Radio Wave Propagation

Introduction: The energy radiated from a transmitting

antenna may reach the receiving over any of many
possible paths, as shown in figure:
Frequency band and Propagation Effect
A. Extremely low or very low frequencies below few kHz
Wavelength is greater than 105 m.
Antennas used are very large and one of necessity
close to the ground or buried in the ground.
The radio wave is reflected from the ionosphere(D
layer), and a form of earth ionosphere waveguide
exists that may be though of as providing a guiding
path for the waves as they propagate around the
earth. This waveguide model is particularly useful for
frequencies below few kHz.
Extremely low frequencies are useful in
communicating with submerged submarines. Since
high frequencies are attenuated very rapidly by the
high conductivity of sea water.
Frequency band and Propagation Effect cont…

B. From few kilohertz to few Mega-Hertz

Here propagation is strongly influenced
by the presence of the ground. Local
communication over few hundred
kilometer is by means of surface wave
standard AM broadcasting occurs in
this frequency range.
Ground wave Propagation
Frequency band and Propagation Effect cont…

C. From few megahertz to 3040 MHz

The radio wave is reflected from the
ionosphere
Long distance communication possible (may
be off thousands of kilometer)
e.g. International shortwave broadcasting
Frequency band and Propagation Effect cont…

D. Frequencies above 50 MHz

In this case, the antennas are relatively small
 May be placed at height of many
wavelengths above earth
Signals propagated along the direct line of
sight path and those reflected from the
ground.
Space wave propagation
Ground Wave Propagation
• Earth acts as conducting surface
• A ground wave is an electromagnetic wave
that travel along the surface of earth
• Ground wave losses increase rapidly with
frequency. Therefore, ground wave
propagation is generally limited to
frequencies below 2 MHz
• Require vertically polarized waves
Ground Wave Propagation cont…

• Due to diffraction wave front get tilted

progressively forward
Ground Wave Propagation cont…

Applications:
Ground wave propagation is commonly used for ship to ship to
share communication, for radio navigation and AM broadcasting
Advantages :
 When enough power is given it can cover longer
distance.
 Relatively unaffected by changing atmospheric
condition.
Disadvantages :
 Require relatively high transmitting power
 With low frequency larger antenna is requires.
 Ground losses vary considerably with surface material
Structure of Atmosphere
• Medium between transmitting and receiving
antenna plays an important role
• Atmosphere has many layers consider only
Troposphere and Ionosphere.
Structure of Atmosphere: Troposphere
o The portion of the atmosphere which extends
upon height of 10 to 18 km above the earth
o Its height varies from equator to pole, and is 810
km in polar region, 1012 km at moderate
latitudes and 1618 km in equatorial region.
o The percentage of the gas components remains
almost constant
o Water vapor components sharply decreases with
height.
o Average vertical temperature gradient is 6.5 per
km
o Troposphere is an in-homogenous dielectric
medium whose refractive index varies with height
and so also velocity of wave propagation
Structure of Atmosphere: Ionosphere
o Region which the constituents gases that are
ionized by radiations from outer space (chiefly
solar radiation).
o The region extends from 50 km above the
earth to several earth radii, with the maximum
in ionization density at about 300 km
o Several ‘layers’ or ‘regions’ in which the
ionization density either reaches a maximum
or remains roughly constant. These regions
are designated D, E and F in order of height
D Region:
• D Region is lower most region of the ionosphere
and is located in the height range of 50 to 90 km.
• This layer is present only during the day and
disappear at night because the recombination
processes.
• Their electron density in this varies from 108 to 109.
• This layers reflect low and very low frequencies but
for HF communication introduce attenuation. That
is why D layer is often termed as absorption layer.
• The critical frequency of the layer is of the order of
100 kHz
E Region
• It is just above the D region in the height
range of 90140 km
• Its electron density varies from 1011 to 1012
m3 and its main source of ionization is X-
RAY and UV rays.
• Its critical frequency is of order 4 MHz
• It virtually disappears at night due to
recombination process
Sporadic E layer
• It is thin highly ionized layer occurring in the E layer,
the extent, position and timing of these are all irregular
and that is why it is termed sporadic E layer.
• Its electron density is about 10 times that of E layer. Its
height above earth may varies from 90 to 130 km.
• It is believed to be formed by vertical transport of ion
clouds or thunderstorm or geomagnetic disturbances
• VHF reflections have also been observed from this
layer, resulting in interference in the VHF channels for
example fake reception of distant stations
F Region
• This region lies between 140 km to 400 km from earth surface
• It is the uppermost ionized region and is the only region which
always remains ionized day and night time.
• During day, sometime after sunrise, the F region is found to split
up into two layers called F1 and F2 layer.
• F1layer is situated at height range of 140 km to 200 km with
average height at 220 km. Its behavior is like normal E layer.
• F1 layer is to provide more absorption for HF waves. Its electron
density ranges form 1011 to 1012 m1. Its critical frequency is 5 to
7 MHz.
• F2 layer is the uppermost region situated at a height range of 250
km to 400 km. F2 is the only layer which present during night
time also.
• F2 is the most important reflecting medium for high frequency
radio waves.
Sky Wave Propagation
• Electromagnetic waves in the frequency range of
2 to 40 MHz are returned back to earth from the
ionosphere.
• It is useful for long distance communication
round the glob through multi-hope reflection
from the ionosphere
• This communication is also referred as point to
point communication or short wave
communication
Propagation of EM waves through Ionosphere :
A. Neglecting the effect of earth’s magnetic field:
 Electromagnetic wave motion in ionized medium
results flow of current that consists of
a) Conduction current: Due to flow of
electron under the influence of EM filed. It lags
behind E by 90 due to electron mass inertia.
b) Displacement current: It is capacitive
displacement current which leads the field by 90.
 Actual current flowing through volume of the
space consists of the two components which are
in phase opposition
Conduction current density
Calculation of displacement current density
Calculation of total current density
Mechanism of radio wave bending by the ionosphere
• Consider formula for refractive index-

