ECE 473Radio Frequency and Microwave Circuits
- Faculty
- Engineering
- Last listed
- Spring 2022
No longer offered. It was in Waterloo’s course catalog since at least Winter 2020 (as far back as Open Data goes) to Spring 2022. It isn’t in the 2024–25 or later calendars.
In the course catalog from Winter 2020 to Spring 2022; Open Data has no classes for it in that time.
Review of transmission line and scattering matrix representation of radiofrequency (RF) circuits, multiport RF networks, modern RF and microwave planar technology, lumped and distributed microstrip circuits, microwave couplers, Hybrids, resonators, filters, Low-noise amplifiers (LNAs), RF oscillators and mixers, CAD tools for RF circuits, Hybrid and monolithic RF circuits. [Offered: S]
Requirements, as last listed
Prereq: ECE 375 and (ECE 206 or MATH 212); Level at least 4A Computer Engineering or Electrical Engineering. Antireq: ECE 373
In today’s calendar
- ECE 373 lists it as an antirequisite
Reviewed on UW Flow
86% liked it71% easy93% useful
From 14 ratings and 3 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.
Nice course, but we did not have enough time to cover all topics.
Nov 2017 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this
Good Microwave 101 course. Useful in terms of interview questions. No difficulty if understand all concepts. In general, 473 is like a tutorial for 432 which is way more harder. It is a must if you want to get into RF.
Jul 2015 · didn’t like itOn UW FlowRemove this
Interesting and Useful Course
Jul 2014 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this
Discussed on r/uwaterloo
10 posts and comments in 10 threads mention ECE 473, June 2016 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.
Spring 2021
Any suggestion between ECE 373 and ECE 360 1 point, 7 comments
“Hi, for the 3B ECE course selection, does anyone have suggestions between ECE 373 and ECE 360? Ramadan El Shatshat \-360 Raafat Mansour \- 373 Thanks for reply!”
u/Plane_Razzmatazz_143: “… ECE 373 comes from ECE 473 actually. It is also a very interesting course if you are into RF. It continues from the introductory RF course would have taken. The materials discussed in this course is pretty crucial knowledge if you see yourself in the RF field. …”
Fall 2020
Macbook for ECE? 0 points, 9 comments
“Am I good to buy a MacBook for ECE or will it cause issues? My main concern is that it won't be able to run a lot of applications. …”
u/realbrokenlantern: “Many of my friends have a mac and it hasn't made them any less productive.”
u/Frozen-Penis: “… ECE 475 used ANSYS HFSS, ECE 473 used keysight ADS and ECE 474 used keysight systemvue. That said ADS and systemvue were available in ECE computer labs (E2 second floor) but HFSS had to be run on your own machine. …”
Spring 2019
Unpopular Opinion: ECE 4A is 10x harder than ECE 2A ever was. 24 points, 11 comments
“fuck my life”
u/Oldshantster: “What courses did you take?”
u/ezemasterrace: “ECE 432, ECE 473, ECE 429, ENGL 108P, and of course fydp. Admittedly, these aren't easy courses, because I chose them out of interest rather than out of difficulty. …”
Winter 2019
Technical Electives for PCB Design? 6 points, 2 comments
“Going into 4A and want to know which TEs are best for PCB design.”
u/Frozen-Penis: “FYDP I don't know of any course where you design a PCB, but for the ECE 473 project you have a generic layout where you pick the components and solder them yourself”
Fall 2017
Thoughts on taking engineering grad course as an undergrad engineering student? 7 points, 9 comments
“Wondering how realistic it is to take a grad course as an elective with a normal undergrad engineering course load.”
u/EngSciGuy: “… Just take ECE 473 instead of ECE 671 (both microwave engineering). Though if wanting to take something like Stochastic Processes or some of the fab/nano/quantum stuff it could be worth it. It can be a bit heavier of a work load though so keep that in mind. …”
Spring 2017
Has anyone taken ECE 473 - RF and Microwave Circuits with Slim Boumaiza before? What was your experience like? 1 point, 3 comments
u/RandoBankingQuestion: “And if you remember anything about the labs, assignments, midterm, or final, how were they?”
Winter 2017
Has anyone taken ECE 473 - RF and Microwave Circuits with Raafat Mansour before? What was your experience like? 6 points, 6 comments
u/RandoBankingQuestion: “And if you remember anything about the labs, assignments, midterm, or final, how were they?”
Easiest ECE Technical Electives 10 points, 19 comments
“Hello. I have seen many upper year ECE guys post here. Can someone recommend me the easiest technical electives they have taken. I need to not fail out 4th year :(”
u/bursilym: “ECE 473, ECE 462, ECE 486 from electrical side.”
Fall 2016
Are there any fun labs in ECE? 3 points, 17 comments
“I found the ECE 124 and even the 106 labs to be kinda fun. My friends from other schools (but more importantly other faculties) have some really cool and interesting labs, which makes me wonder if …”
u/asbiz: “All of 242 was "fun" (but a lot of work). The power labs (3rd/4th year) were also pretty good, you get to use the high voltage stuff in CPH. Edit: My favorites were the RF labs in 4th year (ECE473 & 474).”
Spring 2016
What is your biggest uwaterloo related regret? 22 points, 92 comments
“Given that this sub is full of throwaways as is, I figured I'd ask this question.”
u/Frozen-Placenta: “Going to UW. I don't really care about co-op and the EE program here is trash. Just because it is more difficult than other schools doesn't make it any better. …”
u/Ninboycl: “Not tru they make you solder in ECE473!”
Check it elsewhere
- Undergraduate Calendar, 2021–22Its last calendar entry, on uwloo
- Course outlinesSyllabi from past terms (UW login)
- UW FlowStudent ratings and reviews
- WClassesPast sections back to 2004, and who taught them
In the scanned calendars
How it read in each calendar from 1970–71 to 1994–95, newest first. The text is OCR of the scanned pages; years whose wording matches are shown once, from the clearest scan. Each year links to its page on uwloo and to that page of the scanned PDF.
1991–92 to 1994–95 4 calendars
The theory and practice of microwave engineering, transmission line theory and scattering matrices; waveguides and cavities; microstrip lines, directional couplers and other microstrip components; computer aided design of microwave integrated circuits; Butterworth and Chebyshev filters, frequency transformations, side coupled microstrip filters and coupled waveguide cavity filters; microwave system considerations for communications.
Every third week.
Prereq: E&CE 371 or equivalent
1990–91 1 calendar
Review of Maxwell's equations, rectangular and circular waveguides, microwave circuits, scattering matrix theory, microwave filters, simple waveguide discontinuities, klystrons and magnetrons. Prereq: E&CE 371 or equivalent Every third week.
Not in the 1977–78 to 1989–90 calendars.
1970–71 to 1976–77 7 calendars
Rectangular and circular waveguides; simple waveguide discontinuity; periodic transmission systems; microwave scattering theory; ferrite components; klystrons; travelling-wave amplifiers; backward-wave oscillator; magnetron; solid-state microwave devices. Prerequisite: EE372 or equivalent. 2 hours lectures, 3 hours laboratory every 3rd week, I hour tutorial, one term.