a.
Definition
Microwaves are a form of electromagnetic
radiation with wavelengths ranging from one meter to one millimeter;
with frequencies between 300 MHz (100 cm) and 300 GHz (0.1 cm). This
broad definition includes both UHF and EHF (millimeter waves), and various
sources use different boundaries. In all cases, microwave includes the
entire SHF band (3 to 30 GHz, or 10 to 1 cm) at minimum, with RF
engineeringoften restricting the range between 1 and 100 GHz (300 and
3 mm).
The prefix micro- in microwave is not meant to suggest a wavelength in
the micrometer range. It indicates that microwaves are "small", compared to
waves used in typical radio broadcasting, in that they have shorter
wavelengths. The boundaries between far infrared, terahertz radiation,
microwaves, and ultra-high-frequency radio waves are fairly arbitrary and are
used variously between different fields of study.
Beginning at about 40 GHz, the atmosphere becomes less transparent to
microwaves, at lower frequencies to absorption from water vapor and at
higher frequencies from oxygen. A spectral band structure causes absorption
peaks at specific frequencies (see graph at right). Above 100 GHz, the
absorption of electromagnetic radiation by Earth's atmosphere is so great that
it is in effect opaque, until the atmosphere becomes transparent again in the
so-called infrared and optical window frequency ranges.
The term microwave also has a more technical meaning
in electromagnetics and circuit theory. Apparatus and techniques may be
described qualitatively as "microwave" when the frequencies used are high
enough that wavelengths of signals are roughly the same as the dimensions of
the equipment, so that lumped-element circuit theory is inaccurate. As a
consequence, practical microwave technique tends to move away from the
discrete resistors, capacitors, and inductors used with lower-frequency radio
waves. Instead, distributed circuit elements and transmission-line theory are
more useful methods for design and analysis. Open-wire and
coaxial transmission lines used at lower frequencies are replaced
by waveguides and stripline, and lumped-element tuned circuits are replaced
by cavity resonatorsor resonant lines. In turn, at even higher frequencies,
where the wavelength of the electromagnetic waves becomes small in
comparison to the size of the structures used to process them, microwave
techniques become inadequate, and the methods of optics are used.
b. Microwaves Sources
There are 2 kind of microwave sources:
1. High-power microwave sources use specialized vacuum tubes to generate
microwaves. These devices operate on different principles from low-
frequency vacuum tubes, using the ballistic motion of electrons in a
vacuum under the influence of controlling electric or magnetic fields, and
include the magnetron (used in microwave ovens), klystron,traveling-wave
tube (TWT), and gyrotron. These devices work in the density modulated
mode, rather than the currentmodulated mode. This means that they work
on the basis of clumps of electrons flying ballistically through them, rather
than using a continuous stream of electrons.
2. Low-power microwave sources use solid-state devices such as the field-
effect transistor (at least at lower frequencies),tunnel diodes, Gunn diodes,
and IMPATT diodes. Low-power sources are available as benchtop
instruments, rackmount instruments, embeddable modules and in card-
level formats. A maser is a solid state device which amplifies microwaves
using similar principles to the laser, which amplifies higher frequency
light waves.
All warm objects emit low level microwave black-body radiation,
depending on their temperature, so in meteorology andremote
sensing microwave radiometers are used to measure the temperature of
objects or terrain. The sun and other astronomical radio sources such
as Cassiopeia A emit low level microwave radiation which carries
information about their makeup, which is studied by radio
astronomersusing receivers called radio telescopes. The cosmic microwave
background radiation (CMBR), for example, is a weak microwave noise
filling empty space which is a major source of information
on cosmology's Big Bang theory of the origin of the Universe.
c. Microwave Uses
Microwave technology is extensively used for point-to-point
telecommunications (i.e. non-broadcast uses). Microwaves are especially
suitable for this use since they are more easily focused into narrower beams
than radio waves, allowing frequency reuse; their comparatively higher
frequencies allow broad bandwidth and high data transmission rates, and
antenna sizes are smaller than at lower frequencies because antenna size is
inversely proportional to transmitted frequency. Microwaves are used in
spacecraft communication, and much of the world's data, TV, and telephone
communications are transmitted long distances by microwaves between
ground stations and communications satellites. Microwaves are also employed
in microwave ovens and in radar technology.
1. Communication
Before the advent of fiber-optic transmission, most long-
distance telephone calls were carried via networks of microwave radio
relay links run by carriers such as AT&T Long Lines. Starting in the early
1950s, frequency division multiplex was used to send up to 5,400
telephone channels on each microwave radio channel, with as many as ten
radio channels combined into one antenna for the hop to the next site, up
to 70 km away.
