ECE3022 - Wireless and guided EM - 2018

6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL

Undergraduate - Unit




Organisational Unit

Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering

Chief examiner(s)

Professor Tom Drummond


N Karmakar (Clayton)
R Parthiban (Malaysia)

Not offered in 2018


ECE2021 (or ECE2201 or PHS2022) and ECE2041Not offered in 2018 (or ECE2401)




In this unit, students will be introduced to the principles of electromagnetism and wave propagation of wireless and guided waves based on the use of Maxwell's equations. They will then analyse more complicated structures such as radio frequency (RF) and microwave transmission lines, rectangular metallic waveguides, optical fibers and antennas. Students will then apply these wave propagation principles to examine the practical issues of RF and microwave circuits in laboratory environments. Issues related to interference problems such as filtering, grounding and shielding in RF and microwave circuit layouts will also be covered. Finally, practical wireless communication systems will be introduced to students to give an understanding on how the theories learnt are used in real life applications.



  1. Evaluate basic principles of plane wave propagation in vacuum/air, transmission lines, waveguides and optical fibres
  2. Compare and contrast different types of antennas in terms of parameters such as gain, beamwidth and bandwidth
  3. Design optical fibers for given values of attenuation and dispersion
  4. Explain the effect of electromagnetic interference and devise guidelines to achieve electromagnetic compatibility
  5. Work independently and in multi-cultural teams




Workload requirements


See also Unit timetable information

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study