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How to Specify an RF Antenna
RF Antenna Operation, Design, Selection,
Testing, and Verification
All RF, microwave, millimeter-wave
(mmWave), and terahertz-wave
technologies that send or receive
signals need one key component
that can make or break the
entire system: the RF antenna.
Unoptimized antenna design or
selection can render an entire RF
system completely non-functional
and even dangerous, regardless
of the quality of the design and
fabrication of the system. RF
antenna design and selection
are sometimes considered
separately from RF system design.
This often leaves design teams
either struggling at the end of
a design cycle to develop an
antenna that can achieve system
performance goals or contracting
other manufacturers to take on
the burden of antenna design.
In some instances, a system may
be designed to accept generic
antennas while sacrificing some
performance for versatility with
antenna selection. Whatever
the case, selecting or designing
an appropriate RF antenna for
an RF system is as pivotal to
overall system performance
as selecting other major
components, such as amplifiers,
mixers, filters, and frequency
synthesizers and generators.
When specifying an optimized
antenna for a given application,
designers must carefully consider
the system's performance
criteria, materials, and
environmental constraints.
Additionally, most regions,
governments, and industries
require rigorous certification
and compliance testing of new
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