Wireless LAN protocols, such as Bluetooth and
the IEEE 802.11 specifications used for Wi-Fi, also use microwaves in the
2.4 GHz ISM band, although 802.11a uses ISM bandand U-
NII frequencies in the 5 GHz range. Licensed long-range (up to about
25 km) Wireless Internet Access services have been used for almost a
decade in many countries in the 3.54.0 GHz range. The FCC
recently[when?] carved out spectrum for carriers that wish to offer services in
this range in the U.S. with emphasis on 3.65 GHz. Dozens of service
providers across the country are securing or have already received licenses
from the FCC to operate in this band. The WIMAX service offerings that
can be carried on the 3.65 GHz band will give business customers another
option for connectivity.
Metropolitan area network (MAN) protocols, such
as WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) are based
on standards such as IEEE 802.16, designed to operate between 2 and
11 GHz. Commercial implementations are in the 2.3 GHz, 2.5 GHz,
3.5 GHz and 5.8 GHz ranges.
Mobile Broadband Wireless Access (MBWA) protocols based on
standards specifications such as IEEE 802.20 or ATIS/ANSI HC-
SDMA (such as iBurst) operate between 1.6 and 2.3 GHz to give mobility
and in-building penetration characteristics similar to mobile phones but
with vastly greater spectral efficiency.
Some mobile phone networks, like GSM, use the low-microwave/high-
UHF frequencies around 1.8 and 1.9 GHz in the Americas and elsewhere,
respectively. DVB-SH and S-DMBuse 1.452 to 1.492 GHz, while
proprietary/incompatible satellite radio in the U.S. uses around 2.3 GHz
for DARS.
Microwave radio is used
in broadcasting and telecommunication transmissions because, due to their
short wavelength, highly directional antennas are smaller and therefore
more practical than they would be at longer wavelengths (lower
frequencies). There is also more bandwidth in the microwave spectrum
than in the rest of the radio spectrum; the usable bandwidth below
300 MHz is less than 300 MHz while many GHz can be used above
300 MHz. Typically, microwaves are used in television news to transmit a
signal from a remote location to a television station from a specially
equipped van. See broadcast auxiliary service (BAS), remote pickup
unit (RPU), and studio/transmitter link (STL).
Most satellite communications systems operate in the C, X, Ka, or
Ku bands of the microwave spectrum. These frequencies allow large
bandwidth while avoiding the crowded UHF frequencies and staying
below the atmospheric absorption of EHF frequencies. Satellite TV either
operates in the C band for the traditional large dish fixed satellite serviceor
Ku band for direct-broadcast satellite. Military communications run
primarily over X or Ku-band links, with Ka band being used for Milstar.
2. Navigation
Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) including the
Chinese Beidou, the American Global Positioning System((introduced in
1978)GPS) and the Russian GLONASSbroadcast navigational signals in
various bands between about 1.2 GHz and 1.6 GHz.
3. Radar
Radar uses microwave radiation to detect the range, speed, and other
characteristics of remote objects. Development of radar was accelerated
during World War II due to its great military utility. Now radar is widely
used for applications such as air traffic control, weather forecasting,
navigation of ships, and speed limit enforcement.
Microwaves cannot be carried with usable efficiency in
ordinary transmission lines but require waveguide, such as a metal pipe.
A Gunn diode oscillator and waveguide are used as a motion detector
for automatic door openers.
4. Radio Astronomy
Most radio astronomy uses microwaves. Usually the naturally-
occurring microwave radiation is observed, but active radar experiments
have also been done with objects in the solar system, such as determining
the distance to the Moon or mapping the invisible surface
of Venus through cloud cover.
The Atacama Large Millimeter Array, located at more than 5,000
meters (16,597 ft) altitude in Chile, observes the universe in themillimetre
and submillimetre wavelength ranges. The world's largest ground-based
astronomy project to date consists of more than 66 dishes and was built in
an international collaboration by Europe, North America, East Asia and
Chile.
The cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) has been
mapped by a number of instrument at an ever increasing resolution. The
CMBR is understood to be a "relic radiation" from the Big Bang. Due to
the expansion and thus cooling of the Universe, the originally high-energy
radiation has been shifted into the microwave region of the radio spectrum.
Sufficiently sensitive radio telescopes can detected the CMBR as a faint
background glow, almost exactly the same in all directions, that is not
associated with any star, galaxy, or other object.
5. Heating and Power Application
A microwave oven passes (non-ionizing) microwave radiation at a
frequency near 2.45 GHz (12 cm) through food, causing dielectric
heating primarily by absorption of the energy in water. Microwave ovens
became common kitchen appliances in Western countries in the late
1970s, following the development of less expensive cavity magnetrons.
Water in the liquid state possesses many molecular interactions that
broaden the absorption peak. In the vapor phase, isolated water molecules
absorb at around 22 GHz, almost ten times the frequency of the
microwave oven.
