Short courses

The following short courses will be presented at ICEAA 2012. Short courses will not run in parallel with each other or with conference sessions and will be scheduled during 3-7 September.

Short course 1 (half-day)

Balun Designs for RF and Microwave Applications

Presented by Prof. Johannes Cloete, Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, University of Stellenbosch

A wide selection of important physical topologies is presented with emphasis on baluns for antennas. Many of the topologies are also useful in amplifiers and oscillators.

The balun equivalent circuits are developed to exhibit fundamental principles – such as symmetry and shielding – which underpin the balance to unbalance transition and isolation mechanisms. Design methodologies are presented to meet balance, impedance matching and efficiency bandwidth specifications.

Physical examples are exhibited of baluns for resonant antennas such as the circularly polarized turnstile; multi-octave bandwidth LPD and sinuous antennas; and frequency independent equiangular and Archimedes spiral antennas with absorbing cavities.

A complete list of key references for all the topologies is given, including some which are obscure or forgotten in the modern literature.



Short course 2 (half-day)

Practical Aspects of EMC for Engineers

Presented by Prof. Christos Christopoulos, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Nottingham

This is an introductory level short course covering practical issues in EMC design. The treatment will suit EMC practitioners and also those who are relatively new to the field. Mathematical analysis is kept to a minimum and therefore the material is accessible to a wide range of people. Topics to be covered include:

  • Introduction to EMC
  • EMI Sources, coupling paths and effects of EMI
  • Practical issues in EMC design (stray components, differential- and common-mode currents, radiation and cross-talk, pulse rise-time and bandwidth, shielding segregation and grounding etc)
  • EMC measurements and standards
  • Relation of EMC to Signal Integrity
  • Conclusions and suggestions for self study