Engineering Services

High-power solid-state RF amplifiers for scientific and broadcast transmitter applications, designed from concept through to a tested prototype. The work covers the amplifier itself together with the matching networks, filters and power combiners that surround it.

• Solid-state RF amplifier design for scientific and broadcast transmitter applications
• Linear and switched-mode SSA up to 1.5 MW output power, up to 1 GHz
• Design of matching circuits, filters and power splitters/combiners
• Concept evaluation, simulation, commissioning and testing of prototypes
• RF circuit simulation with AWR Microwave Office and CST Microwave Studio

From a miniature printed antenna that has to fit inside a very small enclosure to a dual-polarised base station array. I have designed both, and the interesting engineering is nearly always in the integration rather than in the antenna in isolation.

• Miniature PCB antennas for 2.4 GHz BLE, 1.9 GHz DECT and 802.15.4
• Stacked patch and broadband array design for cellular base stations
• Integration into constrained enclosures - ground plane, housing and user effects
• Coupled split-ring resonator structures (subject of US Patent 10,374,318 B2)
• Matching network design and tuning against the real assembled product

Full-wave 3D simulation as a design tool, not a decoration. The primary tool is CST Microwave Studio, with ADS Momentum and AWR Microwave Office as required by your existing flow.

• Antenna and structure simulation in CST Microwave Studio
• QFN and BGA package electromagnetic modeling including PCB effects
• Bond wire, via and transition modeling for package-to-board interfaces
• Co-simulation of EM structures with circuit schematics in ADS
• Correlation of simulated results against measured hardware

The unglamorous components between the silicon and the antenna, which is where a surprising share of radio performance is won or lost.

• Passive filters and diplexers
• Baluns and broadband transformers
• Power splitters and combiners
• Broadband impedance adaptation networks
• Matching networks for real, tolerance-bearing components

New silicon bring-up and product characterisation using the full RF bench. This was the core of my work at Dialog Semiconductor across several BLE and DECT product generations.

• Block-level and system-level RF characterisation of new silicon
• Load-pull and source-pull using Maury Microwave automated tuners and IVCAD
• Vector network and spectrum analyser measurement campaigns
• Radiation pattern measurement in far-field anechoic chambers
• Antenna efficiency, TRP and TIS measurement in reverberation chambers

Measurement that is repeatable by someone other than the person who set it up, and results written down in a form your team can act on.

• Measurement automation in LabVIEW and Python
• Schematic and PCB design review for RF sections
• Customer application support and design-in assistance
• Application notes, characterisation reports and design documentation
• Review of marketing specifications against engineering feasibility