In this interview, we talk to Richard L.Burge, author of the book Mechanical and Manufacturing Design of Antennas. We discuss the motivation behind writing the book, the target audience, the most useful aspects of the book, the challenges of writing the book, and advice for other engineers who are considering writing a book.
Richard L. Burge is a Senior Design Engineer at NSI-MI Ametek in Suwanee, GA. He has spent the past twenty years focusing on the mechanical design of high-performance electrical contact and current carrying systems. He received his B.S. in Mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
1. Could you summarize the main content of your book? What are the key topics addressed?
This book is meant to bridge the gap between mechanical or manufacturing engineers and RF/electrical engineers by introducing both to the constraints and challenges that the other discipline face. Two key topics discussed in the book are mechanical design for low resistance electrical contact between components and design techniques for accommodating variability in manufacturing. Mechanical design and assembly can have a significant impact on electrical contact between parts. Simulation of variability in contact between parts is difficult to do and is a bit of a hole in the design process. By executing good mechanical design practices, the final antenna will more reliably hit performance targets.
2.What is the primary purpose of your book? How do you envision it helping readers in their work or studies?
This book should help engineers in the antenna design and manufacturing space to achieve better production results by reducing testing, adjustments, and rework to their parts and processes. Readers will be able to utilize the techniques and design details in the book to create parts and assemblies that reflect the original RF design and simulation more accurately.
3.What sets your book apart from other works in the same field? Are there any innovative concepts, methodologies, or insights that make it stand out?
So far as I’m aware this is the only book available on the topic. That is what drove the writing of this book in the first place! Although many of the mechanical engineering and electrical contact design techniques are established good practice, this book addresses how they apply to antenna design. This book was designed to compile all these disparate techniques into one source.
4.Who is the intended readership for your book? Are there specific industries, professionals, or fields of study that would benefit most from this content?
All mechanical, manufacturing, and RF engineers that design antennas, whether they are working in a university laboratory or in a high production environment should find the information in this book useful. If at some point you must transition your antenna design from a computer model or simulation to a physical device, then this book will help achieve success in that task.
5. What are the most important lessons or insights you want readers to take away from this book?
I think I wrote it early in Chapter 5, but the single most important takeaway is that “manufacturing isn’t magic”. A lot of engineers (both RF and mechanical), tend to think you can just toss something on a CNC mill and it will come out dimensionally perfect or at least so close it doesn’t matter. Even when we understand conceptually that there will be manufacturing variation, it can be difficult to design effectively to account for it. How a part is designed can affect what sort of errors occur on the part, and CNC machines can generate dimensional errors larger than one might expect. Being able to design a part that is easy to manufacture can make an engineer’s life a lot easier.
6.Does your book include any original research, case studies, or data? If so, could you highlight some of the most significant findings?
The book primarily focuses on existing mechanical, material, and manufacturing best practices. It is meant to familiarize mechanical engineers with basic antenna parameters and how their work affects those parameters. Sections of the book intended for RF engineers present the fundamentals of contemporary mechanical and manufacturing processes.
practice, showing not just how to make measurements, but how to critically evaluate and trust them.
7.Does your book address any new or emerging trends in the field? How does it prepare readers for future developments?
If anything, this book addresses one of the oldest topics in any engineering field: how do you make it? What is unique about this book is that the topic of antenna manufacturing has not been broadly addressed elsewhere in literature. There are many unique aspects of antenna manufacturing that require detailed knowledge of manufacturing techniques to achieve optimal results. This book is a good resource for engineers without a significant background in fabrication to help them understand those processes.
8.What personal experiences, if any, have shaped your perspective or approach to the topics discussed in your book?
I spent the first part of my career designing electro-mechanical devices that could carry tens of thousands of amps at hundreds of thousands of volts, so good electrical contact design was key. Although the parameters in antennas are different, the same engineering fundamentals apply. It has been very satisfying bringing some of those techniques over and achieving success with them.
Learn more about the book on our websites:
ARTECH HOUSE USA : Mechanical and Manufacturing Design of Antennas
ARTECH HOUSE U.K.: Mechanical and Manufacturing Design of Antennas
More Antennas and Propagation content here: Antennas and Propagation – Artech House Insider
