Antenna and Front-End Processing

This lecture covers the fundamental concepts of antennas and radiated fields in wireless systems, explaining how antennas couple RF power into free space, the power distribution, and the concept of isotropic and real antennas. It also delves into antenna gain, effective isotropic radiated power, and antenna polarization. The lecture further explores downconversion architectures in RF systems, including homodyning, direct conversion, and heterodyning, as well as the role of automatic gain control in multibit analog-to-digital conversion. Additionally, it discusses receiver thermal noise, noise floor calculations, and the stochastic modeling of sensors for optimal fusion in various applications.