1.

Basics of Electromagnetics

Dr. Hassan Tariq Chattha

Department of Electrical Engineering
The University Engineering & Technology
(Lahore) Faisalabad Campus
 Text and References Book

• Yi Huang, Kevin Boyle, “Antennas: From Theory To

Practice”, 2008, John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
• Constantine A. Balanis, “Antenna Theory: Analysis
And Design”, 3rd Edition, 2005, John Wiley & Sons.
• John D. Kraus, R. J. Merhefk, “Antennas For All
Applications”, 3rd Edition.
• Vincent F. Fusco, “Foundations of Antenna Theory
and Techniques”, Pearson Education Limited 2005.
 Objectives of this Chapter

• Review the history of RF engineering and

antennas;
• Lay down the foundation of mathematics
required for this course;
• Examine the basics of electromagnetics and
• introduce Maxwell’s equations to establish
the link between the fields and sources.
 Antenna
• Any piece of metal wire or plate, of any size, geometry or
volume, will radiate and receive an RF signal at any frequency.
• An antenna system consists of the antenna, the feed-line, and
any matching unit. Most antennas are made of copper or
aluminum, while most mobile antennas are made of stainless
steel. A feed-line consists of two conductors that carry the
signal to and from the radio and to and from the antenna. A
matching unit can be an antenna tuner, a series matching
section, or one of several different kinds of matching circuits at
the feed-point.
 1. 1 The First Successful Antenna Experiment

It was conducted by Hertz

in 1887
Experimental set-up
 1.2 Radio Systems

• Compared with a wired system, radio systems can

offer the following advantages:
– Mobility
– Good coverage over an area
– Low path-loss over a long distance

A typical radio system

 1.3 Necessary Mathematics

• Complex numbers
• Vectors
– A vector has both a magnitude and a direction
• Vector addition and subtraction
• Vectors multiplication:
– dot product:
– cross product:

Cross product doesn’t obey

the commutative law!
An Example
• Cartesian and spherical coordinates
 1.4 Basics of Electromagnetics

l (m)

f (Hz)
 Radio Frequency Bands
Frequency Band Wavelength Applications
• 3-30 kHz VLF 100-10 km Navigation, sonar, fax
• 30-300kHz LF 10-1 km Navigation
• 0.3-3 MHz MF 1-0.1 km AM broadcasting
• 3-30 MHz HF 100-10 m Tel, Fax, CB, ship comms
• 30-300MHz VHF 10-1 m TV, FM broadcasting
• 0.3-3 GHz UHF 1-0.1 m TV, mobile, radar, satellite
• 3-30 GHz SHF 100-10mm Radar, microwave links
• 30-300GHz EHF 10-1 mm Radar, wireless comms
• 0.3-3 THz 1-0.1 mm Sub-millimetre application
 dB

• Logarithmic scales are widely used in RF

engineering and antennas community since the
signals we are dealing with change significantly

but
 The Electric Field

• The electric field (in V/m) is defined as the force

(in Newtons) per unit charge (in Coulombs). From
this definition and Coulomb's law, the electric field
E created by a single point charge Q at a distance r
is

e is the electric permittivity, also called dielectric constant

In free space:
• The product of permittivity and the electric field is
called the electric flex density (also called the
electric displacement), D which is a measure of
how much electric flux passes through a unit area,
i.e.,

The complex permittivity can be written as

The ratio of the imaginary part to the real part is called

the loss tangent
Relative permittivity of some materials
• The electric field E is related to the current density J
(in A/m2), another important parameter, by Ohm’s
law:
J  E

 is the conductivity which is the reciprocal

of resistivity. It is a measure of a material’s ability to
conduct an electrical current and is expressed in
Siemens per metre (S/m).
Conductivity of some materials
 The Magnetic Field

• The magnetic field, H (in A/m), is the vector field

which forms closed loops around electric currents
or magnets. The magnetic field from a current
vector I is given by the Biot-Savart law as

I  rˆ
H
4r 2
• Like the electric field, the magnetic field exerts a
force on electric charge. But unlike an electric field,
it employs force only on a moving charge, and the
direction of the force is orthogonal to both the
magnetic field and charge's velocity
Relative permeability of some materials
Qv can actually be viewed as the current vector I and
the product of is called the magnetic flux density
B (in Tesla), the counterpart of the electric flux
density.

When we combine the electric and magnetic fields,

the total force:

This is called the Lorentz force. The particle will

experience a force due to the electric field of QE,
and the magnetic field Qv × B
 1.5 Maxwell’s Equations

Maxwell’s equations describe the interrelationship

between electric fields, magnetic fields, electric
charge, and electric current
• Faraday's Law of Induction

The induced electromotive force is proportional to the rate of

change of the magnetic flux through a coil. In layman's terms,
moving a conductor through a magnetic field produces a
voltage or a time varying magnetic field can generate an
electric fields!
• Amperes’ Circuital Law

It shows that both the current (J) and time varying

electric field can generate a magnetic field.

• Gauss' Law for Electric Fields

It means that charges () can generate electric fields, and

it is not possible for electric fields to form a closed loop.
• Gauss’ Law for Magnetic Fields

It means that the magnetic field lines are closed loops,

thus the integral of B over a closed surface is zero

• Integral form The partial

differential form
applies to a point
But this is for
an area/volume!
 1.6 Boundary Conditions

Tangential components of an electric field are continuous

across the boundary between any two media.
The change in tangential component of the magnetic field
across a boundary is equal to the surface current density.
Applying these boundary conditions on a perfect conductor

Field distribution around a two-wire transmission line:

E-field is orthogonal to the line surface and H-field (loops).