Principles of Communication

Lecture 2- Electromagnetic Radiation

Computer Engineering Department

By: Rolin Limos
 EM Radiation
Three main types of propagations;

 Ground – Wave Propagation

 Sky-Wave Propagation

 Line-of-sight Propagation
 Propagation Waves
Ground- wave propagation

 Frequency < 2 MHz

 Travels along the surface of the earth thus

suitable for short range communications.

 The movement tend to follow the contour

of the earth with large antenna size.
 Propagation Waves
Ground- wave propagation

 Lower frequencies (between 30 and 3,000 kHz) have the property of

following the curvature of the earth via ground wave propagation in
the majority of occurrences.

 Radio wave propagates by interacting with the semi-conductive

surface of the earth. The wave "clings" to the surface and thus
follows the curvature of the earth.

 Vertical polarization is used to alleviate short circuiting the electric

field through the conductivity of the ground. Since the ground is not
a perfect electrical conductor, ground waves are attenuated rapidly
as they follow the earth’s surface.

 Attenuation is proportional to the frequency making this mode

mainly useful for LF and VLF frequencies.
 Propagation Waves
Ground- wave propagation
 Propagation Waves
Space- wave propagation(LOS)

 Frequency > 30 MHz

 Propagates in straight path

 May interact with the earth-reflected wave depending

on terminal separation, frequency and polarization

 No refraction can almost propagates through

ionosphere
 Modes of Propagation

Space- wave propagation(LOS)

 LOS is the direct propagation of radio waves between antennas that

are visible to each other. EM transmission includes light emissions
traveling in a straight line.

 The rays or waves may be diffracted, refracted, reflected, or absorbed

by atmosphere and obstructions with material and generally cannot
travel over the horizon or behind obstacles.

 Examples would include propagation between a satellite and a ground

antenna or reception of television signals from a local TV transmitter.

 Ground plane reflection effects are an important factor in VHF L-O-S

propagation. The interference between the direct beam line-of-sight and
the ground reflected beam often leads to an effective inverse-fourth-
power law for ground-plane limited radiation.
 Propagation Waves
Space- wave propagation(LOS)
 Propagation Waves
Sky- wave propagation

 Frequency between 2 MHz and 30 MHz

 Signals are bent continuously in the ionosphere and
then returned back to earth hitting it at the receiver, up
to thousands of kilometers away
 Coverage is obtained by reflection of the wave at
ionosphere and the earth boundaries
 The index refractions of the ionosphere varies with the
altitude as the ionization density changes
 The angle of reflection and the loss of signal depend on
the frequency, time, season, activities of the sun, etc.
 Propagation Waves
Sky- wave propagation
 Modes of Propagation

Sky- wave propagation

 Also referred to as skip modes that relies on refraction of radio

waves in the ionosphere, which is made up of one or more ionized layers in
the upper atmosphere.

 F2-layer is the most important ionospher layer for HF propagation, though

F1, E, and D-layers also play some role.

 These layers are directly affected by the sun on a daily cycle, the seasons and
the 11-year sunspot cycle determines the utility of these modes.

 During solar maxima, the whole HF range up to 30 MHz can be used and F2
propagation up to 50 MHz are observed frequently depending upon daily solar
flux values.

 Forecasting of sky-wave mode is of considerable interest to amateur radio

operators and commercial marine and aircraft communications, and also to
shortwave broadcasters.
 Modes of Propagation

Ionospheric mode( Skywave propagation)

 Modes of Propagation

The Ionosphere

The ionosphere is the uppermost part

of the atmosphere between the
thermosphere and the exosphere,
distinguished because it is ionized by solar
radiation.

It plays an important part in atmospheric

electricity and forms the inner edge of
the magnetosphere

It has practical importance because,

among other functions, it influences radio
propagation to distant places on the
Earth.
 Modes of Propagation

Ionospheric Layers

The D layer is the innermost layer,

60 km to 90 km above the surface
of the Earth.
The E layer is the middle layer,
90 km to 120 km above the
surface of the Earth.
The F layer or region, also known as the Appleton layer extends from about
200 km to more than 500 km above the surface of Earth.

It is the top most layer of the ionosphere. Here extreme ultraviolet solar
radiation ionizes atomic oxygen.

The F layer consists of one layer at night, but during the day, a deformation
often forms in the profile that is labeled F1. The F2 layer remains by day and
night responsible for most skywave propagation of radio waves, facilitating high
frequency (HF, or shortwave) radio communications over long distances.
 Radio Propagation

Radio propagation describes how radio waves behave when they are
transmitted, or are propagated from one point on the Earth to another.

Like light waves, radio waves are affected by the phenomena of the
following;

• Reflection
• Refraction
• Diffraction
• Absorption
• Polarization
• Scattering
 Radio Propagation

Reflection is the change in direction of a wavefront between two

different media so that the wavefront returns into the medium from
which it originated.

Common examples :

• Light
• Sound
• Water waves

The law of reflection says that;

For specular reflection the angle at which the wave is incident on the
surface equals the angle at which it is reflected.
 Radio Propagation

Types of Reflection

Specular Reflection

Diffused Reflection

Retroflector
 Radio Propagation

Refraction is the change in direction of a wave due to a change in its

speed. This means a wave passes from one medium another at an
angle.

Refraction of light is the most commonly observed phenomenon, but

any type of wave can refract when it interacts with a medium.

