Introduction to Antennas
— Offered by College of Engineering and the Department of Electrical Engineering —
The two Introduction to Antennas courses offered focus on the design, fabrication and measurement of microwave antennas. Save time and money by completing these courses exclusively online without the expense of travel.
Get one-on-one personal instruction from an expert and design your own antenna. This is the only online course that offers theory and software design training using the industry-leading High-Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS) simulation package. The course is ideal for electrical engineers who want to learn about antennas to gain new expertise while having no prior knowledge of the subject. Complete the course at your own pace. For example, four hours each weekend for eight weeks or complete it all in just one week.
The cost includes an electronic copy of the antenna textbook, unlimited access to HFSS during the course period, videos of lectures and notes, videos of HFSS training, videos of fabrication using a milling machine, and measurements using a network analyzer and an anechoic chamber. Upon completion of the lectures, you will be assigned a project to design and test your own antenna. Then, an experienced U of A engineer will fabricate your designed antenna, measure its performance in our lab, and send you the data and the antenna to write your final project report.
Upon successful completion of each course, participants will receive a certificate of completion. Successful course completion also unlocks access to faculty expertise and antenna fabrication facilities at reduced rates for proof-of-concept work.
NOTE - Currently, the fabrication lab is not available for the final project. The course can be successfully completed without this service.
Required: B.S. in Electrical Engineering or B.S. in Physics
If you feel you may have the background or experience to enroll in these courses but do not have the required degree, please contact tdryer@uark.edu to discuss options.
12 Weeks
40 Hours Per Course
Group discounts available: 10% discount for a group of 3 to 4 people (same company), 20% discount for a group of 5 or more people (same company). Please call 479-464-5024 for the promo code to use when enrolling. Discounts cannot be combined.
Instructor
Magda El-Shenawee, Ph.D.
Professor, Electrical Engineering
University of Arkansas
Available Now
Introduction to Antennas 1
Single Antenna
This course contains is an in-depth exploration and analysis of the basic antenna types: small dipoles, half wave dipoles, image theory, monopoles, and small loop antennas. These concepts are applied to the completion of realistic projects utilizing the commercial electromagnetic simulator package (HFSS) for antenna analysis and design. Emphasis will be on using simulation to visualize a variety of antenna radiation patterns, fabrication of antennas using a milling machine and measuring the reflection coefficient and radiation pattern of the designed antenna using the Network Analyzer.
Prerequisite
Introductory course covering electromagnetism in electrical engineering (Maxwell’s equations, electric and magnetic fields, boundary conditions) or closely related course.
Course Objectives
After completing this course, students will be able to:
- Articulate the principles of electromagnetic energy radiation in free space by antennas.
- Examine antenna fundamentals, antenna parameters, characteristics of various antenna types such as dipole antenna, monopole antenna, loop antenna, etc.
- Utilize commercial simulation software (HFSS) for antenna performance analysis.
- Design a single antenna using HFSS.
- Fabricate a single antenna to operate in microwave frequency range.
- Clarify measurements of reflection coefficient of the antenna and its radiation pattern.
- Clarify the process and function of the Network Analyzer.
Textbook
Warren L Stutzman and Gary A. Thiele, Antenna Theory and Design, 3rd edition, Wiley 1998.
Specific Topics (Chapters 1, 2, 3, 5, 11)
- Introduction of antennas concepts.
- Review of transmission line theory.
- Electromagnetic spectrum.
- Antenna characteristics (radiation pattern, directivity, gain, impedance, bandwidth, and polarization).
- EM fundamentals (quick review of Maxwell’s equations).
- Ideal dipole antenna.
- Antenna near and far field approximations.
- Radiation pattern of ideal dipole and E-and H-planes.
- Line source antenna of arbitrary length.
- Ray approximation of antenna far field.
- Radiation pattern of line source fed with uniform current.
- Half wavelength dipole and monopole antennas.
- Small loop antenna.
- Microstrip patch antennas.
- Visualization using HFSS package (recorded lab tutorial).
- Final project to design specific microstrip antenna, fabrication and measurement.
- Fabrication tutorial using milling machine (recorded lab tutorial).
- Measurements tutorial using the Network Analyzer (recorded lab tutorial).
Course Certificate
In order to receive a certificate of completion for this course, you need to submit the required reports of Project 1, Project 2 and Final Project. In the meantime, the Teaching Assistant will help you in revising your projects to achieve satisfactory reports.
$1,999
Cost includes all materials: book, HFSS software and antenna fabrication supplies
Introduction to Antennas 2
Array of Antennas
This course explores antenna arrays: array factor, uniformly excited equally spaced arrays, pattern multiplication principles, nonuniformly excited arrays, steering beam concept and phased array, as well as feeding networks of arrays. Concepts are applied to realistic projects utilizing the commercial electromagnetic simulator package (HFSS) for antenna analysis and design. Emphasis will be on using simulation to visualize a variety of antenna arrays radiation patterns, impedance matching, Floquet ports and infinite arrays, fabrication of antenna arrays using a milling machine, a nd measuring the reflection coefficient of the designed array network using the Network Analyzer.
Prerequisite
Introduction to Antennas 1
Course Objectives
After completing this course, students should be able t o learn the following:
- Examine linear and planar antenna array fundamentals such as array factor, uniformly excited equally spaced arrays, pattern multiplication principles, nonuniformly excited arrays, phased arrays.
- Describe the concept and function of an array network.
- Utilize Commercial simulation software (HFSS) for antenna array performance analysis.
- Design an antenna array using HFSS.
- Analyze antennas in communication systems.
- Fabricate an antenna array to operate in microwave frequency range.
- Conduct measurements of reflection coefficient of the antenna array and the concept, function and process of the Network Analyzer.
Textbook
Warren L Stutzman and Gary A. Thiele, Antenna Theory and Design, 3rd edition, Wiley 1998.
Specific Topics (Chapters 4, 8, 11, 13)
- Antenna array fundamentals such as array factor.
- Linear antenna array: uniformly excited equally spaced arrays.
- Complete array pattern and pattern multiplication.
- Directivity of uniformly excited equally spaced linear arrays.
- Multidimensional antenna array.
- Mutual coupling in antenna arrays.
- Array of microstrip antennas.
- Reciprocity and antenna measurements (pattern and gain).
- Antennas in free space system in communications.
- Antennas in a communication system.
- Visualization using HFSS package (recorded lab tutorial)
- Fabrication of antenna array using milling machine
- Measurements of antenna array using the Network Analyzer and anechoic chamber.
Course Certificate
In order to receive a certificate of completion for this course, you need to submit the required reports of Project 1, Project 2 and Final Project. In the meantime, the Teaching Assistant will help you in revising your projects to achieve satisfactory reports. The fabrication and measurement of your designed antenna will be conducted by the Teaching Assistant as part of your fees paid in this course.
This course is not yet available, but we can notify you when it is.