Applied Communications Systems
Applied Communications Systems covers analysis and design of electronic communications circuits, emphasizing nonlinear effects in large-signal active device operation and complete design of RF oscillators, amplifiers, and mixers.
Summary
Past student reviews · Daniel van der Weide
Exams were 24-hour take-home assignments with fair difficulty. The course required significant effort to process the high density of material covered in one semester.
What you’ll be able to do
Apply high-frequency transmission line theory to modeling microwave networks
Use ideal and real transmission lines to design and execute impedance matching networks
Use scattering and noise parameters to design for trade-offs among gain, noise figure, bandwidth, and reflection coefficients in amplifiers
Apply lumped and distributed elements in transistor amplifier design, including design of bias networks
Design and execute filters using microstrip transmission line elements
Apply mixers and directional couplers to microwave measurement principles
Apply negative-resistance amplifier concepts to oscillator design
Source: UW Guide
Grade history
↗All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors
Prerequisites
Course mapE C E 320 and 340, graduate/professional standing, or member of Engineering Guest Students
“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.
Professors
Spring 2027No instructors recorded for this selection.
Historical instructors & teaching patterns
DANIEL VAN DER WEIDE is recorded teaching in Fall 2007, Fall 2008, Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Calendar & sections
Spring 2027Schedule loads here as you scroll.
| Section | Mode | Enrolled / capacity | Waitlist |
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Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.
Meeting source records
Student experience
the class
Past student reviews · Daniel van der Weide
Students found the density of microwave engineering content in this single semester unbelievable. Daniel van der Weide taught with passion, using lectures to motivate and clarify complex textbook subjects.
Recent recorded grades — Fall 2021: 3.94 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=8 letter grades); Fall 2023: 3.69 GPA, 87.5% A/AB (n=8 letter grades); Fall 2025: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=7 letter grades).
difficulty & workload
Past student reviews · Daniel van der Weide
Exams were 24-hour take-home assignments with fair difficulty. The course required significant effort to process the high density of material covered in one semester.
Past student reviews · Daniel van der Weide
One student felt they learned more in this course than in their previous four years combined, describing the instructor as a jackpot of knowledge and highly recommending the class.
Topics
- Electronic communications circuit analysis and design with emphasis on nonlinear effects of large-signal operation
- High-frequency transmission line theory, microwave network modeling, and impedance matching
- Transistor amplifier design using scattering/noise parameters, lumped/distributed elements, and bias networks
- Microstrip filter design, microwave measurement with mixers and directional couplers, and oscillator design via negative resistance
Skills
- Modeling microwave networks using high-frequency transmission line theory and designing impedance matching networks
- Designing transistor amplifiers with lumped and distributed elements, bias networks, and optimizing gain, noise, bandwidth, and reflection coefficients
- Designing microstrip filters, applying mixers and directional couplers to microwave measurements, and designing oscillators using negative-resistance concepts
Grades
Latest available · Fall 2025— not enough history to project Spring 2027.
Grade distribution · % of letter grades
Grades over time
Through Fall 2025
More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data
Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.
Sources & history
Catalog & offerings
Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.
Catalog observation history
Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.
Selected offering source records
No offering records for the selected term.
Raw records
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Student reviews
Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.
Read original reviews
Grade history
Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.
Explore recorded gradesRecorded 2026-10-14
Model outputs & technical records
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces
Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.
Model & dataset provenance
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