• Refractive index becomes greater if the ionic density N is

higher and frequency is lower.
• Ionosphere is in the form of layers of ionization density
Calculation of Refractive Index
Governing frequencies:
1. Critical Frequency(fc): Highest frequency
which can be reflected by a particular layer at
vertical incidence.
By Snell’s law-
For vertical incidence i.e. Øi = 0, N = Nmax, f = fc

Tx/Rx
Governing frequencies: cont..
2. Maximum usable frequency (MUF):
Thus the maximum usable frequency (MUF) is also
a limiting frequency which can be reflected back to
earth at some specific angle of incidence other
than the vertical incidence.
Consider governing equation
• At the apex of the path,
r = 90 Let f = fmuf and N = Nmax
Calculation of MUF: Case I-This layer (Flat Earth)
• The ionization layer may be assumed to be thin layer with sharp
ionization density gradient, which given mirror line reflection of
radio waves as shown below 
• For shorter distance of communication (say up to 500Km) the earth
can be assumed to be flat From figure,
Calculation of MUF cont..
Calculation of MUF: Case II-Thin layer (Curved Earth)
• Optimum usable frequency:

• Lowest usable frequency

Virtual Height
• Consider refraction of the wave through ions sphere. The
actual path of wave is curve. However it is more
convenient to think of the wave being reflected rather
than refracted
Skip Distance
 The minimum distance from the transmitter at which
a sky wave of a given frequency is returned to earth
by the ionosphere is called skip distance. This shown
by ‘D’ in figure.
Fading
• Fading of radio wave is the name given to
undesirable variations in the intensity or
loudness of the waves received at the receiver.
• It is caused by variation in the heights and
density of ionization in the different layers of
ionosphere.
• Fading is caused due to interference between
two waves of different path lengths
Space Wave Propagation
• The space wave propagation is useful at higher
frequency i.e. VHF, UHF and microwaves
• The space wave propagation is practically limited to
line of sight distance and is also limited by the
curvature of the earth.
• In line of sight distance transmitting antenna and
receiving antenna can usually sea each other
• Thus space wave consists of at least two components 
1.Direct component : Wave reaches directly form the
transmitting antenna to receiving antenna.
2. Ground reflected components : The wave reaches
the receiving antenna after reflection from the ground
• This is also known as tropospheric propagation
Range of space wave propagation i.e. Line of
Sight distance (LOS)
• Let the height of transmitting and receiving
antenna above the ground be ht and hr
respectively, d is the distance between the
two antennas (i.e. line of sight distance).
Effective earth’s radius(r’)
• The radio wave traveling horizontally in the earth’s
atmosphere follows a path which has a slight
downward curvature due to refraction of wave in the
atmosphere. This curvature permit the direct ray to
reach point slightly beyond the horizon as
determined by the line of sight path.
• This can be accounted by considering effective
earth’s radius. For a standard atmosphere the
effective earth’s radius is 4/3 times the actual earth’s
radius.