Microwave heating is used in industrial processes for drying
and curing products. Many semiconductor processing techniques use
microwaves to generate plasma for such purposes as reactive ion
etching and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition(PECVD).
Microwave frequencies typically ranging from 110 140 GHz are
used in stellarators and tokamak experimental fusion reactors to help heat
the fuel into a plasma state. The upcoming ITER thermonuclear reactor is
expected to range from 110170 GHz and will employ electron cyclotron
resonance heating (ECRH).
Microwaves can be used to transmit power over long distances, and
post-World War II research was done to examine
possibilities. NASA worked in the 1970s and early 1980s to research the
possibilities of using solar power satellite (SPS) systems with large solar
arrays that would beam power down to the Earth's surface via microwaves.
Less-than-lethal weaponry exists that uses millimeter waves to heat a
thin layer of human skin to an intolerable temperature so as to make the
targeted person move away. A two-second burst of the 95 GHz focused
beam heats the skin to a temperature of 54 C (129 F) at a depth of 0.4
millimetres (164 in). The United States Air Force and Marinesare currently
using this type of active denial system in fixed installations.
6. Spectroscopy
Microwave radiation is used in electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR
or ESR) spectroscopy, typically in the X-band region (~9 GHz) in
conjunction typically with magnetic fieldsof 0.3 T. This technique
provides information on unpaired electrons in chemical systems, such
as free radicals or transition metal ions such as Cu(II). Microwave
radiation is also used to perform rotational spectroscopy and can be
combined with electrochemistry as in microwave enhanced
electrochemistry.
d. Microwave Frequency Bands
Rough plot of Earth's atmospheric transmittance (or
opacity) to various wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation. Microwaves
are strongly absorbed at wavelengths shorter than about 1.5 cm (above 20
GHz) by water and other molecules in the air.
Microwave frequency bands
Frequency Wavelength
Designation Typical uses
range range
15 cm to military telemetry, GPS, mobile phones (GSM),
L band 1 to 2 GHz
30 cm amateur radio
weather radar, surface ship radar, and some
communications satellites (microwave ovens,
7.5 cm to
S band 2 to 4 GHz microwave devices/communications, radio
15 cm
astronomy, mobile phones, wireless LAN,
Bluetooth, ZigBee, GPS, amateur radio)
3.75 cm to
C band 4 to 8 GHz long-distance radio telecommunications
7.5 cm
satellite communications, radar, terrestrial
8 to 25 mm to
X band broadband, space communications, amateur
12 GHz 37.5 mm
radio
12 to 16.7 mm to
Ku band satellite communications
18 GHz 25 mm
18 to 11.3 mm to radar, satellite communications, astronomical
K band
26.5 GHz 16.7 mm observations, automotive radar
26.5 to 5.0 mm to
Ka band satellite communications
40 GHz 11.3 mm
satellite communications, terrestrial microwave
33 to 6.0 mm to
Q band communications, radio astronomy, automotive
50 GHz 9.0 mm
radar
40 to 5.0 mm to
U band
60 GHz 7.5 mm
V band
50 to 4.0 mm to millimeter wave radar research and other kinds
75 GHz 6.0 mm of scientific research
satellite communications, millimeter-wave radar
75 to 2.7 mm to research, military radar targeting and tracking
W band
110 GHz 4.0 mm applications, and some non-military
applications, automotive radar
SHF transmissions: Radio astronomy,
microwave devices/communications, wireless
90 to 2.1 mm to
F band LAN, most modern radars, communications
140 GHz 3.3 mm
satellites, satellite television broadcasting, DBS,
amateur radio
EHF transmissions: Radio astronomy, high-
110 to 1.8 mm to frequency microwave radio relay, microwave
D band
170 GHz 2.7 mm remote sensing, amateur radio, directed-energy
weapon, millimeter wave scanner
P band is sometimes used for Ku Band. "P" for "previous" was a radar
band used in the UK ranging from 250 to 500 MHz and now obsolete per
IEEE Std 521.
When radars were first developed at K band during World War II, it
was not known that there was a nearby absorption band (due to water
vapor and oxygen in the atmosphere). To avoid this problem, the original
K band was split into a lower band, Ku, and upper band, Ka.
e. Effects on health
Microwaves do not contain sufficient energy to chemically change
substances by ionization, and so are an example of non-ionizing radiation.
The word "radiation" refers to energy radiating from a source and not
to radioactivity. It has not been shown conclusively that microwaves (or
other non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation) have significant adverse
biological effects at low levels. Some, but not all, studies suggest that
long-term exposure may have a carcinogenic effect. This is separate from
the risks associated with very high-intensity exposure, which can cause
heating and burns like any heat source, and not a unique property of
microwaves specifically.
