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ECE350

ECE350 (Fields and Waves II) is a 3-credit-hour course that satisfies the 3-of-5 Advanced Core Electives for EEs. This course qualifies as a technical elective for CEs. It is offered in the fall and spring only.

Content Covered

  • Gauges and field potentials
  • Spherical coordinates
  • Hertzian dipoles
  • Antenna arrays
  • Reflected and transmitted waves at oblique incidences
  • Antenna transmission and reception
  • Doppler effect
  • Wave propagation through dispersive media (plasma)
  • Waveguides

The course beings with a review of Maxwell's equations, basic mathematics, field potentials, wave equations and a discussion of gauges. The course also introduces spherical coordinates. The core material of the course is then divided into a couple major topics. The first major topic is the idea of a Hertzian dipole and radiating antennas. You will learn how to formulate and approximate complex antenna radiation equations using the Hertzian dipole. You will also discuss the ideas of radiated power, resistance and gain. The discussion of the simplified antenna nicely transitions into the topic of wave interference, where you will explore beam patters of antenna arrays. You will explore the ideas of near and far field radiation and you will learn how and when to make approximations regarding plane waves and their propagation patterns. A discussion of the Rayleigh distance is also covered in this section. The following section covers a new topic, reflected and transmitted waves. You will learn about reflectors, the Doppler effect and total internal reflection. You will also learn TE and TM wave polarizations. You will follow up these topics with the ideas of wave propagation in dispersive media, such as plasma, and you will gain some insight into real world problems with wireless communication networks. The penultimate topic is the concept of waveguides. You will discuss guided modes, 1D, 2D, 3D cavity waveguides, dielectric waveguides, and their respective resonant modes. You will conclude the semester by coming full circle, and studying antenna reception. These concepts all contribute to the big picture of learning how EM waves are transmitted and received in communication networks.

Prerequisites

ECE329 is the only official prerequisite to the course. While many detailed concepts from ECE329 do not carry over, the ability to use calculus to deal with fields waves will be crucial. Transmission line theory will show up in surprising ways as well - make sure you remember how to deal with them.

When to Take it

If you liked ECE329, then you'll probably like this course. Make sure you understand concepts such as transmission line theory, wave interaction with dielectric media and Maxwell equations (plus boundary equations), as these core concepts are built upon in ECE350. The course focuses on antennas and electromagnetic (EM) wave propagation and wave interactions, so ECE350 will feel like an extension of ECE329.

Take this course to satisfy 3 out of 5 credit for EEs or if you have an avid interest in antennas, wireless communication, or electromagnetic fields. The best time to take this course is directly after taking ECE329. It is highly recommended to take this course as early as possible, as it is a fundamental course in EM.

Course Structure

During the semester, the course assigns 13-14 written homeworks, due every week. These homework sets are generally not too difficult and will contain both calculations and derivations of expressions. Homeworks often contain bonus problems worth extra credit that are more difficult or annoying to do, but lead to some interesting insights in the material. It is recommended that students do them - the amount of extra credit received is usually enough to be able to drop one or two homeworks at the end of the semester. Students have cited that each week's homework can take very different amounts of time, from under an hour to upwards of five hours to complete. They can sometimes be surprisingly annoying. It is recommended to start early so you can go to office hours.

The course will also have three midterms and a final. The midterms are generally not thought to be too difficult - more of your time will be spent on the homeworks. There are only a few practice exams - thus it is recommended to keep up with the homework every week. Professor Kudeki's notes have good practice questions with solutions in them, should the student find that they need more practice. Students are allowed to bring one doubled-sided 8.5x11 cheatsheet to the first exam, two double-sided 8.5x11 cheatsheets to the second exam, and so on. Students are highly recommended to reuse cheatsheets from prior midterms, but this is not enforced.

Expect this course to be easier than ECE329 in terms of grading.

Instructors

Professor Kudeki has taught this course for the spring and fall semesters for a few years now. This course is not offered in the summer. Professor Kudeki also wrote the course notes.

Course Tips

Do not be afraid to ask questions, and especially do not be afraid of Professor Kudeki. He will make sure your question is answered, even at the cost of falling behind. The weekly homework is your opportunity to really sit down and learn the material, so it is recommended to do them fully on your own and only go to office hours if you have been stuck for more than an hour. The course is usually pretty small, so crowded office hours are not an issue.

Make sure you show your work on exams for some partial credit.

It is tempting to ignore the course until midterm time as the homeworks are not worth much. This is not recommended - while the concepts in the end are easy to grasp, they require a lot of moving parts, which require dedicated time to understand.

Life After

For those of you who want more than a sample of these topics, you can specialize in wireless communications or electromagnetic waves or photonics. If you found the section on antennas interesting, take the follow up course ECE454 - Antennas to further your understanding. If you would rather learn about designing radio systems to send and receive information, you can take ECE453 - Wireless Communication Systems. If you need a lab, you can take ECE451 - Advanced Microwave Measurements. In this course you will learn how to take high frequency measurements. On the other hand, if you're looking for ECE329 part 3 then take ECE452 - Electromagnetic fields, which builds off of ECE329 and ECE350 by covering Maxwells equations and waveguides, but takes it one step further by introducing optical modulation schemes and coupled waveguides. Taking ECE452 directly sets you up to take ECE - Electromagnetic Waves and Radiating Systems, which is basically ECE329 part 4 (it never ends...). Otherwise, if you like lasers, take ECE455 - Optical Electronics and learn how optical lasers work. There are also a number of specialized courses, such as ECE447 - Active Microwave Circuit Design, ECE458 - Applications of Radio Wave Propagation, and ECE457 - Microwave Devices and Circuits.

ECE350 also gives you the ability to derive special relativity from Maxwell's Equations and the Doppler effect. Try it!

Infamous Topics

  • Hertzian dipoles: They require one to think in 3D and have good spatial reasoning. Twisting dipoles and spherical coordinates in your head is difficult, but this will only come with practice.

Resources