Radiowave Propagation: Physics and Applications

PREFACE

This textbook on radiowave propagation is designed for use at the college senior and first-year graduate school level. It should also be useful to practicing engineers, particularly antenna and telecommunication systems engineers, who need a good understanding of propagation but may not have had sufficient exposure to this subject. The number of antenna courses taught in American universities seems to exceed greatly the number of propagation courses; this text is intended to encourage more radiowave propagation course offerings.

We have tried to achieve a balance between the theoretical developments, that is, the physics of radiowave propagation, and the many applications. The theory is necessary for a thorough understanding of the propagation phenomena and, especially, the limitations of various methods for predicting system performance. Although the discussions of applications are intended to be useful in themselves, they also contribute to the general understanding. A broad spectrum of applications is considered, as opposed to focusing only on a specific technology, such as cellular systems. Of course, a text of this size cannot cover all applications in complete detail. Fortunately, the recommendations of the Radiocommunication Sector of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-R) are a repository of the currently recommended practices, and the student is often referred to these recommendations for details beyond the scope of this book.

In writing this book, we ...