touch if you have not received this information within five working days of the course start date.  

In the meantime, you may wish to plan your travel: Travel information

Certification

Participants who attend the full course will receive a University of Oxford certificate of attendance. This will be presented to you prior to the end of the course wherever possible.

The certificate will show your name, the course title and the dates of the course you attended.

Fees

Description Costs
Standard course fee £985.00

Payment

Fees include course materials, tuition, refreshments and lunches. The price does not include accommodation.

All courses are VAT exempt.

Register immediately online 

Click the “book now” button on this webpage. Payment by credit or debit card is required.

Request an invoice

If you require an invoice for your company or personal records, please contact the course administration team. 
Payment is accepted online, by credit/debit card, or by bank transfer. Please do not send card or bank details via email.

Tutors

Dr Kevin Boyle

Speaker

Antenna Systems Architect,
Qualcomm

Kevin R. Boyle received a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from City University, London in 1989, a M.Sc. (with distinction) in Microwaves and Optoelectronics from University College, London in 1997 and the Doctor of Technology degree from Delft University of Technology in 2004.

He was with Marconi Communications Systems Ltd., Chelmsford, England until to 1997, working on all aspects of antenna system design. He joined Philips Research Laboratories, Redhill, England in 1997 (which became NXP Semiconductors Research in 2006) where he was a Principal Research Scientist and a Project Leader for antenna and propagation related activities.

In 2008 he joined EPCOS working as an Antenna Systems Architect. His areas of interest include antenna design for mobile communication systems, adaptive RF systems, diversity, propagation modelling and related areas of mobile system design. He now works at Qualcomm.

Dr. Boyle has actively participated in COST 259 and COST 273, is a member of the IEE and a Chartered Engineer. He has published more than twenty papers in refereed international journals and conferences, has contributed to two books and holds fifteen patents.

Professor Yi Huang

Speaker

Professor of Wireless Engineering
BSc (Wuhan), MSc (Nanjing), DPhil (Oxford), FIEEE, FIET, CEng
Department of Electrical Engineering & Electronics
University of Liverpool

Yi received BSc in Physics (Wuhan, China), MSc (Eng) in Microwave Engineering (Nanjing, China), and DPhil in Communications and Electromagnetics from the University of Oxford, UK in 1994.

His research interest has been in the areas of radio communications, applied electromagnetics, radar, antennas and radio propagation.

His experience includes 3 years spent with NRIET (Nanjing, China) as a Radar Engineer and various periods with the Universities of Birmingham, Oxford, and Essex at the UK as a member of research staff. He worked as a Research Fellow at British Telecom Labs in 1994, and then joined the Department of Electrical Engineering & Electronics, the University of Liverpool, UK as a Faculty in 1995, where he is now the Head of High Frequency Engineering Research Group and MSc Programme Director.

Prof Huang has published over 300 refereed papers in leading international journals and conference proceedings, and is the principal author of the popular book Antennas: from Theory to Practice (John Wiley, 2008).

He has received many research grants from research councils, government agencies, charity, EU and industry, acted as a consultant to various companies, and served on a number of national and international technical committees (e.g. EPSRC) and been an Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editor or Guest Editor of four international journals.

He has been a keynote/invited speaker and organiser of many conferences and workshops (e.g. IEEE iWAT 2010, WiCom 2010, LAPC 2012 and EuCAP2018). He was the Leader of Focus Area D of European COST-IC0603 (Antennas and Sensors) and is the UK and Ireland delegate to EurAAP (2016-2020), a Senior Member of IEEE, and a Fellow of IET. Yi has recently been selected as a Distinguished Lecturer by the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society.

Application

If you would like to discuss your application or any part of the application process before applying, please click Contact Us at the top of this page.

Level and demands

This course is suitable for:

  • Antenna engineers.
  • Wireless and radar system architects.
  • EMC specialists.
  • Technicians.
  • Wireless communication professionals.
  • Applications and test engineers.
  • Anyone who works with radio waves (20MHz to 20GHz and beyond).

If you're uncertain whether this course is suitable for your requirements, please email us with any questions you may have.

Accommodation

Although not included in the course fee, accommodation may be available at our on-site Rewley House Residential Centre. All bedrooms are en suite and decorated to a high standard, and come with tea- and coffee-making facilities, free Wi-Fi access and Freeview TV. Guests can take advantage of the excellent dining facilities and common room bar, where they may relax and network with others on the programme.

To check prices, availability and to book rooms please visit the Rewley House Residential Centre website.