Microwave and

Radar Engineering
Ann Mary N
Assistant Professor
Dept. of ECE
SNMIMT
 Electromagnetic Waves
• Transverse waves without a medium!
• (They can travel through empty space)
• They travel as vibrations in
electrical and magnetic fields.
– Have some magnetic and some
electrical properties to them.
When an electric field changes, so does the
magnetic field. The changing magnetic field
causes the electric field to change. When one
field vibrates—so does the other.

RESULT-An electromagnetic wave.

 Electromagnetic waves travel VERY
FAST – around 300,000
kilometres per second (the speed
of light).
At this speed they
can go around the
world 8 times in one
second.
Electromagnetic Spectrum—name for the
range of electromagnetic waves when
placed in order of increasing frequency

ULTRAVIOLET GAMMA
RADIO INFRARED
RAYS RAYS
WAVES RAYS
MICROWAVES X-RAYS
VISIBLE LIGHT
 Notice the wavelength is
long (Radio waves) and gets shorter (Gamma Rays)
 MICROWAVES

Have the
shortest
wavelengths and
the highest
frequency of
the radio
waves.
 Microwaves

Microwaves are the electromagnetic waves with

wavelengths ranging from as long as a few
centimeter to as short as one millimeter and
with frequencies ranging from 1GHz to 1000
GHz.
Microwaves include the entire SHF band (3 to 30
GHz).
Microwave Frequency Bands

As already mentioned ,microwave is an

electromagnetic wave ranging from
approximately 1GHz in frequency, but older usage
includes lower frequencies . Most common
applications are within the range 1 to 40GHz.
Letter Designation Frequency Range
L band 1 to 2 GHz

S band 2 to 4 GHz

C band 4 to 8 GHz

X band 8 to 12 GHz

Ku band 12 to 18 GHz

K band 18 to 26.5 GHz

Ka band 26.5 to 40 GHz

Millimeter (mm) 40 to 300 GHz

Sub –Millimeter 300 to above (GHz)

 Classification of Microwaves on the basis of
Frequency bands

1. L-band: L-band (20-cm radar long band) is a portion of the

microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum ranging
roughly from 0.39 to 1.55 GHz. It is used by some
communication satellite and by terrestrial.
2. S-band: S-band or 10 cm. radar short band, is the part of
microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum ranging
roughly from 1.55 to 5.2 GHz. It is used by weather radar
and some communication satellites
3. C-band: C-band (“ Compromise” band) is a portion of
electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of
frequencies ranging from 4 to 6 GHz.
4. X-band: The X-band (3 cm radar spot band) of the
microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum
roughly ranges from 5.2 to 10.9 GHz. It is used by
some communication satellite and X-band radar.
5. Ku-band: The Ku-band (Kurz-under band) is a portion
of electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range
of frequency range 11 to 18 GHz. It’s primarily used
for satellite communication.
6. K-band: It is a portion of the EM wave spectrum in
the microwave range of frequency range between 12
to 40 GHz. The K comes from Kurz. K-band between
18 to 26.5GHz is absorbed easily by water vapour.
7. Ka-band: The Ka-band ( Kurz-above band is a portion
of the K-band) of the microwave band of the
electromagnetic spectrum. Ka-band roughly ranges
from 18 to 40 GHz.
 Applications Of Microwaves

1.Communication :
Microwaves is used in broadcasting and Telecom.
transmisssion, due to their short wavelength,
highly directional antennas are smaller . Mobile
phone networks, like GSM, use the low
microwave/UHF frequencies around 1.8 and
1.9GHz .
Microwaves are used in television signal to transmit a
signal from a remote location to a television station
from a specially equipped van.
Microwave are used for comm. from one point to
another via satellite.
Satellite TV either operates in the C band for the
traditional large dish fixed satellite service or Ku band
for direct –broadcast satellite.
2. Remote Sensing :
The most important application of remote sensing is
RADAR, that uses a transmitter to illuminate an
object and a receiver to detect its position and
velocity.
Another class of remote sensing is radio astronomy .It
is a sub-class of astronomy that studies celestial
objects at radio frequencies.
3.Heating Application

Baking :
The heating property of microwaves are used for
baking, cooking using microwave oven. In
microwave oven ,the food is heated directly by
microwave radiations without heating the
container. The cooking time very small as
compare to conventional heating
Used in microwave
ovens.
• Waves transfer
energy to the
water in the food
causing them to
vibrate which in
turn transfers
energy in the
form of heat to
the food.
Concentrating :
Permits concentration of heat sensitive solution and
slurries at relatively low temperatures. Also
applicable to highly corrosive or viscous solutions
Drying :
microwaves are used for drying the solids. Drying is
uniform throughout the product moisture present in
the product is evaporated out .Drying is at relatively
low temp.
Enzyme Inactivation :
The enzyme inactivation can be achieved by rapid
and uniform heating which can control and
terminate enzyme reactions.
Precooking :
Microwaves are ideal for precooking the food items
because there is no overcooking of the surface and
cooking losses are negligible i.e is nutrients in the
food are not lost.
 Cavity Resonators

metallic enclosure that confines the electromagnetic

Energy