The Book End
Radio Receiver Design
Kevin McClaning and Tom Vito
Noble Publishing Corp.
796 pages; $89
ISBN: 1-884932-07-X
This reference book has been written by engineers, for engineers involved in the design of radio receivers and systems and can also be used by students interested in the subject. It offers detailed discussions of basic concepts, techniques and design implications in a clear language. The text is interspersed with exercises, design examples and an abundance of useful drawings and tables. Some "War Stories" describe observations by the authors of real life situations that illustrate the concepts covered. The book focuses on useful and proven concepts rather than on technology.
It is comprised of eight chapters. The introduction, Chapter 1, explains the basic terms and concepts that are used in the book. Chapter 2 is devoted to filters, covering a review of linear systems, evaluation of poles and zeros, filter types, classes, impedances and transient responses as well as their noise bandwidth. Chapter 3 describes mixers, their characteristics and frequency translation mechanisms. Image frequency, other mixing products and spurious calculations are detailed. The realizations of several types of mixers, such as single-ended, single-balanced and double-balanced mixers are provided.
Oscillators are the subject of Chapter 4, including phase noise, incidental phase and frequency modulation, and spurious considerations. Several types of oscillator realizations are described with emphasis on the phase-locked loop synthesizer and numerically controlled oscillator. Amplifiers and noise are covered in Chapter 5, including cascades. Amplifier linearity, and second- and third-order distortions are studied in Chapter 6, while Chapter 7 is dedicated to gain distribution in amplifier chains. Finally, Chapter 8 is devoted to IF selection, with practical considerations.
At the end of each chapter, the authors give a design summary for each of the components described and a reference list for further study.
An appendix provides details of Gaussian or normal statistics as they apply to noise and the cancellation and balance of cosine waves related to fading.
There is a comprehensive index at the end of the book.
To order this book, contact: Noble Publishing Corp., 630 Pinnacle Court, Norcross, GA 30071 (770) 449-6774.
Qmatch: Lumped-Element Impedance Matching Software
Pieter L. D. Abrie
Artech House Inc.
32 pages and CD-ROM; $249, £174
ISBN: 1-58053-277-2
This CD-ROM and its accompanying manual provide a program called Qmatch that synthesizes lumped-element solutions (cascade networks) to impedance-matching problems. Both the source and load terminations may be complex. The matching problem must be specified in "real frequencies" format (that is, the terminations and transducer power gain required are specified at all the frequencies of interest).
Various constraints can be imposed on the topology of the networks to be synthesized. The options provided in Qmatch are:
The number of elements to be used (two to five) must be specified.
Any one of the following options is allowed: synthesize low pass solutions, synthesize high pass solutions, synthesize networks suitable for biasing purposes, synthesize networks without any series capacitors, synthesize networks without any shunt inductors, or leave the topology unconstrained (recommended).
To use a series or a shunt element as the first element on the load side (right hand side). If less than four elements are used, it is advisable to allow both cases.
To allow or not allow resonating sections (a series or a parallel combination of a capacitor and an inductor) in the network synthesized. This option only applies to passband networks.
The synthesis algorithm used in Qmatch is based on the transformation-Q technique. A number (up to 25) of the best solutions obtained in the synthesis-based systematic search are stored internally. Up to 10 of the best solutions obtained can be displayed on the screen after synthesis.
The computer requirements are a Pentium-type processor, a Windows 95|98|NT|Me|2000™ operating system, an SVGA graphics adapter (800 x 600 resolution or better), 3 MB empty disk space and a CD-ROM drive (or access to a CD-ROM drive via a network).
To order this book, contact: Artech House Inc., 685 Canton St., Norwood, MA 02062 (781) 769-9750 ext. 4002; or 46 Gillingham St., London SW1V 1HH, UK +44 (0) 20 7596-8750.