How to become a RF System engineer?

RF SYSTEM

Hi all,
i am new grad student and i am trying to be an RF System engineer. can someone give me some advise? Thanks.
PS: i toke some Analog, RF and MW circuit design.

Re: RF SYSTEM

Take a couple of communication's theory classes to understand the difference between modulation types (QAM, QPSK, OFDM, etc).
Take a signal processing class to understand how digital signal processing works. This way you can make an intelligent trade-off between analog and digital circuit blocks. Know the Fris Equation by heart. Read Thesis and dissertations that talk about designing single chip receivers and transmitters. Read incessantly about RF Systems, and practice what you have learned.

Dave

Re: RF SYSTEM

To be an RF System Engineer you have to be very familiar with all RF circuit blocks (LNA, Mixer, IF amplifier, IQ demod/mod, PA, Antenna, etc), but also you have to have knowledge about interactions between RF circuits and Digital circuits (A/D and D/A converters, DSP, microcontrollers, etc).
RF System Engineer has to know how to do the characterization of each RF circuit block, or for multiple blocks working together.
From my opinion a good RF System Engineer shall be a good RF Circuit Designer before.

Re: RF SYSTEM

Hi

read this book Practical RF System Design it will be very helpfull

Re: RF SYSTEM

it is not easy to became a rf system engineer,the practical experience is important,so take part in more practical rf engineering,such as mobile system of 2G,3G

Re: RF SYSTEM

How long does it take to be a good RF system engineer?
Most of us are familiar to only one componet,such as antenna,T/R,etc

Re: RF SYSTEM

To become a good RF systems designer you really need to master the design of both receivers, transmitters, antennas and propagation.

Not down to every nut and bolt but you should really have a very good understanding of how nosie and non-linearity do affect the system. The problem is that most books are either too focused on one part, digging very deep and others are far to broad and only skimming, leaving all details. My advide is to start concentrate on one part first i.e. receivers. "Introduction to RF Design" (byW. Hayward) does have nice chapters on how to analyze receivers and transmitters as a starter.

Some key-words that you should really be familar with are:
Noise, intermodulation, dynamic range, phase noise, spurious signals, path loss.

Once you do fully understand these basics you will also understand how to optimize a RF system!

The beauty of RF is that there is always new things to be learned

Good Luck!

/WebDog