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EM Fields, Antenna and Microwaves ����As a result of the growth of microwave technology and its applications, and especially with the rapid development of wireless communications in recent years, professionals who are working in the areas of microwaves as well as communication engineering are all faced with the need to understand the theoretical and experimental aspects of microwave devices and circuits, and the design of antennas. Text Part I: Electromagnetic Field ����The electromagnetic field is a physical field produced by electrically charged objects. It affects the behavior of charged objects in the vicinity of the field. The electromagnetic field extends indefinitely throughout space and describes the electromagnetic interaction. It is one of the four fundamental forces in the nature (the others are gravitation, the weak interaction, and the strong interaction). ����The field can be viewed as the combination of an electric field and a magnetic field. The electric field is produced by stationary charges, and the magnetic field by moving charges (currents); these two are often described as the sources of the field. The way in which charges and currents interact with the electromagnetic field is described by Maxwell��s equations and the Lorentz force law. ����From a classical point of view, the electromagnetic field can be regarded as a smooth, continuous field, propagated in a wavelike manner, whereas from a quantum mechanical point of view, the field can be viewed as being composed of photons. ����Structure of the electromagnetic field ����The electromagnetic field may be viewed in two distinct ways. ����Continuous structure: Classically, electric and magnetic fields are thought of as being produced by smooth motions of charged objects. For example, oscillating charges produce electric and magnetic fields that may be viewed in a ��smooth��, continuous, wavelike manner. In this case, energy is viewed as being transferred continuously through the electromagnetic field between any two locations. For instance, the metal atoms in a radio transmitter appear to transfer energy continuously. This view is useful to a certain extent (radiation of low frequency), but problems are found at high frequencies (see ultraviolet catastrophe). This problem leads to another view. ����Discrete structure: The electromagnetic field may be thought of in a more ��coarse�� way. Experiments reveal that electromagnetic energy transfer is better described as being carried away in photons with a fixed frequency. Planck��s relation links the energy E of a photon to its frequency ? through the equation: E = h ? where h is Planck��s constant, named in honor of Max Planck, and ? is the frequency of the photon. For example, in the photoelectric effect��the emission of electrons from metallic surfaces by electromagnetic radiation��it is found that increasing the intensity of the incident radiation has no effect, and that only the frequency of the radiation is relevant in ejecting electrons.1 ����This quantum picture of the electromagnetic field has proved very successful, giving rise to quantum electrodynamics, a quantum field theory describing the interaction of electromagnetic radiation with charged matter. ����Dynamics of the electromagnetic field ����In the past, electrically charged objects were thought to produce two types of field associated with their charge property. An electric field is produced when the charge is stationary with respect to an observer measuring the properties of the charge and a magnetic field (as well as an electric field) is produced when the charge moves (creating an electric current) with respect to this observer. Over time, it was realized that the electric and magnetic fields are better thought of as two parts of a greater whole��the electromagnetic field.2 ����Once this electromagnetic field has been produced from a given charge distribution, other charged objects in this field will experience a force (in a similar way that planets experience a force in the gravitational field of the Sun). If these other charges and currents are comparable in size to the sources producing the above electromagnetic field, then a new net electromagnetic field will be produced.3 Thus, the electromagnetic field may be viewed as a dynamic entity that causes other charges and currents to move, and which is also affected by them. These interactions are described by Maxwell��s equations and the Lorentz force law. Part ��: Microstrip Antenna ����In telecommunication, there are several types of microstrip antennas (also known as printed antennas) the most common of which is the microstrip patch antenna or patch antenna. A patch antenna is a narrowband, wide-beam antenna fabricated by etching the antenna element pattern in metal trace bonded to an insulating dielectric substrate with a continuous metal layer bonded to the opposite side of the substrate which forms a ground plane.1 Common microstrip antenna radiator shapes are square, rectangular, circular and elliptical, but any continuous shape is possible. Some patch antennas eschew a dielectric substrate and suspend a metal patch in air above a ground plane using dielectric spacers; the resulting structure is less robust but provides better bandwidth. Because such antennas have a very low profile, are mechanically rugged and can be conformable, they are often mounted on the exterior of aircraft and spacecraft, or are incorporated into mobile radio communications devices.2 ����Microstrip antennas are also relatively inexpensive to manufacture and design because of the simple 2-dimensional physical geometry. They are usually employed at UHF and higher frequencies because the size of the antenna is directly tied to the wavelength at the resonant frequency. A single patch antenna provides a maximum directive gain of around 6��9 dBi. It is relatively easy to print an array of patches on a single (large) substrate using lithographic techniques. Patch arrays can provide much higher gains than a single patch at little additional cost; matching and phase adjustment can be performed with printed microstrip feed structures, again in the same operations that form the radiating patches. The ability to create high gain arrays in a low-profile antenna is one reason that patch arrays are common on airplanes and in other military applications.