Example:
When sound waves pass from one medium into another or when
water waves move into water of a different depth.
 Radio Propagation

Refraction is described by Snell’s law which states that the angle of

incidence θ1 is related to the angle of refraction θ2 by

sin θ1 v1 n2

sin θ2 v2 n1

where v1 and v2 are the wave velocities in the respective media, and n1
and n2 the refractive indices.
 Radio Propagation

Examples: Refraction of light waves in water

The dark rectangle represents the

actual position of a pencil sitting in
a bowl of water. The light rectangle
represents the apparent position of
the pencil. Notice that the end (X)
looks like it is at (Y), a position that
is considerably shallower than (X).

The straw appears to be broken, due

to refraction of light as it emerges into
the air.
 Radio Propagation

Diffraction refers to various phenomena which occur when a wave

encounters an obstacle.

It is described as the apparent bending of waves around small obstacles

and the spreading out of waves past small openings.

Similar effects are observed when light waves travel through a medium
with a varying refractive index or a sound wave through one with
varying acoustic impedance.

Diffraction occurs with all waves, including sound waves, water waves,
and EM waves such as visible light, x-rays and radio waves.
 Radio Propagation

Examples:

Numerical approximation of diffraction pattern

from a slit of width four wavelengths with an
incident plane wave. The main central beam, nulls,
and phase reversals are apparent.
 Radio Propagation

Absorption of electromagnetic radiation is the way by which the energy

of a photon is taken up by matter, typically the electrons of an atom.

Thus, the electromagnetic energy is transformed to other forms of

energy for example, to heat.

The absorption of light during wave propagation is often called

attenuation.

Usually, the absorption of waves does not depend on their intensity

(linear absorption), although in certain conditions (usually, in optics), the
medium changes its transparency dependently on the intensity of waves
going through, and the saturable absorption or nonlinear absorption
occurs.
 Radio Propagation

Polarization is a property of certain types of waves that describes the

orientation of their oscillations.

EM waves such as light exhibit polarization; acoustic waves (sound waves)

in a gas or liquid do not have polarization because the direction of
vibration and direction of propagation are the same.

By convention, the polarization of light is described by specifying the

orientation of the wave's electric field at a point in space over one
period of the oscillation.

When light travels in free space, in most cases it propagates as a

transverse wave - the polarization is perpendicular to the wave's
direction of travel. In this case, the electric field may be oriented in a
single direction (LP), or it may rotate as the wave travels (C or E
polarization).
 Radio Propagation

Examples:
Some examples of the evolution of
the electric field vector (blue), with
time(the vertical axes), at a
particular point in space, along
with its x and y components
(red/left and blue/right), and the
path traced by the tip of the
vector in the plane.

The same evolution would occur

when looking at the electric field
at a particular time while evolving
the point in space, along the
direction opposite to propagation.
Linear Circular Elliptical
 Radio Propagation

Scattering is a general physical process where some forms of radiation ,

such as light, sound, or moving particles, are forced to deviate from a
straight trajectory by one or more localized non-uniformities in the
medium through which they pass.

In conventional use, this also includes deviation of reflected radiation

from the angle predicted by the law of reflection. Reflections that
undergo scattering are often called diffuse reflections and unscattered
reflections are called specula (mirror-like) reflections.
 Radio Propagation

Examples:

The beam of a 5 mW green laser

pointer is visible at night due to
scattering and airborne dust.

Scattering in glass: it appears blue from

the side but orange light shines through
 Free space Propagation
In free space, all EM waves (radio, light, X-rays, etc) obey the
inverse-square law which states that ;

the power density of an electromagnetic wave is proportional to

the inverse of the square of the distance from the source :

Doubling the distance from a transmitter means that the power

density of the radiated wave at that new location is reduced to
one-quarter of its previous value.

The power density per surface unit is proportional to the product

of the electric and magnetic field strengths. Thus, doubling the
propagation path distance from the transmitter reduces each of
their received field strengths over a free-space path by one-half.
 Free space Propagation

Inverse-square law:

The lines represent the flux

emanating from the source. The
total number of flux lines depends
on the strength of the source and is
constant with increasing distance.

A greater density of flux lines (lines per unit area) means a stronger
field. The density of flux lines is inversely proportional to the square
of the distance from the source because the surface area of a sphere
increases with the square of the radius.

Thus the strength of the field is inversely proportional to the square

of the distance from the source.
 Free space Propagation
Radio frequencies and primary mode of propagation
Band Frequency Propagation via
VLF 3–30 kHz Guided between the earth and the ionosphere.
Guided between the earth and the D layer of the
LF 30–300 kHz
ionosphere. (Surface waves)
Surface waves. E, F layer ionospheric refraction at night,
MF 300–3000 kHz
when D layer absorption weakens.
E layer ionospheric refraction. F1, F2 layer ionospheric
HF 3–30 MHz
refraction.
Infrequent E ionospheric refraction. Extremely rare F1,
F2 layer ionospheric refraction during high sunspot
VHF 30–300 MHz
activity up to 80 MHz. Generally direct wave. Sometimes
tropospheric ducting.

UHF 300–3000 MHz Direct wave. Sometimes tropospheric ducting.

SHF 3–30 GHz Direct wave.
EHF 30–300 GHz Direct wave limited by absorption.