Electrical Engineering › Section Y · Time-varying fields, Maxwell's equations, and plane waves › Topic Y.2
Guided and unguided waves
An electromagnetic wave either follows a structure built to carry it, such as a cable or an optical fibre, or spreads freely into space from an antenna. Knowing which kind you have, and when an ordinary wire starts behaving like either, is basic to radio, fast digital design and electromagnetic compatibility.
In this topic
- Two families of waves
- Unguided waves
- Guided waves
- When a wire becomes a transmission line
- Worked example: is the cable electrically long?
- Antennas: the bridge
- Worked example: quarter-wave antennas
- Signal integrity
- Electromagnetic compatibility
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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