Spring 2013 textbook list
The Spring 2013 ECE textbook list is available online for students.
Current Prerequisites & Course Offering
For current prerequisites for a particular course, and to view course offerings for a particular semester, see the Virginia Tech Course Timetables.
ECE 5105 Electromagnetic Waves (3C)
Maxwell's electromagnetic field theory and its applications to engineering problems. 5105: Fundamental concepts and theorems; elementary wave theory and boundary value problems; applications to radiation, transmission line and waveguide problems. 5106: Analytical techniques (Green's theory, modal analysis, etc.) pertaining to guided wave propagation and to scattering and diffraction by discontinuities and inhomogeneties in metallic and dielectric waveguiding structures.
What is the reason for this course?
The design of microwave and optical components, such as antennas, waveguides, etc., as well as the effective exploitation of diverse types of communication channels, is based upon the theory of electromagnetic fields, expressed most efficiently by Maxwell’s equations. However, the solution of these equations requires an in-depth understanding of a number of diverse techniques.
Typically offered: Fall. Program Area: Electromagnetics.
Prerequisites: Graduate standing and 3106.
Why are these prerequisites or corequisites required?
Engineering: Proficiency in undergraduate electromagnetic fields. (Knowledge of the material covered in ECE 3106 is mandatory). Mathematics: Differential equations and Fourier concepts. Also Graduate standing.
Department Syllabus Information:
Major Measurable Learning Objectives:- Demonstrate facility in using Maxwell’s equations to evaluate basic plane wave propagation, interaction with planar surfaces, and energy storage
- Describe the fundamental principles of propagation, particularly with regard to the interaction with obstacles
- Describe the effects of a layered medium on the reflection of a plane wave
- Decompose an arbitrarily polarized incident wave into its perpendicular and parallel vector components and determine the total fields above and beneath a planar interface
- Determine the conditions under which a uniform plane wave will be converted to a nonuniform plane wave upon reflection and refraction at a planar interface
- Compute an equivalent current on the surface of a planar interface due to the action of an incident plane wave and use image theory to account for arbitrary sources
| Course Topics | |
|---|---|
| Topic | Percentage |
| Maxwell’s Equations | 20% |
| Differential and integral forms | |
| Constitutive relations | |
| Debye relaxation equation | |
| Boundary conditions | |
| Temporal and spatial varying functions | |
| Uniform and nonuniform plane wave solutions of Maxwell’s equations | 20% |
| Polarization & direction of propagation for EM waves | 10% |
| Reflection and transmission of plane waves by planar boundaries | 20% |
| Plane wave and polarization notations | |
| The sufficiency of TE and TM polarizations | |
| Plane wave nature of reflection and transmission | |
| Applying the boundary conditions and Snell’s Laws | |
| The effects of non-zero conductivity | |
| Evanescent waves | |
| Infinite conductivity | |
| Fresnel reflection and transmission coefficients | |
| Behavior for various media types | |
| Standing and traveling waves in different directions | |
| Energy considerations in plane wave propagation | |
| Applications of plane wave reflection theory | |
| Solutions of Maxwell’s equations in spherical coordinates | 20% |
| Spherical waves | |
| Comparison of spherical and uniform waves | |
| Energy and power considerations | |
| Material Properties | 10% |