Radio propagation | EPFL Graph Search

Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?

Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of GraphSearch.

Radio propagation is the behavior of radio waves as they travel, or are propagated, from one point to another in vacuum, or into various parts of the atmosphere. As a form of electromagnetic radiation, like light waves, radio waves are affected by the phenomena of reflection, refraction, diffraction, absorption, polarization, and scattering. Understanding the effects of varying conditions on radio propagation has many practical applications, from choosing frequencies for amateur radio communications, international shortwave broadcasters, to designing reliable mobile telephone systems, to radio navigation, to operation of radar systems. Several different types of propagation are used in practical radio transmission systems. Line-of-sight propagation means radio waves which travel in a straight line from the transmitting antenna to the receiving antenna. Line of sight transmission is used for medium-distance radio transmission, such as cell phones, cordless phones, walkie-talkies, wireless networks, FM radio, television broadcasting, radar, and satellite communication (such as satellite television). Line-of-sight transmission on the surface of the Earth is limited to the distance to the visual horizon, which depends on the height of transmitting and receiving antennas. It is the only propagation method possible at microwave frequencies and above. At lower frequencies in the MF, LF, and VLF bands, diffraction allows radio waves to bend over hills and other obstacles, and travel beyond the horizon, following the contour of the Earth. These are called surface waves or ground wave propagation. AM broadcast and amateur radio stations use ground waves to cover their listening areas. As the frequency gets lower, the attenuation with distance decreases, so very low frequency (VLF) to extremely low frequency (ELF) ground waves can be used to communicate worldwide. VLF to ELF waves can penetrate significant distances through water and earth, and these frequencies are used for mine communication and military communication with submerged submarines.

About this result

This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.

Related publications (44)

Related people (21)

Related concepts (92)

Related courses (20)

Related lectures (207)

Related MOOCs (5)

Plasma Physics: Introduction

Learn the basics of plasma, one of the fundamental states of matter, and the different types of models used to describe it, including fluid and kinetic.

Plasma Physics: Introduction

Learn the basics of plasma, one of the fundamental states of matter, and the different types of models used to describe it, including fluid and kinetic.

Plasma Physics: Applications

Learn about plasma applications from nuclear fusion powering the sun, to making integrated circuits, to generating electricity.

Combining thermal insulation and mobile communication in buildings: influence of laser-treated glazing on microwave propagation

Jérémy Jacques Antonin Fleury, Josef Andreas Schuler, Luc Burnier, Héloïse Ludivine Delaporte

With the purpose of reducing the heating energy in buildings, it is common practice to install energy-efficient windows to increase the thermal insulation of a façade. These insulating glass units (IG

IOP2022

Over-the-Air Computation via Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface

Yuning Jiang, Wei Chen

Over-the-air computation (AirComp) is a disruptive technique for fast wireless data aggregation in Internet of Things (IoT) networks via exploiting the waveform superposition property of multiple-acce

IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC2021

Magnonic crystals with reconfigurable magnetic defects for spin-based microwave electronics

Korbinian Baumgärtl

Collective spin excitations can propagate in magnetically ordered materials in the form of waves. These so-called spin waves (SWs) or magnons are promising for low-power beyond-CMOS information proces

EPFL2021

EE-575: Wave propagation along transmission lines

In this lecture, we will describe the theoretical models and computational methods for the analysis of wave propagation along transmission lines.

ENV-542: Advanced satellite positioning

All fundamental principles behind modern satellite positioning to acquire, track and evaluate direct and indirect satellite signals and process them in relation to example applications: Earth monito

EE-442: Wireless receivers: algorithms and architectures

The students will learn about the basic principles of wireless communication systems, including transmission and modulation schemes as well as the basic components and algorithms of a wireless receive

Deep Learning Fundamentals

Introduces deep learning, from logistic regression to neural networks, emphasizing the need for handling non-linearly separable data.

Complex Refractive Index

Explores the complex refractive index, its role in light propagation, absorption, and reflectivity.

Optical Engineering: Waveguides and Propagation Modes

Explores optical engineering principles, waveguides, and propagation modes in telecommunications.

Radio

Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 3,000 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connected to an antenna which radiates the waves, and received by another antenna connected to a radio receiver. Radio is widely used in modern technology, in radio communication, radar, radio navigation, remote control, remote sensing, and other applications.

Low frequency

Low frequency (LF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies (RF) in the range of 30–300 kHz. Since its wavelengths range from 10–1 km, respectively, it is also known as the kilometre band or kilometre wave. LF radio waves exhibit low signal attenuation, making them suitable for long-distance communications. In Europe and areas of Northern Africa and Asia, part of the LF spectrum is used for AM broadcasting as the "longwave" band. In the western hemisphere, its main use is for aircraft beacon, navigation (LORAN), information, and weather systems.

Critical frequency

In telecommunication, the term critical frequency has the following meanings: In radio propagation by way of the ionosphere, the limiting frequency at or below which a wave component is reflected by, and above which it penetrates through, an ionospheric layer. At near vertical incidence, the limiting frequency at or below which incidence, the wave component is reflected by, and above which it penetrates through, an ionospheric layer. Critical Frequency changes with time of day, atmospheric conditions and angle of fire of the radio waves by antenna.