The development of a computer aided instruction in electromagnetic wave propagation

This paper describes the development of a computer software package to be used for undergraduate computer based instruction in electromagnetic wave propagation, and to introduce its application in communication link calculations. The package contains four parts. Part I introduces some of the basic concepts in electromagnetic wave propagation. Part II discusses line-of-sight space wave propagation and equations to calculate power and power density at the receiver site. With proper inputs specified by the students, the computer can provide numerical answers to various wave propagation problems. Space wave propagation with ground reflection are discussed in Part III, while the procedures developed by Norton to estimate the ground wave field strength and power density at far distances are presented in Part IV.